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The lack of learning is what also bugs me about all the new tech. It's being used for targeted ads, and stuff like that, but not for trivial tasks that would a

The lack of learning is what also bugs me about all the new tech. It's being used for targeted ads, and stuff like that, but not for trivial tasks that would actually improve my interaction with the interface. A few things that come to mind, are that I always listen to music as full albums, and yet the UIs still always try to get my to shuffle various playlists. Every day around the same time I text my partner nearly the same message, "I'm leaving work." and yet autocomplete still suggests other phrases. If I click the share button, I then go through 6 steps to share the article via a text message with the same person. Imagine if clicking share offered one click of "Would you like to send this as a text message to Jane?" I'm not a fan of the current AI craze, and happily like my devices somewhat stupid, but if they're going to try and be smart, at least learn my predictable behaviors, and offer me shortcuts on those. It's unclear to me what these new shortcuts really offer, but I'll be interested to try them. However I have a hunch what I want is actually even simpler than these will provide.

reaperducer 8y ago
FWIW, I switched to a new iPhone a few weeks ago, and it has learned at every workday at a particular time when I open a Messages conversation with a particular person and type "Good," it correctly auto-suggests the rest of the phrase that I sent at that time. I have noticed, however, that it wont always make suggestions for similar repeated texting events. I think it has to do with limited space in the iOS auto-complete bar, because once I get past the first couple of words it fills in the rest. If you're using iOS, is it possible that your usual phrase is too long to fit in auto-complete? As for the other things you suggest, it appears this is the direction Apple is headed, based on the most recent WWDC keynote.
Infernal 8y ago
So I currently use a combination of Launch Center Pro and Workflow (the developer of which was purchased by Apple last year, and appears to be the source of what has now become Siri Shortcuts) to do what you're describing. I have a Workflow that when run, uses Maps to estimate the drive time between wherever I am and my house, pads the estimate by 5 minutes, then adds that to the current time to get an ETA, formats it into a text message and sends the ETA to my wife. In Launch Center Pro, I have a geo-fenced shortcut that presents a notification to run my workflow whenever it sees that I have left the area around my office building. The UX is, halfway between my office building and my car, I get a notification from LCP - I tap the notification, Workflow thinks for a minute, and presents me with a text message to my wife and I tap "send". As nice as this is already, I believe Siri Shortcuts may improve it in several ways: 1) Currently, apps are not allowed to send messages without explicit user interaction, so Workflow can't actually text my wife, it just presents me with an imessage screen and an already-written message that I must tap "send" on 2) Workflow does not support geofenced or time-based running of workflows, hence why I need LCP to launch my Workflow based on a geofence. If Siri Shortcuts supports this, then I won't have to rely on LCP anymore. 3) There is no way (that I'm aware of) to trigger my workflow automatically, I must tap a notification and unlock my phone, or run an app and select the workflow within it. An improvement would be a programmable Siri Shortcut ("Hey Siri, let my wife know my ETA"), and even better would be automatic running of workflows based on defined conditions, so my workflow would run and send a message automatically when crossing the geofence without me even needing to be aware of it (besides maybe a notification that lets me know the workflow has run).
- mason55 8y ago
  According to this article[0] those annoyances are still there > It does look like certain annoyances with Workflow are showing in Shortcuts as well. For example, sending a message via a Shortcut still requires you to manually hit the send button [0] https://9to5mac.com/2018/07/06/apple-shortcuts-hands-on/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/07/06/apple-shortcuts-hands-on/
epicide 8y ago
For a few things ("I'm leaving work" messages, in particular), I've had good luck with Workflow[0][1]. Unfortunately, it's all manually programmed and no learning, but it is decently intuitive and powerful. [0]: https://www.workflow.is/ https://www.workflow.is/ [1]: No affiliation -- their app just solves a need of mine.
- skinnymuch 8y ago
  Isn’t that the app Apple owns now and is based on Siri Shortcuts?
  - epicide 8y ago
    Seems so, but you can actually use Workflow today (without running a beta version of iOS).
spike021 8y ago
Yep, I've been thinking quite a bit about this lately as well. I set the same alarms Monday through Friday to wake up for work (usually a few since I'm a deep sleeper). While I know I could schedule these, I usually prefer to manually set them, so I wind up doing that every night. In the morning I can do, "Siri, turn off all alarms" and Siri will disable any that are set. But at night time, I can't do "Siri, set my usual alarms for tomorrow morning." Seems like a critical type of action that a predictive engine should be able to process. But perhaps I'm wrong.

reaperducer 8y ago

FWIW, I switched to a new iPhone a few weeks ago, and it has learned at every workday at a particular time when I open a Messages conversation with a particular person and type "Good," it correctly auto-suggests the rest of the phrase that I sent at that time. I have noticed, however, that it wont always make suggestions for similar repeated texting events. I think it has to do with limited space in the iOS auto-complete bar, because once I get past the first couple of words it fills in the rest. If you're using iOS, is it possible that your usual phrase is too long to fit in auto-complete? As for the other things you suggest, it appears this is the direction Apple is headed, based on the most recent WWDC keynote.

Infernal 8y ago

So I currently use a combination of Launch Center Pro and Workflow (the developer of which was purchased by Apple last year, and appears to be the source of what has now become Siri Shortcuts) to do what you're describing. I have a Workflow that when run, uses Maps to estimate the drive time between wherever I am and my house, pads the estimate by 5 minutes, then adds that to the current time to get an ETA, formats it into a text message and sends the ETA to my wife. In Launch Center Pro, I have a geo-fenced shortcut that presents a notification to run my workflow whenever it sees that I have left the area around my office building. The UX is, halfway between my office building and my car, I get a notification from LCP - I tap the notification, Workflow thinks for a minute, and presents me with a text message to my wife and I tap "send". As nice as this is already, I believe Siri Shortcuts may improve it in several ways: 1) Currently, apps are not allowed to send messages without explicit user interaction, so Workflow can't actually text my wife, it just presents me with an imessage screen and an already-written message that I must tap "send" on 2) Workflow does not support geofenced or time-based running of workflows, hence why I need LCP to launch my Workflow based on a geofence. If Siri Shortcuts supports this, then I won't have to rely on LCP anymore. 3) There is no way (that I'm aware of) to trigger my workflow automatically, I must tap a notification and unlock my phone, or run an app and select the workflow within it. An improvement would be a programmable Siri Shortcut ("Hey Siri, let my wife know my ETA"), and even better would be automatic running of workflows based on defined conditions, so my workflow would run and send a message automatically when crossing the geofence without me even needing to be aware of it (besides maybe a notification that lets me know the workflow has run).

mason55 8y ago
According to this article[0] those annoyances are still there > It does look like certain annoyances with Workflow are showing in Shortcuts as well. For example, sending a message via a Shortcut still requires you to manually hit the send button [0] https://9to5mac.com/2018/07/06/apple-shortcuts-hands-on/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/07/06/apple-shortcuts-hands-on/

epicide 8y ago

For a few things ("I'm leaving work" messages, in particular), I've had good luck with Workflow[0][1]. Unfortunately, it's all manually programmed and no learning, but it is decently intuitive and powerful. [0]: https://www.workflow.is/ https://www.workflow.is/ [1]: No affiliation -- their app just solves a need of mine.

skinnymuch 8y ago
Isn’t that the app Apple owns now and is based on Siri Shortcuts?
- epicide 8y ago
  Seems so, but you can actually use Workflow today (without running a beta version of iOS).

spike021 8y ago

Yep, I've been thinking quite a bit about this lately as well. I set the same alarms Monday through Friday to wake up for work (usually a few since I'm a deep sleeper). While I know I could schedule these, I usually prefer to manually set them, so I wind up doing that every night. In the morning I can do, "Siri, turn off all alarms" and Siri will disable any that are set. But at night time, I can't do "Siri, set my usual alarms for tomorrow morning." Seems like a critical type of action that a predictive engine should be able to process. But perhaps I'm wrong.