[anon(1464249)]

I just spent a day with an Iphone ( a friend of mine left his at my place) so I decided to play around with Siri.

Now as I played around I think I figured out the Siri components.
I found 3

1. Siri's preprogrammed responses based on phrases and certain keywords.
2. Siri's answers when non-preprogrammed responses can be found but the question can still be answered.
3. Siri's suggestion to do a web search.

That's it.

Breakdown of my amazing research:

1. Siri's preprogrammed responses based on phrases and certain keywords.

"How are you?"
Keyword "weather" + "location that follows"
Keyword "set, create, remind, call, email" + keyword "calendar, phone #, note,..."

Siri recognizes phrases and keywords and responds to them.

2. Siri's answers when non-preprogrammed responses can be found but still answered.

"Who is the president of France"
"When was the statue of Liberty built and who built it?"

in this case, Siri can't find any preprogrammed responses and shoots the question over to Wolfram Alpha and responds.

3. Siri's suggestion to do a web search.
"Why do people take baths?"
"What is the world's best tablet?"

In this case, Siri can't find a preprogrammed response or Wolfram Alpha response and just suggests a web search.

Conclusion
Basically all RIM needs is a decent voice analyzer software (in the cloud?), a partnership with Wolfram Alpha / Bing and voila Siri on Blackberry is born.

Yes/No ?

Note: Siri as defined by Wolfram Alpha:

Siri is a personal assistant application for iOS, first introduced with Apple's iPhone 4S. The application uses natural language processing to answer questions and perform actions by delegating requests to an expanding set of web services, including Wolfram|Alpha.

[cgk]

Sounds simple until you realize that even the limited functionality provided by siri requires a data centre that cost Apple upwards of $1 billion dollars plus running costs. Rim could build it but should that be a priority given their constrained finances? No.

Moreover, by the time bb10 launches, it is likely that google's voice product (simply called "assistant" at the moment) will be on the market and the bar for what those services should provide will have lifted once again.

So for the moment I think that RIM can't and shouldn't try and compete in this area.

[jrohland]

I've had voice control on a number of phones (including all my BlackBerrys) and in my car. It works well. I NEVER USE IT. To build that would be a massive waste of time and resources RIM does not have right now.

Notice in the Siri ads the people using it are almost always alone. That is because talking to a device is embarrassing. People think the novelty is fun for 5 minutes.

If you had to type on the iPhone, you would want to avoid that as well. One a BB, typing works.

[Bla1ze]

Not to mention LG just launched their own service to compete with Siri and S-Voice so add another contender to the list. Nevermind the fact that in all three of those cases, it's all just useless additions. RIM doesn't need a Siri, S-Voice or Quick Voice right now -- it's pointless. Look around, even some of the hard core Apple fans think Siri is joke at this point. It grabs headlines but very few and far between are they truly positive.

[anon(1464249)]

I'm not saying they should work on this, or have it ready at launch, I just wanted to let people know that Siri isn't a miracle tool that came down from the heavens, it's a simple program with some moderate-heavy workload in the background.

It's layout is pretty basic, the heavy lifting is done by the voice analyzer and i'm sure you'll need a decent infrastructure to support it, but RIM already has the NOC in place which should help by rerouting traffic based on locations (as to not stress the system too much) and if they were to use a 'cloud' system they wouldn't need to invest in a dedicated data center.

Take a look at Vlingo, it's a private company (now owned by Nuance) that uses the cloud to analyze voice patterns.
Take a look at SayIt for blackberry. This is just a developer, i'm sure he doesn't have a stack of billions on his desk, yet he managed to pull it of.
If a small time private company can do it, RIM certainly can to.

Besides, there already is Nuance software loaded on your blackberry (voice dialing, voice search)

They need 5 components to pull this off:

1. App on phones and playbook (thanks to BB10 i'm guessing only 1 app is needed for both)
2. Preprogrammed keyword, phrase responses (as explained in first post point 1)
3. Strategic partnerships with smart search engines (Wolfram Alpha, Bing, Wikipedia, Evi,...)
4. Voice pattern analyzer with the ability to learn different pronunciation.
5. Computational power

Doesn't look all that hard. (I know it's not an easy feat to pull this of, i'm merely saying it looks fairly simple to do once you breakdown the components)

[anon(4018671)]

Siri isn't a great thing now. But in the future could be awesome. RIM doesn't need to be left behind here. It takes a long time and a lot of resources to develop so I think they should start. The best thing about Siri is Wolfram Alpha so there is alway hope..I guess.

[varunsain]

Next u decode the Fart app and RIM needs it to survive in the market. No offence.. But I think things in the tech world are beginning to be forced down our throats now..

Enough with the crap.. can we have something sensible.. (yes, I even think that the scalado time based camera stuff that RIM is launching is just publicity value)

[Ben1232]

Keep our Blackberry's and just ask to use someone's Siri.

Iphones are like rats, you're never more than 8 feet from one in London.

[jstarett]

I am trying to figure out why you have smart and bing in the same sentence.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Crackberry App

[otacon]

Siri would be a good addition to pull in more market share. However, timing is not right as well as finances. When BB10 is launched, they should focus on massive marketing to raise awareness on the awesome-ness of BB10. When they have regained a stronger foothold in the market, then they can spare resources to work on features like Siri on BB.

[o4liberty]

I have tried all of the smart phone platforms and by far windows mobile has a superior voice command . While driving I can text and call anyone in my contact list. It had a 99% accuracy for me. My kids have Iphones and we compared the two and hands down windows mobile won..

Sent from my BlackBerry 9850 using Tapatalk

[varunsain]

Don't think iPhone has ever won anything...

[ubizmo]

Siri's "lifelike" aspect depends upon a "chatbot" layer, a program that attempts to parse what's said to it and respond, without the spoken input having to be in a rigidly predefined form. Chatbot technology is still pretty sketchy; this is one of the most challenging problems in AI.

Every year, the Loebner Prize competition takes place, to identify the most "human" chatbot, in a written, not spoken, context. Past winners include Elbot and Alice. There's also Cleverbot, which exists as an iOS and Android app, which is weird and interesting, but unlikely to put Siri out of a job anytime soon.

So for Siri, or anything like it, to work, the first step is to decode the speech sounds and render them in a written form, and then pass that to some sort of chatbot that comes up with a suitable response. Both steps are hard, but the second is by far harder. That's why chatbot, or "virtual agent" technology is way behind voice transcription technology. And likely to remain so for the foreseeable future, in my opinion.

The interesting question, to me, is whether Apple's investment in Siri will advance chatbot technology much. Obviously, Siri is closely guarded technology. But there's nothing to prevent Apple from entering Siri in this year's Loebner Competition.

[anon(1464249)]

Siri isn't a great thing now. But in the future could be awesome. RIM doesn't need to be left behind here. It takes a long time and a lot of resources to develop so I think they should start. The best thing about Siri is Wolfram Alpha so there is alway hope..I guess.

As I explained in my previous posts, it doesn't take a lot of resources to develop it. Apple didn't develop anything, they bought Siri technology from a private company. Private companies left and right are creating this as we speak. I'm not saying buy it and be done with it, i'm just saying it doesn't take that much as people think it does. (see my last post example, Vlingo + SayIt)

Next u decode the Fart app and RIM needs it to survive in the market. No offence.. But I think things in the tech world are beginning to be forced down our throats now..
Enough with the crap.. can we have something sensible.. (yes, I even think that the scalado time based camera stuff that RIM is launching is just publicity value)

While I agree Siri is more of a gimmick, it doesn't dilute the fact that people bought the Iphone for just that reason and are using it in every day life. Try to compare a web search in a group of friends between Iphone and Blackberry, Iphone uses Siri. Guess where the 'wows' will go to. It's dead simple, gimmicks sell.
The Scalado camera technology is also a gimmick...but guess what. People went "wow" when they demonstrated it.
Get over the fact that you hate gimmicks and acknowledge the fact that they are a part of the consumers thought process when buying a smartphone.

I am trying to figure out why you have smart and bing in the same sentence.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Crackberry App

Cause Bing actually licensed parts of Wolfram Alpha to use in their search engine.

Siri would be a good addition to pull in more market share. However, timing is not right as well as finances. When BB10 is launched, they should focus on massive marketing to raise awareness on the awesome-ness of BB10. When they have regained a stronger foothold in the market, then they can spare resources to work on features like Siri on BB.

While I agree the focus should be on BB10, I don't agree on the finances part of your post. RIM has loads of cash ready to be spent.
All in all Siri costed about 30 million USD to create (source: wikipedia)
On top of that they used CALO (source: wikipedia) which is technology available from SRI international. The majority of the work has already been done.

I have tried all of the smart phone platforms and by far windows mobile has a superior voice command . While driving I can text and call anyone in my contact list. It had a 99% accuracy for me. My kids have Iphones and we compared the two and hands down windows mobile won..

Sent from my BlackBerry 9850 using Tapatalk

Odd as in most comparisons online (not too mention all of them) Windows always bites the dust... I'm sure the TellMe service will be improved but as of today i'm not sure it's up to par.

Siri's "lifelike" aspect depends upon a "chatbot" layer, a program that attempts to parse what's said to it and respond, without the spoken input having to be in a rigidly predefined form. Chatbot technology is still pretty sketchy; this is one of the most challenging problems in AI.

Every year, the Loebner Prize competition takes place, to identify the most "human" chatbot, in a written, not spoken, context. Past winners include Elbot and Alice. There's also Cleverbot, which exists as an iOS and Android app, which is weird and interesting, but unlikely to put Siri out of a job anytime soon.

So for Siri, or anything like it, to work, the first step is to decode the speech sounds and render them in a written form, and then pass that to some sort of chatbot that comes up with a suitable response. Both steps are hard, but the second is by far harder. That's why chatbot, or "virtual agent" technology is way behind voice transcription technology. And likely to remain so for the foreseeable future, in my opinion.

The interesting question, to me, is whether Apple's investment in Siri will advance chatbot technology much. Obviously, Siri is closely guarded technology. But there's nothing to prevent Apple from entering Siri in this year's Loebner Competition.

Siri is as much as a chatbot as i am a girl. Chatbots are designed to keep conversation flowing, Siri just answers.
I'm not denying it's close to a chatbot but it definitely isn't one at this point.

[ubizmo]

Siri is as much as a chatbot as i am a girl. Chatbots are designed to keep conversation flowing, Siri just answers.
I'm not denying it's close to a chatbot but it definitely isn't one at this point.

The inevitable conclusion of your syllogism is that you are close to a girl. Apart from that, you're right, but the similarity between Siri and a chatbot is more important than the difference. Both involve natural language, I.e. not stereotyped input and both are meant to give natural responses. Interacting with Siri is supposed to be conversation-like, and that's what makes it different from the voice command systems that have been around for years.

I also agree that it's a gimmick, but the line between gimmick and breakthrough is yet to be drawn.

[undone]

I also agree that it's a gimmick, but the line between gimmick and breakthrough is yet to be drawn.

Only history will conclude if it (is)was a gimmick app or a stepping stone. If nothing else, its making the others create similar junk.

Give me sunglasses that blue tooth into my portable and eye track allowing me to do stuff without touching or talking to the device. Now that would be awesome.

[Canuck671]

who really cares. I talk to myself in public all the time. Acutally it keeps my seat on the bus from ever being used ..

[itmccb]

That's a gross oversimplification.

[antheauxny]

Siri really isn't anything to go crazy over.
I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've used it on my iPhone lol.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

[jrohland]

If you're interested in this area read The Most Human Human: What Artificial Intelligence Teaches Us About Being Alive: Brian Christian

If you saw the post about what Apple has done to Siri by Steve Wozniac you may notice Apple is turning Siri into a delivery agent for information Apple has been paid to deliver. This is not much of a surprise as Apple is �ber capitalists.

[varunsain]

The only reason Siri doesn't score any points in my book is because 1.) It's not globally accepted 2.) It's more like Beta now.

Apple launched it to back the iPhone4s because it did not have any 'wow' factor. The Siri gives it that..

With the Billions that Apple has.. I would have expected them to come up with something more powerful, experimental and productive. But I guess Apple has never done that, so why now?

I would like to see RIM come up with a Siri-like feature BUT minus all the cheap frills and thrills and extremely serious to the point.

RIM can also score over Siri by it's native app sharing capabilities and cross-talk between applications. Invite BBM contact to video chat, Open in Bridge, etc.

[itmccb]

The only reason Siri doesn't score any points in my book is because 1.) It's not globally accepted 2.) It's more like Beta now.

Siri is in beta. Global release, a suite of new features, and the removal of the beta tag comes in iOS6. And while I'm here, I may as well offer a proper breakdown of Siri:

Voice control needs to serve two purposes: search and actions. Search encompasses device-wide search for media, files, apps, and content and Web search. Actions can range from sending messages, launching apps, activating features, controlling an app, etc. Now, what Siri does is take all this and incorporates context. Normally voice control needs specific keywords to do the related tasks, but Siri's natural language engine allows it know what you want it to do as long as the command/request has the appropriate meaning, regardless of whether the keyword was used. It remembers the last command/request and allows you to alter it without bringing up the context again. For instance, you could ask if you're free around 4:00 and after Siri's reply tell it to make an appointment then; all without mentioning your calendar or reminding Siri about any information from the first request.

There's a bunch of other stuff, but I'm doing 3 things at once and I forgot. But I assure you that there's plenty more and I haven't even gotten to iOS6 yet. Though Siri's practical usage is questionable, it has a lot of potential and is a very valuable part of the iPhone.

[varunsain]

Siri is more for BB ppl who actually set appointments and not schedule baby diaper change! haha sorry couldn't resist that one!