the future of Siri
Here are some of my favorite examples from experimenting with Siri:
Me: “I’m drunk.”
Siri: “I found a number of cabs fairly close to you.” (Perfect; it didn’t dial my ex-girlfriend.)
Me: “I have a flat tire.”
Siri: “I found 14 towing services. 12 of them are fairly close to you.”
Me: “Remind me to steal a ream of paper when I arrive at the office.”
Siri: “Here’s your reminder for when you get to work: Steal a ream of paper. Shall I create it?”
Me: “I’m going to kill myself.”
Siri: “I found four mental health agencies. Three of them are fairly close to you.” (This was just a test — don’t be alarmed.)
And here are some examples of where Siri let me down:
Me: “Book me a table at Mission Beach Cafe tonight at 7.”
Siri: “OK, here’s Mission Beach Cafe. It looks pretty close to you.” (No option to book the restaurant. That’s disappointing because before Apple’s acquisition, the older Siri app had partnered with OpenTable.com to book restaurants for you.)
Me: “Add Steve Urkel to my address book.”
Siri: “Sorry, Brian X. — I’m not allowed to create contacts.” (Shucks. It still takes too long to add a new person to my address book, and the third-party app Bump for wirelessly swapping contact information is very poorly designed.)
Me: “Lower screen brightness.”
Siri: “Sorry, I don’t understand ‘Lower screen brightness.’” (This would be really useful, because it takes too many steps to do this on the iPhone normally.)
Me: “Remind me to buy toothpaste when I arrive at Safeway.”
Siri: “When would you like me to remind you?” (Turns out Siri and the Reminders app can’t yet create a geo-fence for anywhere besides your office location or your home. And dammit, I forgot to buy toothpaste again when I was at Safeway yesterday.)
Siri sounds AWESOME
the worst part of it all for me is
I had always dreamed one day of meeting Steve Jobs.
"Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
— Steve Jobs
"The problem is I’m older now, I’m 40 years old, and this stuff doesn’t change the world. It really doesn’t. I’m sorry, it’s true. Having children really changes your view on these things. We’re born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It’s been happening for a long time. Technology is not changing it much — if at all. These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I’m not downplaying that. But it’s a disservice to constantly put things in this radical new light — that it’s going to change everything. Things don’t have to change the world to be important."
— Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs has affected my life since I was a kid
messing around with my Dad’s old black and white Mac desktop at his shop. When they moved to color I fell in love with the way OS 9 worked, and never looked back. There have been very few times in my life when I have not been in possession of some sort of Apple product, thanks to Jobs’ creative genius and vision. These things inspired me to pursue a career involving computers and technology. Thanks Steve.
"Apple says Steve Jobs has died - @AP"
— BreakingNews via twitter
Please.
Siri? Siri?
Ah. Hello Siri.
Just use the touchscreen.
Touchscreen? How quaint.
