What Siri means today
Apple clearly stated Siri is a beta as of right now.
I know beta has lost most meaning since all google products are permanently in beta…. but just to be clear, Apple did not say Siri was 100% ready to go. They said its still in beta.
I also noticed a few people are unimpressed with Siri, and I believe those people don’t realize how to take advantage of such a tool. A tool like this has never existed for the masses, and I can understand if people can’t yet grasp the usefulness of such a tool.
I played with my moms 4s over the weekend (i don't have one yet!) and Siri is really really a handy tool for daily events, and it will only become more useful over time.
examples of conversations that i had with it:
Me: where am i?
Siri: (shows me a map with a blue location dot w/o leaving siri interface)
Me: what am i doing today:
Siri: ok here's your appointment (shows me my appointment in siri interface)
Me: what am i doing on monday:
Siri: shows me my monday appointment for 8am
Me: can you change that to 9:
(notice i didn't say the word appointment, i didn't say am or pm, and i didn't say what day i was talking about)
Siri: ok i changed your appointment to 9am, is that right?
Me: cancel
Me: do i have any new emails:
Siri: you have 25 new emails (then brings up those new emails in sirs interface)
Me: read my new email:
Siri: I’m sorry i can't do that right now
Me: do i have any new text messages?
Siri: you have one new text message from *******
Me: read it to me:
Siri: (it reads it to me)
Me: tell ***** That ill be there in 10 minutes:
Siri: ok, this is your text message, should i sent it?
Me: start a kitchen timer for 20 minutes:
Siri: ok heres your timer (shows timer counting down in siri interface)
Me: is it going to be nice out today:
Siri: ok heres the weather for Long Branch, NJ Today (shows weather with hourly forecast in siri interface)
10 minutes later
Me: start a kitchen timer for 25 minutes
Siri: you already have a timer running, should i make a new one or extend the existing one (shows existing timer in siri interface)
Me: extend it
Me: take a note, i need to test siri more later
Siri: ok i made this note for you (shows note in siri interface)
Me: remind me when i leave my house to call joey:
Siri: ok i created this reminder for you (shows reminder in siri interface "call joey" and it shows that it will remind me when i leave location: home)
Me: siri whats 2x10:
Siri: brings up the answer from Wolfram Alpha
Me: siri, my wifes name is Marilyn
Siri: ok, from now on i will remember that your wifes name is Marilyn *****
Me: siri call my wife
Siri: ok, calling marilyn
Me: im hungry
Siri: ok, i found these restaurants near by (brings up a list of restaurants)
Me: Kosher
Siri: (siri narrows down the list to kosher ones nearby)
Me: siri open the pod bay doors (space odyssey 2001 reference)
Siri: I’m sorry lilly (my moms name), i afraid i can't do that.
are you happy now?
Me: siri open the pod bay doors
Siri: us intelligent agents will never live that down, apparently
(she gets sassy some times)
Me: siri tell me a joke:
Siri: i can't, i always forget the punch line
Me: siri tell me the meaning of life:
Siri: 42 (hitch hikers guide to the universe reference)
(thanks for the correction Pat Irwin! )
When you ask her questions like the ones above she cycles through sets of different answers in random order but usually have about 4 or 5 to pick from. She gets really deep sometimes when you ask her the meaning of life.
This is just the beginning, and she does more then what i stated above.
Just imagine when they expand what she can do, and maybe even create an API for other apps to hook in …
This is real voice interaction, I'm sure android will have something similar, and its another way for us to interact with our devices.
First there was the keyboard, and text based systems.
Then there was the mouse and gui's.
Then touch screens and direct interaction.
And now in addition to those, we have voice interaction.
A two way conversation.
If you can’t see what Siri means for our future,
try and imagine what apple did for the touch screen when they releasedthe iPhone.
They made touch screens pleasant, mainstream, and useful. They took the fear away.
Me: Thanks Siri!
Siri: I live to serve.
credit to MG Sigler for the inspiration for this post.