AppleBen Bajarin is the Director of Consumer Technology Analysis and Research at Creative Strategies, Inc, a technology industry analysis and market intelligence firm located in Silicon Valley.
When Apple showed the world Siri, I believe they showed us the next major man-to-machine user interface.
The idea of talking to computers is nothing new. It has, of course, been featured in sci-fi novels, movies and TV shows for years now. Even software itself has shown shades of voice input as the next user input for over 10 years. The challenge had always been bringing it to the mass market. This is what Apple plans to do with Siri on the iPhone 4S.
(MORE: Apple iPhone 4S Review: It's the iPhone 4, Only More So)
This technology has been in development for quite a while and is getting progressively better. Besides bringing it to the mass market, another challenge has been making it useful by going beyond simple dictation. One of the most impressive elements of Siri is not just the ability to do voice-to-text dictation, but its ability to turn natural-language directives into action.
What I mean by that is that I can use my voice to say, "Remind me to feed my goats when I get home." Because Siri is trained to know where my house is and the iPhone 4S has GPS, the second I drive into my driveway, I get a reminder that tells me to feed the goats. I live on a farm and this is quite handy for me.
It's a valuable proposition to be able to use voice commands to create calendar items, search the web, get abstract information like how many feet are in a mile, search local information, set alarms, check the weather, and much more. This can be done because Siri is tied to some very powerful databases and, through its AI and voice comprehension technology, can deliver some amazingly accurate information that has already proven helpful to me and many who have used this technology.
What is fascinating is that as I have been using Siri, the experience actually feels more like a conversation than me ordering my iPhone to do things. This is because when you use your voice to create an action, Siri asks you relevant questions in order to make sure it takes the correct action.
(MORE: Siri: Can Apple Sell the Concept of Natural Language Computing?)
For example, the first time I told it to call my dad, Siri asked, "What is your father's name?" I responded "Tim" and Siri said, "Do you want me to remember that Tim Bajarin is your father?" I answered yes and Siri acknowledged that it would remember that Tim Bajarin is my father.
Another example was when I was in an unfamiliar part of a city. I brought up the voice prompt and asked, "How do I get home?" Because I had set Siri up to know my home location, it then quickly gave me directions to my house using Google Maps.
Experiences like this cause you to realize that we are only just starting to scratch the surface of using our voices to interact with personal computers.
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comScore released a report yesterday that analyzes internet consumption in light of recent cross-platform trends. It highlights 
comScore states that Android devices have a higher percentage of the smartphone market, but when looking at all connected devices - that is, including tablets and PMPs - iOS comes out a clear winner with 43.1% of all connected devices. Android's share was only 34.1% in this regard.
Furthermore, when looking at how much traffic is consumed by these devices, iOS again emerges on top. iOS had 58.5% of all non-computer based internet traffic, compared to Android's 31.9%. Not only does iOS beat Android, but when comparing iOS's traffic consumption (58.5%) to its device share (43.1%) we can see that iOS users also consume more on average than other users.The report also highlight some other interesting facts about tablet use in general. Tablets significantly help real-time social networking, with 3 out of 5 owners using a tablet to update their statuses. Further, the same ratio consume news of some kind on their device, and 25% of them use their tablet for this purpose almost daily. All of this is likely helped by the increasing numbers of free-to-use WiFi hotspots across the country.Lastly, comScore explains that tablet users by and large are "early technology adopters." Characteristically, this means young males in upper income brackets. The statistics corroborate this with 54.7% of all tablet owners being male, 30% being between the ages of 25 and 34, and 45.9% belonging to households whose income exceeds the $100K mark.So what does this mean for the future? Aside from iOS being a favorite of heavy users, we can see that tablet use comprises a large portion of internet-connected devices. They're here to stay, as evidenced by iPad traffic exceeding iPhone traffic. And, although currently they're dominated by a minority of the market (young men with higher than average incomes), the trend will continue to grow as prices fall and make tablets available to more consumers.[via 
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The Next Web has just revealed some new information about Apple's new iPhone.They claim based on information they've received from "sources familiar" with the situation, Apple's new iPhone will come with “more definitive GPS features” thanks to Apple's faster dual A5 processor that is expected to power the fifth generation iPhone.The Next Web reports:Sources familiar with Apple’s plans have revealed to us that Apple will indeed debut the new iPhone 4S today, featuring an 8-megapixel camera with “enhanced optics” and “more definitive GPS features” thanks to Apple’s new A5 processor.Other information in the report seems to be in line with the rumors and speculations we've heard so far. Apple's fifth generation iPhone is expected to come with the faster A5 processor, improved 8-megapixel camera, 1GB RAM and Apple's new revolutionary Assistant feature.It will be interesting to see if Apple will launch a new Maps application and if it gave us a hint with the Maps icon in the invite for the event.It less than 2 hours to go, but the wait seems unbearable. Live coverage of the event starts here.[via The Next Web]TweetRelated PostsApples Testing iOS 4.1 On Next Generation iPod Touch, iPad And A Mystery DeviceiPhone 5 Features: Faster Dual-Core A5 Chip, 1GB RAM, 8-Megapixel Camera, With Revolutionary New Assistant Feature?Apple To Launch Thinner And Lighter iPhone 5 In Third QuarterApple To Unveil iPhone 5 With Radical New Case Design In August?iPhone 5 Could Be ‘Bigger Upgrade Than Expected’