'Siri Lite' on Apple's OSX Mountain Lion?

A “lite” version of Siri, Apple Inc.’s voice-activated assistant, may turn up in the next version of OS X, the operating system for Macintosh machines.

 

Enthusiast site 9to5mac.com cited bits of beta code indicating OS X Mountain Lion may include Siri-like dictation as among its new features.

 

"Siri, in its current implementation, seems perfect for mobile devices like the iPhone 4S, but many of its features don’t make sense on larger screens such as those found on tablets and computers. However, Apple has brought a component of Siri called Dictation to the iPad, and the company appears to be planning on bringing this Dictation feature to Macs as well," it said.

 

It added Dictation offers an easy way for users to speak text to their devices compared to typing it in with a physical or virtual keyboard.

 

Citing a resources file inside the latest build of Safari in the newest seed of Mountain Lion, 9to5mac.com suggested Dictation can be triggered by simultaneously tapping both command keys to start voice input.

 

But it also noted the apparently forthcoming feature is not functional in the current beta.

 

"With voice features being exclusive to certain devices in Apple’s iOS Device portfolio, perhaps Dictation is tied directly to certain Macs. Maybe the new MacBook Pros with Retina Displays, faster processors, thinner form-factors, and USB 3 connectivity," it said.

 

A separate article on PC World said Nuance, the company rumored to be behind the technology that powers Siri and the dictation feature in iOS, already sells dictation software for the Mac.

 

“If Apple was to include a dictation feature as standard on the Mac it could leave products like Nuance’s Dragon Dictate out in the cold, although it is likely that Nuance would be able to offer additional features that Apple wouldn’t include as standard in a basic dictation solution,” it said.

 

On the other hand, PC World said there is also a question of whether dictation on the Mac would be a useful feature to have in a noisy office environment.

 

Meanwhile, PC World said another new feature coming in Mountain Lion may be the ability to save web pages in Safari to read when offline.

 

It cited an article on Gear Live that in the Mountain Lion beta the Safari Reading List feature includes a message that “Reading List articles are available for viewing while you are offline.” — TJD, GMA News