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Siri: The Implications

Piggie said:
It's got nothing to do with money.
That's like saying if only we had the cash we could all be using teleporters and warp drive.
When the knowledge and technology are both in place then hopefully, as with artificial intelligence we will one day have these things (probably not in my lifetime though) :(

Nothing would make me happier to be able to talk to a iPhone or an iPad or any other device and it be able to understand me. Know it was me, and not someone talking over my shoulder, and also know when to listen and when not to listen.

How about dictation?

You have a secretary perhaps (if you are in a high position) and you dictate a letter to them.

Dear Sir,
Thank you for your letter from the other day,
ummm,
Yes, we shall be happy to meet you to discus this matter further, we were very interested in the demonstration of you product.
Yes please I'd love a coffee, black two sugars.
And look forwards to meeting with you soon.
Please be aware that other will want to
Ohhh, lovely, thanks, any biscuits?
also see your prototype

Your's faithfully
etc etc.
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It's not about money... entirely.

I mean, you talk about teleporting and stuff, but tell me when will we be able to teleport if no one is working on it??? You got it... never.

This is the case with AI; namely natural language processing (NLP). The fact that a big company is backing this sort of technology doesn't necessarily mean that it will be perfect in the first try, but ensures that an evolutionary development will be in place. And evolution my friend, is the biggest ally of all AI-related technologies.

As I said before is not entirely about money, but research depends upon that, so there is a very close correlation between them.

And yes I agree with the OP; the implications of Siri being a core service in the IP4S means much more than meets the eye.

I'm not completely sure, but this might be known as the first time that a branch of AI went mainstream.

EDIT: But be aware that Siri is not an innovation, but rather a reaction to the announced heavy reliance that next-gen windows platforms will have in NLP. As said by key people from Microsoft Kinect was just a test for full implementation of that technology on upcoming windows enabled platforms.

EDIT2: As much as I hate windows, I must say that they are the ones who are making the innovations in the shadows. Expect A LOT of innovations in the near future. (kind of what Jobs did at his time)
 
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Here's where I could see Siri being useful -- the "what the hell / who the hell..." questions in life:

Q: "Who the hell was the actor who played Bennett in Commando?"

Q: "What year did Jurassic Park come out?"

Q: "When did Pan Am go out of business?"

Q: "When did the Hartford Whalers leave Canada?"

I'm amazed how often I open up my phone and google questions that come up at the office, over in court, or out and about with friends. The ability to just pop out the phone and ASK the answer would be kind of amazing.

That is, if it works.

The other thing that will make/break Siri is how many other Apps get tied into it. Like, tying Siri in with Flixster so you can ask "When is the next showing of Moneyball tonight?", tying Siri into ESPN to get information about games ("Who does Ohio State play this weekend?" / "How many yards passing does Josh Freeman have so far today?"), tying Siri into IMDB ("Give me a list of every movie directed by Michael Mann" / "Was Tom Cruise ever in a movie with Morgan Freeman?") etc.

Again, if it works.
 
ppilone said:
Siri will have to say 'Yes'. You know, because of the implication.
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This is the first time on MR I've seen It's Always Sunny referenced. Nicely done.

EDIT: On topic, I think Siri is the new Facetime. Like video calling, I just don't think people care that much.

And the robotic voice really bugged me. I don't know, for some reason I expected it to be more natural sounding. Then again, it's in the extremely early stages, so who knows?
 
murdercitydevil said:
This is the first time on MR I've seen It's Always Sunny referenced. Nicely done.

EDIT: On topic, I think Siri is the new Facetime. Like video calling, I just don't think people care that much.

And the robotic voice really bugged me. I don't know, for some reason I expected it to be more natural sounding. Then again, it's in the extremely early stages, so who knows?
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If I'm not mistaken, it's (one of) the same voices used in OS X.
 
I'm very excited for the introduction of Siri integrated into iOS. To all the people who think it will be a total bust, have you never checked out the Siri application for iPhone? I too went in a little pessimistic as I have not seen any VR app worth my time, but after playing around with it for a little bit, I was amazed at how well it worked. Give it a chance people. Even if you find it doesnt fit your needs, I assure you it will be a major step forward in bringing VR to the masses.

----------
Number 41 said:
Here's where I could see Siri being useful -- the "what the hell / who the hell..." questions in life:

Q: "Who the hell was the actor who played Bennett in Commando?"

Q: "What year did Jurassic Park come out?"

Q: "When did Pan Am go out of business?"

Q: "When did the Hartford Whalers leave Canada?"

I'm amazed how often I open up my phone and google questions that come up at the office, over in court, or out and about with friends. The ability to just pop out the phone and ASK the answer would be kind of amazing.

That is, if it works.

The other thing that will make/break Siri is how many other Apps get tied into it. Like, tying Siri in with Flixster so you can ask "When is the next showing of Moneyball tonight?", tying Siri into ESPN to get information about games ("Who does Ohio State play this weekend?" / "How many yards passing does Josh Freeman have so far today?"), tying Siri into IMDB ("Give me a list of every movie directed by Michael Mann" / "Was Tom Cruise ever in a movie with Morgan Freeman?") etc.

Again, if it works.
Click to expand...

I really hope apple does allow other apps to gain access of Siri. That being said, with the Siri app, you can already ask show times and the like, so you may be able to still, although it would just find your current location and use the Internet to decide, as opposed to going through an app.
 
Number 41 said:
Here's where I could see Siri being useful -- the "what the hell / who the hell..." questions in life:

Q: "Who the hell was the actor who played Bennett in Commando?"

Q: "What year did Jurassic Park come out?"

Q: "When did Pan Am go out of business?"

Q: "When did the Hartford Whalers leave Canada?"
Click to expand...

It should definitely answer the Jurassic Park question, as I typed it exactly into Wolfram Alpha and got not only the release for Jurrasic Park, but the two sequels as well. Didn't try, but PanAm would likely also be good.

The one about the Hartford Whalers leaving Canada might be more difficult, however, since Hartford is in Connecticut.
 
QNXUH.png
 
I think the best part about Siri is not so much the voice recognition and the like, but the TOTAL integration within the iPhone system...esepcially the mapping and GPS. What really attracted my attention was the location-based alerts. This is MAJOR.

Think about it. It's not just "Remind me to call my wife when I leave work." It's things like "Remind me to pick up shampoo when I am near a drug store/chemist." or "Remind me to buy butter when I am at the grocery store." or "Remind me to pay the electric bill when I get home next Friday." Or how about something like "Remind me when I get to my brother's house to ask him to return my circular saw"?

I am sure I am not the only guy out there whose mind is like swiss cheese sometimes. I go shopping multiple times and forget that ONE item consistently! Drives me NUTS. To have my iPhone be able to remind me when I am near a store that sells the items I need would be a godsend. Not to mention the other various things I wish to remind myself of daily. To be able to locationalize these is a tremendous step forward.

And the ability to read and respond to texts while driving is a nice bonus too. :)
 
You know, I was thinking this would be really great until I realized one thing, is it going to support 3rd party apps (or allow 3rd party apps to add support)?

Because a lot of the apps I use are 3rd party, even for stuff Apple offers cause while I like their hardware and OS's, in general I don't like Apple software (I found a better alarm clock for example, I have Navigon for my navigation needs, I do have a third party calendar app but at least it synchs with iCal, I had a third party to do app that I like over even the new task list Apple has but Apple has convinced me to use theirs cause the tasks show up in my notification screen at least on the day they are due. But I still think apple's task list really lacks as well).
 
I hope that when the jb community makes it for iP4, that it will also have a little talking paperclip.

:D
 
Jman13 said:
It should definitely answer the Jurassic Park question, as I typed it exactly into Wolfram Alpha and got not only the release for Jurrasic Park, but the two sequels as well. Didn't try, but PanAm would likely also be good.

The one about the Hartford Whalers leaving Canada might be more difficult, however, since Hartford is in Connecticut.
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I was sitting thinking Winnipeg Jets, but my brain didn't connect with my fingers as I typed.

Major NHL-fan fail.
 
tigress666 said:
You know, I was thinking this would be really great until I realized one thing, is it going to support 3rd party apps (or allow 3rd party apps to add support)?

Because a lot of the apps I use are 3rd party, even for stuff Apple offers cause while I like their hardware and OS's, in general I don't like Apple software (I found a better alarm clock for example, I have Navigon for my navigation needs, I do have a third party calendar app but at least it synchs with iCal, I had a third party to do app that I like over even the new task list Apple has but Apple has convinced me to use theirs cause the tasks show up in my notification screen at least on the day they are due. But I still think apple's task list really lacks as well).
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It'd be really, really lame if Apple didn't allow other programmers to add Siri functionality to their apps.
 
Number 41 said:
It'd be really, really lame if Apple didn't allow other programmers to add Siri functionality to their apps.
Click to expand...

How could someone do this? Wouldn't an app programmer need to re-program the Siri software to be able to tell it what to do within each app?

I could see Siri opening an app through voice command, but getting it to do anything else would be impossible. Having it be able to work with the nearly unlimited abilities and functions that come with such a rich app ecosystem would require 'teaching' Siri the ins-and-outs of thousands of apps...on a list that grows exponentially.

Siri is an Apple product and will likely only interface with Apple apps...like Maps and the Calendar. I can't see any way it could easily interface with 3rd-party apps. :confused:
 
mstrze said:
How could someone do this? Wouldn't an app programmer need to re-program the Siri software to be able to tell it what to do within each app?

I could see Siri opening an app through voice command, but getting it to do anything else would be impossible. Having it be able to work with the nearly unlimited abilities and functions that come with such a rich app ecosystem would require 'teaching' Siri the ins-and-outs of thousands of apps...on a list that grows exponentially.

Siri is an Apple product and will likely only interface with Apple apps...like Maps and the Calendar. I can't see any way it could easily interface with 3rd-party apps. :confused:
Click to expand...

Yeah, I understand that and I agree with you (but I'm not a developer so part of me hopes maybe I'm wrong). But it seems like it would have to be truly super smart to be able to learn 3rd party functions (or have some complicated programming or just support basic functions of 3rd party apps).

But, it still sux cause a lot of the apps that apple provides really kinda suck. For example the alarm apple provides only allows you to use ringtones you have to wake you up (the one I have lets you put a playlist and will randomly play a song from that), the calendar app while they have improved by finally putting a week view in still only puts a dot on the day in month view rather than title of appointment, the task list doesn't even display tasks in order that they are due but in order that you put them in (and that is only one of my gripes about it), the map app is decent but to navigate I use Navigon as it has voice turn by turn instructions and will tell me the next turn I need (rather than me have to constantly tell it to go to the next step), well at least the contact list is decent.

Ah well, by the time my upgrade is up I'm sure we will know for certain if by luck it does allow for 3rd party apps to be supported. I am with the person I replied to, I doubt it though :(.
 
mstrze said:
How could someone do this? Wouldn't an app programmer need to re-program the Siri software to be able to tell it what to do within each app?

I could see Siri opening an app through voice command, but getting it to do anything else would be impossible. Having it be able to work with the nearly unlimited abilities and functions that come with such a rich app ecosystem would require 'teaching' Siri the ins-and-outs of thousands of apps...on a list that grows exponentially.

Siri is an Apple product and will likely only interface with Apple apps...like Maps and the Calendar. I can't see any way it could easily interface with 3rd-party apps. :confused:
Click to expand...

Why spend a ton of money on Siri and implementing it if you never plan on giving it more things to do? All apps require approval anyway -- why not have an approval process for Siri integration?

You've got this great piece of software in Siri, but it can't do a lot of very basic things that people would want it to do:

- Post a facebook status update without launching the facebook app? Can't do it.

- Search movie times and buy movie tickets via Flixster? Can't do it.

- Get real-time sports information ("How many rushing yards does Ray Rice have so far today?") via ESPN? Can't do it.

- Get a table for dinner via OpenTable, or place a take-out order from the Chipotle app? Can't do it.

- Check your bank balance or spending through your bank's app or an AMEX app? Can't do it.

If all Siri is destined to be is an integration tool for Apple's in-built iOS apps, then it's a cool toy but never the "next gen" interactivity device that everyone thinks it will be.

Apple has already partnered with Yelp to provide content to Siri, there's no reason whatsoever that they can't do it with other groups in the future and no reason they should stop developers from working Siri integration into their apps.
 
Siri was implemented because Job (when he was alive) was tired or responding to everyone writing in with their gripes - so he needed a way to quickly rattle off three word answers :)
 
ct2k7 said:
It was "sanctioned" by Google before Apple.
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Voice commands were sanctioned by Google first but Siri isn't about voice recognition. Android requires proper syntax to perform specific tasks. The thing about Siri that is impressive isn't the voice recognition (that is powered by Nuance) but the AI that figures out what you MEAN (powered by Siri).

So no Android didn't sanction it first just because they had a basic function that isn't the same as Siri... We aren't excited by voice commands as we've had them on the iPhone for years... It is the AI... Something Android doesn't have... but of course will soon when they copy it as best they can.
 
Will I have to be connected to the internet when Siri do searches and all that?
 
Number 41 said:
Why spend a ton of money on Siri and implementing it if you never plan on giving it more things to do? All apps require approval anyway -- why not have an approval process for Siri integration?

You've got this great piece of software in Siri, but it can't do a lot of very basic things that people would want it to do ....

Apple has already partnered with Yelp to provide content to Siri, there's no reason whatsoever that they can't do it with other groups in the future and no reason they should stop developers from working Siri integration into their apps.
Click to expand...

BUT, Siri would require an update for each and every new app integration. It's just not possible. It's not anything to do with the apps being updated, it's the core programming of Siri. An app developer has no control over the ability of the overall Siri program to interface with it.

I mean Siri, not the Facebook app, needs to know what you mean when you say: "Post this picture to Facebook."

I'm not opposed to seeing Siri interface with more popular sites and apps down the road like ESPN or Facebook, but there is no way Apple could possibly design Siri to be able to interact with a variety of apps without changing Siri itself.

My take is that with every iOS update, we will see a few more sites or apps under the Siri umbrella.
 
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