Casual observers of this morning’s new iPhone 4S announcement might be disappointed in the device’s hardware upgrades. Essentially, Apple took the iPhone 4, dropped in a new chip (the same silicon that powers the iPad 2), a better camera, and some new internals and called it a day. However, they also announced a new functionality that could change the way many of us interact with our phones – “intelligent assistant” software called Siri.
On stage, Apple CEO Tim Cook demonstrated Siri’s abilities, which make it possible to perform a number of tasks through vocal commands and questions, including looking up information, scheduling meetings, obtaining restaurant recommendations (and making reservations) or sending text messages .
However, voice control has been around for years, and hasn’t caught on. So why should Siri be different? The apparent beauty of Siri is that the software is intelligent enough to understand what a user is asking even if the question isn’t completely direct. In other words, it allows humans to speak naturally rather than tailor their speech patterns to the machine.
For instance, many types of software might be able to provide an answer to “What will the weather be like today?” The thing is, humans don’t always ask questions like that. We might ask, “Should I wear a raincoat today?” Siri can determine you’re actually asking about the weather, and provide the appropriate response.
By itself, Siri is a neat trick, but it becomes useful when paired with Internet resources like Wolfram Alpha, Yelp, Google Maps, OpenTable, and so on. If it works as advertised, Siri may be the first time a gadget has delivered on the promise of legitimately useful voice control.
[...] brings me to Siri . The Apple iPhone voice App has now had three months of shrill publicity (http://www.transhumanistic.com/2011/10/new-iphone%E2%80%99s-killer-app-%E2%80%93-voice-controlled-pe… [...]