Former Apple employee claims Steve Jobs would have 'lost his mind' over Siri

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  • Reply 101 of 189


    Normally I'd agree but Apple is not known for releasing things that are in beta.  While it appears that it is what google normally does, I can't recall Apple doing that.  It seems to me to just be an excuse for something that is wrong, whether or not it really is a problem.

  • Reply 102 of 189
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DrDoppio View Post


    I bet when Siri comes out of beta it will be much better,


     


    but I don't think it will be this June...



     


    This is just conjecture, but it may be that more robust hardware is required on the iDevice for Siri to take the next step -- could be more robust, CPU, GPU, RAM or a special DSP.


     


    Anyway, it is interesting that the new iPad and new AppleTV both use the A5x chip that addresses the CPU/GPU/RAM issues -- don't know about a special DSP.


     


    Could be when the next iPhone is released, they will remove the shackles from Siri.


     


    The way they are advertising Siri, makes me think that something's afoot!

  • Reply 103 of 189
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by duncanator View Post

    Normally I'd agree but Apple is not known for releasing things that are in beta.


     


    OS X.


    iWork.com.


    FaceTime.


    Messages.

  • Reply 104 of 189
    dzfoodzfoo Posts: 12member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jay-t View Post


    I don't know about others but "my" Siri understands me perfectly well almost all the time. Putting the gazpacho on ice was not a problem. :-)


     

     


    I also use Siri often, to send text messages, reminders, timers, restaurants, locations, directions, and querying factual information. To me it works rather well, most of the time.


    I've noticed that when I'm speeding down the highway at high speed, the ambient noise in my car prevents Siri from processing my inquiries, and so she responds with an error message. But I can understand, for my auto is very noisy.


    I'm a native Spanish speaker, so I speak English with an accent, and I find Siri superb in her understanding.

    -dZ.
  • Reply 105 of 189
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    slurpy wrote: »
    Or, you know, instead of all that garbage you could have looked at the SECOND word on that page, right after 'Siri'. emblazoned in an impossible to miss, bright orange badge, the only word on that page in such a badge.  Did you honestly not see it, or did you pretend to as as to give your narrative weight and? No Cmd-F needed.  Here, let me help you out..

    LL

    For people with eyes, I think this is clear enough. No need to go digging through FAQS, disclaimers, etc.

    Excuse me. This error was already pointed out an hour ago already, only two posts after mine, sheesh. How many times should I have to apologize for a mistake?

    Also, as yet, no one has pointed out the term beta appearing in the TV ads, not even in the fine print.
  • Reply 106 of 189


    I tried the gazpato reminder verbatim, also.


     


    Siri worked perfectly, understood the request, and offered to set up a reminder.


     


    W\Siri usually works for me. On the other hand my GF f's it up 80% of the time. I think it is because she angles the phone and speaks directly into the base. Who knows...

  • Reply 107 of 189
    boxmaccaryboxmaccary Posts: 146member
    Of course Steve would've lost his mind over the gimmicky DREK that is Siri ....

    Just yet another in the small, growing cracks in the good ship "Apple".

    But, Nature being what it s, Steve was taken from us MUCH too early -- he was only in his mid-50s, FFS .... -- just as the entity he, and only he alone, built goes towards "Legendary" status.

    Thank the gods Jony's still there ....
  • Reply 108 of 189
    sol77sol77 Posts: 203member


    I have mixed feelings about Siri.  I don't want to write either one of them first because doing so places emphasis and they both weigh the same for me.  I think Siri works incredibly well, especially for a Beta product, however, I think Apple has shot themselves in the foot by making it their primary push in advertising.  Is it a cool feature?  Definitely.  I use it rarely, however.  I've occasionally spoken text messages while in the car...but rarely.  If I take a power nap I use it.  If I'm cooking something I use it.  I use it for these things because I can avoid a lot of button pressing.  But I honestly don't use it in the city (NY) because I feel terribly conspicuous and just feel silly (personal experience). 


     


    Aside from that, while I don't mean to sound like a jerk, Siri understands me quite well - if you speak English and are pronouncing words correctly, you will have no problem.  Sorry.  No argument, here.  I know people at work and elsewhere who occasionally complain that Siri can't understand them, but it's my experience (writer, BA in English) that many people are simply not cognizant of just how stilted or fractured their speaking voice is...it's usually something people notice when they begin taking classes on how to give speeches.  Frankly, every English speaking person I've met who can't get Siri to understand him/her is a dialectic train wreck...but it's not the kind of thing even well-speaking peers are going to be cognizant of, let alone tell you about.  Someone might beg to differ, but that'll have to be where we part ways. 


     


    My own personal experiment (because I like to verify claims) is my one and only attempt to ask Siri for a reminder.  I think I even slightly mispronounced gazpacho.  Frankly, if it doesn't work for you, "You're saying it wrong."  Siri has trouble perfectly dictating entire paragraphs that I speak...but that's because human beings have difficulty speaking perfectly formed sentences on the fly without stuttering, elongating a word here and there, etc.  I think most people are simply not used to having their speech errors pointed out to them.  Attend toast masters...you'll find out what Siri has already been telling you. 


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


    photo.PNG

  • Reply 109 of 189
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BoxMacCary View Post

    Of course Steve would've lost his mind over the gimmicky DREK that is Siri ....


     


    He personally approved it. Don't dare think you can say what he would or would not do.

  • Reply 110 of 189
    wisdomseedwisdomseed Posts: 141member


    I got 'put the despot shop on ice in an hour. Like I know what the hell gezpacho is. Sometimes Siri get it wrong but I use it a lot anyway. It works for me, even if occasionally I have to put the despot show on ice...



     


     




     


     

  • Reply 110 of 189
    nceencee Posts: 857member


    SIRI remind me to wake up in an hour!


     


    Zagger and Evans song "in the year 2525" from the 60's is getting to be to real for me, and WAY to early.


     


    Folks, if you need to be reminded to do anything in an hour, maybe you need medication, or a note pad.


     


    - You live in the neighborhood, you should and better know where in hell you get mushrooms!


    - SIRI take the night off? Come on folks, what in hell is this all about.


     


    I know these are just commercials, but are they based on what we expect from our toys (phones), and if so, get ready for 


    our FAT people numbers to grow.


     


    Skip

  • Reply 112 of 189
    sejmannsejmann Posts: 3member


    To any Windows/Android aficionado, I'd be considered an "Apple Fan Boy," and I actually love Siri, but, come on, applying the "Beta" label doesn't let Apple off the hook — if they had instead called it "Alpha" would you now be gushing about how other-worldly outstanding it is for an alpha product?  Or, what if they decided to call it a prototype, or a weekend hack?  A clever marketing label of feigned bashfulness doesn't change the fact that this is the major feature of the most major product of one of the most major tech companies to ever exist.  It doesn't become immune to criticism simply because they attached a well chosen word to its description — it's smoke and mirrors for the biased and gullible. When Apple bought Siri for $200mil, the Siri app was already in the App Store, and Apple strictly prohibits beta applications in the App Store.


     


    Now, to play my own devil's advocate, I actually see "Beta" as an admission that the product didn't measure up to Steve's full expectations, but that it was still cool enough, even given it's limitations, to share with the world.  I think that's right.  And it is arguably much better, and certainly more convenient than any mainstream technology of it's sort to come before it.


     


    The reasons I'm forgiving of Apple falling short of perfection is that 1) their offerings are nearly always better for the majority of people, in measurable ways, (simpler, designed to be powerful and still instantly understood) than the majority of what's otherwise widely deployed, and 2) over time they actively address the most disappointing limitations. Apple's almost never at the bleeding-edge, but when they introduce something, they 3) make it core, default and automatic.  It's way too easy for us to overlook the power of "default."  It's "default" that revolutionizes landscapes, and pulls things out of the mere fringe of possibility.  You only really change the world when you get a billion people to take something for granted.  Possibility emerges at the edges of the bell curve, but meaningful change only happens in the center.

  • Reply 113 of 189
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member


    Why the heck is SLJ making gazpacho anyway? I would have thought he'd be all BBQ ribs and what not.

  • Reply 114 of 189
    sol77sol77 Posts: 203member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ncee View Post


    SIRI remind me to wake up in an hour!


     


    Zagger and Evans song "in the year 2525" from the 60's is getting to be to real for me, and WAY to early.


     


    Folks, if you need to be reminded to do anything in an hour, maybe you need medication, or a note pad.


     


    - You live in the neighborhood, you should and better know where in hell you get mushrooms!


    - SIRI take the night off? Come on folks, what in hell is this all about.


     


    I know these are just commercials, but are they based on what we expect from our toys (phones), and if so, get ready for 


    our FAT people numbers to grow.


     


    Skip



     


    No offense, but if you think human beings don't need help remembering a task that needs to be done later (be it an hour or a day later), you haven't spent much time in the professional world, or simply don't have many responsibilities.  A younger person might try to argue with that, but it'd be like a kid who likes film lecturing Scorsese on movies.  Normal people who need to be productive use reminders of all kinds, not to mention having their calenders filled with tasks and todo's.  There is an entire industry that helps people organize their to-do lists and activities.  Okay, if you're in college and the only thing you need to remember to do is study for a test and drink with the buddies, sure...but you sure as hell better be giving seminars on productivity and memory if you are living a productive adult life and need absolutely no reminders of any kind...I'll be the first to buy a ticket to listen to you.  I'd bet money you're either single and grown up, or under 25 (nothing wrong with either, and nothing wrong with having few responsibilities...I'm not criticizing...enjoy it).  And in my experience, people who have enough responsibilities to not only require reminders and calendar documentation, but USE it, are highly productive...and are generally NOT fat.  It's people who's ambition extends no further than whatever they happen to be able to remember to do when it comes to them who are more likely to be sedentary. 


     


    On the other hand, I don't really use Siri for my own reminders...I use lists and calender notes.

  • Reply 115 of 189
    slang4artslang4art Posts: 376member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jayrodo View Post


    Just make it so it doesn't have to communicate with apple servers for requests that don't need an internet connection. Why do you need to communicate with the server to call a contact that the old voice service was able to do before without a connection?



    Because Siri is learning as she goes from how people speak, and what types of information is most helpful. It is also looking at things like syntax and context, whereas Voice Command could only use very specific words and phrases to work.

  • Reply 116 of 189
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ncee View Post


     You live in the neighborhood, you should and better know where in hell you get mushrooms!


     


     



    The whole ad is just ridiculous. Where is Siri getting the information about organic mushrooms? I tried a search on those terms in the center of Los Angeles and got one commercial food industry wholesale supply house. Normal small grocery stores do not advertise the type of produce they carry. Now if he had said "Find me an organic grocery store." there are dozens of hits but that isn't quite as cute for a TV ad.

  • Reply 117 of 189
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    ncee wrote: »
    SIRI remind me to wake up in an hour!

    Zagger and Evans song "in the year 2525" from the 60's is getting to be to real for me, and WAY to early.

    Folks, if you need to be reminded to do anything in an hour, maybe you need medication, or a note pad.

    I would suggest that smart phones have or can replace paper notepads, has been for many years now. There's little sense in buying such a device and not taking advantage of its capabilities, such as setting alerts, reminders, timers and such. My life has a lot of interruptions, sometimes ten an hour, so I do take advantage of my iPhone's reminder capabilities, otherwise I just get interrupted out of what I intended to do for the day.

    - You live in the neighborhood, you should and better know where in hell you get mushrooms!
    - SIRI take the night off? Come on folks, what in hell is this all about.

    I think they're trying to be cute, or give the ad a sense of mirth.
  • Reply 118 of 189
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    rogifan wrote: »
    Any article I see that quotes someone saying "Steve Jobs would.." I call BS on.

    Indeed. Almost everything folks are saying he wouldn't have done was started in the thick of his time at Apple. Things they said he'd freak about were his pet projects.

    Steve started the whole Siri thing. And probably oversaw every step because when he trusted MobileMe to the tem, they failed. He understood that you can't train a voice recognition system without billions of samples of all kinds of voices. That's why they need users. But on the flipside that also means issues with overloaded servers etc. same as you can be standing basically under a cell tower with five glowing bars but if that tower can only handle 1000 calls at a time nd you are 1001, you won't be able to make a call. As the man once said, you can't change the laws of gravity, even if you are Apple? But unlike these naysayers Apple and Steve understand such things
  • Reply 119 of 189
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    orlando wrote: »
    When previously has Apple ever released something still in beta? I could easily imagine Steve Jobs being upset by that.

    iWork.com was released in beta and two years later canned in beta
  • Reply 120 of 189
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member


    I hope that Tim isn't letting standards slip. A human being, when talking to another, interprets a delay in response as... not meaningless. I wonder if this carries over to electronic devices. I would have delayed the release of Siri until it could run purely client side. It can still send logs and what not to Apple in order to aid with improving it, but this can be done in the background, when the device is not busy. Relying on the server for every single request is not an acceptable user experience.

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