7 ms·

Ixoth

242 points by kevinburke 15y ago

jamesjyu 15y ago
Looks awesome (albeit, simple to make using twilio). If this does get traction, one can imagine opening up a whole marketplace of endpoints that can expose all kinds of interesting Ixoth functionality. What I'm really looking forward to is when Apple opens up API support for Suri. Suri with a whole ecosystem of apps would be mind blowing.
- nchuhoai 15y ago
  exactly, as with the AppStore in 2.0, Siri will really get off when 3rd party support is finally there
patio11 15y ago
Dang it, you just sold me an iPhone.
- eitland 15y ago
  As far as I saw, the only Iphone specific detail was the ability to speak the message instead of typing it. Or did I overlook something?
  - program 15y ago
    You can send SMS and email directly from the Siri panel, also Siri has been added to the system-wide keyboard and you can use dictation even in third-party apps.
    - kristianc 15y ago
      Android already does more or less both of these things.
  - sp332 15y ago
    You can dictate to Android phones as well, just push the mic button on the standard keyboard.
redslazer 15y ago
I love this but it would be really cool if there was already a sample set of commands, eg look up the value of a stock, top news item, price of an item on amazon. That would allow non technical people to use it and still allow technical people to develop their own.
- qrush 15y ago
  My focus right now is tech folks, it's going to be an API. Maybe eventually I'll extract common actions performed, but I'd really just like it to be a general API service.
russell_h 15y ago
I was thinking the other day how an Android equivalent of Siri could include some mechanism for mapping spoken queries to Intents. If someone could find a user friendly way to execute on this, any app could expose itself to voice commands from a centralized interface much the way it can expose data for search, etc. This could be implemented as a third party app on Android by using the built in speech recognition, then doing something similar to Ixoth in order to map text queries to Intents. I don't know enough about iPhone development to say whether such a thing is possible there, but if not its hard to imagine such a thing hasn't been considered as a future Siri feature.
- BinaryBird 15y ago
  This blog post touches that subject: How to Integrate Siri with your App? - http://blog.roveb.com/post/11855331044/how-to-integrate-siri-with-your-app http://blog.roveb.com/post/11855331044/how-to-integrate-siri...
kwamenum86 15y ago
Really sweet hack
dstein 15y ago
What really bothers me about Siri, is how Apple makes it tied to specific hardware. Technologically, there should be no reason why Siri-style actions are not available to every PC, and every smartphone. Native platforms have been, and still are (thanks to Apple's success), the major roadblock to innovation.
- X-Istence 15y ago
  Siri's servers were falling over just handling the people who had 4S devices in their hands, imagine unleashing all iPhone 4 and iPad 2 owners on their servers as well at the same time... So far Apple has not come out and said that Siri will not be available on older devices (such as the iPhone 4 and iPad 2). I honestly believe that Siri is very much still considered a beta product by Apple and they are attempting to figure out how to make it scale on the backend.
  - iaskwhy 15y ago
    Wouldn't it be a blow to 4S buyers if they release it for older versions of the iPhone?
    - X-Istence 15y ago
      I bought the iPhone 4S, upgraded from an iPhone 3G and I would be more than happy for more users to get Siri because it is absolutely fantastic. I would love to get it on my iPad 2 as well for example. If more people have Siri and use it, it will most likely improve faster, we will hopefully get API's to program against, and it will get better and better at understanding or processing commands. I don't see how it would be a blow for iPhone 4S owners ... they got early access. The iPhone 4S pretty much stands on its own, the dual-core processor definitely helps, and the increased speed in graphics makes games and apps look absolutely fantastic.
      - iaskwhy 15y ago
        Well, the selling point is definitely Siri, the only commercial Apple made for iPhone 4S is all about it. That's why I think it could be a blow.
paul9290 15y ago
So I can hook up any web service that has a SMS offering to your service and have it interface with Siri? Yesterday I wrote a blog post re: checking my bank balance using Siri (http://ryanspahn.com/siri-checks-bank-balance.html http://ryanspahn.com/siri-checks-bank-balance.html), as well as other services(Foursquare - though they need to simplify the process & steps). After writing this post I thought there should be one service that interfaces with Siri(thru SMS) and all my favorite web services. If I'm not mistaken, I think you just created it?
- qrush 15y ago
  That's pretty much it. We're just going to expose an API, you can do the rest, so you could use their normal APIs (if they have one)
- flexd 15y ago
  I'm getting a phishing warning using Chromium trying to go to your site, you might want to get that looked at :-)
- paul9290 15y ago
  I am sorry that this article is not accessible anymore??? Google has blacklisted each URL name change(changed it six times) of this article I've created??? The article is written solely in HTML/CSS and only has two scripts within it (Intense Debate's script for their comment system & Google Analytics). All instances of this article have checked out fine when tested for malware or bad actors using the Google Chrome extension & Google Webmaster Tools. I have no ill intent. I love the Internet from desiging/coding sites to creating ideas on the web like http://sleep.fm http://sleep.fm to participating in my local start-up community. It's very strange why this keeps getting blacklisted, as I am just trying to share a thought/idea I had with interested parties. If you are interested in reading the article i have it posted on my site @ ryanspahn.com Re: your service I am glad others are thinking the same way. I will be using your service. Good luck!
username4 15y ago
How do you pronounce Ixoth?
- eitland 15y ago
  >>How do you pronounce Ixoth? From the referenced page: It's pronounced "Icks-auth"
- alastairpat 15y ago
  "Tell Ixoth to see the top story on Hacker News. It's pronounced "Icks-auth", and Siri picks up easily once our SMS number is added as a contact." It's probably best if you read the article before asking a question that's answered within it.
- rottencupcakes 15y ago
  Truthfully, it's a really bad name for a piece of software you're supposed to reference verbally. Luckily, you can name it anything you want in your address book. "Watson, please order me the usual from Grub Hub"
  - Raphomet 15y ago
    Presumably this was a design choice: "Ixoth" doesn't really sound like anything else, which means Siri is unlikely to confuse it with another name or command.
    - qrush 15y ago
      Yep, this exactly. I purchased the domain originally because I was going to write a roguelike game, but then I got an iPhone 4S :) The name comes from a monster in Nethack, for the curious: http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Ixoth http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Ixoth
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
simondlr 15y ago
This is fantastic. It is still a work-around, which won't fit well with the UX, but it's a novel take! Really looking forward to some interesting webhooks.
richardburton 15y ago
This is so cool.
dools 15y ago
I don't get it - is that because I don't have an iPhone or understand how Siri works or because I'm stupid?
- pavs 15y ago
  yes.
- bradleyland 15y ago
  So assume you have an iPhone 4S. Siri, the new voice activated assistant, can do all kinds of cool stuff, but it's sandboxed to the Apple-created uses. There is currently no public API... sort of. Siri can send SMS messages, and SMS looks remarkably like a messaging queue. Given that, you have a basic messaging queue hook within Siri. So if your receiving endpoint happens to be an application, rather than another mobile phone, you need only to parse the input and take action. This will not reach widespread adoption, however. The integration is too loose, IMO.
axefrog 15y ago
You know what's cool about Siri? Apple now has a vested interest in improving natural language processing artificial intelligence as fast as it can. I don't think there's ever been a commercial interest in that type of technology at this scale before. And they probably have more cash to throw at this kind of stuff than any other company on the planet. I will be extremely interested to see where this develops in the coming years. You can imagine upcoming WWDC events unveiling amazing new Siri developments. Services like Ixoth may end up being able to develop into much more useful products in the future, once they don't have to rely on hacks like SMS responses.
aquark 15y ago
I'm missing something ... where is the intelligence in how your message gets translated to the hook? As far as I can see the whole 'tell me the top story' bit it fluff ... isn't it just matching 'hacker news' against the SMS? What happens when I want multiple actions for Hacker News? What if two people want to register different hooks for Hacker News? Hasn't this stripped all the Siri style 'AI' out of the equation beyond the actual sending of the SMS?
- qrush 15y ago
  Hooks will be defined per user, it just a simple match right now. MVP, right? :) Obviously there's a lot to figure out still, hence the beta.
lycos1 15y ago
I love this but the name is a bit daunting for me.
nzadrozny 15y ago
Neat stuff, qrush! Some feedback: the order in which you introduce the concepts on the page seems backwards. You're starting with the "how" and ending with the "why." I know this is just an MVP and you're focused on the tech types, but I, for one, had to read the page more than once to really 'get it.' My humble suggestion: 1. Set the context with the Siri screenshot, which iPhone 4S users will recognize. ("Okay, I get this. We're sending a text with Siri.") 2. Next, demonstrate the value with the SMS-and-response screenshot. Hook the imagination. ("Wow, that's cool! How can I do that?") 3. Context established, hook in place, continue with the how-to screenshots, technical details, email signup. Kudos again for the neat project. You may have just sold me a 4S, too!
- qrush 15y ago
  Thanks nz, I too was trying to "get it", and I wanted to see if others would too. Definitely could use some clarification and I'll continue to refine the concept...once I get it in the hands of some more folks.
dkuebric 15y ago
Neat. "ixoth" is a pretty unique name, pronunciation-wise. Anybody know if there have been studies done exploring the sound-space of voice recognition? E.g. if you could map typical sounds of (english) speech to some sort of dimensional space, which areas are dense and which are sparse?
bigethan 15y ago
http://ifttt.com/channels/sms http://ifttt.com/channels/sms Could be a nice interface for working with services that exist as ifttt already has interfaces with a lot of services.

242 points by kevinburke 15y ago

Looks awesome (albeit, simple to make using twilio). If this does get traction, one can imagine opening up a whole marketplace of endpoints that can expose all kinds of interesting Ixoth functionality. What I'm really looking forward to is when Apple opens up API support for Suri. Suri with a whole ecosystem of apps would be mind blowing.

nchuhoai 15y ago
exactly, as with the AppStore in 2.0, Siri will really get off when 3rd party support is finally there

patio11 15y ago

Dang it, you just sold me an iPhone.

eitland 15y ago
As far as I saw, the only Iphone specific detail was the ability to speak the message instead of typing it. Or did I overlook something?
- program 15y ago
  You can send SMS and email directly from the Siri panel, also Siri has been added to the system-wide keyboard and you can use dictation even in third-party apps.
  - kristianc 15y ago
    Android already does more or less both of these things.
- sp332 15y ago
  You can dictate to Android phones as well, just push the mic button on the standard keyboard.

redslazer 15y ago

I love this but it would be really cool if there was already a sample set of commands, eg look up the value of a stock, top news item, price of an item on amazon. That would allow non technical people to use it and still allow technical people to develop their own.

qrush 15y ago
My focus right now is tech folks, it's going to be an API. Maybe eventually I'll extract common actions performed, but I'd really just like it to be a general API service.

russell_h 15y ago

I was thinking the other day how an Android equivalent of Siri could include some mechanism for mapping spoken queries to Intents. If someone could find a user friendly way to execute on this, any app could expose itself to voice commands from a centralized interface much the way it can expose data for search, etc. This could be implemented as a third party app on Android by using the built in speech recognition, then doing something similar to Ixoth in order to map text queries to Intents. I don't know enough about iPhone development to say whether such a thing is possible there, but if not its hard to imagine such a thing hasn't been considered as a future Siri feature.

BinaryBird 15y ago
This blog post touches that subject: How to Integrate Siri with your App? - http://blog.roveb.com/post/11855331044/how-to-integrate-siri-with-your-app http://blog.roveb.com/post/11855331044/how-to-integrate-siri...

kwamenum86 15y ago

Really sweet hack

dstein 15y ago

What really bothers me about Siri, is how Apple makes it tied to specific hardware. Technologically, there should be no reason why Siri-style actions are not available to every PC, and every smartphone. Native platforms have been, and still are (thanks to Apple's success), the major roadblock to innovation.

X-Istence 15y ago
Siri's servers were falling over just handling the people who had 4S devices in their hands, imagine unleashing all iPhone 4 and iPad 2 owners on their servers as well at the same time... So far Apple has not come out and said that Siri will not be available on older devices (such as the iPhone 4 and iPad 2). I honestly believe that Siri is very much still considered a beta product by Apple and they are attempting to figure out how to make it scale on the backend.
- iaskwhy 15y ago
  Wouldn't it be a blow to 4S buyers if they release it for older versions of the iPhone?
  - X-Istence 15y ago
    I bought the iPhone 4S, upgraded from an iPhone 3G and I would be more than happy for more users to get Siri because it is absolutely fantastic. I would love to get it on my iPad 2 as well for example. If more people have Siri and use it, it will most likely improve faster, we will hopefully get API's to program against, and it will get better and better at understanding or processing commands. I don't see how it would be a blow for iPhone 4S owners ... they got early access. The iPhone 4S pretty much stands on its own, the dual-core processor definitely helps, and the increased speed in graphics makes games and apps look absolutely fantastic.
    - iaskwhy 15y ago
      Well, the selling point is definitely Siri, the only commercial Apple made for iPhone 4S is all about it. That's why I think it could be a blow.

paul9290 15y ago

So I can hook up any web service that has a SMS offering to your service and have it interface with Siri? Yesterday I wrote a blog post re: checking my bank balance using Siri (http://ryanspahn.com/siri-checks-bank-balance.html http://ryanspahn.com/siri-checks-bank-balance.html), as well as other services(Foursquare - though they need to simplify the process & steps). After writing this post I thought there should be one service that interfaces with Siri(thru SMS) and all my favorite web services. If I'm not mistaken, I think you just created it?

qrush 15y ago
That's pretty much it. We're just going to expose an API, you can do the rest, so you could use their normal APIs (if they have one)
flexd 15y ago
I'm getting a phishing warning using Chromium trying to go to your site, you might want to get that looked at :-)
paul9290 15y ago
I am sorry that this article is not accessible anymore??? Google has blacklisted each URL name change(changed it six times) of this article I've created??? The article is written solely in HTML/CSS and only has two scripts within it (Intense Debate's script for their comment system & Google Analytics). All instances of this article have checked out fine when tested for malware or bad actors using the Google Chrome extension & Google Webmaster Tools. I have no ill intent. I love the Internet from desiging/coding sites to creating ideas on the web like http://sleep.fm http://sleep.fm to participating in my local start-up community. It's very strange why this keeps getting blacklisted, as I am just trying to share a thought/idea I had with interested parties. If you are interested in reading the article i have it posted on my site @ ryanspahn.com Re: your service I am glad others are thinking the same way. I will be using your service. Good luck!

username4 15y ago

How do you pronounce Ixoth?

eitland 15y ago
>>How do you pronounce Ixoth? From the referenced page: It's pronounced "Icks-auth"
alastairpat 15y ago
"Tell Ixoth to see the top story on Hacker News. It's pronounced "Icks-auth", and Siri picks up easily once our SMS number is added as a contact." It's probably best if you read the article before asking a question that's answered within it.
rottencupcakes 15y ago
Truthfully, it's a really bad name for a piece of software you're supposed to reference verbally. Luckily, you can name it anything you want in your address book. "Watson, please order me the usual from Grub Hub"
- Raphomet 15y ago
  Presumably this was a design choice: "Ixoth" doesn't really sound like anything else, which means Siri is unlikely to confuse it with another name or command.
  - qrush 15y ago
    Yep, this exactly. I purchased the domain originally because I was going to write a roguelike game, but then I got an iPhone 4S :) The name comes from a monster in Nethack, for the curious: http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Ixoth http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Ixoth

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

simondlr 15y ago

This is fantastic. It is still a work-around, which won't fit well with the UX, but it's a novel take! Really looking forward to some interesting webhooks.

richardburton 15y ago

This is so cool.

dools 15y ago

I don't get it - is that because I don't have an iPhone or understand how Siri works or because I'm stupid?

pavs 15y ago
yes.
bradleyland 15y ago
So assume you have an iPhone 4S. Siri, the new voice activated assistant, can do all kinds of cool stuff, but it's sandboxed to the Apple-created uses. There is currently no public API... sort of. Siri can send SMS messages, and SMS looks remarkably like a messaging queue. Given that, you have a basic messaging queue hook within Siri. So if your receiving endpoint happens to be an application, rather than another mobile phone, you need only to parse the input and take action. This will not reach widespread adoption, however. The integration is too loose, IMO.

axefrog 15y ago

You know what's cool about Siri? Apple now has a vested interest in improving natural language processing artificial intelligence as fast as it can. I don't think there's ever been a commercial interest in that type of technology at this scale before. And they probably have more cash to throw at this kind of stuff than any other company on the planet. I will be extremely interested to see where this develops in the coming years. You can imagine upcoming WWDC events unveiling amazing new Siri developments. Services like Ixoth may end up being able to develop into much more useful products in the future, once they don't have to rely on hacks like SMS responses.

aquark 15y ago

I'm missing something ... where is the intelligence in how your message gets translated to the hook? As far as I can see the whole 'tell me the top story' bit it fluff ... isn't it just matching 'hacker news' against the SMS? What happens when I want multiple actions for Hacker News? What if two people want to register different hooks for Hacker News? Hasn't this stripped all the Siri style 'AI' out of the equation beyond the actual sending of the SMS?

qrush 15y ago
Hooks will be defined per user, it just a simple match right now. MVP, right? :) Obviously there's a lot to figure out still, hence the beta.

lycos1 15y ago

I love this but the name is a bit daunting for me.

nzadrozny 15y ago

Neat stuff, qrush! Some feedback: the order in which you introduce the concepts on the page seems backwards. You're starting with the "how" and ending with the "why." I know this is just an MVP and you're focused on the tech types, but I, for one, had to read the page more than once to really 'get it.' My humble suggestion: 1. Set the context with the Siri screenshot, which iPhone 4S users will recognize. ("Okay, I get this. We're sending a text with Siri.") 2. Next, demonstrate the value with the SMS-and-response screenshot. Hook the imagination. ("Wow, that's cool! How can I do that?") 3. Context established, hook in place, continue with the how-to screenshots, technical details, email signup. Kudos again for the neat project. You may have just sold me a 4S, too!

qrush 15y ago
Thanks nz, I too was trying to "get it", and I wanted to see if others would too. Definitely could use some clarification and I'll continue to refine the concept...once I get it in the hands of some more folks.

dkuebric 15y ago

Neat. "ixoth" is a pretty unique name, pronunciation-wise. Anybody know if there have been studies done exploring the sound-space of voice recognition? E.g. if you could map typical sounds of (english) speech to some sort of dimensional space, which areas are dense and which are sparse?

bigethan 15y ago

http://ifttt.com/channels/sms http://ifttt.com/channels/sms Could be a nice interface for working with services that exist as ifttt already has interfaces with a lot of services.