Tell Siri to put a cork in it

August 18, 2022

I may be alone, but I often find Siri incredibly useful.

I use Siri to set alarms, run timers, answer questions, send texts, get directions, initiate phone calls, open apps, play music, find my parked car and dozens of other things.

Yeah, Siri sometimes goofs up, and I wish it could do more complex stuff (like compose this newsletter!) but I think it's a robust tool that's steadily getting better.

But like I said, I'm probably in the minority.

For some, Siri is a near useless and unwelcome guest that keeps piping up at the wrong moments.

If that's you, we have a comprehensive guide on how to tell Siri to put a cork in it.

-- Leander Kahney, EIC.

PS: By coincidence, we have several keyboard posts today, including a rave review of a new Mac-specific mechanical keyboard from MacTigr. And someone in the tweets has another keyboard recommendation that looks super interesting (we covered the MelGeek keyboard here).

Ever since it was introduced in 2011, Apple’s Siri voice assistant can often drive you mad. As if Siri’s unhelpful answers were not irritating enough when you actually want them, Siri often interrupts a conversation, meeting or TV show when you haven’t asked for anything at all. How do you stop Siri from randomly activating?

Das Keyboard’s MacTigr is specifically for Mac users looking to get serious work done. It uses top-quality mechanical switches in a 105-key layout, and adds on Mac-specific keys as well as other bonus features. I tested the low-profile keyboard in my home office. Here’s why I’m so impressed.

The ninth entrant in Keychron’s custom mechanical keyboard line came out Wednesday, making it abundantly clear the company wants to cover every corner of the market. The new Q9 is for folks who want a tiny keyboard they can customize — maybe one that’s smaller than anything they’ve ever used.

Australia’s national swim team uses Apple Watch, iPad and a combination of apps to improve performance, helping the team in the most-successful period in its history, Apple said Wednesday. As if you needed another thing to make you feel bad about skipping the lap swim at the Y this morning.

During Bluetti Power Week, you can get major savings on the company's products, including the versatile B230 and B300 battery/power stations. If you need serious battery backup that can power your whole house for days during a blackout, Bluetti's got you covered.

Your search for a perfect sports strap for your Apple Watch could be over. The Mifa Nylon Sports Leather Apple Watch Band might just be the ideal go-anywhere, do-anything accessory for your wearable — especially if it’s space gray. And now until September 4 you can get 20% off the tactical, sporty utility band in the Cult of Mac Store.

If you’re thinking of starting a podcast — better hurry up, every single person on earth has one, it seems — you need a good USB microphone. And now you can get a good deal on a popular one, as Amazon has knocked 30% off the regular price of a Blue Yeti Nano USB Microphone.

Chickie Donohue had a great idea: He wanted to bring some beer to his friends fighting in the Vietnam War. Surprisingly, it didn’t go well. What is truly amazing is that Chickie’s story is based on real events. And it’s being turned into a coming-of-age tale called The Greatest Beer Run Ever, starring Zac Efron, which will debut September 30 on Apple TV+.

Apple TV+ offered a first look at upcoming drama series Shantaram this week in the form of a photo of star Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) in character, plus a rundown of the cast and plot of the adventure-romance, set to premiere October 14. And speaking of drama and adventure, the production ran into big trouble on the way to becoming a reality.

On August 18, 2014, Apple added to its other accomplishments by winning an Emmy for "Most Outstanding Commercial of the Year."

Tweetz o' the day

One more thing ...

"I remember reading an article when I was about twelve years old. I think it might have been Scientific American, where they measured the efficiency of locomotion for all these species on planet earth. How many kilocalories did they expend to get from point A to point B? And the condor won, came in at the top of the list, surpassed everything else. And humans came in about a third of the way down the list, which was not such a great showing for the crown of creation. But somebody there had the imagination to test the efficiency of a human riding a bicycle. A human riding a bicycle blew away the condor all the way off the top of the list. And it made a really big impression on me that we humans are tool builders. And that we can fashion tools that amplify these inherent abilities that we have to spectacular magnitudes. And so for me, a computer has always been a bicycle of the mind. Something that takes us far beyond our inherent abilities. And I think we're just at the early stages of this tool." -- Steve Jobs.

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