Complete guide to Siri commands for searching the web with Google, information with Wolfram|Alpha, and restaurants with Yelp

If you need information, chances are Siri can help you find it. Apple currently enables Siri to search Yelp for restaurant info, Google (or Yahoo! or Bing) for general information, and Wolfram|Alpha for computational knowledge. You can use Siri to find anything you would normally type into a web search box, only there's no typing needed. Just ask, and you'll get back everything from the latest celebrity gossip to the answers to that nagging math questions to a listing of the best free apps for your iPhone.

• How to search the web with Siri
• How to get information with Wolfram|Alpha and Siri
• How to find restaurants with Yelp and Siri

How to search the web with Siri

Siri can search the web using whichever search engine you have set in the Settings app, Safari tab. The default is Google but you can change it to Yahoo! or Microsoft's Bing.

1. Hold down your Home button to activate Siri.

2. Tell Siri what you want to search for. For example, "Search the web for the best free iPhone apps".

3. Wait for Siri to switch to Safari and display your search results.

How to query Wolfram|Alpha

Siri has Wolfram|Alpha built right in. That means Siri can help you search for answers to everything from basic equations to more advanced computations.

1. Hold down your Home button to activate Siri.

2. Tell Siri what you want to solve for. For example, "What is the square root of 8?" or "What is the value of pi?"
3. Wait for Siri to query Wolfram|Alpha and display the search results widget containing applicable definitions, alternative answers, or other facts and figures it thinks may be helpful.

How to find restaurants with Yelp and Siri

Siri can find you local restaurants, even if you don't know the exact name. Siri pulls the information from Yelp and can show you ratings, and rank the results by rations.

1. Hold down the home button to activate Siri.

2. Tell Siri the name of the restaurants, or what type of or restaurant you want to find. For example, "Chinese restaurants".
3. Siri will show you a list of places that match your criteria. Tap the one you want, and the location will then be shown to you on the map.

Once you find the right place, Siri can even show you how to get there using the Maps app.

How to get more help with Siri

If you still need help searching for information with Siri, or using any other Siri feature, head on over to our Siri Forum and ask away!

• How to set up, configure, secure, and start using Siri
• How to call, message, and email your contacts using Siri
• How to set alarms and timers using Siri
• How to set reminders and update task and to-do lists using Siri
• How to create, view, update, and cancel calendar events using Siri
• How to check the weather and view forecasts using Siri
• How to play and control music using Siri
• How to find places and businesses on the map, and get directions using Siri

6 days down and this is your LAST CHANCE for incredible accessory prizes, and a bonus chance to win it all! Can you find, follow, and retweet all the Twitter Treasures?

The iSuper Helicopter literally puts the power of flight in your hands, with an iPhone or iPad controlled toy helicopter. Yes, it's absolutely as fun as it sounds! And the iMore Accessory Store has one ready and waiting to give to you for FREE -- if you can win our Twitter Treasure Hunt!

We've already revealed ALL the Treasures now... have you found them? Here's how to enter:

1. Follow @imore, @reneritchie, @GeorgiaTiPb, @llofte, @iMuggle, @chrisoldroyd, @bla1ze, @simonsage on Twitter.
2. Watch our Twitter feeds.
3. At some point today, 1 (one) of us will tweet the Treasure Hunt accessory of the day (that's the iSuper Helicopter). When that happens, retweet it!
4. Successfully retweet each and every treasure hunt accessory, and you're entered to win.

And if you want to enter our grand-prize and win all 7 (seven) Treasure Hunt accessories, simply retweet this and you're entered:

• $500+ in prizes! RT+follow to enter! @imore @reneritchie @GeorgiaTiPb @llofte @imuggle @chrisoldroyd @bla1ze @simonsage http://t.co/HIPuGEOT

Are you ready? Are you set? The iMore twitter treasure hunt is ON!

(And when we said fun, we meant it!)

Google has bought Mac and iPhone Gmail app, Sparrow, and while it will still be maintained, it will no longer be kept in active development. What that effectively means is, no more [Sparrow for iPhone[(http://www.imore.com/tag/sparrow), at least not in the way that matters.

So, if you're Sparrow user, what do you plan on doing?

You can certainly keep using the Sparrow app we have today until, at some point in the future it stops working. You won't get that push update you've been waiting for -- you won't get any new updates, but you'll keep what you have. For a while, at least. But you also have some other options...

You can switch back to the built-in Apple Mail app. It doesn't support Gmail specific features like stars or labels, but it does have universal inbox, push via Exchange ActiveSync, and will be getting additional features like VIP inbox with iOS 6 this fall. It doesn't "fit" the Gmail workflow, but it works and Apple isn't abandoning it any time soon.

You can switch to the official Gmail app, which is basically Gmail.com in a thin app wrapper so it can access contacts, and attach images. It offers excellent support for Gmail the way Google built it to be used, but isn't a great iOS app the way Apple meant them to be built.

You can go to Gmail.com on your iPhone. No, seriously. You can.

If you're really bummed, you can do like former Google employee #20 and new Yahoo! CEO #20 Marissa Mayer did and leave Gmail entirely...

Or maybe you've thought of something else? Let us know what you're doing in the poll above, and give us the details in the comments below!

Sparrow, the elegant, delightful Gmail -- and general mail -- created for the Mac and brought over to the iPhone, has announced they've been acquired by Google. Sparrow CEO Dom Leca announced the deal on the Sparrow blog, saying in part:

Now we're joining the Gmail team to accomplish a bigger vision — one that we think we can better achieve with Google.

And in a more personal email sent out to users:

We will continue to make available our existing products, and we will provide support and critical updates to our users. However, as we'll be busy with new projects at Google, we do not plan to release new features for the Sparrow apps.

That last part is the kicker from a user perspective, and immediately brings a few thoughts to mind:

1. Congratulations to Dom and the whole team at Sparrow. They made a great product and it got the biggest attention in the business.
2. Once again, a small team of indie developers coded circles around a big company, and just like Instagram and Facebook, and Tweetie and Twitter, the big company was smart enough to notice and pounce on it.
3. While it's still too early to tell about Instagram, Twitter absolutely destroyed any and all value Tweetie had, completely replacing the iPhone app, and leaving the iPad and Mac apps to languish as abandonware.
4. If Google were smart, they'd keep Sparrow as wholly-owned, in-house competitor to the lackluster Gmail for iPhone app, and rather than allowing it to fall into a slow, maintenance-mode driven death (which is sounds like it's doing), they'd keep it vibrant and in active development. They'd let Sparrow be Sparrow.
5. Sadly, given Google's abysmal track record with everything from Twitter-competitor Jaiku to the apps spun out of the Slide acquisition, it's probably better this way -- users get quick if brutal closure rather than false hope and drawn out disappointment.

Congrats again to Sparrow, and farewell!

Source: Sparrow blog

More and more, automakers are coming to the realization that most drivers aren't interested in having a separate collection of music on their phones than in the car. That's why dedicated in-car hard drives gave way to iPhone cables in recent years, and now moving forward they're looking to utilize those cables in a more serious manner.

Following in the footsteps of Ford's Sync and GM's MyLink, Honda is jumping on the connectivity bandwagon with their own HondaLink. The system is designed to work with both Android and iPhone devices, both over Bluetooth and only the iPhone via a wired connection. Honda's partnered with Harman to use their Aha Radio service (acquired in 2010) via a dedicated iPhone app to stream music, podcasts, your Twitter and Facebook feeds, and more. This is all done hands free, either with voice control or by using the controls integrated into the dashboard and the steering wheel. HondaLink will also support Pandora Radio and voice-to-text SMS services.

The 2013 Accord is the first vehicle to support HondaLink, though that's just the start - Honda plans to roll the service out to their full line of vehicles. Aha by Harmon for Honda's Acura luxury division (likely to be rebranded AcuraLink or something like that) was unveiled back in April. Honda also has plans for an electric vehicle version of HondaLink for the upcoming Fit EV and Accord Plug-in Hybrid, adding in remote power management and climate control options - not unlike what Ford's done for the Focus Electric and GM's OnStar RemoteLink with the Chevy Volt.

Source: Honda

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Apple has announced that their third quarter, 2013 conference call will be held on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 2pm PDT/5pm EDT (10pm GST). As usual, the call will be streamed live via Apple.com, and iMore will be listening in and providing color, commentary, and analysis.

We expect, also as usual, that Apple's Q3 2012 conference call will be attended by CFO Peter Oppenheimer, who'll handle all the financial statements and questions, and CEO Tim Cook, who'll handle logistics and product questions.

With the release of OS X Mountain Lion scheduled for this month, it's possible Apple could use the call to clarify the exact date, or, perhaps, simply release it the next day...

Full press release below.

FY 12 Third Quarter Results Conference Call

WHAT: Apple® FY 12 Third Quarter Results Conference Call

WHERE: Via conference call. The dial-in number for press is (877) 616-0062 (toll-free) or (719) 219-0039. Please enter confirmation code 691025.

WHEN: Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 2:00 p.m. PDT/5:00 p.m. EDT

REBROADCAST: The conference call will be available as a continuous rebroadcast beginning Tuesday, July 24 at 5:30 p.m. PDT/8:30 p.m. EDT through Tuesday, August 7 at 5:30 p.m. PDT/8:30 p.m. EDT. The dial-in number for the rebroadcast is (888) 203-1112 (toll-free) or (719) 457-0820. Please enter confirmation code 1260435.

WEBCAST: Apple will provide live audio streaming of its FY 12 Third Quarter Results Conference Call using Apple's industry-leading QuickTime® multimedia software. The live webcast will begin at 2:00 p.m. PDT on July 24, 2012 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq312 and will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter. The webcast is available on any iPhone®, iPad® or iPod touch® running iOS 4.2 or above, any Mac® running OS X 10.5 or above or any PC running QuickTime 7 or later. If you do not have QuickTime installed on your Windows PC, it is available at www.apple.com/quicktime.

This year, like every year, one of the most common questions iMore's being asked is -- how many betas will the be before iOS 6 becomes available to the general public?

At WWDC 2012, when Apple announced iOS 6 and released the first beta, they also announced that iOS 6 would ship sometime this fall. (Presumably and traditionally a couple of days before the next generation iPhone 5 ships. That gives us a window roughly spanning from September to November. We likely won't find out the exact iOS 6 release date until the iPhone 5 event, but that also hasn't been announced yet, and typically won't be until the last minute.

So all we can really do at this point is look at history for clues, and go through the mental exercise extrapolating past behavior to try and predict future behavior.

Here's the full beta schedule from last year's iOS 5 release:

• Beta 1 was released on Friday, June 5
• Beta 2 was released three weeks later on Friday, June 24
• Beta 3 was released over two weeks later on Monday, July 11
• Beta 4 was released under two weeks later on Friday, July 22
• Beta 5 was released two weeks later on Saturday, August 6,
• Beta 6 was released two weeks later on Friday, August 19
• Beta 7 was released a week and a half later on Wednesday, August 31
• GM was released almost seven weeks later on Tuesday, October 4
• Final was released a week later on Wednesday, October 12

Here's the beta schedule to date for this year's iOS 6 release:

• Beta 1 was released on Monday, June 11
• Beta 2 was released two weeks later on Monday, June 25
• Beta 3 was released three week later on Monday, July 16

Here's how that looks on a calendar:

If Apple sticks closely to the every-two-weeks pattern from here on out, and the same release schedule as last year, there's enough time to squeeze in 8 betas. If any of the betas take longer than 2 weeks, or last for extended periods like the final beta last year, then we could see as few as 6.

So, if past behavior is any indicator of future behavior, we can expect 6 to 8 betas total for iOS 6, with a Gold Master (GM seed) at the iPhone 5 event in early October, and a final release in early/mid October when the iPhone 5 ships.

Given Apple's penchant for secrecy and lack of predictability at times, the only real schedule for iOS betas is to expect them when you see them.

Additional resources

• How iOS 6's flagship features compare to past versions, and to Android 4.1, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone 8

There will almost certainly be an iPhone 5 this fall, likely October, and it may well come with a 4-inch, 16:9 screen and an LTE radio for super-fast networking. But is that the next-generation iOS device you want most?

Rumors are also running hot and heavy about a new addition to the iOS family, the first new addition since 2010 -- a 7.85-inch iPad mini. With the same powerful specs as the iPad 2, but in a much smaller package, it could be easier to carry, cheaper to buy, and much more attractive for education and mobile business. Is that the iOS device you've been lusting over?

The iPod touch hasn't been updated since the fall of 2010, so if Apple gives their gaming handheld the same kind of 4-inch, 16:9 inch screen, and maybe a redesign, would that be your dream iOS device?

Some kind of Apple TV variant? A full on Apple television? A larger screened iPad? Or something else entirely?

Which next-gen iOS device is also next on your iOS shopping list? Vote in the poll above, and give me the details in the comments below!