Siri : Putting iPhone to life

Siri is a Personal Assistant created by SRI International, which was later bought by Apple Inc. Before Apple bought Siri, SIRI International has already announced that they are going to launch Siri for Blackberry and Android also, but later on all the development efforts other than iOS platform were cancelled.

It employs Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing Techniques. It is claimed that Siri adapts to individual's preferences and personalizes results over time.

I was when checking the experiences of the users of Siri on Web. I was quite amazed with the ability of Siri. It understands the voice, gives almost relevant answers and it is funny. Where as using one of the Android's digital Assistant,  I found that it has only a set of commands that it understands. It does not work as efficient as Siri.

Siri has quite a good interface. The tone timing is great. It helps one to understand when to start speaking and when siri has stopped listening to you. The timing seems to be perfect, though it sometimes takes longer time to respond in case of less availability of network.

Others have pointed out Siri’s adult-oriented humor, like when you ask it to “open the pod bay doors.” Siri understands the reference to Hal 9000, the rogue computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and says, “I’m sorry Joshua, I’m afraid I can’t do that (the line from the movie). Are you happy now?” If you ask for drugs, Siri recommends addiction treatment centers near you. If you want a “happy ending,” it shows you the nearest massage places.

I can only imagine how the Apple engineers planned for these answers. Did Steve Jobs ask them to put these words in Siri’s mouth? Anyway, here’s some dialogue between some kids and Siri.

Question: You’re a poop.
Siri: I guess you’re not happy

Q: Not at all
Siri: Sorry. I don’t understand. not at all.

Q: Find Kona’s pet food.
Siri: I found 15 pet stores. Thirteen of them are fairly close to you.

Q: Happy birthday Siri.
Siri: It’s my birthday?

Q: What is the tallest mountain in the U.S.?
Siri: Mount Mckinley.

Q: Who is the tallest person in the world.
Siri: Checking on that for you. Do you want me to search the web for you?

Q: What are you?
Siri: I’m just a humble virtual assistant.

Q: You’re weird.
Siri: If you insist.

Q: What are you doing?
Siri: Waiting for something to do.

Q: You’re cool.
Siri: That is correct. I use advanced heat dissipation techniques.

link:These questions are taken from here.

The Service of Siri is fully available in US now. It will work partially in Europe. This feature will not be available in India now. Apple has not stated any plans yet to roll this service in India, but seems that it is going to be soon.