I don't know how much of Siri was Steve. In the biog, it's implied that he was given a demo of Siri for the first time at a Board meeting just before he resigned and was at first pessimistic that it could do as claimed. He asked it several questions and was apparently impressed.
If Steve was not heavily involved with Siri, that actually is a positive for Apple. There's an impression that Jobs was a micro-manager who was involved in every design decision and there's a more positive outlook for Apple's future if a wider variety of executives and managers were directly involved in everything we love about Apple's products that frequently gets credited to Jobs.
I agree with the above, and see your concern below:
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoetmb
IThere is one thing about Siri that bothers me. If it's really only a Beta, then IMO it shouldn't be the focus of Apple's advertising for the phone. Apple wants to have it both ways: if it works, it's a reason to buy the phone and if it doesn't, "well sorry, it's only a Beta."
But isn't it a case of Siri still being in the process of learning and Apple recognising that if it were advertised as finalised, customers might complain that it didn't understand them 'out of the box'? it's probably better PR to tell buyers they have to train Siri in order to get the best out of it! Also, If more capabilities were being tested before launch (e.g: app or settings control) prior to implementation, then Beta it is.
Technically I suppose, it could remain in Beta forever because it will always be learning something new and hence improving.
Except, Siri does seem to learn on her own... Pronunciation, at least.
My daughter and her 3 children have a last name starting with "Gi". It is pronounced with a hard g as in "Gilbert". Initially, Siri would mispronounce it as if it were j in "jim".
After several days of telling Siri to text or call them using both first and last names, Siri learned the correct prononunciation. I didn't do anything except pronounce the name correctly, and Siri adapted.
I entered a dummy contact for my late wife, Lucy -- so I could test making calls, sending texts, etc. without disturbing the others (it has the same mobile number as me).
Then I told Siiri "Lucy is my wife" and instructed her to remember it. Now I can text, etc. using "Lucy" or "my wife" and see both ends of the activity...
A few moments ago, i asked:
"Siri, who's my wife?"
Siri: "What would you do without me? Here's that contact information..."
I've asked that same question many times before (and several times since) but that was the only time I got a sassy response.
It was bound to happen. A Siri port for the iPhone4 is reported to be available at Cydia. I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole myself, being the work of a Chinese hacker and perhaps doing a bit of data mining in the process. Reported at 9to5.
Consider it a serious word of caution if any of you jail-breakers run across it.
Comments
FastCoDesign: Kaleidoscopic Pop-Up S.../t.co/OrnRziUz
Siri can control your temperature
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN6wy0keQqo
Lets see Microsoft do that with TellMe
I don't know how much of Siri was Steve. In the biog, it's implied that he was given a demo of Siri for the first time at a Board meeting just before he resigned and was at first pessimistic that it could do as claimed. He asked it several questions and was apparently impressed.
If Steve was not heavily involved with Siri, that actually is a positive for Apple. There's an impression that Jobs was a micro-manager who was involved in every design decision and there's a more positive outlook for Apple's future if a wider variety of executives and managers were directly involved in everything we love about Apple's products that frequently gets credited to Jobs.
I agree with the above, and see your concern below:
IThere is one thing about Siri that bothers me. If it's really only a Beta, then IMO it shouldn't be the focus of Apple's advertising for the phone. Apple wants to have it both ways: if it works, it's a reason to buy the phone and if it doesn't, "well sorry, it's only a Beta."
But isn't it a case of Siri still being in the process of learning and Apple recognising that if it were advertised as finalised, customers might complain that it didn't understand them 'out of the box'? it's probably better PR to tell buyers they have to train Siri in order to get the best out of it! Also, If more capabilities were being tested before launch (e.g: app or settings control) prior to implementation, then Beta it is.
Technically I suppose, it could remain in Beta forever because it will always be learning something new and hence improving.
Except, Siri does seem to learn on her own... Pronunciation, at least.
My daughter and her 3 children have a last name starting with "Gi". It is pronounced with a hard g as in "Gilbert". Initially, Siri would mispronounce it as if it were j in "jim".
After several days of telling Siri to text or call them using both first and last names, Siri learned the correct prononunciation. I didn't do anything except pronounce the name correctly, and Siri adapted.
I entered a dummy contact for my late wife, Lucy -- so I could test making calls, sending texts, etc. without disturbing the others (it has the same mobile number as me).
Then I told Siiri "Lucy is my wife" and instructed her to remember it. Now I can text, etc. using "Lucy" or "my wife" and see both ends of the activity...
A few moments ago, i asked:
"Siri, who's my wife?"
Siri: "What would you do without me? Here's that contact information..."
I've asked that same question many times before (and several times since) but that was the only time I got a sassy response.
Sorry for your loss. Sincerely.
Consider it a serious word of caution if any of you jail-breakers run across it.
to5mac.com/2011/12/05/jailbreak-news-illegal-siri-iphone-4-port-debuts-on-cydia-ios-5-downgrade-via-ifaith/