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While Siri still isn’t quite up to the mark when it comes to having back and forth conversations and asking obscure, complex questions, it’s gotten pretty good at some key things. Things that a lot of iPhone users use Siri for, like calling someone, sending someone an iMessage, time zone or currency conversion and the like. Siri is so good at these things that I usually skip the UI and ask Siri to do those things for me even when my fingers are right there on the screen (Hey Siri command really helps there). But there’s one more thing you can add to that list – device commands.

I don’t have a scheduled Do not Disturb set up. I usually do it before going to bed. But sometimes I forget and some group chat I’m in decides to have an engaging conversation right as I’m about to fall asleep. It testing times like these all I say is “Hey Siri turn on do not disturb” and more often than not, it does. I don’t have to pick up my phone, look at it in the dark, none of those things.

And that’s just one of the device settings Siri can manipulate for you. There are loads.

About Modifiers

There are different ways you can talk to Siri about this. You can use the enable/disable moniker, or turn on/turn off. Activate/deactivate works as well. And for things like brightness, you can also ask Siri to increase/decrease it for you.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about things you can ask Siri to do.

Device Settings You Can Change with Siri

You can ask Siri to open Settings or open a specific part of the Settings app like Notification settings. You can also ask Siri if Wi-Fi is enabled.

How Do You Use Siri

It’s quite frustrating when Siri gets you wrong. And it’s also quite hard to come back to Siri once that happens. But I’m starting to train my brain to know what Siri is good at and what she isn’t. So when there are times when Siri can save me time, I try to engage her instead of opening an app for a Google search.

What about you? How do yo use Siri? Share with us in the comments below.

Source link: http://www.iphonehacks.com/2016/11/iphone-settings-change-siri.html

Streaming boxes have spent years feeling like necessary, but forgettable appliances. You plug one in, deal with the remote that disappears into the couch, and mostly just open Netflix. Apple’s latest Apple TV 4K, announced this month and arriving November 13th, changes that equation in a few practical ways that add up to something better than the sum of its parts.⁠

At $299 it isn’t cheap, especially compared with the much lower launch prices of earlier models. But if you’re shopping for a new box, upgrading something older, or already living in Apple’s home ecosystem, the upgrades justify the price more than other streaming hardware.

The biggest everyday improvement is that the box itself can finally hear you. Three far-field microphones let you say “Siri” or “Hey Siri” without pressing anything on the remote. Apple’s echo cancellation is solid enough that it works even while something is playing. Combined with the new full-screen Siri AI experience, this turns “what should we watch” into a conversation instead of a scrolling chore. You can ask for recent Emmy winners, follow up about where a show was filmed, or request something a family member recommended, and the interface actually shows poster art and sensible next steps rather than a wall of text. Siri AI is coming to recent older Apple TVs too, but the built-in mics are exclusive to the new hardware.⁠

The remote is no longer the weak link either. The updated Siri Remote has Find My support with Precision Finding, and it can play a sound so you can locate it when it vanishes between cushions. It’s a small thing until you’ve spent ten minutes hunting for the remote at the start of a movie. You can buy the new remote separately for older boxes, but it ships in the box with the new Apple TV 4K.

Under the hood, the A19 chip (the same one in the iPhone 17) delivers up to 50 percent faster CPU performance and roughly double the GPU speed of the previous model’s A15. In practice that means snappier menus, smoother animations, and more headroom for apps and games. There’s also a dedicated AV1 decoder, which lets supported services stream higher-quality video with less bandwidth. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 are standard, and Gigabit Ethernet is included on the single 128GB configuration. None of this is flashy, but it makes the box feel both current and future-proof instead of like it’s aging in real time.⁠

If you already have or plan to get HomePods, the new model unlocks a genuine four-speaker surround setup using matching pairs of HomePod mini 2 or second-generation HomePod speakers. Apple handles the room calibration automatically. It’s not a full dedicated home theater system, but for people who want better sound without running speaker wire or buying a receiver, it’s the most seamless option Apple has offered – and the sound is very, very good.

The rest of the usual Apple TV strengths are still there: a clean interface, solid app selection, excellent integration with Fitness+, Arcade, FaceTime, and iCloud photos, plus Thread support so it “just works” as a Home hub, too. Privacy features remain strong, with on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute where needed.

It still maxes out at 4K60 and doesn’t suddenly add every home-theater feature enthusiasts wanted (audio passthrough and higher frame rates remain absent). For pure streaming, an older Apple TV 4K that already works fine will continue to work fine. But for anyone buying now, or for people who want hands-free control, a remote they can find, better networking, and the option of proper multi-speaker sound inside Apple’s ecosystem, Apple’s new 2026 model is the one that finally feels complete.

Pre-orders are open now, with availability starting November 13th. If your current setup is starting to feel like a collection of compromises, this is the box that removes most of them.
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Even better, Amazon is currently offering a slight discount on preorders of the new Apple TV 4K for $289.99 or $24.17/month for 12 months.

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Source link: https://macdailynews.com/2026/10/19/apples-new-apple-tv-4k-is-the-first-one-that-actually-feels-like-it-belongs-in-your-living-room/