The New York Times is reporting on Apple's recent acquisition of Siri, a startup company specializing in mobile search. The company's iPhone app Siri Assistant enables users to perform searches and tasks like making restaurant reservations, buying movie tickets, and securing cabs with voice-based commands. While it's unclear exactly what Apple plans to do with the technology, the most obvious application would be to provide a native search alternative to Google on the iPhone. The buying of Siri also fits a bigger picture of Apple buying smaller companies to get a leg up in the mobile industry; other recent purchases include the chip maker Intrinsity and the mobile ad company Quattro Wireless.
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Fill in Gaps in Pear Note
If you ever find yourself zoning out during a meeting or class, only later to realize that you forgot to take notes for 20 minutes, Pear Note makes it easy to fill in those gaps. To do so:
- Open your Pear Note document.
- Hit play.
- Click on the last text you did type to jump to that point in the recording.
- Click the lock to unlock the text of the note.
- Take notes on the part you missed.
Your new notes will be synced to the recording just as if you'd taken them live with the rest of your notes.
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Written by
Adam C. Engst
Apple Buys Voice-Based Search Company Siri
by Doug McLean 
