MacNoob

October 14^th, 2011. Mark that date. I believe history will treat it as the day we began using speech to interact with our computers. It is the day Apple released the iPhone 4S with Siri, the automated assistant built exclusively into the 4S. Before I elaborate, a brief disclaimer. I am an unapologetic geek and a huge Apple fan. Having said that, I honestly believe I’m being objective when I predict Siri will be viewed as a transformative technological innovation.

Apple describes Siri as an “intelligent assistant”. After using it for just three weeks, I believe their description is accurate. We’ve been able to speak commands in varying degrees to our computers, cars and smartphones for some time now. So, what’s new and/or different about Siri? A lot. First, Siri doesn’t restrict what you ask or tell it. For example, my car is a 2006 model and uses voice input to dial phone numbers, set the A/C temperature or change the radio station, but I have to remember the exact commands and speak them clearly (and in just the right sequence) for the system to work. Not much intelligence there. Siri, by contrast really seems to understand the English language. For instance, I can ask Siri to “Tell Katherine dinner is at 6” and it is smart enough to know I want to send Katherine a text message. Siri responds, “I have created a new text message for Katherine” then displays “Dinner is at 6″ and asks, “Would you like me to send it?” I simply say yes and the text message is sent. Not extremely groundbreaking, I agree, but if instead of saying “yes” I said “Change that to 5:30“, Siri is smart enough to change the text message to read, “Dinner is at 5:30″! That’s my second point. The artificial intelligence built into Siri understands commands contextually. Siri knew I wanted to change dinnertime. It didn’t try to send a text message to “5-3-0″ or create a new message, “Change that to 5:30″. It responded like a human would. This is far beyond any voice recognition system I have ever used and light years ahead of what the Germans programmed into my sedan.

Siri also remembers relationships. I told Siri, “Ann Kelley is my wife” and after a confirmation, Siri remembers it forever or until I change it (I really hope I never have a reason to do that!). The same goes for all my daughters. So, when I ask Siri, “Tell the family my flight arrives at 8“, it creates an MMS to my wife and three daughters, “My flight arrives at 8″ and sends the message to all four. The same works with other relationships or nicknames like “boss”, “secretary”, “butt-head” and “landlord” or just about anything you can think of. Along the same vein, with a free iPhone app called “Find My Friends” I can ask Siri “Where is Katherine?” and up pops a map with the location of Katherine’s iPhone. I naturally assume that’s where Katherine is because if she gets more than a few feet away from her iPhone she has nervous tremors.

Siri is also very valuable when you travel. I was in Corpus Christi last week for business and didn’t know my way around too well. When I got hungry one evening I asked Siri, “What’s a good Mexican restaurant nearby?” and a list of Tex-Mex joints popped up on the screen complete with distance to, ratings and price ranges. Since I asked for a “good” restaurant the results were sorted by rating. Out of curiosity I rephrased the question to “Where is the closest Mexican restaurant?” and the same list appeared, but this time it was sorted from nearest to farthest. After dinner I asked Siri “How do I get back to the Hampton Inn?” and a map popped up on the screen with pushpins showing my current location and the hotel plus two different highlighted routes to get me there. While I was driving back to the hotel I received a text message. I asked Siri, “Read the text message” and Siri replied telling me it was from Robert and read the message, “When would you like to meet tomorrow?” I told Siri, “Reply 8:30 AM” and Siri sent “8:30 AM” in response and my hands never left the steering wheel. Next I asked Siri to “Create an appointment with Robert for 8:30 tomorrow morning.” and after a confirmation the new appointment was added to my calendar. When I was ready for bed back at the hotel I asked Siri to “Wake me up at 6:30“. Siri responded “I have set an alarm for 6:30 AM, Joe“, and did so. (Siri will refer to you using any name you wish. I tried “Your Highness” first, but that just sounded weird.)

Another thing that makes Siri so amazing is there’s no training involved. I didn’t have to memorize a list of things I could ask (like my car system made me do) and I didn’t have to train Siri to recognize my voice like Microsoft’s voice recognition software. I just picked up my iPhone and started using it. Does it make mistakes? Sure. Nothing’s perfect, but it is astounding just how accurate it is. Unscientifically, I’d estimate Siri gets it right about 75% of the time and the more I use it, the better it gets. I think that’s because I’m getting better at communicating with it and it is learning what I expect. I’m also learning that a good network connection is absolutely essential. Since Siri’s brains reside on Apple’s servers in North Carolina, a good 3G or Wi-Fi signal is necessary to send your requests. The only thing happening on the iPhone itself is the recording of your voice. That recording is then sent to Apple’s servers where those really powerful computers interpret your recording and formulate a response. That’s why Siri is so effective. With a good network connection Siri is also very fast. Even the most complex request takes only a second or two. Siri even understands Texan quite well (something I’ve found to be problematic with other voice recognition software). My wife jokes that I sound like I’m talking to a girlfriend when I converse with Siri (who’s automated female voice is just short of human). That’s the way it is, like a very natural conversation.

Currently, Siri is officially “beta” software. That’s geek speak for “not fully baked”. It also means that in addition to admitting bugs, Apple is just getting started with this technology. Some tech pundits predict Siri will be implemented on all Apple devices in the near future. I tend to agree. Given how well Siri works today, it’s bound to be completely astonishing a couple of years from now. Don’t misunderstand, we’re still a long way from HAL 9000, but Siri is the first voice recognition application I’ve ever been tempted to say “Thank you” to.

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I never thought I’d hear myself utter those words. I’ve probably been one of AgileBits’ most boisterous proponents, recommending 1Password for the past four years in every medium I possess. This blog, our MacTexan podcast and the MacNoob blog have all had posts and segments dedicated to 1Password evangalism. With the Mac App Store release of version 3.9 I must rebut myself.

When I got the email notification from AgileBits announcing the release of version 3.9, I was all too happy to spend twenty bucks for the privilege of downloading 1Password from the MAS. While there are few visible changes from version 3.8.5 (the most recent non-MAS version), the promise of a free upgrade to version 4 and automatic updating was more than enough reason for me to spring. Turns out, IT WAS A BAD IDEA! Version 3.9 is a giant step backwards from the usual error-free, reliable releases I’ve come to expect from the 1P guys. After installation I soon realized I was working from a very dated keychain database and the Dropbox support, while advertized, wouldn’t work. When I tried to point version 3.9 to my keychain file stored in my Dropbox folder, the button for doing so was greyed out and nothing I did would change that. I spent countless hours fighting failed imports and corrupted databases before finally surrendering and reverting to the 3.8.5 version stored in a Time Machine backup. In the process, the 1P data on each of my iOS devices was FUBAR. Thankfully, Dropbox and Time Machine saved my bacon but I still don’t have the new MAS version of 1Password I paid for. If you want my advice, DON’T UPGRADE YET.

As the netbook form factor exploded onto the computing scene last year, Linux gearheads everywhere rejoiced in the notion that they finally had a toe-hold into the mainstream computing world. Hardware manufacturers almost universally offered price-leading netbooks (many <$300) with some flavor of Linux pre-installed. Unsuspecting bargain hunters sucked them up but quickly realized none of the software they wanted (or already owned) would run on their new, tiny laptop and the familiar buttons on the screen didn’t do the same thing as the ones on their other computers. Consequently, Linux-based netbook manufacturers saw a 35% return rate. The open source community got their collective bubbles burst when netbook owners shunned their beloved kernel in favor of the six-year-old Microsoft retread, Windows XP. Redmond happily obliged by offering the home version of their old reliable OS to netbook makers for thirty bucks, effectively jabbing the entire Linux community right in the nose. Sure Linux is free, but $30 is really close to free and certainly worth it (for most users) to avoid learning a new operating system.
Fast forward to this year. Look up the word failure in the dictionary and you see a Windows Vista logo. Incompatible, bloated, overbearing and slow are the words frequently used to describe Microsoft’s current OS offering. Installing Vista on a netbook is like putting a Sumo wrestler into a Smart Car. Even a company as obtuse as Microsoft could see that Vista is a complete non-starter in this sub-compact hardware category. But wait, Redmond has a new + improved OS, Windows 7. Is it like every one of its predecessors? Bigger, flashier and feature rich to the point that nothing but the latest, fastest hardware will run it?
No.
As betas trickled out to developers it quickly became apparent Microsoft did something they’ve never done before. They made Windows 7 trim and fit to the point that it runs as good as XP on very minimal hardware. It only took a few days to see 7 popping up on YouTube running on a Dell Mini 9 or Asus Eee PC. And it wasn’t just running, it was running quite well! Windows 7 beta quickly became a very hot item, seeded to every file sharing site you can imagine. The next announcement from Microsoft surprised even me, a long-time Windows developer and MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) subscriber for over 12 years. They said they were making the Windows 7 RC (release candidate) available to everyone for one year! FOR FREE! Now there’s a free version of Microsoft’s latest operating system and by the way, it runs great on the average netbook. Ouch, Linux faithful. If $30 XP was a jab to your nose, free Windows 7 is a right cross to your chin. Down you go.
The referee is counting and I don’t see any sign of the penguin getting up.

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Being a die hard Firefox fan, I never thought I’d ever say this:  Safari 4 is the browser for me.  Like I mentioned previously, Foxmarks is the “must have” add-in I use to keep my bookmarks and logins synchronized across all my machines.  Now that it works with Safari 4, the major roadblock to switching is no more.  Additionally, 1Password and Evernote work with the new beta just as well as they did with Safari 3.  I had a dozen or so add-ins installed in Firefox and really thought I’d miss them more than I do.  Obviously, they weren’t that important.  Beyond that, I find Safari works great with almost every site I visit on a regular basis (except Microsoft’s MSDN, naturally).  I do have the occasional misfire when trying to upload a photo to Facebook, but so far that’s been about it.

I spend over half my day within a browser environment and that’s when Safari’s speed really starts to shine.  Web services like Pixlr, GMail and others are noticeably faster than they are in Firefox and Google Gears seems to have adapted quite nicely.  In addition to its’ speed, Safari renders fonts and graphics beautifully.  After a month of steady use, I notice a definite loss of sharpness when I go back to Firefox.  Safari is just prettier.

As far as I’m concerned, the ball is back in Mozilla’s court.  They’re going to have to do something very, very good to unseat Safari as my default browser.

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When Amazon released the original Kindle in ’07 I bought one for my wife the first day.  She is a voracious reader (as am I) and I really thought she would enjoy it.  The only problem is, the books she tends to read aren’t always available in the Kindle store.  She’s an executive for a Fortune 500 company and her reading taste gravitates towards management theory and work redesign.  Neither genre tends to show up on the NYT best-seller list.  She does find time to do some casual reading and really enjoys the instant gratification the Kindle store provides.  Our ten-year-old daughter, on the other hand, has no trouble finding titles for the Kindle and [thank God] her appetite for reading is every bit as large as her mother’s and mine.  Can you guess where I’m going with this?  Three avid readers + one Kindle = conflict.

When Jeff Bezos announced the Kindle 2 last month I immediately began conjuring a $359 justification.  I have no huge complaints about our original Kindle.  In fact, it has almost become my exclusive book reading format.  I just wanted the new Kindle because it is, well, new.  With no birthdays approaching and Christmas nearly ten months away, I needed a good story to present to the finance committee (my wife) for approval.  I thank God every day for that paradigm because without her to check my techno-lust, things would get out of control in a hurry.  That’s a topic for another day.

Enter the Kindle app for the iPhone.  When I first heard about it I couldn’t believe it.  I guess I’ve grown so accustomed to Apple’s way of doing things that the concept of a free application that effectively eliminates the need for another $359 piece of hardware has become completely foreign to me.  I still want a new Kindle, but nothing short of loss or complete failure of our existing model will facilitate that purchase now.  Anyway, I went straight to the App Store, downloaded and installed the new Kindle app on my iPhone and Pod Touch.  I must admit to being a little skeptical at first.

After all, my 52-year-old eyes need a slightly enlarged font on the Kindle.  The much smaller iPhone screen would have to be a much bigger challenge, right?  WRONG.  The iPhone screen more than makes up for the smaller font with infinitely better contrast.  In fact, I think the iPhone reading experience is every bit as good as that of the Kindle.  For certain, turning pages with a finger flick feels more natural than the Kindle’s button method and the much-ballyhooed  accidental page turn is almost impossible on the phone.  Amazon let me quickly download any of my purchased books I wanted and the “Whispersync” took me to the right spot when I opened my current read.  One thing missing from the iPhone app is the ability to browse or purchase books directly from the Kindle store.  For that you’ll need to use a computer or the Kindle.  It’s a minor inconvenience and I can’t help but think that feature will show up in a future release (if Apple & AT&T don’t object).  Aside from that, adding or navigating to bookmarks, changing the font size, synchronizing and getting back to the main menu is completely intuitive after simply tapping the screen.  In short, after installing the app I had all my books, was reading and felt completely comfortable with it within five minutes.  Also, no more squabbling over the only Kindle in the house.  The only down side, I’m going to need to get really creative if I ever want a Kindle 2!

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I was listening to the Windows Weekly podcast a couple of days ago and Paul Thurrott’s pick of the week was a web service called Pixlr. According to Paul, Pixlr is a near-replacement for Adobe Photoshop that works through a web browser. At the time I thought, “Yeah right!” Since it sounded too good to be true, I went straight to my Mac as soon as I got home and tried it out. After a minimum sign-in, Pixlr was up and running in Safari (4 beta) and I was completely astonished! I’ve never found it necessary to dole out a grand for Photoshop. My editing needs just aren’t that great. I have, however, spent fifty or sixty bucks a few times on applications like Pixelmator that offer 75% of the functionality for 10% of the cost. I’ve also tried the free Picasa, Flickr and Windows Live editors and came away feeling like I’d gotten just what I’d paid for. Pixlr, on the other hand is quite full-featured and runs like a native app on my Mac. I think Safari has something to do with that. The experience on Internet Explorer on my newest Vista machine was a bit more sluggish (more like what I had expected).
I’m not going to do a full review here. First, I barely know enough about photo editing to get done what I need. Second, Pixlr is free, what does it cost to try for yourself? You don’t even have to install anything, just click here. Leave a comment. Let me know if I’m all wet.

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