Siri is a UI game changer

[Janx]

Of course, we all know "Liverpool is up north from here" and such in a larger-scale geographical way but not locally - we couldn't direct you to our house by saying "Go north along X road then west along Y road".

By any chance, does england have relatively straight streets or roads? Do the people tend to stay in their one town?

Everywhere I've been, I've always known where North is, and track everything by that.

It's like the driving directions difference for men and women. Women like naming landmarks, men like road names. I argue that men use landmarks, too, namely, the little signs at intersections telling you what road you can turn onto...

Anyway, the side point is, people are remarkably ignorant about things. More so than we who have filled our brains with trivia about diverse topics.

My clueless friend (who didn't know who Steve Jobs was or why the news was making such a big deal about him) went to BuzzFest last weekend. Bush came out on stage and said "Hello Cleveland!" Nobody got the joke and crickets ensued. Neither did she. She wondered why they got the name of the city wrong, so I showed her the Spinal Tap snippet.

Now she's incredibly behind the pop-culture references, but the gaps in knowledge of the general population is wider than we think.

 

[Aeolius]

The latter I've seen in more than one history text. As I recall, one of the devices was a water clock, the other was a musical automaton.

Not to mention globes. The Chinese had globes hundreds of years before Columbus made his journey.

 

[Morrus]

By any chance, does england have relatively straight streets or roads?

No. None. That's why cardinal directions are useless for navigation.

Do the people tend to stay in their one town?

No more or less than anyone else does, I imagine.

 

[falcarrion]

As long as you can guide me to the pubs, that all I need to know.

 

[Banshee16]

I don't believe such a creature exists. Nobody I've met or any media report I've seen have led me to believe that they think Apple invented voice recognition. They just think Apple has integrated it extremely well and cleverly marketed it as mainstream.

I believe he/she's referring to members of the general public.....the "average joe" who buys the iPhone due to marketing, and his/her friends having one, and that it seems cool, rather than because they read up on the technology.

Apple's definitely not putting effort into ensuring that their marketing says "hey, we've added a cool, already existing technology into our phones, and we think you'll like it because it's really neat"

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Your view of the general public is very cynical - and, I believe, you underestimate people. As I said, I do not believe there is such a person as the who believes Apple invented voice recognition.

And I don't know anybody in that industry - including myself! Everyone knows voice recognition has been around for years.

Everyone's a lot of people? Are you sure you can't find one?

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

I've done some looking and Siri isn't the only natural language recognition around, others have existed too. Some of them are available on the various app markets. And while a certain bar has been set, many are rushing in to any of the voids left.

Those in the U.S. have access to Dragon Go! which supposedly duplicates much of the functionality of Siri. I can't attest to how well it works as I'm in Canada, where the app's not currently available.

Banshee

 

[Morrus]

I believe he/she's referring to members of the general public.....the "average joe" who buys the iPhone due to marketing, and his/her friends having one, and that it seems cool, rather than because they read up on the technology.

That is what I interpreted him to mean; and I stand by my point that I do not believe anybody is under the impression that Apple invented voice recognition software. Not even my grandmother, who is as likely to have ever read up on the subject as I am to have studied the history of knitting.

 

[Banshee16]

That is what I interpreted him to mean; and I stand by my point that I do not believe anybody is under the impression that Apple invented voice recognition software. Not even my grandmother, who is as likely to have ever read up on the subject as I am to have studied the history of knitting.

Guess your grandfather is better informed than some people I know

Banshee

 

[Janx]

That is what I interpreted him to mean; and I stand by my point that I do not believe anybody is under the impression that Apple invented voice recognition software. Not even my grandmother, who is as likely to have ever read up on the subject as I am to have studied the history of knitting.

Are we still stumbling over my stupid term?

I have not met any AppleFans who claim Apple invented Voice Recognition.

I have seen Anti-AppleFans who claim AppleFans think Apple invented Voice Recognition.

So there are misperceptions out there. And the world is chock full of ignorant people who don't know the history or full function of the things they use.

Heck, my own wife had no clue the switch near the volume buttons on her iPhone was a full Mute control. She'd go into movies and toggle the sound down on everything from the UI. She'd had her iPhone for at least a year when I asked her what she was doing and she explained leading to a FacePalm moment.