Apple rumored to announce iPhone smart-home remote

Smart-home technology may be on the agenda at next week's WWDC. James Martin/CNET

What will Apple announce during next week's WWDC? Needless to say, the rumor mill is spinning fast and furious, with lots of expectations for new iPhones and the very likely introduction of iOS 8.

Now, with just days to go before the conference, at least one detail is starting to gain traction: Apple will add smart-home features to the next version of its mobile operating system.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal picked up a Financial Times report indicating a "big splash in the world of smart-home technology." Specifically, the report said your iPhone will be able to automate everything from opening the garage door to turning on the lights when you get home.

Such capabilities could be among the fruits of a patent Apple received last year, one focused on smart-home system settings referred to as "scenes."

Further evidence arrived in my inbox this morning, with a public relations rep for a universal-remote app letting slip this statement: "Next week Apple will be announcing its iPhone Smart Home remote which will be available sometime in the future."

Although that may have been mere speculation, it's certainly phrased as fact. App developers are often clued into Apple's plans long before they're released to the public.

Of course, even if the company does hop into this growing market, CNET's Rich Brown suggests that Apple won't necessarily dominate it.

What are your thoughts? Would you like to see smart-home capabilities baked into your phone? Or would you rather Apple focus more on the hardware itself, with features like bigger screens and near-field communication? Share your preferences in the comments!

Tune into CNET's WWDC live show and blog at 9 a.m. PT on June 2.

Six ways Apple can fix what's 'broken' about the iPhone

Apple will announce at least one new iPhone this year, perhaps as early as the WWDC in June. Based on the latest rumors and the natural evolution of the product, a larger screen is all but definite.

But what else? Except for the fingerprint sensor built into the iPhone 5S, Apple hasn't shown much in the way of actual innovation for the past couple years. Meanwhile, the latest smartphones from the likes of Google, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung have piled on cool features like hands-free Google Now, depth-sensing cameras, water-resistant cases, and kid modes.

That stuff is all well and good, and I'd like to think Apple will cook up at least a few surprises for the new iPhones. But unlike many users, I'm not itching for things like NFC, upgraded Wi-Fi, or even inductive charging (though I certainly wouldn't turn them down).

Rather, many of the improvements I'm hoping for can be handled with software, and perhaps even handed down to existing iPhone models. Because, let's face it, iOS is seriously lagging behind Android in some key areas.

Here, then, are six ways Apple can fix what's "broken" about the iPhone.

Gesture keyboards, like the Nuance Swype, are awesome. Nuance

My recent dalliance with Android taught me one thing: Apple's keyboard is terrible, at least compared with the likes of Google's gesture-powered keyboard (to say nothing of third-party equivalents like Nuance's Swype Keyboard).

In my experience, "drawing" a word was significantly faster and easier than tapping it out letter by letter. I can understand Apple not wanting to allow third-party keyboards, which goes against its unified-experience mentality, but there's no reason not to bake a gesture-keyboard option into the OS. Give users a choice, Apple!

iOS doesn't offer much in the way of camera controls. Apple

Eight is enough -- by which I mean megapixels, the number packed into the iPhone 5, 5C, and 5S cameras. Those phones already take pretty good (some would say great) pictures, so an iPhone 6 doesn't need more megapixels. (Indeed, as we've discussed before, when it comes to smartphones, more megapixels isn't always better.)

Instead, how about providing more shooting and editing controls? Save for toggling HDR mode and engaging AE/AF lock (by tapping and holding in a specific area), iOS offers almost no camera controls. You can't manually adjust exposure or white balance. You can't lock the aforementioned AE/AF separately from the focus. There are no scene modes to better accommodate things like low light and sports. Heck, how about a timer?

Apple could easily add such features to iOS 8. The hardware is fine; now fix the software.

One of the great, underrated features of iOS is voice dictation: Wherever the keyboard appears, you can tap the little microphone icon, say your piece, and presto, it's magically transcribed into text. And let's not forget Siri, the Gal Friday who can recognize your instructions to "remind me to buy milk when I get to Kroger."

Just one problem: None of this works when you're offline. Even "local" commands like the aforementioned reminder require an Internet connection. Why? Android's voice-recognition system works just fine (and quite a bit faster) whether you're connected or not. This is silly. Android is totally schooling ya, iOS!

Touch ID would be even better if it worked with third-party apps and services. Apple

The fingerprint sensor built into the iPhone 5s will undoubtedly make its way into the iPhone 6 as well. It's a cool feature, especially for approving App Store purchases. But it doesn't go nearly far enough.

See, password security as we know it is flat-out broken. Look no further than the Heartbleed debacle for evidence, or last year's Target breach. Even if you use "secure" passwords or passphrases, a stolen database renders them fairly useless.

But imagine if you needed a fingerprint ID to, say, buy something from Amazon. Or sign into your Evernote account. Apple's Touch ID could facilitate all that and more, if only the company would allow other apps to leverage the technology. It would, I believe, usher in a new era of smartphone-powered security -- and give iPhones quite an edge over the competition.

Everyone says they want bigger batteries, but what they really want is longer battery life. Although the iPhone 6 will be physically larger, and therefore accommodate a bigger cell, the larger screen will consume more power -- so that might end up a wash.

Instead, Apple should focus more on power management, much the same way Windows does. Why not add more granular power controls into the OS? How about different power modes that reflect different activities? One for stuff that doesn't require a lot of processor muscle (email, music, etc.), another for stuff that does (such as gaming and video).

And couldn't the iPhone switch into an ultra-low-power mode at night? Track your usage habits to determine when to throttle up the processor and when to throttle back? It seems to me iOS could get a lot smarter about battery consumption, effectively squeezing more juice out of the same old battery.

Apple should work with a company like Liquipel to make all iPhones waterproof. Liquipel

Lots of users are clamoring for more storage, near-field communication (NFC) capabilities, built-in infrared, and other such hardware amenities, but to me those are superfluous. My one hardware wish (besides a bigger screen) is a dunk-proof iPhone. I want Apple to partner with HzO or Liquipel and make every iPhone waterproof inside and out.

I've seen this in action at CES: Once coated with whatever space-age polymer these companies use, an iPhone can not only survive a drop in the toilet, a run through the washing machine, or a dip in the pool, but also keep functioning all the while. (Obviously the pool example is the only one that really matters.)

The aftermarket cost for such an application costs about $50, meaning Apple could probably do it large-scale for much less. And I'd gladly pay an extra $10-20 for a fully waterproof phone. Wouldn't you?

Thus ends my unconventional iPhone 6 wish list. Hit the comments and let me know what you're hoping for in the next iPhone, if not the next iOS.

How Apple could further improve Siri

Love it or hate it (or sometimes both), Siri always seems eager to please and disappointed when it fails to understand you.

Apple introduced us to Siri in 2011 with the release of iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S. Responding to your questions, comments, and sometimes insults, the voice assistant is designed to serve up answers to your queries as well as perform a variety of tasks to save you from manual labor. Apple has continually upgraded Siri with new skills and more smarts, but it still falls short at times.

Those improvements are more critical than ever now that the concept of a virtual concierge has become all the rage in the mobile world. The voice-activated and predictive Google Now has become a centerpiece feature on Android smartphones, and Microsoft's latest Windows Phone operating system comes equipped with a personal assistant in Cortana.

Apple will likely have additions in store for Siri when it unveils iOS 8 at its Worldwide Developers Conference Monday. In anticipation of the next version of iOS, what features would turn Siri into a more useful and lovable voice assistant?

Voice activation
Siri currently can be triggered only by holding down the home key or moving the phone up to your mouth. But our hands aren't always free to turn on Siri. I've been behind the wheel more than a few times where I needed directions on the spur of the moment and my iPhone was resting comfortably on the passenger seat. If only I had a way to ask Siri where to go without having to stop or pull over.

Apple should take a page from Google by allowing us to activate Siri by voice. Just as users of Google's search app can say "OK, Google" to start a conversation, iPhone users should be able to say "OK, Siri" to tap on the shoulder of Apple's voice assistant.

Third-party app support
In its present form, Siri works only with the built-in functions for the iPhone or iPad. You can tell Siri to open third-party apps. You can tell it to post a message via certain services, such as Twitter and Facebook. But officially, Siri can't help when you're actually trying to use a third-party app to perform a specific task. I'd love to be able to enlist Siri's aid to upload a photo to Flickr or open a specific book from the Kindle app.

Rumors suggest that Apple is eyeing third-party support for Siri. Pointing to a story published by The Information in early March, TechCrunch said that Apple purportedly wants to enhance Siri's ability to play with a wider range of apps. We'll soon see if Apple cooks up any improvements in this area for iOS 8 or whether we'll have to wait until next year.

Learn from its mistakes
Certain voice recognition programs offer a way to correct any mistakes as a result of misinterpreting your words. You can typically highlight the incorrect word or phrase and then train the software to better recognize your pronunciation. In a conversation with Siri, you can tap your question or comment, highlight the wrong word, and then replace it with a different word. But in that case, Siri isn't really learning from its mistake.

Yes, you can tell Siri how to pronounce a word that it's mispronouncing. Now I'd like to see Siri adopt more of the power of a full voice recognition program. As the next step, Siri should have the ability to better understand how you pronounce certain words. Imagine a Siri that doesn't keep steering you in the wrong direction just because it misunderstood one word. That would be a truly helpful voice assistant.

Keep track of our conversations
Your conversations with Siri are typically short-lived. As long as you keep the Siri screen open, you can scroll back in time to see any previous questions and answers. But close Siri, and all of your conversations close as well. I sometimes want to check or refer to a previous question or response as I'm chatting anew with Siri. As such, I'd like to be able to access a history list of our conversations so I can easily jump back to a specific exchange. As one example, Yahoo Messenger gives you the ability to view your recent IM conversations even after you've shut down the program. How about a similar option for Siri?

Read me a story
Siri can already read your email, text messages, reminders, and appointments to you. How about unleashing that capability? I'd love for Siri to be able to read to me other types of items while I'm driving, walking, or otherwise occupied. Maybe I'd like to hear the next chapter in one of my Kindle books or the latest story from CNET. Of course, such a feat would require the aforementioned third-party app support. But I don't see why Apple couldn't expand Siri's storytelling skills.

These are just a few features I'd like to see sprout up in Siri. Feel free to share your own wishlist items in the comments below.