An Extensive List of Things You Can Say to Siri

[iBug2]

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The Point is you think people would know the difference. That is a socially degraded self confidence issue and nothing to do with Siri. Siri is an assistant. Would you be embarrassed talking to a human assistant on the phone? Again it seems like a personal issue and a deficiency of social confidence.

I think that's a bit over the top. You forget that when people talk to A.I., at least for now, they tend to use better pronunciation than usual, also talk slower etc. So I'm pretty certain that I can immediately understand if you are talking to your brother or to Siri. So talking to Siri in public is going to sound like you are talking to a half deaf person, or talking to a retarded person. Even if Siri does not need to be talked that way, that's what people are going to do at first.

If you could talk to it as naturally as you talked to an actual person, then almost all issues brought up in this thread become irrelevant, except dictations maybe.

But in any case, it's not that simple as lack of social confidence.

 

[o0jelly0o]

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When will Siri be able to contact emergency services for the elderly, or endangered?

 

[madmaxmedia]

The benefit may be lost if you need to double check everything Siri has done for you.

Would you want to dictate a reply to a big business decision without proof reading? Or dictate to move your important business meetings?

The promo video shows that you'd call out an instruction but never check what Siri has done. It will not be the case in real world usage.

I think a lot of these usability questions won't get answered until the 4S is in the wild and people are using Siri in real life.

I think there is a ton of potential here, in that it seems like simple voice commands can replace many steps needed in basic tasks involving the default apps.

 

[whiteboytrash]

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I was intrigued at first, but the more I read about this, the more it sounds trite and half-baked. Apple first introduced voice control about 2.5 years ago. Siri has been out about 1.5 years. All Apple can come up with is "set my alarm to 6am", "find me Italian restaurant", and "is it going to rain?"? Apple should have opened this up to 3rd party apps. I would have been impressed by "Find me NFL scores on ESPN using Safari", "Direct me home on TomTom", or "begin reading Moby Dick where I left off in iBooks". As for dictating notes; we've already had this for over a year using Dragon Dictation. Now, I've come to under-cooked software features from Apple, but they've had a year and a half.

This is way it will record everything in the Apple DC so it learns over time... It will get better & better.... Did you not listen to the keynote?

 

[marksman]

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Another very useful command would be something like "Close all background apps except: Alarms, Calendar etc.". I always have to do this clean up twice or thrice a week and it bugs me. Probably I'm expecting too much but I can already start imagining things. If it's true AI, I hope it will learn and grow

Since there are no background apps it might have trouble with that

 

[wilhoitm]

How the Siri AI works from Siri CTO Tom Gruber

Check out these 2 videos from Tom Gruber, the Siri CTO, before they were bought by Apple.

Big Think Small Screen: How Semantic computing in the cloud will revolutionize the consumer experience on the phone

Siri: A Virtual Personal Assistant

 

[iBug2]

I remember when talking on a (cell)phone in a public place was considered weird. Im not saying Siri will do it, but culture changes quite rapidly.

Im sure people then were saying that they wanted a portable phone but didnt want other people overhearing. Now I can barely walk 10' down a hall at my school without someone talking obnoxiously loud into their phone.

Yeah, that's what I said on my other post. 15 years ago that sight was weird, not people are texting each other while sitting at the same table, and that's not weird anymore.

 

[madmaxmedia]

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I was intrigued at first, but the more I read about this, the more it sounds trite and half-baked. Apple first introduced voice control about 2.5 years ago. Siri has been out about 1.5 years. All Apple can come up with is "set my alarm to 6am", "find me Italian restaurant", and "is it going to rain?"? Apple should have opened this up to 3rd party apps. I would have been impressed by "Find me NFL scores on ESPN using Safari", "Direct me home on TomTom", or "begin reading Moby Dick where I left off in iBooks". As for dictating notes; we've already had this for over a year using Dragon Dictation. Now, I've come to under-cooked software features from Apple, but they've had a year and a half.

The original iPhone had no apps at all, now look at the App Store. What didn't exist in year one, is now perhaps the greatest asset of the iOS operation system.

Recognizing dictation is not a big deal, I agree. But what they've done with this first version of Siri with the default apps is pretty good. The functionality will get deeper over time, including probably 3rd party apps.

For 3rd party apps, the app developers themselves are going to somehow have to have an API (or something) to build a library of Siri commands. This thing is not actual AI, without programming from say ESPN for the ESPN app, how would Siri be able to interpret the command "What's the score in the Chargers game?"

3rd party app support is going to be complicated, because there are so many apps and many apps do the same thing. Its going to take time.

 

[mac*jedi*g]

I can't wait to try this out:

"Note: I have no arms
My a88 will itch @ 5pm.
Who is available to scratch my a88?"

 

[samcraig]

And when you're in motion? In a hurry? I prefer to watch where I'm going rather than being the fool who runs into others because they are gawking at their phone. I wouldn't even need to pull the phone out of my coat.

What app do you need to open in THAT scenario?


For those keeping their iPhone 4 - I recommend getting Dragon Go! and also Vlingo.

Dragon Go! is pretty cool/powerful as it offers everything from being able to find/active things on spotify, facebook, google+, the web, various websites (i.e. find all tech articles on new york times) yelp, opentable, etc. You can tweet, update status, etc. You can even say "buy dragon dictation on app store" and it will bring you there...

Vlingo is a great dictation program that you can use to compose emails, tweets, fb status, texts, etc.

All that said - while fun to play with - still gimmicky to me as far as daily usage.

 

[fitshaced]

Yeah, that's what I said on my other post. 15 years ago that sight was weird, not people are texting each other while sitting at the same table, and that's not weird anymore.

I think there is an undeniable difference. Talking to a person on a phone is connecting with someone. Not sad. Talking to your phone for the weather, very sad.

Talking to someone on the phone whilst on the train, annoying to people around you.

Talking to your phone whilst on the train, far more annoying because it really doesn't need to happen.

The day Angry Birds is voice controlled is the day I shoot myself.

 

[Tee1970]

Siri has a mail voice on BBC video?

There's a video by BBC, check it out, it understands british accent and also replies in one

Sounds like the BBC video has a male Siri voice -

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/10/04/iphone-4s-hands-on-and-siri-assistant-demo-video/

Whereas the one in the Tim Cook apple event was female. Wonder if the assistant gets a male name with a male voice?

 

[ColeHarris]

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Me: Siri what is the meaning of life?

Siri: Sorry Cole but I'm afraid your human mind is not adequate to contemplate the answer to that question.

 

[iBug2]

I think there is an undeniable difference. Talking to a person on a phone is connecting with someone. Not sad. Talking to your phone for the weather, very sad.

Talking to someone on the phone whilst on the train, annoying to people around you.

Talking to your phone whilst on the train, far more annoying because it really doesn't need to happen.

The day Angry Birds is voice controlled is the day I shoot myself.

Most phone calls people make to other people do not need to happen either. I don't really see if there's a difference in necessity.

And how is it "sad" to schedule a meeting using voice assistant, instead of opening the calendar app and doing it with your fingers? It's the same task. Why is it sad one way and not sad the other?

I really don't think "sad" is an issue here.

 

[madmaxmedia]

I think there is an undeniable difference. Talking to a person on a phone is connecting with someone. Not sad. Talking to your phone for the weather, very sad.

Talking to someone on the phone whilst on the train, annoying to people around you.

Talking to your phone whilst on the train, far more annoying because it really doesn't need to happen.

The day Angry Birds is voice controlled is the day I shoot myself.

I would say that it depends on how much time/effort you are saving, to choose Siri instead of regular touch.

Something like "Call my wife" or "Set alarm for 7 AM" I think people will choose, because it's faster than doing the equivalent with touch.

Also, in many cases other people won't know whether you're talking to a real person or not, so the discomfort may not be there. LOL, if you do it right it will sound like you're talking to your secretary (hey everyone, I have a secretary!)

 

[Laird Knox]

i will trade Suri for a larger screen..

I expect Tom Cruise might take issue with that.

 

[madmaxmedia]

I can't wait to try this out:

"Note: I have no arms
My a88 will itch @ 5pm.
Who is available to scratch my a88?"

"Your mother."

 

[marksman]

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If this interacts with twitter ("find tweet by _____") I could find some serious usage out of this. I suppose I could post tweets via siri but I don't care about that myself.

Yeah but imagine you could just tap one button and say "tweet my dog at my last taco" and it would be tweeted.

So many time saving possibilities I see. I look stuff up on Wikipedia all the time. If I could get API link to the imdb app it would be amazing to say "imdb Zooey deschenal" and have it pop up. Or I just say "check macrumors" and I am on the first page. Sure I can have an icon for it but given the way I use my device Siri will be able to save me so much time.

Or even "beejive Tom check out Mac rumors, wikus is talking nonsense again."

 

[madmaxmedia]

So many time saving possibilities I see. I look stuff up on Wikipedia all the time. If I could get API link to the imdb app it would be amazing to say "imdb Zooey deschenal" and have it pop up. Or I just say "check macrumors" and I am on the first page. Sure I can have an icon for it but given the way I use my device Siri will be able to save me so much time.

Or even "beejive Tom check out Mac rumors, wikus is talking nonsense again."

Bingo. Apple is doing this not because voice control is cool, but because it can actually make many tasks FASTER. Not all of them, and there will be bumps at first, but this will only get better and deeper over time.

 

[twiggy0]

If I had to set my alarm, id want to see that its CORRECT. I wouldnt want to wake up to an alarm that can be set wrong with voice recognition that isnt 100% accurate.

Siri would confirm to you... "Your alarm was set for 6:00am tomorrow morning."

 

[Cingular]

Steve Jobs dead

http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/

 

[iBug2]

Fuccccckkk!!!!

 

[randfee2]

I really wonder though: Can Siri delete stuff as well? Can it do things like this?

• disable my alarm at 7am and instead set one for 8am
• read the titles of all unread emails to me
• (while it is reading texts/emails) "delete"? So it deletes that?
• when does the movie xyz come out in germany?
• where is my friend xyz right now?
• send this image (last one taken) to xyz via email. Add the following as mail: "blablabla"
• Update my Facebook status with this image and add the comment: Look what I've got

 

[fitshaced]

Most phone calls people make to other people do not need to happen either. I don't really see if there's a difference in necessity.

And how is it "sad" to schedule a meeting using voice assistant, instead of opening the calendar app and doing it with your fingers? It's the same task. Why is it sad one way and not sad the other?

I really don't think "sad" is an issue here.

Because you can open the app and do it. People around you would appreciate that. Your girlfriend will appreciate that.

People swallow up everything that they are told is great. They get told specific ways on how to use it to improve their way of life. In fact, Siri would only improve the lives of those who have a disability and need this feature. If you're not blind or have full use of your hands, I really dont see why you'd want this feature. People will try and convince themselves that they have a use for it. I would think that their money would be better spent on more important things.

 

[iBug2]

Because you can open the app and do it. People around you would appreciate that. Your girlfriend will appreciate that.

People swallow up everything that they are told is great. They get told specific ways on how to use it to improve their way of life. In fact, Siri would only improve the lives of those who have a disability and need this feature. If you're not blind or have full use of your hands, I really dont see why you'd want this feature. People will try and convince themselves that they have a use for it. I would think that their money would be better spent on more important things.

Yes, one of those ways that how we could improve our lives was smartphones. And yes, they do improve our lives. Or at least, if you think they improve our lives, then you can't simply say Siri doesn't. If it does it faster than you could using your hands, considerably faster even, then yes, it does improve your life by saving you time.