Microsoft Working On Apple Siri Competitor Codenamed ‘Cortana’

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Microsoft still thinks "just add Halo" will make any product successful?

They don't seem to understand consumers at all nowadays.

it'd probably just an internal code name


also their voice recognition on windows phone is already top notch so yes they are giving consumers some good stuff
 
How far away does gaf think we are from this technology being as compelling as a real conversation? I'd say 12 years.

It'd say it's five years behind fusion.

(I'm pretty serious about that - it's a technology that is always ten years from now, and probably will be for another fifty years.)

do people that continuously say siri and google now are novelty not drive cars? i use siri daily.

I live in London. I don't even know anyone who lives in this city and owns a car.

I've found Apple's voice recognition to be absolutely terrible - true story, I asked Siri a few weeks back to call my wife. The reply was "I'm sorry, I can't find flatulence in your phone book."
 
It'd say it's five years behind fusion.

(I'm pretty serious about that - it's a technology that is always ten years from now, and probably will be for another fifty years.)



I live in London. I don't even know anyone who lives in this city and owns a car.

I've found Apple's voice recognition to be absolutely terrible - true story, I asked Siri a few weeks back to call my wife. The reply was "I'm sorry, I can't find flatulence in your phone book."

It's not Siri's fault you married an old fart.
 
It'd say it's five years behind fusion.

(I'm pretty serious about that - it's a technology that is always ten years from now, and probably will be for another fifty years.)

Understanding words -> understanding sentences -> understanding context

We are basically still at understanding words. Basic command inputs.

Context is easily one of the most difficult things to understand, and this is before we even start working on the other half of the conversation... Which not only requires ability to construct sentences, construct arguments and again... Ability to maintain context.

In reality, we'd have to be a step behind AI for proper conversation.
 
Microsoft's weird over reliance on HALO (no matter how popular the IP is) is just weird.

It's like someone's fifty something Dad incorrectly name dropping bands his kids like.

"Hey dudes. How about having your very own Cortana on your mobile phone device?"

*crickets*
 
If it's as good as Google Now, then I see no problem with this. I talk to my phone all the time because of how amazing Google's service is. This is the result I get from simply saying "San Francisco Giants."

"The Giants beat the Rockies 4-3. They are playing the Dodgers today at 7:10PM."

Fucking brilliant. All the relevant information I needed to know given to me instantly.
 
If it's as good as Google Now, then I see no problem with this. I talk to my phone all the time because of how amazing Google's service is. This is the result I get from simply saying "San Francisco Giants."

"The Giants beat the Rockies 4-3. They are playing the Dodgers today at 7:10PM."

Fucking brilliant. All the relevant information I needed to know given to me instantly.

At the same time both Google and Microsoft have to stop treating the rest of the world like little servants and throw them a nugget too. There's no reason why they can't do the same with, say, Formula 1 results.
 
I want a Windows Phone so bad now. I can't afford a data plan like Verizon's though. I use Straight Talk. Anyone know if a factory unlocked phone like a Lumia 920 would work with a Straight Talk sim card?
 
They need to try and make the voice not sounds robotic. The robotic voice works for GlaDOS and HAL because they're supposed to be hostile. Release one with the voice of Morgan Freeman and people will bite.
 
Understanding words -> understanding sentences -> understanding context

We are basically still at understanding words. Basic command inputs.

Context is easily one of the most difficult things to understand, and this is before we even start working on the other half of the conversation... Which not only requires ability to construct sentences, construct arguments and again... Ability to maintain context.

In reality, we'd have to be a step behind AI for proper conversation.

How is that one supercomputer able to answer Jeopardy questions?
 
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Cortana is just the codename. The real thing is Clippy.
 
I want a Windows Phone so bad now. I can't afford a data plan like Verizon's though. I use Straight Talk. Anyone know if a factory unlocked phone like a Lumia 920 would work with a Straight Talk sim card?
I beleive straight talk has both at&t and tmobile sims. I use a 620 on straight talk.
 
The irony of creating a Siri (or Google Now, if you will) clone and calling it "revolutionary" is hopefully not lost on anyone.

And that's the thing, Microsoft's strategy for over a decade now is reactionary design. Look at what everyone else is doing and trying to reinvent the wheel. They have varied success, some stuff works, most of the stuffs falls flat because they don't offer anything special (even if it improves on what existst, it's never mindblowing systemselling stuff) and because they're always a year (or two) behind what the competition does.

That's kinda been Microsoft's history. Word wasn't the first word processor. Excel wasn't the first spreadsheet. Windows wasn't the first graphical OS. IE wasn't the first internet browser.

The talent that Bill Gates has that Ballmer doesn't is that Gates knows how to come in late and still become market leader/monopoly. He was a tyrant the likes of which Ballmer is incapable of becoming. If Microsoft joined an industry, they joined it to rule it.
 
How is that one supercomputer able to answer Jeopardy questions?

80 TeraFLOPs of power. I don't know a whole lot about it but in that scenario I don't think context was too important, certainly not as important as it would be in a normal conversation.
Also this:
Watson's main innovation was not in the creation of a new algorithm for this operation but rather its ability to quickly execute thousands of proven language analysis algorithms simultaneously to find the correct answer.[12][27] The more algorithms that find the same answer independently the more likely Watson is to be correct.[12] Once Watson has a small number of potential solutions, it is able to check against its database to ascertain whether the solution makes sense.[12

Plenty of human beings have trouble with understanding context never mind a computer.
 
I just do not like Windows Phone. I say this as I have a Samsung Focus on my desk. It's just not the OS for me. The app selection is abysmal and the quality of the apps is even worse. My wife has a Nokia 710 and Nokia Drive is... not good at all. After loading WP7.8 the phones have become less responsive overall. Plus some of the design choices, especially font sizes, really do not seem optimal by any stretch of imagination.

So overall... having improved Siri functionality isn't going to make me consider saying on WP.
 
I just do not like Windows Phone. I say this as I have a Samsung Focus on my desk. It's just not the OS for me. The app selection is abysmal and the quality of the apps is even worse. My wife has a Nokia 710 and Nokia Drive is... not good at all. After loading WP7.8 the phones have become less responsive overall. Plus some of the design choices, especially font sizes, really do not seem optimal by any stretch of imagination.

So overall... having improved Siri functionality isn't going to make me consider saying on WP.
Lol... wut?
First time Ive ever heard that. Nokia Drive is fantastic.
 
I'm not even a Halo "fan" but my god, I would almost buy a phone if it sounded exactly like Cortana. and they used her art.
 
That's kinda been Microsoft's history. Word wasn't the first word processor. Excel wasn't the first spreadsheet. Windows wasn't the first graphical OS. IE wasn't the first internet browser.

The talent that Bill Gates has that Ballmer doesn't is that Gates knows how to come in late and still become market leader/monopoly. He was a tyrant the likes of which Ballmer is incapable of becoming. If Microsoft joined an industry, they joined it to rule it.

Not kinda. It was their entire history. DOS wasn't theirs either. They just bought it from somebody else.
 
I feel bad for Microsoft, because I bet they will make an awesome effort on this kind of thing, but no one will notice because no one has their phones.
Hopefully coming to Xbox One at some point.


Fun fact: Did you know that Nokia's lifetime sales of Lumias in less than two years (27.3 million) is roughly 35% of the total lifetime sales of the Xbox 360 after nearly 8 years? (78.2 million)

And that of course doesn't include other manufacturers of Windows Phones.


Looking at trends, it's quite clear that a hypothetical Cortana on Windows Phone will reach far more people than Xbox One ever will, at least in the near future:

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Yes, I know the businesses are vastly different in terms of revenue/profit, but I'm talking about the pure number of people who will see something, not how much money some company will make off of it.

Phones are orders of magnitude bigger than game consoles, to the point where even Windows Phone's tiny market share will reach more people than any game consoles will.
 
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