Far from my first iPhone...the decision to upgrade principally driven by the onboard camera quality. However, I find SIRI to be a curious "attribute".
It's something between toy and vanity, I think. It's still a distraction and safety hazard when driving, unable to deal with low s/nR situations in the vehicle, and prompting the occasional expletive.
Perhaps Siri's best attribute is her ability to deal with human frustration...
"****-You" results in Siri admonishing "no need for profanity". My expectations for voice recognition are fairly low, so I wasn't frustrated with the program, just playing with it, at the time. In general, however, I find it to be more a distraction than a tool.
If, however, Siri comes back and says, "I'm sorry, I can't do that, Dave...." I may have to revise my thinking. (with acknowledgement to Stanley Kubrick.)
As all you blogers below know it is true Jobs drove the Apple Super Ship of American Enterprise to heights unimagined in the past but, as the worlds engineers know this wasn't by accident. Just examin the contributors list to his companies success!
Here's a list of iPhone 4S components:
Apple A5 Dual-core processor – Package-on-Package implementation also featuring Elpida B4064B2PF-8D-F – Elpida 512 MB of Low-power DDR2 DRAM (SI#26521)
Qualcomm RTR8605 Multimode RF Transceiver
AGD8 2132 – STMicroelectronics L3G4200DH 3-Axis Digital MEMS Gyroscope Module
Murata SW SS1919013 – Wireless module featuring Broadcom BCM4330 MAC/Baseband/Radio with Integrated Bluetooth and FM Transceiver
My point: GREAT COMPANIES CAN DO GREAT THINGS! This concept has been proven time and again in times of war or peace. The difference now is the Globalized Support Expeteese necessary to make this happen. The bold listed companies above are the REAL Sytems Integration Designers and creative reason the prpduct works. But, the genious of conceptlies within the dream of it's creator. This should be remempered by ALL HR types evaluating applicants for the "undefinable jobs" that require special talents. Talents gained by experience rather than formal education .
I agree with the comments and was a skeptic, too, until a friend of mine gave me a demo of Siri on his new iPhone 4S. Sure, there's a lot of funkiness with Siri and there's almost a game people play asking it hard to answer questions or cursing at it to see how it responds. At the same time, it's clearly the most user friendly speech recognition and response system ever fielded in a consumer device. And it's too darn bad Steve Jobs isn't here to get it to generation 2 and beyond. It's got huge potential, and I'm sure we'll see the Android phones mimic it very soon.
Good point - but the iP4S does have other improvements/enhancements besides Siri (which, BTW, can be frustrating at times!) - an 8 MP Camera as well as a base of 16 GB memory, faster speed and an improved operating system. Believe it or not, this is the first Apple Product I've ever purchased - and so far, it is making me a believer - I might just purchase an Apple as my next Computer!
Beyond the addition of the Siri voice recognition system, I'm not sure what the big advances are with this new iPhone in terms of actual new functionality for the user. I also find it curious that a lot of the media and Apple watchers expressed disappointed with the new model upon its initial introduction (maybe expecting a more radical iPhone 5 model) and have subsequently been singing its praises. Nostalgia, perhaps, in the post-Jobs Apple era?
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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