Today’s technological advances undoubtedly make our everyday lives much simpler. One example is Apple’s digital assistant, known as Siri. Siri was first released in October 2011 as a beta on the iPhone 4s. Today Siri comes standard on every iPhone and iPad.
What can Siri do? Siri can answer your questions, tell jokes, set alarms, and timers, give restaurant suggestions, create reminders, solve math problems, call, text, or Facetime your friends and family, and so much more. You can even get Siri to call you by a funny nickname! Have you ever been in traffic and needed quick directions? Siri makes that simple! Just press and hold the iPhone’s home button, or say, “Hey, Siri,” and you will hear two quick beeps to let you know that Siri is listening. Next, tell Siri your destination by using a phrase such as “directions to 123 Main St,” and she will open Maps, with the navigation to your destination. Another of Siri’s useful tricks is song recognition. If you’re in a restaurant and hear a song you love, simply activate Siri and ask, “What song is playing?. You can also have Siri launch apps, change settings (like turning WiFi on and off), and read you your emails. Want to go to a movie with friends? Ask Siri what’s playing nearby, and she can give you information on nearby theaters, including movie titles and showtimes.
Since September 2013, starting with iOS7, you have the option of changing Siri’s voice to a male voice. To do this, open the Settings app, tap Siri, and select Voice Gender. Since then, you can also choose a variety of accents for Siri.
The woman behind the voice of Siri is Susan Bennett. Born in New York in 1949, Bennett began her voice recording career with the First National Bank of Atlanta in 1974. When she signed the contract with Apple, she had no idea what her voice would be used for In a statement made by Bennett, she said she first learned she was the voice of Siri when a colleague emailed her after hearing Siri speak! Her voice has been used in television advertisements, for many companies, including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Ford, and Visa. In 2017, Bennett also appeared as the voice of Batman’s computer in The Lego Batman Movie.
There are many other companies that use Siri’s voice; one important one is iGotOffer.com.Susan Bennett is under contract with iGotOffer.com to use her voice on their answering machine. iGotOffer is a website that allows you to sell your old iPhone online at the best price. Why let your old, unused iPhone sit around in that drawer? Turn that old phone into cash with iGotOffer today!
So you can hear the original Siri when you call iGotOffer. Other than that, Siri is everywhere. Whether she’s a he or she, from England or Australia, you have a digital assistant at your service, to meet your every need!
