4 ms·

If I understand correctly, the have taught Siri nothing. What you see is task list synchronization between the iPhone and RTM. You talk to Siri -> Siri creates

If I understand correctly, the have taught Siri nothing. What you see is task list synchronization between the iPhone and RTM. You talk to Siri -> Siri creates a task -> Task is synced to RTM

wccrawford 15y ago
Actually, Siri is creating a calendar event, and syncing that to RTM. They aren't claiming to have taught Siri to add events... They're claiming to have integrated with RTM. I suspect there might be an issue with having a calendar AND a task list both, though... Like, you can't.
- btn 15y ago
  They aren't claiming to have taught Siri to add events From the article: "we had to teach Siri to add tasks to Remember The Milk [...] and we're super excited to announce that we've done just that!"
  - wccrawford 15y ago
    "to Remember The Milk" If you leave out that bit, then you're correct, they were claiming they taught Siri to add events. But that bit is important.
hopeless 15y ago
It could still be useful for other developers to realise that CalDav might be a good integration point with Siri
mikeash 15y ago
Before: Siri doesn't send tasks to RTM. After: Siri sends tasks to RTM. Seems pretty reasonable to me. Is your quibble with the word "taught"? That seems pretty minor.
- z92 15y ago
  Why it didn't send task to RTM before is something that needs investigation. Probably a task <-> RTM synchronization failure.
- cschep 15y ago
  Siri isn't sending anything to anyone. I think that's his point. Siri added a task to a calendar, just like she has always "known" how to do.
  - mikeash 15y ago
    You tell Siri to add a task, and then it shows up in this other thing. You can quibble about just which entity is doing the sending, but that seems even more pointless than quibbling over "taught".
  - hmottestad 15y ago
    Yep. Simple CalDav sync from the calendar. Nothing is new on the Siri end.
- kamechan 15y ago
  in my opinion, "taught" seems to imply that siri can actively learn. though siri is an intelligent agent which does speech recognition (firmly planting it in the world of AI), i am under the impression that siri does not actively learn and so saying "taught" in the context of speaking about an AI could be construed as misleading. i could be mistaken about whether siri can do "learning" or not, as i'm not intimately familiar with the tech.
- jjcm 15y ago
  My quibble isnt with the word "taught", but rather with the overall wording conveyed in the title. As it is now, it seems to suggest that they've uncovered a hidden API where you can add custom grammars to Siri. A more accurate title would be, "RTM can sync with your iphone calendar". It really has little to do with Siri itself. Any calendar task will be synced, not just ones created by Siri.
whyleym 15y ago
My word - taught or not taught it's a nice piece of function - I do wish that people wouldn't nitpick so much
danilocampos 15y ago
This comment demonstrates everything that has come to exhaust me about Hacker News. There are myriad things to praise about this community, to be certain, but the only place with a bigger stick up its collective ass is Wikipedia.
- albemuth 15y ago
  I don't think this applies for this comment, I mean, the title suggests teaching something to an AI, which in the case of Siri would open a lot of very interesting options, I'm sure I'm not the only one who expected something along those lines and was disappointed. "RTM Siri setup instructions" is a less attractive title though.
  - mikeash 15y ago
    I've seen the word "teach" used to talk about setting up or programming a computer on many occasions before. It's completely appropriate. I can see why you'd be disappointed but that's not a reason to complain.
    - roc 15y ago
      The headline would be fine in a magazine article or a tech-light site like Lifehacker. But, because of Siri's architecture, telling a forum of hackers that you've "taught it" to do something is a wildly different thing. Hackers click that headline because they're interested in the possibility space where you can integrate arbitrary third party apps. And when they discover that your headline is a semantic game --that the implicit promise of the headline is a lie-- I don't know how you could expect anything other than complaints.
      - deleted 15y ago
        [deleted]
      - jpendry 15y ago
        I upvoted because I completely agree. But then I thought about it, and isn't this also an example of a hack in it's purest sense?
krobertson 15y ago
Do you also have a problem with marketing that says "we're revolutionizing the XYZ industry" by arguing over the use of the word "revolutionizing"? While technically they haven't "taught" anything, I think you're also blowing it out of proportion. Its a creative hack, clean to setup, and useful for their users.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

If I understand correctly, the have taught Siri nothing. What you see is task list synchronization between the iPhone and RTM. You talk to Siri -> Siri creates a task -> Task is synced to RTM

wccrawford 15y ago

Actually, Siri is creating a calendar event, and syncing that to RTM. They aren't claiming to have taught Siri to add events... They're claiming to have integrated with RTM. I suspect there might be an issue with having a calendar AND a task list both, though... Like, you can't.

btn 15y ago
They aren't claiming to have taught Siri to add events From the article: "we had to teach Siri to add tasks to Remember The Milk [...] and we're super excited to announce that we've done just that!"
- wccrawford 15y ago
  "to Remember The Milk" If you leave out that bit, then you're correct, they were claiming they taught Siri to add events. But that bit is important.

hopeless 15y ago

It could still be useful for other developers to realise that CalDav might be a good integration point with Siri

mikeash 15y ago

Before: Siri doesn't send tasks to RTM. After: Siri sends tasks to RTM. Seems pretty reasonable to me. Is your quibble with the word "taught"? That seems pretty minor.

z92 15y ago
Why it didn't send task to RTM before is something that needs investigation. Probably a task <-> RTM synchronization failure.
cschep 15y ago
Siri isn't sending anything to anyone. I think that's his point. Siri added a task to a calendar, just like she has always "known" how to do.
- mikeash 15y ago
  You tell Siri to add a task, and then it shows up in this other thing. You can quibble about just which entity is doing the sending, but that seems even more pointless than quibbling over "taught".
- hmottestad 15y ago
  Yep. Simple CalDav sync from the calendar. Nothing is new on the Siri end.
kamechan 15y ago
in my opinion, "taught" seems to imply that siri can actively learn. though siri is an intelligent agent which does speech recognition (firmly planting it in the world of AI), i am under the impression that siri does not actively learn and so saying "taught" in the context of speaking about an AI could be construed as misleading. i could be mistaken about whether siri can do "learning" or not, as i'm not intimately familiar with the tech.
jjcm 15y ago
My quibble isnt with the word "taught", but rather with the overall wording conveyed in the title. As it is now, it seems to suggest that they've uncovered a hidden API where you can add custom grammars to Siri. A more accurate title would be, "RTM can sync with your iphone calendar". It really has little to do with Siri itself. Any calendar task will be synced, not just ones created by Siri.

whyleym 15y ago

My word - taught or not taught it's a nice piece of function - I do wish that people wouldn't nitpick so much

danilocampos 15y ago

This comment demonstrates everything that has come to exhaust me about Hacker News. There are myriad things to praise about this community, to be certain, but the only place with a bigger stick up its collective ass is Wikipedia.

albemuth 15y ago
I don't think this applies for this comment, I mean, the title suggests teaching something to an AI, which in the case of Siri would open a lot of very interesting options, I'm sure I'm not the only one who expected something along those lines and was disappointed. "RTM Siri setup instructions" is a less attractive title though.
- mikeash 15y ago
  I've seen the word "teach" used to talk about setting up or programming a computer on many occasions before. It's completely appropriate. I can see why you'd be disappointed but that's not a reason to complain.
  - roc 15y ago
    The headline would be fine in a magazine article or a tech-light site like Lifehacker. But, because of Siri's architecture, telling a forum of hackers that you've "taught it" to do something is a wildly different thing. Hackers click that headline because they're interested in the possibility space where you can integrate arbitrary third party apps. And when they discover that your headline is a semantic game --that the implicit promise of the headline is a lie-- I don't know how you could expect anything other than complaints.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
    - jpendry 15y ago
      I upvoted because I completely agree. But then I thought about it, and isn't this also an example of a hack in it's purest sense?

krobertson 15y ago

Do you also have a problem with marketing that says "we're revolutionizing the XYZ industry" by arguing over the use of the word "revolutionizing"? While technically they haven't "taught" anything, I think you're also blowing it out of proportion. Its a creative hack, clean to setup, and useful for their users.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]