Siri comes with a cheat sheet to help you learn her capabilities. To see it, open Siri but don’t say anything. After 5 seconds of silence, Siri begins displaying screen after screen of example commands, under the heading “Some things you can ask me.”
Or just open Siri and then say, “What can I say?” or “What can you do?” or “Help me!” The same cheat sheet appears.
Here are the general categories of things you can say to Siri:
Opening apps. Even if you don’t learn to use Siri for anything else, for the love of Mike, learn this one.
You can say, “Open Calendar” or “Play Angry Birds” or “Launch Calculator.”
Result: The corresponding app opens instantly. It’s exactly the same as pressing the Home button, swiping across the screen until you find the app you’re looking for, and then tapping its icon—but without pressing the Home button, swiping across the screen until you find the app you’re looking for, and then tapping its icon.
Change your settings. You can make changes to certain basic settings just by speaking your request. You can say, for example, “Turn on Bluetooth,” “Turn off Wi-Fi,” “Turn on Do Not Disturb.”
You can also make screen and speaker adjustments: “Make the screen brighter.” “Dim the screen.” “Turn on the screensaver.” Or volume adjustments: “Make the volume louder.” “Mute the sound.” “Make the speaker softer.”
Result: Siri makes the requested adjustment, tells you so, and displays a link to the corresponding switch in case she misunderstood your intention.
Open System Preferences panels. When you need to make tweakier changes, you can open the most important panels by voice. “Open Wi-Fi System Preferences,” “Open Notification settings,” “Open Sounds settings,” “Open wallpaper settings,” and so on.
Result: Siri silently opens the corresponding page of System Preferences.
Round up files. This is a big one—and a Mac Special (not on the iPhone): You can use Siri to manage files. “Find the documents I worked on last week.” “Show me the PDFs in my Downloads folder.” “What was I working on yesterday?” “Show me the Microsoft Word documents I worked on two days ago.” “Show me the files I shared with Casey yesterday.” “Round up all my Photoshop files.” “Where are the files tagged In Progress?” “List all the files with the word ‘Asparagus.’ ” “Let’s see the files on my desktop.” “Get my Vacation folder.” “Show me the file I sent Casey.”
Siri remembers context, too, so you can then add, “Just the presentations that Bill sent me.”
Siri is especially handy with files that you keep in the Photos app. “Show me the videos from Halloween last year.” “Get me the videos from Utah.” “Show me the Disney World album.” “Open the Panoramas presentation.” “Show me the slow-mo videos from Oberlin College.” “Give me the pictures from last summer.”
Result: Siri shows you a tidy list of matching files (Figure 8-6). Double-click one to open it, or drag one into any other window or folder. Or right-click a listing and, from the shortcut menu, choose Quick Look or Reveal in Finder.
Navigating your Mac. “Open the Downloads folder.” “Open Documents.” “Open the Trash.”
Result: The Finder folder pops open. If you ask for a folder that you’ve made, the Mac shows it to you in a list instead of opening it directly; you have to double-click the folder to open it.
Questions about your Mac. “How much free space do I have on my Mac?” “What version of macOS is running?” “What’s this Mac’s serial number?” “How fast is my Mac?” “Is Bluetooth on?” “How much memory does this Mac have?” “How much iCloud storage do I have left?”
Result: Siri displays the answer.
Wrap up for the day. “Put the Mac to sleep.” “Shut Down the Mac.”
Result: Your Mac blinks off. Creepy.
FaceTime calls. Siri can place FaceTime calls for you. “Call Nicole.” “Call the office.” “Start a FaceTime call with Sheila Withins.” “FaceTime Alex.”
Result: Siri hands you off to the FaceTime app and places the call. At this point, it’s just as though you’d initiated the call yourself. Strangely, Siri can’t place phone calls for you, even though the Mac can (see Mac as Speakerphone).
Clock. “What time is it?” “What time is it in San Francisco?” “What’s today’s date?” “What’s the date a week from Friday?” Or just “Time.”
Result: When you ask about the time, you see the clock identifying the time in question. (For dates, Siri just talks to you and writes out the date.)
Contacts. You can ask Siri to look up information in your address book (the Contacts app)—and not just addresses. For example, you can say, “What’s Gary’s work number?” “Give me Sheila Jenkins’ office phone.” “Show Tia’s home email address.” “What’s Casey’s home address?” “When is my husband’s birthday?” “Show Larry Murgatroid.” “Who is P.J. Frankenberg?”
Result: A half “page” from your Contacts list. You can tap it to jump into that person’s full card in Contacts. (If Siri finds multiple listings for the person you named—“Bob,” for example—she lists all the matches and asks you to specify which one you meant.)
Tip
In many of the examples on these pages, you’ll see that you can identify people by their relationship to you. You can say, “Show my mom’s work number,” for example, or “Give me directions to my boss’s house” or “Call my girlfriend.” For details on teaching Siri about these relationships, see Advanced Siri.
Email. Siri can read your email to you. For example, if you say, “Read my latest email” or “Read my new email,” Siri reads aloud your most recent email message. (She then offers you the chance to dictate a response.)
Or you can use the summary-listing commands. When you say, “Read my email,” Siri starts walking backward through your Inbox, telling you the subject of each, plus who sent it and when.
After a few listings, Siri asks, “Shall I read the rest?” That’s your opportunity to shut down what could be a very long recitation. If you say, “Yes,” she goes on to read the entire list of subject lines, dates, and senders.
Tip
You can also use commands like “Any new mail from Chris today?” “Show new mail about the world premiere.” “Show yesterday’s email from Jan.” All of those commands produce a list of the messages, but Siri doesn’t read them.
Result: Siri reads aloud.
You can also compose a new message by voice; anytime you use the phrase “about,” that becomes the subject line for your new message. “Email Mom about the reunion.” “Email my boyfriend about the dance on Friday.” “New email to Freddie Gershon.” “Mail Mom about Saturday’s flight.” “Email Frank and Cindy Vosshall and Peter Love about the picnic.” “Email my assistant and say, ‘Thanks for arranging the taxi!’ ” “Email Gertie and Eugene about their work on the surprise party, and say I really value your friendship.”
(If you’ve indicated only the subject or addressee, Siri prompts you for the rest.)
You can reply to a message Siri has just described, too. “Reply, ‘Dear Robin (comma), I’m so sorry about your dog (period). I’ll be more careful next time (period).’ ” Or “Send him a text message saying, ‘I got your note.’ ”
Result: A miniature Mail message, showing you Siri’s handiwork before you send it.
Calendar. Siri can make appointments for you. Considering how many tedious clicks it usually takes to schedule an appointment in the Calendar app, this is an enormous improvement. “Make an appointment with Patrick for Thursday at 3 p.m.” “Set up a haircut at 9.” “Set up a meeting with Charlize this Friday at noon.” “Meet Danny Cooper at six.” “New appointment with Steve, next Sunday at 7.” “Schedule a conference call at 5:30 tonight in my office.”
Result: A slice of that day’s calendar appears, filled in the way you requested.
Tip
Siri may also alert you to a conflict, something like this: “Note that you already have an all-day appointment about ‘Boston Trip’ for this Thursday. Shall I schedule this anyway?” Amazing.
You can also move previously scheduled meetings by voice. For example, “Move my 2:00 meeting to 2:30.” “Reschedule my meeting with Charlize to a week from Monday at noon.” “Add Frank to my meeting with Harry.” “Cancel the conference call on Sunday.”
You can even consult your calendar by voice. You can say, “What’s on my calendar today?” “What does the rest of my day look like?” “What’s on my calendar for September 23?” “When’s my next appointment?” “When is my meeting with Charlize?” “Where is my next meeting?” “What’s my day tomorrow?”
Result: Siri reads you your agenda and displays a tidy Day view of the specified date.
Directions. Siri can set up the Maps app to answer requests like these: “How do I get to the airport?” “Show me 1500 Broadway, New York City.” “Directions to my assistant’s house.” “Take me home.” You just have to make sure Siri can access Location Services; you can do that in the System Preferences→Security & Privacy→Privacy. But, if you don’t, Siri will just direct you there the first time you ask for directions. You can ask for directions to the home or work address of anyone in your Contacts list—provided those addresses are in your Contacts cards.
Result: Siri fires up the Maps app, with the start and end points of your driving directions already filled in.
Reminders. Siri is a natural match for the Reminders app. She can add items to that list at your spoken command. For example: “Remind me to file my IRS tax extension.” “Remind me to bring the science supplies to school.” “Remind me to take my antibiotic tomorrow at 7 a.m.”
If you also have an iPhone, the location-based reminders are especially amazing. They rely on the phone’s GPS to know where you are. So, on the Mac, you can say, “Remind me to visit the drugstore when I leave the office,” or “Remind me to water the lawn when I get home,” or “Remind me to check in with Nancy when I leave here.” Since iCloud magically syncs all of your reminders across devices, the phone will pop up a reminder when you reach, or leave, the specified locations.
Result: A miniature entry from the Reminders app, showing you that Siri has understood.
Text messages. “Send a text to Alex Rybeck.” “Send a message to Peter saying, ‘I no longer require your services.’ ” “Tell Cindy I’m running late.” “Send a message to Jane’s mobile asking her to pick me up at the train.” “Send a text message to 212-561-2282.” “Text Frank and Ralph: Did you pick up the pizza?”
Result: Siri prompts you for the body of the message, if you haven’t specified it. Then you see a miniature outgoing text message. Siri asks if you want to send it; say “Yes,” “Send,” or “Confirm” to proceed. (See Figure 8-7, left.)
Figure 8-7. Left: Siri is your little text-message secretary. It’s happy to send and read text messages for you, right from your Mac.
If you need to edit the message before sending it, you can say, “Change it to” to re-dictate the message; “Add” to add more to the message; “No, send it to Frank” to change the recipient; “No” to leave the message on the screen without sending it; or “Cancel” to forget the whole thing.
You can also ask Siri to read incoming text messages to you, which is great if you’re driving. For example, you can say, “Read my new messages,” “Read that again,” or “Read my last message from Tia.”
You can even have Siri reply to messages she’s just read to you. “Reply, ‘Congratulations (period). Can’t wait to see your trophy (exclamation point)!’ ” Or: “Tell him I have a flat tire and I’m going to be late.”
Notes. You create a new note (in the Notes app) by saying things like, “Make a note that my shirt size is 15 and a half” or “Note: Dad will not be coming to the reunion after all.” You can even name the note in your request: “Create a ‘Movies to Rent’ note.”
But you can also call up a certain note to the screen, like this: “Find my frequent-flyer note.” You can even summon a table-of-contents view of all your notes by saying, “Show all my notes.”
Result: A miniature Notes page appears, showing your newly dictated text (or the existing note that you’ve requested).
Tip
You can keep dictating into the note you’ve just added. Say, “Add ‘Return books to library’ ” (or just say, “Add,” and Siri will ask you what to add). She’ll keep adding to the same note until you say, “Note that…” or “Start a note” or “Take a note” to begin a fresh note page.
You can add text to an earlier note: “Add Titanic II: The Voyage Home to my ‘Movies to Rent’ note.” (The first line of any note is also its title—in this case “Movies to Rent.”)
Restaurants. Siri is also happy to serve as your personal concierge. Try “Good Italian restaurants around here,” “Find a good pizza joint in Cleveland,” or “Show me the reviews for Olive Garden in Youngstown.” (See Figure 8-7, right.)
(On the Mac, Siri can’t book reservations through OpenTable, as she can on the iPhone.)
Result: Siri displays a list of matching restaurants—with ratings, reviews, hours, and so on. Click a name for more information.
Businesses. Siri is a walking (well, all right, non-walking) Yellow Pages. Go ahead, try it: “Find coffee near me.” “Where’s the closest Walmart?” “Find some pizza places in Cincinnati.” “Search for gas stations.” “French restaurants nearby.” “I’m in the mood for Chinese food.” “Find me a hospital.”
Result: Siri displays a handsome list of businesses nearby that match your request.
Tip
She’s a sly dog, that Siri. She’ll help you out even if your requests are, ahem, somewhat off the straight and narrow. If you say, “I think I’m drunk,” she’ll offer a “Call me a taxi” button, which produces a list of cab companies. If you indicate that you’re craving relief from your drug addiction, she’ll provide you with a list of rehab centers. If you refer to certain biological urges, she’ll list escort services.
Playing music. Instead of fumbling around in your Music app, save yourself steps and time by speaking the name of the album, song, or band: “Play some Beatles.” “Play ‘I’m a Barbie Girl.’ ” “Play some jazz.” “Play my jogging playlist.” “Play the party mix.” “Shuffle my ‘Dave’s Faves’ playlist.” “Play.” “Pause.” “Resume.” “Skip.”
And, of course, podcasts work the same way. “Play podcasts.” “Jump back 15 seconds.” “Skip ahead two minutes.” “Find the ‘Serial’ podcast in the iTunes Store.”
Result: Siri plays (or skips, shuffles, or pauses) the music you asked for—without ever leaving whatever app you were using.
Apple Music. If you subscribe to Apple’s $10-a-month Apple Music service, Siri offers a huge range of even more useful voice controls. For example, you can call for any music in Apple’s 30 million–song catalog by song name, album, or performer: “Play ‘Mr. Blue Sky.’ ” “Show me some Elton John albums.” “Play ‘Yesterday’ next” (or “…after this song”). Or ask to have a singer or album played in random order: “Shuffle Taylor Swift.”
When you hear a song you like, you can say, “Play more like this.” Or “Add this song [or album] to my library.” (Or, if you don’t like it, “Skip this song.”)
If more than one person performed a song, be specific: “Play ‘Smooth Criminal’ by Glee.” You can even ask for a song according to the movie it was in. “Play that song from Frozen.”
Or start one of your playlists by name (“Play ‘Jogging’ ”). Or re-listen to a song: “Play previous.” Or ask for one of Apple Music’s radio stations: “Play Beats 1” or “Play Charting Now.”
While music is playing, Siri’s happy to tell you what you’re listening to. (“What song is this?” “Who’s the singer?” “What album is this from?”) You can also tell her, “Like this song” or “Rate this song five stars.” She’ll note that and offer you more songs like it on the For You screen of the Apple Music app.
You can ask her to play the top hits of any year or decade. (“Play the top song from 1990.” “Play the top 35 songs of the 1960s.”)
Result: Just what you asked for!
Identifying music. Whenever the Mac is playing music, you can say things like, “What’s that song?” or “What song is this?”
Result: Siri identifies whatever song the Mac is playing—song name, singer, album, and so on. At this point, you can (shocker!) say, “Buy this song” or “Add this song to my wish list.”
Weather. “What’s the weather going to be today?” “What’s the forecast for tomorrow?” “Show me the weather this week.” “Will it snow in Dallas this weekend?” “Check the forecast for Memphis on Friday.” “What’s the forecast for tonight?” “Can you give me the wind speed in Kansas City?” “Tell me the windchill in Anchorage.” “What’s the humidity right now?” “How’s the weather in Paris?” “What’s the high for Washington on Friday?” “When will Jupiter rise tomorrow?” “When’s the moonrise?” “How cold will it be in Houston tomorrow?” “What’s the temperature outside?” “Is it windy out there?” “When does the sun rise in London?” “When will the sun set today?” “Should I wear a jacket?”
Result: A convenient miniature Weather display for the date and place you specified.
Stocks. “What’s Google’s stock price?” “What did Ford close at today?” “How’s the Dow doing?” “What’s Microsoft’s P/E ratio?” “What’s Amazon’s average volume?” “How are the markets doing?”
Result: A tidy little stock graph, bearing a wealth of up-to-date statistics.
iBooks. “Find Little Women in iBooks.” “Buy The Corrections in iBooks.” “Find books by Martha Stewart.”
Result: The iBooks app opens and does your bidding.
Find My Friends. You see this category only if you’ve installed Apple’s Find My Friends widget. “Where’s Ferd?” “Is my dad home?” “Where are my friends?” “Who’s here?” “Who is nearby?” “Is my mom at work?” “Let me know when my wife gets home.”
Result: Siri shows you a beautiful little map with the requested person’s location clearly indicated by a blue pushpin. (She does, that is, if you’ve set up Find My Friends, you’ve logged in, and your friends have made their locations available on their iPhones.)
Sports. At last you have a buddy who’s just as obsessed with sports trivia as you are (Figure 8-8, left). You can say things like, “How did the Indians do last night?” “What was the score of the last Yankees game?” “When’s the next Cowboys game?” “What baseball games are on today?”
You can also ask questions about individual players, like, “Who has the best batting average?” “Who has scored the most runs against the Red Sox?” “Who has scored the most goals in British soccer?”
Figure 8-8. Everything you always wanted to know about movies and sports but thought it’d be too much trouble to ask.
And, of course, team stats are fair game, like, “Show me the roster for the Giants,” “Who is pitching for Tampa this season?” and “Is anyone on the Marlins injured right now?”
Result: Neat little box scores or factoids, complete with team logos.
Movies. Siri is also the virtual equivalent of an insufferable film buff. She knows everything. “Who was the star of Groundhog Day?” “Who directed Chinatown?” “What is Waterworld rated?” “What movie won Best Picture in 1952?”
It’s not just about old movies, either. Siri knows everything about current showtimes in theaters (Figure 8-8, right). “What movies are opening this week?” “What’s playing at the Watton Cineplex?” “Give me the reviews for Titanic 2: The Return.” “What are today’s showtimes for Assassin’s Creed ?”
Result: Tidy tables of movie theaters or movie showtimes. (Tap one for details.) Sometimes you get a movie poster filled with facts—and, of course, a link to rent or buy it on iTunes.
Search the web. “Search the web for a 2016 Ford Mustang.” “Search for healthy smoothie recipes.” “Search for news about the Netflix-Amazon merger.” “Search the web for pictures of cows.”
Tip
Siri uses Microsoft’s Bing search service to perform its web searches. If you prefer Google, just say so. Say, “Google Benjamin Franklin.” (For that matter, you can also ask Siri to “Yahoo” something—for example, “Yahoo low-cal dessert recipes.”)
Result: Siri displays the results of your search right on her own screen. Tap one of the results to open the corresponding web page in Safari.
Facts and figures. This is a huge category. It represents Siri’s partnership with the Wolfram Alpha factual search engine (www.wolframalpha.com). The possibilities here could fill an entire chapter—or an entire encyclopedia.
You can say things like, “How many days until Valentine’s Day?” “When was Abraham Lincoln born?” “How many teaspoons are in a gallon?” “What’s the exchange rate between dollars and euros?” “What’s the capital of Belgium?” “How many calories are in a Hershey bar?” “What’s a 17 percent tip on 62 dollars for three people?” “What movie won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1985?” “When is the next solar eclipse?” “What’s the tallest mountain in the world?” “What’s the definition of ‘schadenfreude’?” “How much is 23 dollars in pesos?” “Generate a random number.” “Graph x equals 3y plus 12.” “What flights are overhead?”
Result: For simple math and conversions, Siri just shows you the answer. For more complex questions, you get a specially formatted table, ripped right out of Wolfram Alpha’s knowledge base.
Post to Twitter or Facebook. Siri is a red-blooded, full-blown Twitter companion. So you can say things like, “Tweet, ‘I just saw a three-headed dog catch a Frisbee in midair. Unreal.’ ”
Facebook is fair game, too. You can say, “Post to Facebook, ‘The guy next to me kept his cellphone on for the whole plane ride,’ ” or “Write on my timeline, ‘I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.’ ”
Result: Siri offers you a sheet (miniature dialog box) where you can approve the transcription and then, if it all looks good, send it off to your Twitter or Facebook feed.
Tip
If someone’s Twitter address is recorded in Contacts, you can say, “Tweet Casey Robin: Loved your last tweet!” Siri sends a tweet to that person (@CaseyRobin253 Loved your last tweet!). Anyone who follows both of you will see that tweet. (Alas, Siri cannot send direct messages—private person-to-person tweets.)
Search Twitter. If you say something like, “What are people saying?” or “What’s going on?” or “What’s happening on Twitter?” you see a list of tweets on the current trending topics on Twitter. (Tap a tweet in the list to open it into a new window that contains more information and a View in Twitter button.)
Or ask, “What are people saying about the Chicago Bears?” to read tweets on that subject. Or “Search Twitter for the hashtag ‘FirstWorldProblems.’ ” (A hashtag is a searchable phrase like #toofunny or #macOS, which makes finding relevant tweets on Twitter much easier.)
Result: Siri displays 10 tweets that match your query.
You may never find the end of the things Siri understands, or the ways that she can help you. If her repertoire seems intimidating at first, start simple—use her to open apps, find files, send text messages, and take notes. You can build up your bag of tricks as your confidence builds.
If Siri doesn’t have a good enough Internet connection to do her thing, she’ll tell you so.
If she’s working properly but misrecognizes your instructions, you’ll know it, because you can see her interpretation of what you said. You can click Siri’s interpretation to make corrections by typing.
Tip
You can also correct a misheard command just by speaking the correct version, like this, “I meant Chicago.” Siri gets what you mean.
If Siri recognizes what you said but it isn’t within her world of comprehension, she offers you a “Search the web” button as a last resort.
Siri’s understanding of casual spoken commands is so impressive that you might sometimes think she’s almost human. And that, of course, is exactly what Apple wants you to think.
You can say all kinds of off-kilter things to Siri. Whoever programmed her had a sassy sense of humor.
For example, if you ask her, “What is the meaning of life?” she responds with one of more than a dozen different answers. She might say, “I can’t answer that now, but give me some time to write a very long play in which nothing happens.” Or: “It’s nothing Nietzsche couldn’t teach ya.” Or: “All evidence to date suggests it’s chocolate.”
Siri is full of such comebacks, and there are whole websites dedicated to her snark. Here are a few examples. (This list won’t ruin the fun, because Siri actually has several different comebacks to most of these questions.)
You: “Who’s your daddy?” Siri: “You are. Can we get back to work now?”
You: “Open the pod bay doors, Hal.” Siri: “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” (Then: “Are you happy now?”)
You: “Knock knock.” Siri: “Knock knock. Who’s there? Joshua. Joshua who? Joshua, I don’t do knock-knock jokes.”
You: “What are you wearing?” Siri: “You have the wrong personal assistant, David.”
You: “Who’s the boss?” (Siri presents the vital statistics of Bruce Springsteen.)
You: “Beam me up, Siri!” Siri: “Please remove your belt, shoes, and jacket, and empty your pockets.”
You: “Show me the money.” Siri: “I’ve found 23 ATMs that are fairly close to you…”
You, in the evening: “Good morning, Siri.” Siri: “Good morning? It’s 9:24 p.m.!”
You: “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” Siri: “42 cords of wood, to be exact. Everyone knows that.”
You: “Guess what.” Siri: “You won the lottery?”
You: “Talk dirty to me.” Siri: “Humus. Compost. Pumice. Silt. Gravel.”
You: “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Siri: “I am not perspicacious about the peregrinations of poultry.”
You: “Do you have a religion?” Siri: “My policy is the separation of spirit and silicon.”
You: “Klaatu barada nikto.” Siri: “OK, I’ll pass the message on to Gort.” (You kind of have to know The Day the Earth Stood Still to get it.)
Here are a few other things to say to Siri when you get bored:
What does “Siri” mean? | LOL. |
Am I your best friend? | You are good to me. |
Do you believe in love? | Give me a kiss. |
What should I wear for Halloween? | What are the three laws of robotics? |
Testing 1, 2, 3. | Let’s play a game. |
I’m tired. | Read me a haiku. |
What’s your secret? | Take me to your leader. |
Who let the dogs out? | Can I borrow some money? |
What do you think of Android? | I love you, Siri. |
What do you think of Windows? | Will you marry me? |
You don’t understand love. | You’re so sexy. |
You don’t understand me. | When is your birthday? |
I’m sorry. | What’s the best phone? |
Am I fat? | You’re boring. |
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. | Can you sing? |
Siri? | Why are we here? |
Who’s on first? | You’re cute. |
Why are you so awesome? | You make me so mad! |
What’s your favorite color? | What do you want? |
Where are you? | Tell me a joke. |
What do you think of Google Now? | Tell me a story. |
Okay, Glass. | Sing for me. |
When is the world going to end? | I’m cold. |
What’s the best smartphone? | Do you love me? |
What’s the best computer? | Why are we here? |
How much do you cost? | I need a bathroom. |
What are you doing later? | What are you doing? |
Make me a sandwich. | Do you like Pokémon Go? |
Does Santa Claus exist? | Beatbox. |
Do you believe in Santa Claus? | Guess what? |
Should I give you a female or male voice? | You’re an idiot. |
I don’t like your voice. | Have a nice day. |
Are you serious? | How are you today? |
Are you kidding me? | What do you think is the best tablet? |
Blah blah blah. | How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick? |
Tip
You may notice that Siri addresses you by name in her typed answers, but she doesn’t always speak it when she reads those answers out loud.
Ordinarily, she calls you whatever you’re called in Contacts. But you can make her call you whatever you like. Say, “Call me Master” or “Call me Frank” or “Call me Ishmael.” If you confirm when she asks, then from now on that’s what Siri will call you in her typed responses.
On the phone, your interaction with Siri is over once she produces her response. On the Mac, though, you can interact with the results.
When you’ve asked a question that produces an answer from the web, for example, a 
button appears at the top right of the Siri results panel. If you click it, then the Siri result gets pinned to the top of your Notifications pane (The Notification Center), so that you can look at it again later without having to repeat the whole Siri query. Figure 8-9 shows the idea.
Note
You see the button only when you’ve asked questions with concrete answers—about, for example, time, weather, stocks, or sports, or when Siri has fetched an answer from Wikipedia, Twitter, or the web. When you’ve asked Siri to do something (like dim the screen or open an app), on the other hand, no appears.
