“Siri and I have been shacking up together on my MacBook for about two months now,” Matt Elliott writes for CNET. “How useful is Apple’s digital assistant on a Mac? Let me count the ways.”
The 13 best uses of Siri on a Mac:
1. Find files
2. Read emails
3. Bing web search
4. Set reminders
5. Post to Facebook or Twitter
6. Launch an app
7. Open a website
8. Send texts
9. Find photos
10. Play some music
11. Control settings
12. Check free disk space
13. Check the weather
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “Who won the football game last night?”
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s Siri feels like a true personal assistant on Macintosh – July 1, 2016
macOS Sierra: The essential guide to using Siri on your Mac – June 24, 2016
Conversing with Apple’s Siri in macOS Sierra already feels almost natural – June 22, 2016
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Bing ????????
You’d rather use Google? J/k
I do actually use bing because of the reward program. $5/month on average toward my Amazon books. Hilarious they have to bribe me to do it though lol. If they ever get rid of rewards I’ll just switch to the Duck Duck Go I keep hearing about.
Yup. Sad to say that Apple made Bing the default search engine for Siri. From my research, no one has yet figured out a way to change it. The workaround is to begin your request with:
“Search xyz for…”.
Replace ‘xyz’ with your favorite search engine.
Siri is a bit slow at understanding ‘Duck Duck Go’, so say it slowly (or in special English as the USA ‘Voice Of America’ shortwave station absurdly puts it).
Seeing as you can change the default search engine for Siri in iOS, I expect outcry will kick Apple into allowing the change in macOS as well.
I wonder if the delightful Mr Cook just couldn’t help but count the pennies from a deal to make it ever present. Another shafting to the loyal customers.
We know Apple get’s paid for making Bing the default. *sigh* And maybe Apple got extra $$$ for providing no ability to change the default on Macs. Considering that we’re talking about perpetually evil arch rival Microsoft, I have to bring up that ever present modern phrase: Customer Abuse. 😛
how do you get her to read email? I asked “read highlighted email” read “current email” read “email” nothing happens?
So far, all I’ve found Siri can do is read through the list of the most recent email you’ve received. Siri is oblivious when it comes to actually reading an email message. That’s absurd seeing as you can highlight text anywhere on the Mac and use a keystroke to have the Mac read it to you. There’s no reason Siri can’t do exactly the same thing if you ask. She’s (he’s) got some learning to do.
More of the same:
15 Cool Ways to Use Siri in macOS Sierra
1. Check the Weather
2. Enable or Disable ‘Do Not Disturb’
3. Mute Your Speakers
4. Ask a History Question
5. Spell a Word
6. Enable or Disable Wi-Fi
7. Set Up Reminders
8. Check Sports Scores and Stats
9. Turn Bluetooth On or Off
10. Find Files Quickly
11. Check Your Mac’s Free Space
12. Search the Web
13. Send Text Messages & Tweets
14. Be Your Personal DJ
15. Customize Siri’s Voice & Shortcut
I turned Siri off when I installed macOS Sierra.
If it did not exist, I would not be interested in having it.
Better on the iPhone, though, where it’s a time-saver.
I’ve never used it.
I’ve turned it on accidental a couple times and it adds clutter to the menu bar.
Well I still haven’t taught siri to understand the word ‘Air’ as yet I gave up after about 15 attempts using every speed of delivery and accent under the sun. Anyone else able to get her to comprehend that word? Can’t imagine shy it’s do difficult to get right. Some of her alternatives were really something else, obscure to virtually no similarity at all, too much wacky backy methinks.
The Brits have a bad habit of not pronouncing the letter R in many words and adding an R where it does not belong: “I drove my caw across Canader in foe days.