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How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

mashable.com

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Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#211

Post by vincnetas »

rxhernandez wrote: post #199
electrum wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This also directly contradicts one Steve Jobs' management principles: > "Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering," says Jobs, adding, that Rubicon is "crossed when you become a VP." > In other words, you have no excuse for failure. You are now responsible for any mistakes that happen, and it doesn't matter what you say. http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-on-the-difference-...

Conversely you get handed a pile of steaming hot shit they call legacy code(and it lacks documentation and the variables lack names that hint at any meaning) and they're telling you it's completely your fault that you couldn't get something to work properly. Getting handed a huge amount of technical debt is a very real problem.

I think "reasons stop mattering" line is higher up.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#212

Post by wmeredith »

rxhernandez wrote: post #199
electrum wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This also directly contradicts one Steve Jobs' management principles: > "Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering," says Jobs, adding, that Rubicon is "crossed when you become a VP." > In other words, you have no excuse for failure. You are now responsible for any mistakes that happen, and it doesn't matter what you say. http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-on-the-difference-...

Conversely you get handed a pile of steaming hot shit they call legacy code(and it lacks documentation and the variables lack names that hint at any meaning) and they're telling you it's completely your fault that you couldn't get something to work properly. Getting handed a huge amount of technical debt is a very real problem.

Unless your VP title is window dressing, in that situation you call it like it is (garbage) and get started working on something that has a future.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#213

Post by paulie_a »

ddingus wrote: post #148
scarface74 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What signal could it pick up on before you leave work besides when you get in your car or after you leave somewhere?

It could guess and or extrapolate, based on recent data. For a lot of people it would be effective.

Nest is already pretty effective at learning schedules

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#214

Post by ksec »

happertiger wrote: post #161
madeofpalk wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s be honest here - none of us actually know what went on.

Someone here knows. Let’s be honest here. ;)

Then please set up a new account and tell us about it. I really like Forstall direction, and I dont think Maps was that much of a problem given it is still pretty poor after he left.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#215

Post by paulie_a »

ddingus wrote: post #151
hellofunk wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to like Siri but I spend so much time correcting what it has misunderstood, it's nearly not worth using it. The Google alternative is, from what I understand, something that just works .

But it's not personified to the degree Siri is. I noted this elsewhere in the thread. Doing that bit of theatre, with some humor, pop culture relevant things, even just good responses, appears to matter more to people than "it can do it", and "it actually did it" hit rates. OK Google needs a name. Google is this big, smart thing. People get that. But, "Ask Siri" has less friction and appears easier to identify with t…

"hey Google" does work

I always found the phrase ok Google simply awkward to pronounce

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#216

Post by brownbat »

gandutraveler wrote: post #166
brownbat wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use it for these things, they're ok. I occasionally try to get it to control an app, it usually fails, but that's my dream state: I'd like to be able to say, "Hey Google, open app X and do Y task." But I don't know if there's enough incentive for apps to add an assistant interface. How easy is it to add commands on your app that it will accept via assistant? Are there common APIs or structures for this to shift the…

I can open app and ask for actions on Google assistant on my Pixel phone. I use things like - "Play on Spotify" - "Send message to on WhatsApp" - "Take a selfie or screenshot" Maybe app actions are only available on Pixel devices.

Oh true, I shouldn't have been so universal.

I want every app to start thinking about voice ux, but that's probably down to the individual apps, and you're right that some do. I can play some things on Stitcher, say, though I can't remember if I have to use podcast names specifically or if I can use my playlist names.

Some Google apps don't seem to support it though.

Ok Google, log my weight on Google fit as X? Search results page.

Ok Google, play (my playlist name) on Google Play: plays unrelated radio station inspired by my playlist name, with sometimes comical results.

I'm sure it will improve with time.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#218

Post by jvzr »

icebraining wrote: post #190
scarface74 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seeing that Alexa only works in English and German ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=... ) Siri is still better than Alexa for most of the world....

Eh, I'm not sure. The percentage of iPhone users worldwide who can speak some English is probably pretty high. As a non-native speaker myself, I'd certainly prefer a reliable assistant in English over an unreliable one in my native language.

FWIW the assistants probably would not recognize most of these people's accents. Not to speak of whether people would be inclined or not to make the effort to speak a foreign language to their assistant.

I'm French, have a good level in English, all my OSes are set in English. I used to use Siri in English but stopped cause it was weird. The ability to select a different language for Siri than the system language is a blessing.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#220

Post by ghettoimp »

Reason077 wrote: post #187
oarsinsync wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cant speak for the other person, but as someone who's used iPhones exclusively since the original, Siri makes mistakes with sufficient frequency that it's subjectively just bad. I can't quantify what percentage of requests fail to be understood correctly, but it's sufficiently high that the frequency is annoying. It's even worse when using the Apple Watch (Series 3). Unexpectedly, this can sometimes be a positive too…

I often want to set a timer for exactly 50 minutes so I know when my laundry is done. But siri always interprets "Fifty" as "Fifteen". Pretty much every single time, it always makes the same mistake, no matter how clearly or slowly I try to pronounce it. I have to say "Hey Siri, set a timer for five zero minutes" to get it to pick it up accurately.

Maybe saying 49 or 51 would work...
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