Menu Sidebar
Menu

Configure “Hey Siri” on iOS 9

“Hey, Siri” is the feature that iOS devices use to have Siri respond when you speak, as long as your device is plugged in. When you turn on “Hey, Siri” on iOS 9, you’re asked to speak a few times to train Siri to recognize your voice.

Go to the Settings > General > Siri, and toggle Allow “Hey Siri.” You’ll be guided through the process.


IMG 3385   IMG 3386   IMG 3387

IMG 3388   IMG 3389   IMG 3390

Siri will now be better armed to recognize your voice. If you turn off “Hey Siri,” and turn it on later, you’ll have to go through the training again.

Tweet about this on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInEmail this to someone

Apple Watch & Fitness: watchOS 2 Fixes Some Issues, but Heart Rate Still Inconsistent

I’ve written a lot about the Apple Watch, especially about the problems using the device as a fitness tracker. Its resting calories calculation was grossly exaggerated, the heart rate sensor recorded ludicrous numbers, and the device was stingy in recording exercise minutes.

watchOS 2 will be released next week, but I’ve already install the GM (gold master) on my Apple Watch. I’ve found that, while the new software fixes some of these issues, there are still some glitches.

ExerciseFirst, exercise minutes. Previously, my Apple Watch hardly recorded any minutes, no matter what I did. My only exercise is walking, and I walk fairly briskly, generally around 12 min/km. That should be enough to count as exercise; my Fitbit One counts that time as “active minutes.”

With watchOS 2, my Apple Watch records my exercise much better. If I set a workout, either an indoor walk on my treadmill, or an outdoor walk, almost all of the time is counted. If not, some of my walking is counted, but not all.

CaloriesAs for resting calories, they no longer exist. Instead of showing Active Calories, Resting Calories, and Total Calories, the Activity app only displays Active Calories and Total Calories. (And, to confuse things, the Health app calls these Active Energy and Resting Energy.)

It’s true that showing the Resting Calories isn’t very useful; you can do the math if you want. The Total Calories I’ve seen so far seem to show that the resting calorie calculation is much more accurate. (Note that, in the example to the left, I only installed the software around 10 am yesterday, so it doesn’t display a full day’s calories; it didn’t pick up my resting calories before that time.) Read More

Tweet about this on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInEmail this to someone

Why You Don’t Want the New Apple TV if You Just Want to Stream Audio

The new Apple TV is a great device, for using with a TV. But if you want to connect it to an amplifier, to stream music over AirPlay, then it’s not for you. Here’s what the back of the device looks like:

Apple tv

You’ll notice that there is no longer a Toslink (optical audio) output on the back of the Apple TV. The only option you have is HDMI; this is fine to connect to a TV or AV amplifier, but if you want to connect an Apple TV to a DAC, and then to an amp, you’re out of luck. Of course, one option is to use both: an Apple TV 3 for music only, and the new Apple TV for videos, games, apps, etc.

You can still buy the Apple TV 3, which does have a Toslink output; Apple hasn’t discontinued that model, and I speculate they’ll keep it around for a while.

And if you want to stream music to a speaker that doesn’t have AirPlay built in, then you’ll need an AirPort Express, which has a standard headphone jack at the back. (The AirPort Express has a combined analog/digital jack.)

It’s also worth noting that the new Apple TV also only has 10/100BASE‑T Ethernet, and that Ethernet is slower than the 802.11ac wi-fi.

Update: As a commenter points out, HDMI allows for DRM, whereas Toslink doesn’t. This could be the reason for the elimination of the digital optical output: since you can stream Apple Music on the Apple TV, perhaps Apple needs to ensure that you can’t easily copy music you play from it.

Tweet about this on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInEmail this to someone

New Multicolor Option for Modular Watch Face in Apple Watch watchOS 2

MulticolorI like the Modular watch face on the Apple Watch: it displays the information I want in a way that’s easy to see at a glance. Previously, I had set my watch to a bright yellow color, since that stands out best against the black background in light environments.

I installed watchOS 2 yesterday, and as I was fiddling with the colors, I spotted this new multicolor option. I like this. The white lets you see important information quickly, and the other colors add variety. You can’t change any of the colors, but I think they are well chosen. The activity rings show the same colors as when you view them in a glance, or in the Activity app. Weather is blue, which seems to make sense, and it would be cool if it got redder as the temperature increased (it doesn’t). And the battery indicator is green; it should turn orange and red as the battery depletes.

Tweet about this on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInEmail this to someone

A Better Way to Sync Videos to iOS Devices

If you want to sync videos from iTunes to your iOS device, you generally connect the device, then click Movies in the Settings section of the sidebar, and then check or uncheck the movies you want to sync. Unfortunately, the sync interface presents movies by title only, and the titles can be truncated. You can’t sort by, say, date added, to see your most recent movies first.

Sync movies

This isn’t very practical, so I use a different technique. You can see just below the Movies section there is an Include Movies from Playlists section. What I do is use a special playlist for movies; in my case, it’s called iPad Movies.

Include movies

When I want to sync a video, I add it to that playlist; when I want to remove a movie or TV show, I remove it from the playlist. Then, when I connect my iPad, iTunes syncs the video I want without me having to find them in the impractical interface.

You can do the same for TV shows; using a playlist makes it easier to select episodes, which require a lot of clicking in the standard interface.

Tweet about this on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInEmail this to someone
Older Posts


Kirkville

Writings about Macs, music and more by Kirk McElhearn