Server-side update makes Siri a stickler for succinctness

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  • Reply 21 of 68
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by zoffdino View Post


    • we are two years into the service and it's still in beta.



     


    So?

  • Reply 22 of 68
    gazoobee wrote: »

    Before you two freak out about this ... have you actually tried it?  Don't you have to start with "Siri send a message"?  

    And isn't it likely that when used in that particular circumstance it doesn't actually interrupt you with this stuff?  
    Yes I've tried it and yes she does it on messages. First time was when I was sending a message to my sisters about my dad having cancer surgery so it was aggravating to say the least. I tried it the way I always do. Also tried to add the send message to (blank) SAY... Like I used to have to do in iOS 5. Also tried to do send message to... And wait for Siri to ask what I wanted to say... Got a smart assed reply from her each time. It's also happened a few other times recently.
  • Reply 23 of 68
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    zoffdino wrote: »
    • Accuracy improvement: we are two years into the service and it's still in beta. If Dragon is dragging their feet, it's time to move on with another partner.

    1) So (x2)? Does the label make it better or worse simply by having that label on it?

    2) Why do you think the problem is Dragon and not the inherent issues with a virtual digital assistant.
  • Reply 24 of 68
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Major problem with Siri from my perspective:  One must have a well-constructed sentence before one speaks to Siri, which simply isn't the way many of us converse. I tend to think faster than I can speak and the inevitable sentence that tumbles out is a software speech recognition nightmare. : /


     


    Can't Apple just acquire IBM to get their mitts on Watson and be done with it?



    Once upon a time, it was much, much worse. It will continue to get better.


     


    Is Siri still beta?


    EDIT: Just saw answer.

  • Reply 25 of 68
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post





    Originally Posted by zoffdino View Post


    • we are two years into the service and it's still in beta.



     


    So?



    Google has plenty of products that have been in beta much much longer than that. And don't work as well as Siri does.

  • Reply 26 of 68
    I wonder if everyone is taking this the wrong way. It almost seems to me it may have more to do with them trying to limit the data they transfer. All queries go to the servers...
  • Reply 27 of 68

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Pooch View Post



    i'm not freaking out about it, but i have tried it. when sending a text message that is too long, siri just stops (double-beep) and displays (without saying) "Sorry, I didn't get that." no warning or anything, so you lose whatever you just said and have to repeat yourself.


     


    I beg your pardon? I didn't get that. Can you repeat yourself?

  • Reply 28 of 68
    akacakac Posts: 512member


    This is aggravating. I sent a fairly short text to my wife today - asking if she wanted Coffee and gave her two choices. Siri said it was too long. It wasn't even half a text message max. 


     


    This essentially ruins Siri for me. 


     


    The Google app can do on-device speech recognition. Siri needs to do that in iOS 7. I don't care if its in beta, but what I do care is that Siri is useful. Before today, it was useful. Now half my Siri "conversations" don't work. 

  • Reply 29 of 68

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Siri's understanding is not that good especially if you are using proper nouns that she doesn't know. Honestly, Google does a much better job in my opinion. For example with Siri, I asked her to find the Taca Airlines website. Instead of doing what I ask, she takes it upon herself to correct the query by switching it to taco airlines instead of first trying to find something that is phonetically more similar to what I actually said and try a few different spellings if there is a duplicate phoneme such as substituting a "K" for the "C" sound or visa versa. She appears to be using the same crappy word editing algorithm used in the spelling correction feature. Equally bad recognition of Copa Airlines. Both airlines fly out of LAX so you would think that since I'm near LAX she would look at a list of airlines near such a major international airport, but no. Completely useless no matter how clearly you enunciate.


     


    On the other hand, Google finds both airlines in less than a second, and even though it spelled 'Taca' as 'Taka'. It still found the right web site and put it at the top of the list. No fuss, no muss, and no wise cracks.



     


    Clues to this might be found in the way Google's normal text input search works. It has autocorrect capabilities that not only guesses the word, but uses any additional keywords that follow as context. So if you typed Taka Airlines, it would figure out you probably meant Taca Airlines. The algorithm is quite good. Their voice search taps into this capability. Also, Google Maps uses it when searching for POI.


     


    I think Siri tries to match the sound to a word without the benefit of any contextual cues (such as the following word "airline"). It usually works pretty good. But there is clearly room for improvement.

  • Reply 30 of 68
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    akac wrote: »
    This is aggravating. I sent a fairly short text to my wife today - asking if she wanted Coffee and gave her two choices. Siri said it was too long. It wasn't even half a text message max. 

    This essentially ruins Siri for me. 

    The Google app can do on-device speech recognition. Siri needs to do that in iOS 7. I don't care if its in beta, but what I do care is that Siri is useful. Before today, it was useful. Now half my Siri "conversations" don't work. 

    Are you saying that this simple change to cue people in on how to talk to a digital system that needs to parse your query is the reason your "simple" dictation didn't work today?
  • Reply 31 of 68

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Major problem with Siri from my perspective:  One must have a well-constructed sentence before one speaks to Siri, which simply isn't the way many of us converse. I tend to think faster than I can speak and the inevitable sentence that tumbles out is a software speech recognition nightmare. : /


     


    Can't Apple just acquire IBM to get their mitts on Watson and be done with it?



     


    In other words, you want HAL-9000.


    Watson could never win enough money playing Jeopardy! to justify it's own operating and development expense. So, no.

  • Reply 32 of 68
    bestkeptsecretbestkeptsecret Posts: 4,265member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


     


    In other words, you want HAL-9000.


     



     


    Anybody who knows what HAL-9000 is and still wants one deserves everything they get with it!

  • Reply 33 of 68
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member


    Siri is supposed to be a personal assistant. In a real (human) personal assistant you would want professionalism, not sass. (Well, some people might want sass but not most.)

  • Reply 34 of 68
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member
    Siri just sucks, let's be honest.
    I've tried to use it many times. It's not usable to me.

    I might be asking for too much, or the non-US version is subpar compared to the US version, I have no clue. What I know is I just don't use it whatsoever, it fucks up 90% of times.

    Worst is the fact my colleague's "Google Now" (I think?) thingie on his phone works almost perfect. Why!?
  • Reply 35 of 68
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lightknight View Post



    Worst is the fact my colleague's "Google Now" (I think?) thingie on his phone works almost perfect. Why!?


    I think maybe... Google somehow leverages their giant search index to understand your sentences better. Without that database, life must be much harder for the Siri programmers.

  • Reply 36 of 68
    dsilesdsiles Posts: 3member
    She is also being a smart ass about setting alarms. I asked her to set an alarm for 4:30 am yesterday which she completed, but then told me not to wake her up at the same time.
  • Reply 37 of 68
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    Anybody who knows what HAL-9000 is and still wants one deserves everything they get with it!

    But haven't you heard that it wasn't HAL's fault?

    That he was programmed to tell the truth and then instructed to keep the reason for the mission a secret from the crew?

    It was his devious American handlers at mission control that caused him to ge insane. The movie and the book contain many clues to help you figure this out, like when Floyd flat-out lies to the Russians.

    Hal was trying to do his job too well, but his humans let him down. This is the reason that Kubrick made the humans so flat and dehumanized.

    Don't feel bad, though, the critics like Pauline Kael didn't get it either.
  • Reply 38 of 68
    akacakac Posts: 512member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    Are you saying that this simple change to cue people in on how to talk to a digital system that needs to parse your query is the reason your "simple" dictation didn't work today?

    Why not? I constantly use Siri to text while driving. That day it failed. It's failed before due to too much noise, garbled talk. But this time - for the first time since I used it the day Siri came out (yes I buy IPhones the day they come out) it failed because of an artificial limitation that did not exist before.

    I'm an admitted Apple fan boy. I've bought over 50k of Apple equipment in the past few years. I've worked at Apple. I am going to WWDC. But that doesn't mean I don't point out mistakes or failures; and as this change has converted Siri from a distraction free way of texting to a very distracting "lets think how to make Siri accept my text" - its a negative in my life.
  • Reply 39 of 68
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    akac wrote: »
    Why not? I constantly use Siri to text while driving. That day it failed. It's failed before due to too much noise, garbled talk. But this time - for the first time since I used it the day Siri came out (yes I buy IPhones the day they come out) it failed because of an artificial limitation that did not exist before.

    I'm an admitted Apple fan boy. I've bought over 50k of Apple equipment in the past few years. I've worked at Apple. I am going to WWDC. But that doesn't mean I don't point out mistakes or failures; and as this change has converted Siri from a distraction free way of texting to a very distracting "lets think how to make Siri accept my text" - its a negative in my life.

    Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
  • Reply 40 of 68
    v5vv5v Posts: 1,357member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.


     


    Not in this case. This is direct cause and effect. Siri used to accept input as presented without argument. Now it tells him to do it again, but more succinctly. He is objecting to the way it operates, not grasping for a cause.

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