Apple Needs to Improve Siri's Speech Style

Tom Cheredar, in a post over at VentureBeat:

While plenty has been said about Apple’s often sassy voice assistant feature, Siri, the technology giant thinks it can do even better, according to a recent job posting. Apple wants Siri to be more conversational, and as such, it’s seeking someone with both the technical capabilities as well as a love of words to fill a new position.

It's interesting that Apple posted this on LinkedIn.  I'm actually a fan of using Siri, and it is heartening to see that Apple is seemingly doing what it can to make Siri better.

However, it should be noted that I think Google's voice-controlled search assistant in the Google Search app on iOS provides a more 'natural' feel than does Siri.  That's not to say that Google's assistant provides better or worse results than Siri (my experience has been roughly equivalent with using both), but rather that Siri's voice doesn't sound as smooth as Google's voice.  Actually, I sometimes find Siri's voice to be a bit grating to the ear.

I hope that this job posting isn't going to be purely focused on making Siri more 'witty', but rather that the individual who takes on this role will hopefully be empowered to make Siri better as a whole (including the voice).

This Event Will Make or Break the BlackBerry

Hugo Miller at Bloomberg writing about the upcoming BlackBerry 10 event:

RIM needs an attention-grabber if it is to reverse six quarters of declining sales and a steady loss of market share. RIM was poised to finish 2012 with a 4.7 percent share of the global market, compared with almost 90 percent for Apple and Android combined, research firm IDC said last month. As recently as the first quarter of 2011, RIM had a 14 percent share.

The 'leaks' that have come out related to the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, apps, and devices have been interesting and show a ton of promise. I've been fairly impressed with what I have seen thus far.

However, the market hasn't shown much ability to support a true third competitor behind Google and Apple.  Microsoft is nipping at RIM's heels for what little market leftovers exist, and has shown that it is willing to spend a lot of money to try to sway developers to its side. It is not at all hyperbole to say that this upcoming release from RIM will likely make or break the company.

The question is, which will it be?

Windows Phone 8 Doesn't Need An Installation Disc

Paul Thurrott, writing for Supersite for Windows:

Look, it’s possible that someone, someday, will run into this screen innocuously. Software isn’t perfect. But this isn’t a case of innocence, it’s someone purposefully not explaining what they did and then making Windows Phone look bad as a result. Hilarious!

The story here is that a picture was posted on Twitter that seemingly showed Windows Phone 8 prompting the user for an installation disc.  Unfortunately, the person who posted the picture failed to mention that they were attempting to load a modified boot loader.  This is of course not anywhere near the expected use of the phone, and it is irresponsible at best and disingenuous at worst to have posted the photo without providing context.

Amazon is Probably Starting a Music Price War

Aabha Rathee, writing for Wall St. Cheat Sheet:

Amazon announced last week that its 22-million song catalog was now optimized for users of Apple devices in a way that lets them circumvent the iTunes store and pay lesser for their music. Users will be able to the Safari web browser on their iOS device to access the music, with purchases then directly stored to their Amazon Cloud Player library.

Rathee later goes on to mention (via quotes) how this action is similar to the strategy that Amazon employed when eBooks became available on the iPad. As Matthew Yglesias opines in an article over on Slate, Amazon can be a scary competitor even when (or perhaps especially when) it doesn't care about profits.

I'm not entirely convinced that Amazon can continue to play the market share game this aggressively, but I'm intrigued by the prospects of a formidable competitor keeping Apple on its toes.

Nokia Wants You To Print a Shell For Your Phone

Joel Willans on Nokia's site, quoting Nokia Community & Developer Marketing Manager John Kneeland:

Perhaps in addition to our own beautifully-designed phones, we could sell some kind of phone template, and entrepreneurs the world over could build a local business on building phones precisely tailored to the needs of his or her local community. You want a waterproof, glow-in-the-dark phone with a bottle-opener and a solar charger? Someone can build it for you—or you can print it yourself!



This is a fantastic idea and is clearly a forward-looking move by Nokia.  The era of 3D printing is upon us, and it is in the best interests of many companies to follow suit by releasing usable 3D printing documents for their products.  It's a great way to build customer loyalty and PR buzz by fostering a community based on a product.

The Boeing 787 Failed a Battery Test in Spectacular Fashion Back in 2006

Dominic Gates, writing for The Seattle Times about a failed battery test on the Boeing 787 program:

During testing of a prototype charging-system design in the 2006 incident, “the battery caught fire, exploded, and Securaplane’s entire administrative building burned to the ground,” according to a summary by the administrative law judge in a related employment lawsuit.

The ruinous fire resisted the initial efforts of two employees with fire extinguishers, and escalated, despite the dispatch of a fleet of fire trucks, to destroy the 10,000-square-foot building.

It reached temperatures of about 1,200 degrees and resulted in losses of millions of dollars.

Despite the fact that Boeing won the commercial airplane crown in orders and deliveries from longtime rival Airbus, it has been a rough start to the year for the folks at the airplane maker. The reason? Issues with the 787.

Gates' article delves into more detail about the failed battery test as well as the FAA's role in approving Boeing's design for handling battery fires. The infographic in the article is superb.

Every new airplane model has its 'teething issues' during initial Entry into Service. The 787 is running into some atypically difficult issues, but I'm quite confident that the folks at Boeing will solve these problems and the 787 will grace the skies for many years to come.

Sony Might Be Getting Its (Design) Groove Back

A few days ago I had a discussion with some friends about how strange it was that Sony had yet to make any sort of real impact on the mobile world. This lack of impact was particularly intriguing to me considering that Sony has such a rich design history. This design history is so rich, in fact, that one of Apple's industrial designers produced the often-shared 'Jony' phone design concept which was inspired by Sony's design aesthetics.

It was excellent timing (for my benefit, at least) to see that Sony has revealed its Xperia Tablet Z which looks to my eye to be a very pleasing design. At 6.9mm, it is slightly thinner than the famously-thin iPad Mini but in a 10.1-inch form factor. The fact that it runs Android Jelly Bean is the icing on the cake. (Quite attractive cake, by the way.)

I'm a bit concerned about battery life based on the small (6000mAh) battery, but all in all I'm starting to be convinced that Sony might be returning to its design roots.

Google Paying for Traffic Over a Network Sets a Bad Precedent

Ewan Spence, at Forbes:

This is a wedge moment. Google appears to have blinked and decided that Android’s market share is more important than the principles behind net neutrality. Orange is quietly letting others know they have a deal in place, and you can be sure the rest of the world’s networks are wondering how they can get their slice of the pie.

This sets a really bad precedent.  I can understand why Google felt that this was a good move (or at least the lesser of two evils), but this business deal will only further encourage the networks to do more 'double-dipping'.

That's honestly what this is, folks: double-dipping.  The networks are upset at their role as 'dumb pipes' and are attempting to grab more money by charging end users for Internet service and trying to bully web services (like Google) into also paying for the privilege of delivering services to those users.

France Wants to Tax the Collection of Private Data on the Internet

Eric Pfanner, writing for The New York Times:

The report published Friday said a tax on data collection was justified on grounds that users of services like Google and Facebook are, in effect, working for these companies without pay by providing the personal information that lets them sell advertising.

I can empathize with the dilemma facing governments today. The world economy, in general, has not been good and the related tax revenue has been impacted.  However, that doesn't excuse naked cash-grabs like this proposal. Trying to argue that users of Internet services are 'working' for those companies is like trying to argue that the act of cooking a hamburger is a form of 'manufacturing'.

As it has been said, "The only things certain in life are death and taxes."

Microsoft Should Be Allowed To Have Sales, Too

Paul Thurrott, on Supersite for Windows:

How dare Microsoft make Windows 8 Pro available so cheaply for a pre-set period of time and then simply begin pricing it normally exactly when they previously announced they would do so. How dare they!

As Paul correctly points out in his article, there isn't any good reason for folks to be angry at Microsoft.  The pricing was clearly on a time-limited promotional basis.  The normal pricing is exactly the same as Windows 7 pricing.  

Perhaps part of the reason for the outrage is the way some in the tech media have presented the story in their headlines.  Instead of choosing a headline like "Microsoft Is Jacking Up The Price Of Windows 8 Upgrades", why not choose the more neutral (and honestly, more accurate) headline of "Promotional Pricing Ends for Windows 8 Upgrades"?