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Voice Control on Apple TV Is About To Get Way More Useful

When the new Apple TV was announced, the inclusion of Siri was a strong selling point—too bad it turned out to suck. Finally, though, Apple is making voice control on the set-top box rather more useful.

The latest version of tvOS issued to developers includes something that will prove rather useful: voice dictation. As our very own Adam Clark Estes pointed out when he reviewed the new Apple TV, Siri just doesn’t currently cut it:

I was... disappointed by how little Siri did in other apps. Asking Siri to play music is a joke, but who wants to listen to music on their TV? You can, however, open YouTube and say, “Play Ariana Grande.” If there’s an Ariana Grande video already displayed on the home screen, it will play. If not, Siri’s basically like: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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With the new developer beta, explains Mac Rumors, you’re able to speak at the Siri remote to dictate text as well as just asking dumb questions about the weather or sports scores. That suddenly means scrabbling around with on-screen keyboard isn’t always required. Adam will be pleased.

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Elsewhere, the new developer version of the OS also adds support for Bluetooth keyboards, iCloud Photo Libraries, and Live Photos.

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For now, though, this a beta for developers only. An official date for the roll-out of the new OS will likely be announced at the rumored upcoming Apple event.

[Mac Rumors via The Verge]