Seeking to catch up to rivals in the realm of voice-controlled services, Apple soon will allow software developers to connect their apps to its Siri digital assistant for the first time, according to a report on Tuesday. Apple also may offer a device similar to the Amazon Echo voice-controlled speaker, according to the report on The Information tech news web site. The report, citing anonymous sources, said Apple will soon release a software development kit allowing other companies to integrate their apps and services with Siri, while the company is still developing the "smart" speaker project. Amazon, by contrast, has partnered with numerous other companies so that owners of its Echo speaker can use the device to call an Uber car, order a Domino's pizza or play music from Spotify. Google last week announced it too would offer a voice-controlled speaker device, dubbed Google Home, that would also be open to third party services.

Apple is taking two big steps to improve its voice-controlled assistant, Siri, according to a new report from tech news site the Information that cites a single person with "direct knowledge" of Apple's plans. For one, it's apparently working on a standalone speaker that can house the voice-controlled assistant, like Amazon's Echo or the forthcoming Google Home. That may sound like some pretty big news, even Apple is a little late to the market for smart home hubs, apart from some small forays with Siri and the Apple TV. But the real revelation from the Infomation article is the report that Apple's going to open Siri up to developers, perhaps as soon as next month during the company's annual developers conference. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the report. "A change in Apple's developer relationship is more exciting than a new product?"

S. Somasegar is a venture partner at Madrona Venture Group and the former head of Microsoft's Developer Division.. Daniel Li is an investor with Madrona Venture Group. Application intelligence is the process of using machine learning technology to create apps that use historical and real-time data to make predictions and decisions to deliver rich, adaptive, personalized experiences for users. We believe that every successful new application built today will be an intelligent application. The armies of chat bots and virtual assistants, the e-commerce sites that show the right recommendations at the right time and the latest dating apps are all built to learn and create continuously improving experiences. In addition, legacy applications are becoming more and more intelligent to compete and keep pace with this new wave of applications. We have spent time thinking about the various ways intelligent apps emerge -- and how they are built.

Popular tech blogger and software developer Marco Arment over the weekend argued that Apple's apparent failure to invest heavily in artificial intelligence wouldn't potentially render the tech giant irrelevant in the future. AI is currently fueling much-hyped personal assistants from rivals and Arment fears Apple's inaction may make the company the next BlackBerry (BBRY), which notoriously got crushed by Apple's iPhone. But Apple's success elsewhere should be able to keep it in the game, and moreover, the company might not necessarily need to develop its own AI software and services to remain competitive, some analysts say. Arment's criticism comes as Amazon (AMZN) enjoys unexpected success with its Echo digital personal assistant devices and days after Alphabet's Google (GOOGL) said it would introduce its own Echo-like devices later this year. The Amazon devices are based on its Alexa artificial intelligence assistant, while Google will incorporate its similar Google Now assistant into its devices.

Apple is preparing an SDK that would allow developers much greater access to Siri -- and the improved assistant will power a stationary hub device like Amazon's Echo. A report from The Information tallies with things we've heard over the last few weeks; expect an announcement, if not the device itself, at WWDC in June. Siri, sad to say, has not aged well. Features that were impressive four or five years ago have lost their luster, and rival services have leapfrogged the famous virtual assistant in countless ways. Siri's creators, of course, moved on years ago to work on something better: Viv, which they announced just weeks ago at Disrupt NY.

While much of Silicon Valley has been duking it out with each other in the artificial intelligence wars, Apple has been strangely silent. But it might not be for much longer. The Information has just reported that Apple is working on two bold new moves to broaden its AI strategy. First, the Cupertino firm will supposedly open up Siri to third-party developers, so that the voice assistant can be used with anyone's apps, not just Apple's own. More interestingly, however, Apple is also apparently working on a smart Bluetooth speaker not unlike Amazon's Echo or Google Home.

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple is planning to make Siri smarter by linking it to the vast menu of iOS apps and eventually will deploy the digital assistant on a standalone device similar to Amazon's best-selling Echo. The news, reported Tuesday by tech media site The Information, answers an oft-asked question about why the iPhone-maker seems to be sitting on the sidelines as a growing number of companies from Google to Siri-offshoot Viv make big announcements about the coming age of voice-activated machine learning. Citing unnamed sources, the article said Apple was preparing to release a software developer kit, or SDK, that would allow app-makers to allow their products to integrate with Siri. Apple's annual Worldwide Develop Conference is scheduled for June 13 in San Francisco. Apple, which hasn't had a brand new product since the release of Apple Watch a year ago March, is said to be working on an a device with a speaker and microphone that would compete with Amazon Echo as well as Google's recently announced Google Home.

Apple is developing a'Siri speaker' for the home and is set to allow app makers to access its smart assistant, it has been revealed. The move would put Apple in a three way battle with Amazon and Google. The speaker would double as a music player, and could be revealed next month at the firm's annual developer conference, it is believed. Now the firm is set to unveil a new speaker powered by its Siri assistant. 'Apple is upping its game in the field of intelligent assistants,' wrote Amir Efrati of The Information, who revealed the speaker.

S. Somasegar is a venture partner at Madrona Venture Group and the former head of Microsoft's Developer Division.. Daniel Li is an investor with Madrona Venture Group. Application intelligence is the process of using machine learning technology to create apps that use historical and real-time data to make predictions and decisions to deliver rich, adaptive, personalized experiences for users. We believe that every successful new application built today will be an intelligent application. The armies of chat bots and virtual assistants, the e-commerce sites that show the right recommendations at the right time, and the latest dating apps, are all built to learn and create continuously improving experiences. In addition, legacy applications are becoming more and more intelligent to compete and keep pace with this new wave of applications. We have spent time thinking about the various ways Intelligent Apps emerge – and how they are built.

Two carjacking suspects who reportedly used the gay dating app Grindr to lure their victims have been arrested by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, officials said Tuesday. The carjackings occurred over the last two weeks in the high desert communities of Victorville and Adelanto, according to deputies. "On both occasions, the victims had blindly met the suspects using the dating application Grindr," the Sheriff's Department said. The first carjacking was reported May 15 when Steven Thomas, 24, of Victorville, met up with a victim and robbed him, deputies said. Thomas, who was on parole for possessing stolen property, stole the victim's wallet and vehicle at gunpoint near the intersection of Muskrat Avenue and Air Expressway in Adelanto, deputies said.