I think a lot of people don't get it... Siri is huge! ... This is electricity in the home. This is the light bulb This is the automobile This is the telephone This is the airplane. This is the George Forman grill. Simple at its onset it will grow fast and in ways we can't predict over a very short span of our lives.
So huge it will eventually be the main interaction we will have with all the computers and gadgets in our lives.
Think back to the befuddlement Scotty of Star Trek fame had when encountering a mouse as input device for the first time. Voice control and command is the way forward and in a few years time we will regard the mouse and GUI as the horse and buggy stage of computer development.
Buying Apple products has always been like buying products from the Future today. Siri will extend that future at a very rapid pace.
A lot of these features have been available on Android for quite a while. As in, with a single button press, I can tell my phone to call anyone, to send a text message, or to start voice navigation.
Everything else that Siri has is usually just a glorified Google search.
It's funny that I keep hearing the "do I need my jacket today" example.
Try asking Siri "Text my wife I love her". Awkward moments will ensue.
Siri isn't nearly as intelligent as many of you think it is. It's certainly very well trained, if you follow the rails. Hey, try asking it "Do I need my jacket today?". I heard that works great.
The only difference between Google's voice commands/voice control and Siri is the attempted AI, which was actually from an old DARPA project that had its funding cut because it wasn't close to being good enough for military use. And I say attempted. How the AI is implemented is just a much more complex version of voice commands. It does speech to text then tries to use a bunch of predefined rules to break down the sentence and associate it with pre-existing commands, weighting each outcome with a probability. The problem is this does require training. Lots of it. Which is why the Siri team is supposedly so large.
But the other implication of this is simple: Siri will only be able to do what it was programmed to do. This is why Siri is pretty much braindead in Canada and Europe. It's only been trained extensively for the US.
On Android you can already say "Text Joe, I am going to be late. Sorry bud. Send." and it'll send. With Siri, you can now say "Hello Siri. How are you? Please text Joe that I will be late. Sorry bud."
Yeah, it's cool in demos and when you get your shiny new toy. But what's the longevity on that? Unless you like the sound of your own voice, you're going to learn to optimize Siri to do what you want quickly. And do you know what that will sound like?
"Text Joe, I am going to be late. Sorry bud. Send."
Whats the point of your posts? You're pathetic. You've used 'shiny new toy' quite a few times already, a sign of a troll. If you think there's no 'longevity' you're incredibly short sighted. No, Siri isn't perfect. Of course it isn't. But when the hell WILL voice recognition be perfect? People have been trying to get it right for the last 30 years. It will never be perfect. But, all impressions conclude this is by far the best implementation yet. You think Apple will stop work on Siri? They'll continue to improve it everyday. 6 months from now, it will be significantly better. A year from now, more so. You have to start somewhere. In terms of voice recognition, Siri is near perfect if you dont have a thick accent. In terms of interpreting your message, doing what you want it to do, and connecting to enough data sources, yes theres massive room for improvement. You think APple isn't aware of this? But its an incredibly good start, which is the impressions of everyone who has used it. The fact that you believe its nothing more than a flash in the pan shows what a limited imagination you have.
Thanks. That's partially true. I'll get fewer calls after the screeching out of the drive way asking me to look something up on maps.
But, on a more serious observation: English is not my wife's native tongue. She was afraid Siri wouldn't understand her. Siri has been 100% dead on every time she talks to it. Wow. Even I can't do that...
Thanks. That's partially true. I'll get fewer calls after the screeching out of the drive way asking me to look something up on maps.
But, on a more serious observation: English is not my wife's native tongue. She was afraid Siri wouldn't understand her. Siri has been 100% dead on every time she talks to it. Wow. Even I can't do that...
... I suspect that your wife is just pretending to not understand you.
Yes-Siri learns your voice and adapts your pronunciation,
My daughter's family has a last name starting with "Gi" as in "Gilbert".
Initially, Siri would find the correct name, but mispronounce it as "Ji" as in "Jimmy".
After a day, Siri picked up on how I was pronouncing it and changed hers.
Siri (at least on an iDevice) is meant to be a Personal Assistant.
Sigh... Guess I'll have to pop for 4 more 4S'.
Siri calls me "Grandpa Wonderful"... the grandkids -- not so much!
These same companies have been mocking Apple for having crappy voice features in the iPhone until this point, touting their own as superior. So yes, I'd expect nothing less from them now than 'who cares about voice'?
That is correct. Nuance is voice recognition software for the Siri.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pendergast
Um, if I remember correctly, Siri uses the same voice recognition software: Nuance. In fact, Siri isn't voice recognition; it's a contextual AI that utilizes speech recognition software (it can be upgraded to a superior solution in the future).
Also, in my experience, even in noisy environments, Siri is about as accurate as the iPhone's keyboard.
Amazing. People slam Siri because it is still a learning process (beta) and because it isn't perfect. Get a clue folks. People (babies in particular) are a learning process. Maybe we should toss them out. And, as for not being perfect, in case you haven't noticed, people don't do a particularly good job of communicating with each other. Perhaps we should junk people, too, until they are perfect.
I agree with most of it I suppose. Apple's purchase of Siri was a great decision. Especially the deep integration it has. I however would not use this in public, and would probably laugh / shake my head at anyone who does when I finally see it happen.
I would however use it to send a text to someone while driving.
A lot of these features have been available on Android for quite a while. As in, with a single button press, I can tell my phone to call anyone, to send a text message, or to start voice navigation.
Everything else that Siri has is usually just a glorified Google search.
Perhaps, but what everyone seems to be missing here, is the advancement of the VOICE RECOGNITION. The very fact that you can speak naturally or even whimsically and the phone gets it, THAT'S what's impressive here. I've been able to do many of these things with iOS before as well, but I had to think for a minute about how I needed to phrase my request. What Apple has done is to bring the technology to the people, not the people to the technology. It's the difference between real handwriting recognition and Graffiti (Palm's old sawed-off handwriting system) which forced people to learn a new way of writing so that the device would understand.
I think it's the best implementation of voice yet, but for me it has two fundamental flaws.
1. People look like tools when using it. Driving yes, someone dictating a letter in Starbucks - no. They will come across as a tube, like one of the parodies of early yuppies shouting down their mobile phones, full of self-importance. I often gripe about people blasting music from their phone on a bus or train - it's a lack of consideration for the fact they are in a public space - I really don't see this as any different.
2. It's not local, so if you're out of the country it's not worth shit. OK in the U.S., but it's like Google Navigation here in Europe - no good once you cross a border. It's one of the reasons why Ovi Maps/Nokia are popular here - locally stored content. Google appear to have figured this out with ICS, their TTS is done on the phone with no data connection, and recently with their maps you can already store your route locally before taking off, if you deviate then it checks the data again. I expect them to increase that feature to entire maps this year.
Siri is indeed cool, probably the best voice recognition system available for consumers today. But it's not like everyone else has been sitting still, nor that Apple is the only company that can ever do anything right.
Actually, given the comments from Microsoft and Google, it's entirely possible that they might be. Neither of them things voice recognition has much value, so why spend money on it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ConradJoe
You have no basis whatsoever for the statement that "many of the people who call Apple computers 'toys' are using their PC mainly to play games".
Sure I do. Search this forum for thousands of posts from PC people arguing that their PC was so superior to the Mac because the Mac didn't have a native version of Doom/warfare/shootemup of the month.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alandail
Google doesn't like Siri because the results don't include any ads.
There's probably a lot of truth to that. Google only invests in things that might improve their ad revenue. Although I'm sure they'll find a way around that problem - like emailing your ads to you after you make a voice search request.
Google Android boss Andy Rubin and Microsoft's Windows Phone head Andy Lees have both publicly criticized Apple's new Siri voice assistant and questioned its usefulness.
That's it, downplay someone else's / anybody else's product(s) and/or feature(s) to make your company's appear better.
Besides who made these two schmucks paragons of product review? Not likely either are unbiased. Makes you want to question their usefulness.
Perhaps, but what everyone seems to be missing here, is the advancement of the VOICE RECOGNITION. The very fact that you can speak naturally or even whimsically and the phone gets it, THAT'S what's impressive here. I've been able to do many of these things with iOS before as well, but I had to think for a minute about how I needed to phrase my request. What Apple has done is to bring the technology to the people, not the people to the technology. It's the difference between real handwriting recognition and Graffiti (Palm's old sawed-off handwriting system) which forced people to learn a new way of writing so that the device would understand.
Add to that -- by the end of this year over 25 million people will be "beta testing" Siri and providing data to Apple's servers.
These data can be analyzed in depth to determine what Nuance (Speech To Text) and Siri (AI -Conversational Context Analysis) does well and where it needs improvement...
25 million people advancing the state of the art in voice recognition...
Comments
...
Siri is huge!...
...This is the George Forman grill. Simple at its onset it will grow fast and in ways we can't predict over a very short span of our lives.
Well, now you've gone and done it!
That's way over the top... Is nothing sacred?
I think a lot of people don't get it... Siri is huge! ... This is electricity in the home. This is the light bulb This is the automobile This is the telephone This is the airplane. This is the George Forman grill. Simple at its onset it will grow fast and in ways we can't predict over a very short span of our lives.
So huge it will eventually be the main interaction we will have with all the computers and gadgets in our lives.
Think back to the befuddlement Scotty of Star Trek fame had when encountering a mouse as input device for the first time. Voice control and command is the way forward and in a few years time we will regard the mouse and GUI as the horse and buggy stage of computer development.
Buying Apple products has always been like buying products from the Future today. Siri will extend that future at a very rapid pace.
A lot of these features have been available on Android for quite a while. As in, with a single button press, I can tell my phone to call anyone, to send a text message, or to start voice navigation.
Everything else that Siri has is usually just a glorified Google search.
"Siri: Search yahoo [wolfram] for clueless"
It's funny that I keep hearing the "do I need my jacket today" example.
Try asking Siri "Text my wife I love her". Awkward moments will ensue.
Siri isn't nearly as intelligent as many of you think it is. It's certainly very well trained, if you follow the rails. Hey, try asking it "Do I need my jacket today?". I heard that works great.
The only difference between Google's voice commands/voice control and Siri is the attempted AI, which was actually from an old DARPA project that had its funding cut because it wasn't close to being good enough for military use. And I say attempted. How the AI is implemented is just a much more complex version of voice commands. It does speech to text then tries to use a bunch of predefined rules to break down the sentence and associate it with pre-existing commands, weighting each outcome with a probability. The problem is this does require training. Lots of it. Which is why the Siri team is supposedly so large.
But the other implication of this is simple: Siri will only be able to do what it was programmed to do. This is why Siri is pretty much braindead in Canada and Europe. It's only been trained extensively for the US.
On Android you can already say "Text Joe, I am going to be late. Sorry bud. Send." and it'll send. With Siri, you can now say "Hello Siri. How are you? Please text Joe that I will be late. Sorry bud."
Yeah, it's cool in demos and when you get your shiny new toy. But what's the longevity on that? Unless you like the sound of your own voice, you're going to learn to optimize Siri to do what you want quickly. And do you know what that will sound like?
"Text Joe, I am going to be late. Sorry bud. Send."
Whats the point of your posts? You're pathetic. You've used 'shiny new toy' quite a few times already, a sign of a troll. If you think there's no 'longevity' you're incredibly short sighted. No, Siri isn't perfect. Of course it isn't. But when the hell WILL voice recognition be perfect? People have been trying to get it right for the last 30 years. It will never be perfect. But, all impressions conclude this is by far the best implementation yet. You think Apple will stop work on Siri? They'll continue to improve it everyday. 6 months from now, it will be significantly better. A year from now, more so. You have to start somewhere. In terms of voice recognition, Siri is near perfect if you dont have a thick accent. In terms of interpreting your message, doing what you want it to do, and connecting to enough data sources, yes theres massive room for improvement. You think APple isn't aware of this? But its an incredibly good start, which is the impressions of everyone who has used it. The fact that you believe its nothing more than a flash in the pan shows what a limited imagination you have.
Well...
...You just wanted it to work!
Thanks. That's partially true. I'll get fewer calls after the screeching out of the drive way asking me to look something up on maps.
But, on a more serious observation: English is not my wife's native tongue. She was afraid Siri wouldn't understand her. Siri has been 100% dead on every time she talks to it. Wow. Even I can't do that...
Thanks. That's partially true. I'll get fewer calls after the screeching out of the drive way asking me to look something up on maps.
But, on a more serious observation: English is not my wife's native tongue. She was afraid Siri wouldn't understand her. Siri has been 100% dead on every time she talks to it. Wow. Even I can't do that...
... I suspect that your wife is just pretending to not understand you.
Yes-Siri learns your voice and adapts your pronunciation,
My daughter's family has a last name starting with "Gi" as in "Gilbert".
Initially, Siri would find the correct name, but mispronounce it as "Ji" as in "Jimmy".
After a day, Siri picked up on how I was pronouncing it and changed hers.
Siri (at least on an iDevice) is meant to be a Personal Assistant.
Sigh... Guess I'll have to pop for 4 more 4S'.
Siri calls me "Grandpa Wonderful"... the grandkids -- not so much!
Um, if I remember correctly, Siri uses the same voice recognition software: Nuance. In fact, Siri isn't voice recognition; it's a contextual AI that utilizes speech recognition software (it can be upgraded to a superior solution in the future).
Also, in my experience, even in noisy environments, Siri is about as accurate as the iPhone's keyboard.
I agree with most of it I suppose. Apple's purchase of Siri was a great decision. Especially the deep integration it has. I however would not use this in public, and would probably laugh / shake my head at anyone who does when I finally see it happen.
I would however use it to send a text to someone while driving.
A lot of these features have been available on Android for quite a while. As in, with a single button press, I can tell my phone to call anyone, to send a text message, or to start voice navigation.
Everything else that Siri has is usually just a glorified Google search.
Perhaps, but what everyone seems to be missing here, is the advancement of the VOICE RECOGNITION. The very fact that you can speak naturally or even whimsically and the phone gets it, THAT'S what's impressive here. I've been able to do many of these things with iOS before as well, but I had to think for a minute about how I needed to phrase my request. What Apple has done is to bring the technology to the people, not the people to the technology. It's the difference between real handwriting recognition and Graffiti (Palm's old sawed-off handwriting system) which forced people to learn a new way of writing so that the device would understand.
1. People look like tools when using it. Driving yes, someone dictating a letter in Starbucks - no. They will come across as a tube, like one of the parodies of early yuppies shouting down their mobile phones, full of self-importance. I often gripe about people blasting music from their phone on a bus or train - it's a lack of consideration for the fact they are in a public space - I really don't see this as any different.
2. It's not local, so if you're out of the country it's not worth shit. OK in the U.S., but it's like Google Navigation here in Europe - no good once you cross a border. It's one of the reasons why Ovi Maps/Nokia are popular here - locally stored content. Google appear to have figured this out with ICS, their TTS is done on the phone with no data connection, and recently with their maps you can already store your route locally before taking off, if you deviate then it checks the data again. I expect them to increase that feature to entire maps this year.
Just my opinion.
True....But my 6 year old loves it!
And that's the generation that is going to think keyboards are for old people.
Pay no attention to ConradJoe, he's just an old troll best known as tekstud. He keeps getting banned and coming back under a new name.
These accusations are both inaccurate and insulting.
Nasty comments about other posters are against forum rules.
Like notifications?
Siri is indeed cool, probably the best voice recognition system available for consumers today. But it's not like everyone else has been sitting still, nor that Apple is the only company that can ever do anything right.
Actually, given the comments from Microsoft and Google, it's entirely possible that they might be. Neither of them things voice recognition has much value, so why spend money on it?
You have no basis whatsoever for the statement that "many of the people who call Apple computers 'toys' are using their PC mainly to play games".
Sure I do. Search this forum for thousands of posts from PC people arguing that their PC was so superior to the Mac because the Mac didn't have a native version of Doom/warfare/shootemup of the month.
Google doesn't like Siri because the results don't include any ads.
There's probably a lot of truth to that. Google only invests in things that might improve their ad revenue. Although I'm sure they'll find a way around that problem - like emailing your ads to you after you make a voice search request.
Google Android boss Andy Rubin and Microsoft's Windows Phone head Andy Lees have both publicly criticized Apple's new Siri voice assistant and questioned its usefulness.
That's it, downplay someone else's / anybody else's product(s) and/or feature(s) to make your company's appear better.
Besides who made these two schmucks paragons of product review? Not likely either are unbiased. Makes you want to question their usefulness.
That's it, downplay someon else's / anybody else's product(s) and/or feature(s) to make yourcompany's appear better.
Besides who made these to schmucks paragons of product review? Not likely either are unbiased.
If Jobs was allowed to downplay his competitors at every turn, his competitors are allowed to do the same. What are they supposed to do?
Perhaps, but what everyone seems to be missing here, is the advancement of the VOICE RECOGNITION. The very fact that you can speak naturally or even whimsically and the phone gets it, THAT'S what's impressive here. I've been able to do many of these things with iOS before as well, but I had to think for a minute about how I needed to phrase my request. What Apple has done is to bring the technology to the people, not the people to the technology. It's the difference between real handwriting recognition and Graffiti (Palm's old sawed-off handwriting system) which forced people to learn a new way of writing so that the device would understand.
Add to that -- by the end of this year over 25 million people will be "beta testing" Siri and providing data to Apple's servers.
These data can be analyzed in depth to determine what Nuance (Speech To Text) and Siri (AI -Conversational Context Analysis) does well and where it needs improvement...
25 million people advancing the state of the art in voice recognition...
...we should call this knowledge mining!