**This Appliance is Siri Compliant**

[LinuxHack3r]

I was driving from my university to work today (a 40 minute drive), and was planning on stopping by my house to grab something to eat. I thought to myself, I am going to bake that frozen pizza. Then that got me thinking, it'd be great it I could preheat the oven before I got there. Then I thought, I'm driving, I'd kill myself if I had to open an app to set the settings. Then I thought, Siri!

I do not have a 4S, just a 4. But on my drive home, I came up with this thought. I think it would be a wise move for Apple to create a Siri compliance standard. What I mean by this, much like the "Energy Star" appliances, there would be "Siri Compatible" compliances. An example of this is an oven. You could go buy a new oven, if it was Siri compliant, you could tell your phone "Preheat the oven to 400ºF, set the timer for 30 minutes". Or a thermostat (such as the one our good friend Father iPod created) that you can say things like "Siri, set the house to 68º tonight, but have it at 74º when I wake up".

The things that would need to be done in this "Siri Standard" would be to require certain things, such as:

1) WiFi in the device/appliance
2) A strict quality control on the manufacturers possibilities for commands. Essentially an API for the coding of the product. IE, it MUST be able to to accept these and only these basic commands if it is a stove. No need to create a massive confusing competition of Siri compatible products. It'd be like searching for an Android phone all over again. It would have to be a standard.

These devices, upon purchase, could give you a WiFi web config utility in which you input your Apple ID, and at that point listen for the Apple server to contact it after you talk to your phone. That is probably the best way to control things even when you are not home.

The possibilities here I feel are endless: Stoves, thermostats, lights, refrigerators, garage doors, maybe even cars to a certain extent! Ever walk in a retail store and then wonder if you locked your car because you left your laptop in the back seat? "Siri, make sure my car is locked".

Obviously Apple wouldn't want to step on their own toes in regards to things it believes it may compete with in the future, such as an Apple TV. But for a Stove? I cannot picture an iStove, but I can picture a Siri compatible stove!!!

I will be writing a letter to Apple about this. What are your thoughts though?Simple standards and a licensing fee per manufacturer's product, and I believe Apple would be doing well.

 

[dotme]

I think we will eventually move in that direction, I agree. We live in exciting times.

Although the technology would have to combine speech recognition with authority recognition too, so only your voice can activate certain commands. Otherwise, I predict an increase in house fires as coworkers grab someone's phone at random and start barking orders at it.

"set my thermostat to 95 degrees and turn the oven on broil"

 

[LinuxHack3r]

"set my thermostat to 95 degrees and turn the oven on broil"

I thought about this, and it is a very real threat. BUT, is it much more devastating than the possibility of a coworker playing with your phone and using your banking/shopping/investing app that has your password pre saved? In some cases, no. Depends on circumstances.

 

[heyloo]

Hah that's a great thought right there. Sure seems possible seeing how things have been moving

 

[applesith]

I thought about this, and it is a very real threat. BUT, is it much more devastating than the possibility of a coworker playing with your phone and using your banking/shopping/investing app that has your password pre saved? In some cases, no. Depends on circumstances.

As well as making your house freezing cold for you when you get home!

 

[Kyotoma]

Although I agree that this idea is where the future is eventually headed, Google already detailed an extremely similar concept back during this year's Google I/O conference. Again, not exactly the same, but extremely similar. They aspired to putting Android "everywhere".

 

[Small White Car]

It's all coming.

This thermostat is designed to be a lot like what you're talking about:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/242512/ipod_guru_launches_sleek_thermostat_named_nest.html

It's mostly meant to be a 'learning' appliance that you don't have to control, but it does offer iPhone remote control. I'm sure it will eventually be Siri enabled once Apple allows developers to use it in apps like that.

 

[Recylclops]

One problem...

if the thermostat and oven or whatever appliances are connected to wifi you can't control them when your not home:/ its still a good idea but only when your home.

 

[thewitt]

Go ahead and write your email to Apple, but I guarantee you this is not the first time someone at Apple has has this idea...

When Jobs said that Siri will change the way we interact with the works, this is exactly what he meant. Not only will you be able to ask your phone to do things for you, you will be able to ask your appliances directly.

 

[daaneel]

This is a good idea, but what if the oven somehow catches on fire?
Your gonna come home to your kitchen on fire


edit: NVM, thats what smoke detectors are for. OR perhaps, seeing as its Apple, they would build some kind of detection system to these kinds of scenarios =P

 

[gothamm]

It's unbelievable that people think Siri has set a new standard, and that "Siri compliant" appliances is a new and revolutionary concept.

beendere, dundat.

 

[miles01110]

The idea of the internet-wired household has been around for 25 years or so and hasn't caught on. Things get demo'd at every major electronics conference/convention and it still hasn't made its way into the consumer market. Maybe things like the Nest thermostat will start changing the paradigm, but it sure is slow going thus far.

 

[thewitt]

What Siri has done is introduced adaptive natural language AI to tens of millions of people who had no idea this type of thing existed,

I now have friends who are NOT techies asking why they cannot talk to their microwave and say, "heat the leftover chicken and rice please, and I want it ready at 6:30". Or, "defrost the pork roast, it's 3 pounds, and then cook it medium please,"

They could program their oven manually to do these things, but it's too difficult for them to do.

This is the beginning of the revolution in interacting with appliances that Siri has launched.

Customers will start purchasing devices with these capabilities, driving competition and choices.

The "Internet enabled kitchen" is not what they want. They want a kitchen that just works.

 

[mtnDewFTW]

You know what I think is the most amazing thing about what OP just said? It's all possible to do, TODAY. All of what you listed is technology that already exists, but it needs to be taken in the right direction. There isn't exactly a standard or really a big market for such things as of now, but I think in about a few years, we might actually get there. It would take a lot of time to examine and test out all the errors. You wouldn't want your house to blow up because Siri couldn't deliver the right command. But I think in very near future, homes will be built very differently. This kind of technology is also very efficient. You would end up wasting far less energy by simply tuning off your heat or AC when you're not home, instead of having it run all day long on the same temperature.

But on the other hand, Apple isn't really a home appliance company. They make technology and computers, but it would be a very big move for them to invest money in such technology that might flop because of the costs. Not many people are going to dish out thousands of dollars on a new oven that will take commands from your phone. People rarely ever even buy new home appliances to begin with. It'd be a big risk to take for any company. But Apple has the biggest backbone when it comes to creating eco systems for their products and having everything sync up and talk to each other without many errors.

 

[AustinIllini]

As well as making your house freezing cold for you when you get home!

This is unlikely to happen. I would imagine for us to do this, there would be set permissives. These applications are used today in chemical industries.

 

[daaneel]

What Siri has done is introduced adaptive natural language AI to tens of millions of people who had no idea this type of thing existed,

I now have friends who are NOT techies asking why they cannot talk to their microwave and say, "heat the leftover chicken and rice please, and I want it ready at 6:30". Or, "defrost the pork roast, it's 3 pounds, and then cook it medium please,"

They could program their oven manually to do these things, but it's too difficult for them to do.

This is the beginning of the revolution in interacting with appliances that Siri has launched.

Customers will start purchasing devices with these capabilities, driving competition and choices.

The "Internet enabled kitchen" is not what they want. They want a kitchen that just works.

I don't see how your friends who are NOT techies can't just take the leftover chicken and rice out of their refrigerator at 6:30 and heat it in a microwave with a nice button that says 1:00?

OR perhaps put the pork roast into their microwave HIT defrost, enter a 3 for 3 LBS then enter the time for however long they want to cook it. why would you want to cook anything in a microwave anyways?

And plus the idea of a house that can be remote controlled is just scary to know that someone could potentially hack into it..

 

[thewitt]

I don't see how your friends who are NOT techies can't just take the leftover chicken and rice out of their refrigerator at 6:30 and heat it in a microwave with a nice button that says 1:00?

OR perhaps put the pork roast into their microwave HIT defrost, enter a 3 for 3 LBS then enter the time for however long they want to cook it. why would you want to cook anything in a microwave anyways?

And plus the idea of a house that can be remote controlled is just scary to know that someone could potentially hack into it..

I take it you have never tried to walk someone thru today's complex and overly complicated combination ovens... My Sharp convection/microwave/grill oven has 22 different buttons and a 60 page operating manual... Nothing trivial about it, but it will cook anything if you can figure it out...

 

[MICHAELSD]

Just wait for the Siri developer API - then it's up to the manufacturers to make apps supporting this.

 

[daaneel]

I take it you have never tried to walk someone thru today's complex and overly complicated combination ovens... My Sharp convection/microwave/grill oven has 22 different buttons and a 60 page operating manual... Nothing trivial about it, but it will cook anything if you can figure it out...

I dont see whats so hard about using a microwave?

Those buttons look pretty self intuitive to me.. hence the AUTO
And for also those extra features such as grilling etc, why would you grill something in a microwave?

 

[thewitt]

I have one oven. It microwaves, grills and cooks with convection. Why wouldn't I use all of its features?

...and even though I'm an engineer and can certainly figure out how to use it, I would love to be able to simply load in a steak, and tell the oven, "grill steak medium rare. 3 cm thick"

 

[cjbryce]

I have one oven. It microwaves, grills and cooks with convection. Why wouldn't I use all of its features?

...and even though I'm an engineer and can certainly figure out how to use it, I would love to be able to simply load in a steak, and tell the oven, "grill steak medium rare. 3 cm thick"

Tea, Earl Grey, hot.

 

[RafaelT]

if the thermostat and oven or whatever appliances are connected to wifi you can't control them when your not home:/ its still a good idea but only when your home.

How do you figure? Anyone with basic networking knowledge can set it up so you can access stuff on your home network, wifi or hard wired, from anywhere.

 

[patent10021]

Obviously Apple wouldn't want to step on their own toes in regards to things it believes it may compete with in the future, such as an Apple TV. But for a Stove? I cannot picture an iStove, but I can picture a Siri compatible stove!!!

1987 calling:"Ridiculous! A phone, camera, GPS, email, internet, video camera and music player all in one device?" |end transmission

 

[yongren]

a better solution, and one that would probably come first, would be simply to set up the oven (or whatever appliance) to send/receive information and commands over the internet with some kind of standardized protocol. Nothing complex, just all the same functions that are available in the device already.

Then people could write support for the protocol into their apps & programs... including a Siri implementation to interpret voice commands.

That way you'd get products from companies other than Apple, which is vital if you want a new standard to catch on...

 

[daaneel]

I have one oven. It microwaves, grills and cooks with convection. Why wouldn't I use all of its features?

...and even though I'm an engineer and can certainly figure out how to use it, I would love to be able to simply load in a steak, and tell the oven, "grill steak medium rare. 3 cm thick"

Id rather grill a steak on a barbeque.
I don't know about you...