How to Use Siri, Google Now and Cortana Voice Commands
MAY 8, 2015
Photo
Speech-recognition technology is a part of the Google
app for Android and iOS.
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Q&A
·
Email
Q. I ask the Google app on my phone only about the daily weather forecast,
but how does it compare to the Siri program for the verbal instructions it
understands?
A. Personal assistant apps that respond to spoken-word commands — like Google Now with voice search, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana — handle many of the same requests,
especially those related to apps or services on your mobile device. By asking
aloud, you can have the assistant send mail or messages to people in your
contacts list, make phone calls, log appointments, get directions on a map,
track specific flights and look up information online.
Years ago, before Google created its Google Now
service, the company began developing its voice-enabled search software as a way to make finding
information on the web easier. The speech-recognition technology is a part of
the Google app for Android and
iOS, and the Chrome desktop browser also supports Voice Search. A
voice-activated search begins with the words, “O.K., Google,” and the company’s
site has a set of suggestions for what you can ask on the Android, iOS or Chrome
versions.
PLAY
VIDEO|4:09
Siri and Google
Now, Meet Cortana
Siri and
Google Now, Meet Cortana
Molly Wood
tests out mobile virtual assistants, including Microsoft’s Cortana, to see if
Siri has met her match.
By Vanessa Perez, Ricky Montalvo, Rebekah
Fergusson and Melanie Ruiz on Publish DateApril 23, 2014.
When you
have the Google Now feature turned on within the Android or iOS app, the
service brings you the information it thinks you might need instead of your
having to ask for it. This can include estimated times for your daily commute,
reminders about new episodes of your favorite television shows or places to
visit near your scheduled vacation destination.
Google Now
works most fully on phones or tablets running Android, particularly when it
hooks up with many of the standard system apps. The virtual assistant also
delivers updates and notifications from other programs on your device,
and recently integrated 70 new apps into its workings. If you want
suggestions for how to talk to Google Now, sites likeGreenbot and Trendblog have compiled lengthy lists of the
voice commands found to work with the service. (In addition to the actions
meant to help your productivity, Google has included responses to more
frivolous requests, like “Roll dice,” “Flip a coin” and “What is the loneliest
number?”)
Spoken-word
commands are particularly helpful on mobile devices, whose keyboards are small.
Apple’s Siri app for iOS arrived in 2011 with
the iPhone 4S and has been improving its usefulness ever since. To see a list of queries
and commands you can use with Siri in iOS 8, tap the small question-mark icon
at the bottom-left corner of Siri’s main screen. And for those with Windows
Phones who are curious about conversation with Cortana, Microsoft’s site has a list of sample questions and commands to use with the program, which is also coming to Windows 10.
Preparing for a Speed Test
Q. Why do I get different results on my tablet and my computer when I use the
same web-based test to check my broadband connection speed — and why do I never
get the speed advertised in my monthly plan?
Photo
The typical web-based broadband speed test can be
affected by a number of external factors.
A. The typical
web-based broadband speed test, which measures the time needed to download and
upload a small amount of data, can be affected by a number of external factors.
Most test sites state that you see faster test times over wired connections to
the network, so if the computer is physically connected to the network router
with an Ethernet cable, you are likely to get faster data transfer speeds than
on a tablet that can only use a wireless link.
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Signal
strength issues, distance and interference can slow wireless connections. The
capabilities of the computer and tablet hardware can also affect the test
results, as can the software running on either device, even if you are testing
both over a Wi-Fi connection.
Speed-test
websites are meant to give you a general idea of your connection speed, but Internet
congestion — as well as the sites’ own software and hardware issues — can
hamper them. The time of day that you test your connection might be a factor as
well, as your Internet provider’s network could be slower during peak usage
times when other customers are all online.
Internet
service providers advertise their connection speeds as “up to” a certain
amount, and if you are not seeing numbers remotely close to what you are paying
for, first try improving your testing conditions. Most speed-test sites advise
that you test your service on a wired connection when nobody else on the home
network is downloading or uploading files, streaming audio or video or playing
online games.
You should
also turn off computers or other devices on the network that are not being used
for testing because online backups, automatic downloads and other services that
use the Internet connection could interfere. If your speed-test results are
still well below the advertised rate of your connection plan, speak with your
provider’s technical-support department.
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