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I really hope Apple is working on those glasses, and hard. This product category, the speaker, is a hard one for Apple, much because the Apple Watch basically i

I really hope Apple is working on those glasses, and hard. This product category, the speaker, is a hard one for Apple, much because the Apple Watch basically is a wearable Siri. What however worries me, is that Apple has yet to be able to make Siri an attractive product. I mostly just use it to set timers.. Doing something with a virtual assistant seldomly will include only voice, except basic tasks such as setting reminders, timers etc. one-off commands, basically. Other things, more complex tasks, mostly require multiple actions, and a screen, like on the Apple Watch or iPhone will let you browse and select those tasks. We have hailed the voice interface as “the next big thing”, but think about it; what are you actually doing through voice today? Not much. What have we historically been doing through voice? Getting information, browsing information, that might for instance lead to a purchase or other actions, mostly have been done either in person (in a shop), through some sort of purchasing form in a catalog, or more recently on a screen. Why? Because the voice is a low-bandwidth interface. One-off commands are fine, because they aren’t limited (as much) by the bandwidth of this interface, but anything more complex doesn’t really work. Think about voice as an interface over a phone call, it’s not really good enough. It’s always better to meet someone in person, than just talking on the phone. Why? Because we get to use our eyes, and we get to express emotions. The interface has higher bandwidth. The screen is not the same thing, but it has much higher bandwidth than the voice alone. When you think about the phone or the watch, you can have both voice and the screen, whereas on a speaker you can not. I’m not sure what I am trying to say, just thinking aloud, I guess. Edit: Formatting

chrisvalleybay 9y ago
Instead of just downvoting me, I’d really appreciate any comments on why you disagree with this. Just looking to learn more. Thanks!
- pault 9y ago
  FYI, HN will mercilessly downvote you if you ask why you're being downvoted. :) Here are the guidelines if you haven't already seen them: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
baybal2 9y ago
>What have we historically been doing through voice? Getting information, browsing information, that might for instance lead to a purchase or other actions, mostly have been done either in person (in a shop), through some sort of purchasing form in a catalog, or more recently on a screen. Why? Because seeing a man talking with his phone is weird.
threeseed 9y ago
Firstly, Apple is rumoured to have acquired Vrvana which makes AR/VR headsets. As for voice well it has been the next best thing for decades. And it still to this day does not work well. There is no fluidity to conversations, it doesn't completely understand accents, it fails to properly factor in context and the range of actions is limited. For me it's at least another 20 years away from being what people expect if it is possible at all in our lifetimes. Also the far more interesting problem for me is how do you build an API for a voice system e.g. Siri without forcing it back into a 90s style voice actions system like it is today.
paul7986 9y ago
I used Siri pretty religiously since 2011 til 2015. There I bought my first smart speaker which then and in comparison made using Siri very frustrating so I stopped using it. Though with my iPhone 8 Siri has finally caught up to its voice assistant competitors and I use it constantly in my car to control what’s streaming in my car. Like Hey Siri play similar songs and boom she creates a pandora station and plays it. Hey Siri add this to my songs... hey Siri where are you (to find misplaced phone .., this one needs to be way more reliable though) Wishlist for me would be.. hey Siri play recently added songs. Frustrating it doesn’t do this already, but maybe an Apple engineer will see this :) Overall Siri in 2017 is pretty solid and Apple should release a more innovative HomePod. Like one where I ask “Siri show me the weather,” and boom I hear and also see a display beamed onto a wall. That Jibo has a perfect form factor and UX for projecting onto a wall.
- ninkendo 9y ago
  > Wishlist for me would be.. hey Siri play recently added songs. Frustrating it doesn’t do this already, but maybe an Apple engineer will see this :) She definitely already does this - “Hey siri, play recently added” does exactly what you want... looks like “play recently added songs” plays music by a band named Recently Added. Which IMO is what I should expect.
  - paul7986 9y ago
    Not for me. See this screenshot. https://imgur.com/a/yBqfm https://imgur.com/a/yBqfm It’s start playing recently played. Errgh... what are you seeing?

chrisvalleybay 9y ago

Instead of just downvoting me, I’d really appreciate any comments on why you disagree with this. Just looking to learn more. Thanks!

pault 9y ago
FYI, HN will mercilessly downvote you if you ask why you're being downvoted. :) Here are the guidelines if you haven't already seen them: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

baybal2 9y ago

>What have we historically been doing through voice? Getting information, browsing information, that might for instance lead to a purchase or other actions, mostly have been done either in person (in a shop), through some sort of purchasing form in a catalog, or more recently on a screen. Why? Because seeing a man talking with his phone is weird.

threeseed 9y ago

Firstly, Apple is rumoured to have acquired Vrvana which makes AR/VR headsets. As for voice well it has been the next best thing for decades. And it still to this day does not work well. There is no fluidity to conversations, it doesn't completely understand accents, it fails to properly factor in context and the range of actions is limited. For me it's at least another 20 years away from being what people expect if it is possible at all in our lifetimes. Also the far more interesting problem for me is how do you build an API for a voice system e.g. Siri without forcing it back into a 90s style voice actions system like it is today.

paul7986 9y ago

I used Siri pretty religiously since 2011 til 2015. There I bought my first smart speaker which then and in comparison made using Siri very frustrating so I stopped using it. Though with my iPhone 8 Siri has finally caught up to its voice assistant competitors and I use it constantly in my car to control what’s streaming in my car. Like Hey Siri play similar songs and boom she creates a pandora station and plays it. Hey Siri add this to my songs... hey Siri where are you (to find misplaced phone .., this one needs to be way more reliable though) Wishlist for me would be.. hey Siri play recently added songs. Frustrating it doesn’t do this already, but maybe an Apple engineer will see this :) Overall Siri in 2017 is pretty solid and Apple should release a more innovative HomePod. Like one where I ask “Siri show me the weather,” and boom I hear and also see a display beamed onto a wall. That Jibo has a perfect form factor and UX for projecting onto a wall.

ninkendo 9y ago
> Wishlist for me would be.. hey Siri play recently added songs. Frustrating it doesn’t do this already, but maybe an Apple engineer will see this :) She definitely already does this - “Hey siri, play recently added” does exactly what you want... looks like “play recently added songs” plays music by a band named Recently Added. Which IMO is what I should expect.
- paul7986 9y ago
  Not for me. See this screenshot. https://imgur.com/a/yBqfm https://imgur.com/a/yBqfm It’s start playing recently played. Errgh... what are you seeing?