Showing posts with label Siri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Siri. Show all posts

Thursday, July 26, 2012

iPhone 5

Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase
It is expected to sell really, really well. Okay, so the screen size got bigger, but still not big enough. What else?

Apple’s Upcoming iPhone: What We Know
a thinner screen .... all the major carriers are expected to begin selling the iPhone at launch..... The screen will also be larger, measuring at least 4 inches diagonally .... iOS 6, which Apple says comes with 200 new features, including enhancements to “voice assistant” Siri; a new 3-D maps service with turn-by-turn navigation; integration with Facebook; a “Do Not Disturb” feature to avoid unwanted messages at night; and a new app called Passbook organizes loyalty cards, tickets and boarding passes to display the right card when needed..... 65% of those planned to make an iPhone their next smartphone, and of those 51% said they were waiting for newest model
I guess iOS 6 is the big item here.
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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Apple Is Being Unreasonable

Apple Inc.Apple Inc. (Photo credit: marcopako )FOSS Patents: Apple requests U.S. preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus based on four high-power patents
The Verge: Apple seeks to ban Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, but it's really going after Android 4.0
CNet: Apple seeks U.S. ban on Galaxy Nexus
The Next Web: Apple moves to ban the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the U.S., attacking Android 4.0 with 4 tough patents
Electronista: Apple's new Samsung lawsuit targets Siri-like search, more
Phandroid: Apple at it again, file injunction request against Galaxy Nexus

This reminds me of the Cold War. The Soviets would threaten to obliterate America. The Americans would threaten to obliterate the Soviet Union. They went back and forth for decades. Finally they came to their senses and started talks to dismantle their nuclear weapons, much of them. But first they achieved Mutually Assured Destruction. As in, both would disappear if either carried out the threat.

Instead of the big companies engaging in such Cold War style drama it would make sense for them to come together and take the lead on software patent reform. Things in that department have been crazy for a while. And the big companies themselves have suffered much. Patent trolls have milked the big companies over long years.

For Apple to get offended by Siri like services would be equal to Google saying the search box is theirs and theirs alone. No, it isn't.

Apple right now is acting Soviet.

Software patent wars are energy that needs to go into innovation. There is plenty of work for the industry to do.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Big Data Democratization By Wolfram Alpha

English: Publicity photo of en:Stephen Wolfram.Image via WikipediaThe Verge: Wolfram Alpha Pro democratizes data analysis: an in-depth look at the $4.99 a month service
... the ability to use images, files, and even your own data as inputs instead of simple text entry. The "reports" that Wolfram Alpha kicks out as a result of these (or any) query are also beefed up for Pro users, some will actually become interactive charts and all of them can be more easily exported in a variety of formats...... Wolfram Alpha presents a different way of interacting with knowledge and data than anything else out there on the web ..... Wolfram Alpha is excellent at returning answers to mathematical queries and scientific queries, but it also can provide results based on its structured data. Most people know it now as one of the sources for Apple's Siri feature on the iPhone 4S. ..... in many cases the service can provide better results from Siri than from text queries because there is "more structure to what they're saying" than what most people have trained themselves to type into search fields. ..... provide "reports" instead of just "answers." ..... The first and most obvious feature is that users will get an account at Wolfram Alpha with a complete history of their queries, uploads, and downloads. ...... any number of export options — including a basic Excel spreadsheet, vector graphics, and JSON data if you'd like to integrate the data into your own web app. ...... the Computable Document Format (CDF). CDF is a browser plug-in that enables interactivity with charts, graphs, and other data. ..... an "extended keyboard" which is similar to the larger keyboard available on its mobile apps. This makes it easier to enter mathematical symbols without having to remember obscure keyboard combinations ...... Users will also be able to use images as inputs ...... if you uploaded a set of dates and prices, Wolfram Alpha will actually try to determine exactly what those prices represent. ...... put yourself in the mindset of a small business owner. Instead of trying to hassle with interpreting a spreadsheet of website traffic and sales data, he or she could upload it to Wolfram Alpha Pro ...... not just for the realm of academics and research. Regular users may not have had much reason to dig into the service before now, but the ability to bring the entire brunt of Wolfram Alpha's computational engine on any arbitrary piece of data democratizes the idea of statistical analysis.
I did not have to invent email to be able to use Gmail. There will be Big Data versions of Gmail. I as a user should be able to do Big Data stuff without launching a Big Data company. We will see much more of that happen. If anything Big Data will show up as a hugely democratizing force. We will realize every single human being literally sits atop an oil field. There is money to be made.