Gadgetory

sorry Siri there's another assistant that could be smarter I'm Bridget Carey this is your C net update it seems another voice assistant is set on outsmarting Siri Cortana and Google now a new app called hound has some new voice search tricks that blow Siri and Google now away it's a free app made by the company sound hound and what makes it different is that it can handle multiple layers of a spoken question don't just ask for a nearby hotel ask for which hotels are available in a certain place on a certain day at a max cost and if it's pet friendly try that on an Android or iPhone and you can get a useless search result this can be applied to complex restaurant hunts or you can also use it to request an uber car ride and it'll tell you the distance time and estimated cost of the trip before you even book it but hound will not be bused in every situation asked for sports scores and Siri shines because it breaks down the score by quarter ask for directions and hound loses because it does not have public transit advice and for generic trivia Google now speaks the answer whereas hound just pulls off a Wikipedia page and also on the topic of apps the Google Maps just got a little better for iPhones the Maps app now lets you add a stop along your current route it was an Android for several months now but not all road adventures have been smooth lately for Google one of Google's self-driving Lexus cars is accepting blame in a minor crash and it's the first time the car itself is at fault well partial faults at least the accident happened last month involving a bus the Google car was trying to move into another Lane after signaling and waiting for an opening it assumed a bus coming would yield to let it in but that did not happen the car hit the side of the bus meanwhile another Silicon Valley drama the battle continues between Apple and law enforcement over requests to unlock iPhones on Tuesday Apple in the Federal Bureau of Investigation made arguments before a congressional panel regarding the order to force Apple to help the FBI break into the iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters FBI director James Comey said his team has done everything they know of in their power to unlock this phone before they took it this far Apple argues that this issue should be determined by Congress and lawmakers rather than by the courts with a warrant that's based on a very old statue but what could help Apple's argument is another case that happened the day prior about a different iPhone a New York judge ruled that the government had no right to force Apple to unlock an iPhone that belongs to a drug dealer and that may strengthen Apple's argument against doing it for the FBI that's it for this tech news update there's more cnet.com from our studios in New York I am Bridget Carey