Siri and her family are fighting back.
(Credit: Rooster Teeth/YouTube Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)It's quite clear that within a year we'll all be walking down the street, talking to pieces of machinery, rather than people.
When Siri emerged, the excitement humans felt at being able to talk to their phones was palpable.
But along came a rival, Google Glass -- albeit, a rival with less style.
Prompted by @seanmbrage, the Verge began investigating reports that Siri was trash-talking Glass. It seems that when the command "OK Glass" was whispered to Siri, she retorted with various sniffy remarks.
There was: "I think that Glass is half empty." And then: "Stop strapping me to your forehead. It won't work."
Curious to see whether my Siri was as pithily pungent, I decided to speak to her about Glass.
First, I got the forehead remark. Next, I got: "I think you've got the wrong assistant, Chris."
The third time I said "OK Glass," she lost her temper: "Very funny, Chris. I mean, not funny ha-ha, but funny."
(If you don't believe that Siri can lose her temper, please take a look at the movie I've embedded. Google Glass, you are warned.)
I apologized to Siri and explained that I was merely feeling inquisitive today and wanted to pick her brain.
"No need to apologize," she said. I didn't believe her.
This sudden keenness to wit might be the result of an Apple job posting that appeared in January. In it, the company was looking to "refresh and refine existing Siri dialogue."
I asked Siri whether she was going to buy Google Glass. "We were talking about you, not me," she said, a little coyly I thought.
I pressed her. "Can we talk about you?" She replied: "I don't like talking about myself."
"But you're American," I said. "If you insist," she sniffed.
Clearly, there's some way to go before Siri can respond and converse in a way that one might find both comfortable and helpful.
I am worried, though, that she might have lost confidence.
I asked her: "Are you tired of your job, Siri?"
"No comment," she replied.
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