Tag Archives: SIRI

Apple remembers where you wanted to get drunk for up to 2 years

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Apple probably still has this query of mine from 2011 saved somewhere in the cloud.

Remember that time when you asked Siri about the nearest place to find hookers? Or perhaps the time you wanted to know where to find the best burritos at 3am? Whatever you’ve been asking Siri since its launch in late 2011 is likely still on record with Apple, as revealed by a report by our friends at Wired on Friday. Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told Wired that Apple stores Siri queries on its servers for “up to two years,” though the company says it makes efforts to anonymize the data.

“Apple may keep anonymized Siri data for up to two years,” Muller said. “Our customers’ privacy is very important to us.”

Why does Apple have your Siri queries on record in the first place? Remember, Siri doesn’t just operate locally on your iPhone or iPad—when you ask it a question, your voice query is sent to Apple’s servers for processing before the answer—a Google search, an answer from Wolfram alpha, a Yelp result, etc.—is sent back. That’s why an Internet connection is required in order to use Siri; if you have no Wi-Fi or cellular signal, you can’t use Siri to perform any actions.

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Apple Keeps Anonymized Voice Data Related To Virtual Assistant Siri For Up To 2 Years

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siri understands

Apple’s Siri voice assistant on iOS devices retains information to help the company generate better and more accurate results in the analysis process that takes place at its remote servers. The company has never previously revealed exactly how long it keeps that data or how exactly it works, but now Wired has learned from an Apple spokesperson exactly how Siri IDs and store data, as well as for how long.

Apple said that it first associates voice files gathered by Siri with a randomly generated number to keep all associated data anonymous, and separate from any other identifiers including your Apple ID or even your email address. That number remains tied to data for six months, at which time Apple deletes it, while retaining the voice file. The voice file itself, now separated from any kind of identifier, can live on Apple’s servers for up to 18 more months in order to help Apple refine Siri and test new products. When a user turns Siri completely off, however, all data and identifiers are immediately deleted.

Privacy concerns around voice dictation services are nothing new. Nuance, the company that helps power Siri with its voice-recognition software, had to defend against privacy concerns back in 2009 when it launched Dragon Dictation for the iPhone. It, too, stores transcriptions of conversations on its servers to help improve its own technology’s results. The situation isn’t all that different from the type of information Google collects to make sure that its ad targeting works effectively, or to help services like Google Now operate properly.

The main concern of privacy critics like American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Nicole Ozer, who sparked the Wired investigation to begin with, seems to be around the fact that Apple doesn’t include this information about its data retention policies anywhere that’s easily accessible to users of Siri, like in its FAQ page about how Siri works. Her argument is built around Apple’s duty to keep consumers informed, since it could influence what type of information they share with services like Siri.

The bottom line is that if an app or service requires a data connection, in all likelihood there’s a back and forth transmission of information going on, and if privacy is one of your top-of-mind concerns, you should be cautious in any such situation. Apple’s policies with Siri seem no more or less egregious than any other, but it is nice to see the company spell it out in no uncertain terms.

5 Stocks With Solid Upside To Buy On Weakness

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By David Alton Clark:

The Gist

It seems as though the sell in May and go away phenomenon is set to kick in once again. The recent uptick in volatility is a major tell. Furthermore, as usual, the sentiment of the market has turned completely bearish in very short order. The fact that it happens at the exact same time every year is somewhat suspect.

Even so, I have come to embrace this event as an opportunity to pick up shares at a discount in solid stocks. In the following sections I will review five stocks on my watch list I am looking to buy at a discount. When macroeconomic and geopolitical events drive good stocks down hopefully you have some dry powder and can take advantage. These stocks are all long-term investments with solid secular stories for future growth.

The Goods

In the following sections we will perform a review of the fundamental


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Buying Brand Names In A Bear Market Can Make You Rich

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ByZinnia Funds:

By Clint Harritt, Managing Partner,
Zinnia Funds

More than 100 years ago, Jon Stuart, Chairman of Quaker Oats Company (maker of breakfast cereals), made an astute comment that still holds true today, “If this business were split up, I would give you the land and bricks and mortar, and I would take the brands and trademarks, and I would fare better than you,” he said. What he meant is that the Quaker Oats brand name was worth more than any other component of the business. While this might seem hard to imagine, the same holds true for many other companies and their brands.

By taking advantage of cheap stocks with nationally recognizable brands, you can achieve annual returns better than Warren Buffett without doing the long and painful research on corporate balance sheets and cash flow statements. Buffet, himself, had annual returns similar to this strategy in his early


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5 Stocks Under $5 To Buy On The Dip With Notable Upside Potential

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By David Alton Clark:

The Gist

All eyes will be on the jobs report due out Friday morning. Even so, it appears to be a win-win scenario. Either we get a strong number and the market moves higher or we get a weak number, which will cause the market to sell off, offering a buying opportunity in stocks. Furthermore, a bad jobs number may induce the Fed to continue its OE program, which has been in question as of late. With the rest of the world employing QE and dropping rates, the door will be wide open for the Fed to continue easing.

The stocks covered in this article perhaps fall into the undervalued category. First, the shares of these companies are trading well below their consensus estimates and 52-week highs. The companies are trading on average 36% below their 52-week highs and have 16% potential upside based on their consensus analysts’ estimates. This


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Sell In May: Here Comes The April Effect

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By Little Apple:

The market indices are up for the year, which many economists consider an indication that the U.S. economy is improving. But on the flip side, the bears are predicting a market drop due to tensions overseas. And this time, the shorts might be right, as shares fell on Monday:

For the year, the S&P is up 9.5 percent, the Dow is up 11.2 percent and the Nasdaq is up 7.3 percent. With the strong start to the year, many investors have been anticipating a pullback. Uncertainty over the economic future of Cyprus has weighed on stocks in recent sessions. European markets were closed on Monday for a holiday.

According to analyst Brian Amidei, managing director at HighTower Advisors in Palm Desert, California:

"It was very difficult for the S&P 500 technically to break through that high level and to even close there, so it doesn’t surprise me that


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5 Speculative Stocks That Could Soar By 2014

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ByCorvetteKid:

You’re tired of safe investments. You’ve built your investment-grade core stock portfolio of dividend growers. You have the high-yielding, double-digit yielders. You have some of the 8-10% yielders among the quasi-private equity plays. You even disregarded all the ‘bond bubble’ nonsense and bought some quality bond funds for portfolio ballast – just in case.

But now you have a little “play money” and want to speculate. You don’t trust the Revel coming out of bankruptcy in Atlantic City, Las Vegas is too far away (or maybe AC is too far away), and some other guy in New Jersey just won the Mega-Millions jackpot. What’s a gambler, er, speculator to do?

I always caution that a speculation – either betting on a risky company or betting against time (as with options) – is qualitatively different than investing. The only thing you can do to control your


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5 Buys Under $10 Poised For Notable Upside In 2013

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By David Alton Clark:

The Gist

The stocks covered in this article are well positioned for upside in 2013 based on macroeconomic, sector or company specific catalysts coupled with fundamental buying opportunities. However, many are trading at significant discounts to historical norms. With the market at all-time highs, I have selected five stocks that still have notable potential upside. I posit they are worth a look.

In my opinion, the following stocks have clear near-term catalysts for growth and may outperform the market indices in 2013. I posit this is just the beginning for these stocks which may present excellent buying opportunities at current levels.

Additionally, the five stocks are trading at or below $10. Stocks trading for $10 or less tend to be more volatile with frequent, larger percentage moves in the stock price. This provides the opportunity for greater returns (or losses) relative to the market or more bang for your buck


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