Why is Assistant so revolutionary?

[Reach9]

We'll find out in 3 days and 19 hours.

 

[Shockwave78]

I am sure apple will implement voice better than anyone out there this type by far. But there previous version just flat out sucked. I think i "tried" using it maybe 20 times and it just is an epic failure IMO.

 

[TM WAZZA]

We'll find out in 3 days and 19 hours.

I can't wait

 

[Number 41]

I think when Star Trek the Next Generation came out, they showed the practical applications of an assistant. Back in those days, the concept of a Google search or Spotlight was missing and they would just have Commander Data speed read pages of documents over a few minutes.

The computer talked in Star Trek because of dramatic necessity -- otherwise you'd have awkward dialogue scenes of characters monologuing about what they were doing with the computer and then relaying the results to the viewer. What's a better scene for a sci-fi show:

1.)
GEORDI: "Computer, run a level five diagnostic and determine the cause of the fault."
COMPUTER: "Diagnostic complete. Fault is located in warp reactor shielding, failure imminent."

2.)
GEORDI: "OK, I'll just run a level five diagnostic here and see what happens. (dramatic pause) Oh, damn, there's a fault in the warp reactor shielding!"

In the real world, there's no demand to interact with technology via voice. It's entirely the dream of Trekkies and nerds who want to push the future towards their sci-fi ideal of future reality. Real people don't want to sit in their cubicles and talk with their computer, or sit on a subway and interact with a PDA via voice.

This isn't earth shattering stuff. It's tech that's been rejected by consumers since the mid-90s.

 

[Darthdingo]

It would be awesome to command the phone using your own voice.

Been doing that for years on my Android phones, and yes it is pretty awesome

Is cool though that Apple stole, I mean implemented some "original" functions into iOS5 like "Notification Center" and "Voice Control", about time they caught up to 2009.

 

[kas23]

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It won't be revolutionary until we hear it out of Jobs's mouth. That's all.