• Siri Island! On iPhone, the visual interface for New Siri pops out of the "Dynamic Island" at the top (which is where the selfie-camera and LIDAR sensor is located). When it comes to camouflaging that hole in the screen, I have to say that Apple is doing an amazing job...

On the Mac, you can hold down the F5 key to invoke the Siri Orb, which floats in the top 1/3 of the screen, awaiting your command (though you can move it anywhere, temporarily)...

In a way, I think this orb thing makes Siri feel kinda gimmicky. I mean, I know that there should be some kind of feedback that Siri is listening, but it's taking a lot more of my attention this way than it probably should. I dunno. I think that, in time, this will be toned down quite a bit because people will be more accustomed to knowing that Siri AI is listening. Interesting to note that Apple touts the corner radius on windows being consistent now, but Siri is a notable exception.

A bug with the MacOS version is that whenever you initiate Siri, even on another device, the orb will remain on the MacOS screen even after the task was completed. Really hoping they get this squashed, because it's more than a little annoying.

   
• Smarter Siri! I've made it very clear what I've thought about Siri over the years... it's stupid as shit. I mean really bad. Often times it's a "voice assistant" that makes things more work than it would be if you just did it your damn self. So now that Apple has finally... FINALLY... invested some money in upgrading the experience (albeit with Google's help), is it any better? In a word? Yes. With reservations. It's certainly on par with other offerings that I've largely been ignoring but, since it's integrated with the Apple ecosystem, it's something I might actually use. Especially since it's darn capable. Not only for answering questions and doing mundane tasks, but for helping you to get the most out of your Mac/iPhone/iPad/Apple Watch/Whatever. Though, if I'm being honest, there are times I'm not sure if Siri actually is that incredible... or if it's just better than what we had by so much that it feels that way?

   
• Go Deep! Siri has access to all my emails, texts, calendar appointments, and the like. So when I ask "What was the name of that restaurant I ate at in Little Havana" it's able to tell me. But context is everything. When I asked "What was the name of the restaurant I ate at in Miami?" it didn't know, and listed restaurants around my hotel. But when I asked "What was the name of the restaurant I ate at in South Beach?" it found a reservation I made and was able to tell me the correct place. Despite the fact that my hotel was also in South Beach. It's strange how Siri can be smart in guessing what might be the answer based on a piece of information it found... while ignoring the answer in information it fully had access to.

   
• Deep Questions! I wanted to break out "deep search" questions from the next section where I just ask usual questions because it's absolutely bizarre and shouldn't be lumped in somewhere it's bound to get overlooked. I asked Siri what the name of my cats are...

What the heck? MADDIE?!? When I manually searched in an attempt to find our where in the heck this could have come from, I couldn't find it. The reference says "PhoneAppIntentsExtension"... so, Siri got it from... my phone? How? This makes no sense at all. However... once I corrected Siri, it answered correctly with Jake & Jenny from then onwards. But here's the thing... this was a rare stumble. I threw all the bizarre questions I could think of about myself and my life and Siri rarely stumbles. If it's on my iPhone or Mac or wherever, Siri can dig it up. Even if it was 16 years ago...

This will probably come in handy as I get older.

   
• Regular Questions! Siri is darn smart when it comes to searching the internet in order to answer questions. Which isn't terribly special because Old Siri could respond correctly when you say "What is the capital of Uzbekistan?" No, where New Siri shines is with the things Old Siri wouldn't have a clue. Things like "Does eBay have any DVD copies of the movie Flight of the Navigator for sale?" where Siri not only says "Yes," but looks to see what options are available...

It goes on and on. I made dozens of searches asking for things that go beyond simple questions. Then I ask questions on the answers to my questions. And questions to the answers on the questions to the answers of my questions. And tossing in stuff like "When was the last day of school where I live?" made no difference. Siri is able to figure it all out. And, unlike Old Siri in my car, New Siri won't tell me I have to wait until I've finished driving.

   
• Photo Query! You can ask Siri about photos you've already taken or images your camera is currently looking at. This is not shocking because Google Lens has been telling Android users where photos were taken, what's the name of the thing or place in the photo you're looking at, or where you can buy something shown in a photo you're looking at. But, if you've never experienced it before, it's a bit of a shock. Not because it's possible, but because Siri always goes extra. I asked Siri what was in this photo I took. Not only did it answer correctly, but told me where it was taken and the story behind it...

Now that's cool. And when it comes to one of my favorite topics, food, Siri is darn handy. Take a photo of what you're eating and Siri will identify it. Then you can ask about the calories or nutritional value. Or you can ask to find some recipes for it. Or where you can buy it locally. Whatever...

Except... when that same rainbow bagel just has cream cheese on it, Siri thinks it's a pill...

Which is a step ahead of Siri not knowing what something is at all...

Still, from all my experiments, it was more often impressive than it was disappointing.

   
• Recipes! And speaking of food... Siri is an ace at tracking down recipes. I ask for a cheese tamale recipe and Siri gets me one. I ask for it to be vegetarian and Siri finds me a new one. I ask for one which uses different cheeses and Siri hunts one down. I ask Siri to add the ingredients to my shopping list and it's done. And then... ten minutes later... an hour later... two hours later... I can ask Siri about the recipe and it has no problem repeating it...

   
• Take Control! Now, the thing that shocked me the most about New Siri is how it can control my Mac. Want the volume higher or lower? No problem. Want the screen brighter or dimmer? No problem. Want a file or app opened? No problem. It's nice to be typing along and have Siri do something while you keep working. To a point. You can't do things like empty your trash or delete something since Siri wants to make sure it's not malicious or accidental... but so many things can be implemented just by asking.

   
• Lack of Control! HomeKit may still be shit, but Siri's ability to control HomeKit seems to be taken to a new level. You can chain commands (at last) and make adjustments (at last) which is a step in the right direction.

   
And there you have it. New Hotness Siri is a massive improvement over Old Shitty Siri. And a use of AI that I'm not opposed to for once. Kind of a taste of the future-sci-fi world we keep reading in books and seeing in movies.