Siri is a UI game changer

[Janx]

My wife just upgraded her 3gs to a 4s. She's discovered all the stupid pet tricks it can do.

Whats not getting a lot of press is what Siri can really do, and how complex and powerful that really is.

Here's an article about Siri's patent.

Unlike ELIZA or Dr. Sbaitso from SoundBlaster's demoes, Siri has contextual memory and a command architecture to hook into application's activities.

This isn't like the general voice recognition to "call Mom" or dictate an email via Dragon Dictation.

Being able to issue useful commands to search for information, and perform actions across a variety of topics is a game changer.

I have no idea if Google Voice Commands can "Remind me to buy milk after work" which will create a reminder and set the alert time to when I finish work (5pm). If it doesn't know when I get done with work, it will ask and then remember it.

Since Apple has a 230 page patent on the topic of managing this command processing system, Google's going to have to do something ENTIRELY different if they're going to invoke the same functionality.

From the article, the diagrams look like something I would have done (I've pondered this topic informally before, and I'm seeing structures akin to ideas i had). That means if it is defensible, it covers the practical solution set to solving the problem. Which means a competitor will need a very different strategy (one that might not be viable or require more resources like inventing a SkyNet grade neural network).

Aside from the obvious Star Trek reference to Scotty picking up a mouse and trying to talk to it (an Apple mouse, no less), this is another Star Trek technology finally arriving in a practical form.

As I see FaceTime being nearly unused (I finally used it yesterday to show my wife the BumbleBee Camaro while I was stuck at the dealership for her car repair), because it requires being stuck holding the phone, when in reality I want to talk with headphones so my hands and eyes can do another task (like drive or work a computer).

Siri supports that, because I can perform some tasks without needing to use my hands or eyes. This is going to expand into more uses, even as I stare at my PC, I could tell it to google this or that, open EnWorld show me this thread, and reply, etc. Look ma, no hands.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Computer...

Yep, saw this on G4 and it is Star Trek!

 

[Umbran]

It is new, yes. It is different. Even clever.

But that doesn't mean folks are actually going to use it so much the game actually changes. The basic issue I think, oddly enough, is not of the interface, but of power.

Siri, as I understand it, it *not* hands-free. You have to touch the phone to activate the program, which defeats about half the purpose. And this is understandable, because having your phone *always* awake, always listening, will kill your battery in short order.

So, you're saved some typing and some mucking about choosing apps, which is nice. But game-changing? I'm not sure.

 

[Aeolius]

My oldest son, who has cerebral palsy, has used computers since the age of 2 (Macs, naturally). He tends to type with the pinky finger of his right hand. Now, with, Siri, he can press the home button and say "send a text message to dad" before speaking the contents of the text message. This saves home loads of time.

Other useful tricks I have found for Siri are "How do I get home from here", "What is 15% of $27.73?", and near-flawless dictation into Notes (including transcribing podcasts by placing the phone next to a speaker).

 

[Asmo]

I need to get a new phone..I thought your wife´s name was Siri, then I read the article.

Asmo

 

[IronWolf]

It is new, yes. It is different. Even clever.

But that doesn't mean folks are actually going to use it so much the game actually changes. The basic issue I think, oddly enough, is not of the interface, but of power.

Siri, as I understand it, it *not* hands-free. You have to touch the phone to activate the program, which defeats about half the purpose. And this is understandable, because having your phone *always* awake, always listening, will kill your battery in short order.

So, you're saved some typing and some mucking about choosing apps, which is nice. But game-changing? I'm not sure.

I see where you are coming from, but from what I have heard (I haven't actually played with it yet, just reading the various user experiences about the net and such), this does seem like the first step towards voice activation and recognition in computers. Certainly an initial step, but if the biggest hurdle is having to touch the phone to get it to activate that seems relatively minor given the scope of voice recognition and driving your apps with it.

I suspect Apple is "beta" testing it at the moment on the phones. And at some point we'll see it come to the iPads and Apple computers.

 

[Kzach]

My oldest son, who has cerebral palsy, has used computers since the age of 2 (Macs, naturally). He tends to type with the pinky finger of his right hand. Now, with, Siri, he can press the home button and say "send a text message to dad" before speaking the contents of the text message. This saves home loads of time.

That's awesome dude. One of the first things I thought about when I read about Siri was that it will be able to help so many people have easier access to computers. Given that an iPhone is a relatively inexpensive device that serves several functions, it also hopefully brings it into the realm of availability for those with low financial resources.

The best thing about it, though, is that now it's 'out there' in the market-place, it will hopefully take hold and be developed and refined even further as well as having applications developed to tie-in to it to expand its capabilities.

The future is bright indeed!

 

[Morrus]

Siri, as I understand it, it *not* hands-free. You have to touch the phone to activate the program, which defeats about half the purpose. And this is understandable, because having your phone *always* awake, always listening, will kill your battery in short order.

I think one needs to think longer term. At present, Siri is a beta function on a single mobile phone handset. I've no doubt that the long game involves Siri being on other things - your computer, ostensibly - and able to control a lot of stuff in the house. Throw your emails up on your TV, record a TV program, change the temperature, that sort of thing. Those applications of it don't need to worry about the battery power, although they're obviously some way off yet.

I can imagine walking into my house and saying "Siri, set the heating at 17 degrees and show me what movies are showing at the local cinema; ah, play me the trailer for A Space Odyssey; OK, buy me two tickets for the 8pm showing and mark that in my calendar."

That sort of stuff is so close to real now, especially with Siri; it's more an infrastructure and partnership thing than a tech breakthough thing. I think Apple wants to run your household for you.

I'm finding I'm using Siri a lot at the moment. It's awesome being able to say to Siri "Invite Al, Neil, Dave, and my wife to Comic Con in London on Saturday the 29th" and have it seamlessly mark the event on my calendar, send a calendar invite to all four recipients (in Sharon's case, because she has an iPhone, it was added to her calendar automatically when she accepted the invitation; in the other three, who don't have iPhones, it sent them emails and they indicated they would be attending; all this info was reflected automatically in my own calendar entry - basic calendar stuff, of course, which everyone can do manually, but it did it all perfectly off that one spoken instruction).

Plus going to bed and simply saying "Wake me up at 8am" was awesome. As was "Remind me to buy dog food when I leave home" and the phone's GPS knows when I leave that geofenced area is creates and reminds me. I ask it "When is my wife's birthday?" and it verbally answers "Sharon Morrissey's birthday is on December 11th"; I tell it "Remind me on December 5th to buy my wife's birthday presents" and I know it will do exactly that. I want to cancel my D&D game? I simply tell it to email or text everyone and it does. And its answers from Wolfram Alpha are great. "How tall is the Eiffel Tower?"; "What is the population of Italy?"; "How many British Pounds is 250 US dollars?"; "Multiply 234 by 12 and add 30"; "How old is Bill Gates?" - for single answer data points, it's very, very good and spits the answer right back at you.

It doesn't do a LOT yet, but what it does do it does well; and its clearly going to be able to do a lot more over the coming months. It's annoying that location services don't work outside the US yet, though. I can easily bypass that problem, though, by instead saying "Search Google for Italian restaurants near me" and it does that just fine (it knows where I am).

You can tell I'm a Siri fanboy!

Apple's challenge isn't technological now; it's persuading people to do it. Folks have historically been reluctant to talk to devices for a variety of reaons (self-consciousness; inaccuracy of voice recognition; etc.) and the way around this is through marketing, not tech. Apple's gotta get you to feel OK about telling a device to do stuff. It does that the way it does a lot of its devices - market the hell out of them, make sure they do a few things REALLY well rather than a kitchen-sink approach, and then gradually increase the scope until in a few years you realise that without noticing it you're using it for more and more stuff. That's how they handled the original iPhone - it didn't do a bunch of stuf that other phones did, but the things it did do it did really slickly, really well - and now compare that the latest iPhones can do compared to that original one.

 

[Aeolius]

The best thing about it, though, is that now it's 'out there' in the market-place, it will hopefully take hold and be developed and refined even further as well as having applications developed to tie-in to it to expand its capabilities.

Absolutely. Once Apple opens Siri's API to developers, Siri will really shine. Coupled with various INSTEON devices (light switches, thermostats, motion sensors, etc) and a suitable home automation application, you would be able to use Siri to turn on lights, open doors, access security cameras, adjust thermostats, and more. I am currently working on a way for INSTEON to help feed horses.

 

[Morrus]

Absolutely. Once Apple opens Siri's API to developers, Siri will really shine.

There's a lot of doubt that Apple will do that. There'd be a lot of conflicting instructions and app developers trying to claim certain keywords for their app. How many would want "tweet", for example? (Bad example, because it'll be able to tweet natively soon with no need for a third-party app). Does Apple have a "first-come-first-served" application process to grab keywords? What about keyword squatters?

Alternatively you could tell it which app to use for every instruction, but Apple's kinda not fond of users having to plow through endless settings. Their credo is to have stuff work right out of the box without setup.

Who knows? A lot of analysts are saying that 3rd party APIs for Siri will never come. Maybe they'll figure out a cool, elegant way to handle it. It would be cool if they did.

But I suspect the future - for now at least - of Siri involves Apple designated functions, apps, and partnerships and not an open developer API. They might pick a few select apps and work with the devlopers on those ones, though.