
Why Siri just might work - thisisblurry
http://thisismynext.com/2011/10/04/siri-work/
======
glhaynes
Here's how to think about Siri: it's a second user interface that's _better
than touch_ for many of the most commonly-used, tap-heavy features of iOS.

I need to remember to call my mom when I get home. Perfect use for iOS 5's new
Reminders app, right? _But_ to use Reminders for this, here are the steps
today:

    
    
      Press the Home button, swipe to unlock.
      Navigate to the Reminders app icon (may take a press of the Home button and/or a few swipes), tap it.
      Tap "+" to add a new entry.
      Type "call mom <return>". [note that this step practically requires using two hands]
      Tap the just-created item.
      Tap "Remind Me".
      Switch "At a Location" to "On".
      Tap location, choose "Home". Tap the back button.
      Tap "When I Arrive".
      Tap "Done", "Done".
      Look back up from my phone that I've been staring at for the last 30 seconds.
    

Or, with Siri:

    
    
      Hold down the Home button for a couple of seconds.
      Say "Remind me to call my mom when I get home."
    

The Siri workflow is hugely easier (and safer) when driving, true, but that's
almost incidental - it's simpler and "lighter" than touch _even when you're
sitting on your couch with your feet up._

~~~
mcrider
Not to mention it doesn't need to impede on your current activity. Currently,
if you're doing some work in an app, you can either close the app, create the
reminder, go back to your app and try to get your brain back into the mindset
of using that app. OR, you tell yourself that you'll create the reminder when
you've finished completing the process you're doing in the current app (in
which case you might forget to create the reminder altogether). I think Siri
will help a lot in performing actions in the mobile/tablet space where
multitasking is just not as simple as the desktop.

~~~
adgar
I always wished I had the android style "stack" of applications on my iphone
for just this reason: short one-off tasks. But I also knew apple would never
do it. This seems to be the solution they are going to push.

------
laconian
How much of this is just speculation and how much was baked into Siri prior to
Apple's acquisition of it?

They can make _anything_ look wonderful and intuitive in those promotional
videos, since they focus on the optimal use cases. I want to know if the
product is that smooth for everyday users (ie. people that haven't memorized
the specific vocabulary) during everyday use.

~~~
ma2rten
I though the same initially, especially since I know a thing or two about
Natural Language Processing. So I know that this is a very hard problem, to
say the least. But then I remembered that we are talking about the company,
that is known to make some of the most usable products in the world. I trust
that Apple is smart enough to not shoot itself in the food, by releasing a
half baked product like that.

~~~
laconian
So the downloadable Siri was half-baked?

------
Yhippa
I think Siri is really cool. It seems Apple took a human-first design and
brought a lot of user information together to make it easier for humans to get
things done.

My biggest frustration having used voice recognition across multiple different
platforms is still the machine in question clearly understanding what I'm
saying. I feel like if I'm in a car I have to turn off the music, wind up the
windows, and tell the passengers to be quiet. I also hope that there's minimal
road noise.

I can't wait to see if Apple's cracked this problem for me.

------
ecommercematt
Does anybody know where Siri gets its local search results from? The
independent version of the app has been pulled from the App Store, and the
only "answers" I can find to my question online are low quality. If they
somehow manage to produce good results, they'll stand with Google Places as
one of only two generally reliable local search resources.

If somebody has some insight on this, and they'd be willing to discuss it in
greater detail or at greater length than would be suitable in an HN post,
please contact me (see my profile).

------
tlogan
Two questions:

As far as I understand Siri uses Nuance's Dragon Naturally Speaking speech-
recognition for actual speech recognition. Is that correct? If that is
correct, then what is added value of Siri/Apple? Is it going to be better than
Dragon?

Did anybody tried this? Does it really understand normal English or English
with a little of an accent? There are so many speech recognition products on
the market and none of them work well. Meaning they work like 50% or maybe 80%
of time - so you just gave up.

------
shoota
A little off topic but why when I go to
<http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/siri.html> and try to watch the video am
I prompted to download Quicktime. I thought apple was all about HTML5 and
killing off browser plugins?

~~~
yayadarsh
Is this the first time you've seen a self-serving inconsistency? Apple as a
company represents many things, and a keen PR team with excellent wording is
one of their strengths. Apple isn't "all about HTML5" and "killing off browser
plugins", but rather they are about their best interests. Nixing Flash kept
the Apple-controlled AppStore the dominant gateway for applications on the
device. Quicktime is another Apple technology, so it is pretty much expected
that they will use it (if for nothing other than cross-promotion/marketshare)

~~~
Volpe
M$ - Silverlight Adobe - Flash Google - WebM

Calling Apple out as if they are some how evil here is disingenuous. All the
players are pushing their own formats.

Doesn't safari work without quicktime and support the <video> tag in html5?

How about calling Adobe out for "ruining the internet" with flash? I'm glad
Apple kept them from ruining the iphone (like they are attempting with
android).

[Edit: correct Flash to Adobe]

------
jayfuerstenberg
I too think Siri can be ported to say... Mac OS X!

Deriving the meaning from words and previous context is beyond difficult and I
can only imagine the processing power required for it. But if the A5 can pull
it off, so too should an x86 CPU.

~~~
ceejayoz
The A5 isn't pulling it off. As with Google's voice stuff, it's sending a low
quality audio stream to a datacenter where the heavy lifting is happening.
Note that the presentation pointed out that Siri requires WiFi or 3G access.

~~~
ugh
Not sure ’bout that. During the event they only explicitly pointed out that
voice recognition is happening on Apple’s servers when they talked about
dictation. They introduced that as if it were something new and unique for the
dictation part of Siri, not the commands.

I’m really quite confused about the details but the iPhone 4S will start
selling soon so we will be able to find out how Siri works in more detail.

------
gerggerg
Because it alleviates typing on an awkward keyboard in some situations.

~~~
bittermang
But as he points out, it's voice only. No text input to Siri.

I never understood why an old girlfriend would always txt me. Then I rode
around in a very loud car with her, and her friends. I actually wound up
sending txts to communicate with her, even though she was sitting right next
to me.

To wit, there are some situations were voice is not practical, optimal. What
if I want to type on an awkward keyboard?

~~~
gerggerg
Loud venue? not useful. Trying to keep secrets? Not useful. Trying to text
your friends in the flyest street slang? Not useful.

Hands dirty from cooking and you need to text someone back? Useful.

------
Swizec
When voice control works with my thick slavic accent, then I'll be impressed.

Until then let me just stick to my lovely dependable keyboards.

~~~
WiseWeasel
They did mention that it learns your voice and vocab patterns over time. We'll
see if that's truly the case.

~~~
koopajah
Nuance technology really adapts to your own voice, even if the first
recognition fails after a few (5 to 10) it really nails what you ask for.

------
azulum
this article is even more fascinating with the real implications of siri:
<http://5by5.tv/criticalpath/9>

