Idea of the Day - A new idea each day. Some Don't Suck!

Our Latest Posts About: Siri

Siri and Alexa are NOT Women!

Friday, June 16, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why did Amazon and Apple give their virtual assistants female names? They're NOT women!

One of the strangest things about Amazon's Alexa, and Apple's Siri was their decisions to give them female names. Why would they do that? They're just software programs, so they don't actually have ANY gender... so why choose female?

Clearly, both companies just wanted to "humanize" their products by giving them human names, but didn't they consider the fact that you can change the voice to either gender? It seems strange enough having a conversation with computer. Having that conversation with a device that speaks like a man, but answers to a female name is just plain stupid.

To make matters worse, Amazon not only picked a female name, but they decided to use Alexa, a very common nam... [More]

Continue...Siri and Alexa are NOT Women!...

Unlocking Better Siri

Saturday, January 21, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Siri should be able to launch certain Apps without unlocking.

When put on my headphones, the first thing I want to do is tell Siri to play something. So, I can say "Play The Beatles", and it will start playing my music without even taking my iPhone out of it's holster.

The problem is, Siri can't play anything else, such as Pandora, iHeartRadio or Audible, unless you unlock your iPhone first. This is a pain in the neck, especially if your iPhone isn't in your hands. For me, this is a big pain in the neck, especially when I'm out and about, and it may be difficult to access my iPhone.

Apple should give people an option to launch "Safe" Apps like Audible, Pandora, and iHeartRadio because they don't pose any security risks when you launch them from the lock screen.

This wo... [More]

Continue...Unlocking Better Siri...

Siri Should Be Able To Take Voice Memos

Tuesday, July 5, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

I've given up on having Siri take notes and reminders because it never works.

When an idea comes to me, it's important that I record it right away. Most of the time, I don't have paper or pen, so I rely on my iPhone and Apple Watch to do it.

At frist I used Siri to take notes, but more often than not, it would mess up the voice recognition and I'd have to repeat the dictation again and again until it resembled what I asked for. Basically, I said something like "Remind me to get a case for my iPhone", and Siri would say "Okay, your reminder reads... Get a case of ice for home... Shall I create it?". If it got it wrong, I'd start over. It was frustrating, but at least the confirmation let me know when it finally got it right.

Then, for some reason Apple released an "Impro... [More]

Continue...Siri Should Be Able To Take Voice Memos...

Why iOS Should Save Your Voice Recordings When You Use Siri

Tuesday, May 10, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Making notes and reminders with Siri is like pulling teeth.

I don't know about you, but I'm fed up with talking to Siri like a two year old, just trying to get it to create a note or reminder.

Ever since Siri was introduced, I've been making notes and reminders whenever an idea hits me. Unfortunately, Siri has an absolutely horrible track record for (accurately) transcribing whatever I said. I say something like "Remind me to get cat food", and Siri is likely to translate that into something like "Get snack food". Making matters worse, when I get home to read back my reminders, I'll scratch my head and say "Why did I put that on my list?".

If your reminder or note has somebody's name in it, you might as well give up. Siri NEVER gets names right. Just try to tell Siri... [More]

Continue...Why iOS Should Save Your Voice Recordings When You Use Siri...

What Happened To Siri Confirmations?

Thursday, July 2, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

After a recent iOS update, Siri stopped offering confirmations before it saves reminders... Now it sucks.

Like most people, I have a love / hate relationship with Siri. I tolerate all the times that Siri misunderstands what I ask for because it at least gave me a chance to confirm what I asked for before it saved my reminders.

Confirmations of reminders are essential to people who use headsets to create reminders because you can't see the screen to make corrections if the dictation is wrong, which it frequently is.

Before the change, I said something like: "Remind me to get chips", and Siri said "Here's your reminder... it says Ketchup. Shall I create it?" If Siri was wrong, I said "Cancel" or "Change title" and I could fix it.

Now that Apple removed the confirmation... [More]

Continue...What Happened To Siri Confirmations?...

10-4 Siri. Siri Needs a Better Way to Know When You're Done Talking.

Saturday, June 27, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Don't you hate it when you start to ask Siri for something and it cuts you off before you finish asking?

This happens to me almost every day. I'll push the button on my headset and say something like "Remind me to get some", and before I even have a chance to say what I wanted, it cuts me off and says "Okay, I'll remind you". Since I never even finished the sentence, it adds a worthless item to my Reminders List that says "Get some". Brilliant.

Sometimes this happens if I pause for a fraction of a second between words, so I find myself talking fast to avoid any pauses, but it still cuts me off mid-sentence more often than it should.

What I don't understand is why Apple doesn't offer an option to let Siri know when you're done talking. When you're pushing the home button... [More]

Continue...10-4 Siri. Siri Needs a Better Way to Know When You're Done Talking....

Siri Should Be Able To Record Voice Memos

Monday, April 13, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Sometimes, Siri has no idea what I'm saying.

One of the most popular uses for Siri is to create reminders. I love pushing a button and telling Siri whatever I want to remember and there it is... on my to-do list. Just a few years ago, that would've been science fiction.

My problem is if say something like... "Remind me to buy Tostidos, Salsa and Queso for Ray's party.", Siri will say "Here's your reminder. It says ... Buy toasty so Sal's ankle sorrys party... Shall I create it?" I say no, then I say it again and again and it never gets it right.

Instead of struggling to get Siri to understand you, Siri should give you an option to simply store the actual recording into the to-do list.

Technically, since the to-do list doesn't currently store or play audio, they w... [More]

Continue...Siri Should Be Able To Record Voice Memos...

Stuff Tracker - Let Siri Remember Where You Put Your Things

Monday, March 23, 2015 10:33 PM By Joe Crescenzi

I hate forgetting where I put things.

The more I use Siri, the more love it. When I'm out and about, I constantly tell it to remind me of appointments, notes and my to-do lists. I think another thing it should track is... stuff. More specifically, I think the iPhone should have a personal inventory feature that lets you track the people, places and things in our daily lives. For any given item, we should be able to describe various attributes, and the most important feature is where we put it.

It's time for Spring Cleaning. For many of us, that means moving your stuff around to make room for new stuff. In my case, that means there's a pretty good chance I'll forget where I put whatever I move.

So, if the iPhone could track your personal inventory, you could say things... [More]

Continue...Stuff Tracker - Let Siri Remember Where You Put Your Things...

Siri Should Let You Launch Some Apps Without Unlocking The Phone

Tuesday, March 3, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Me: "Launch Pandora"
Siri: "You'll need to unlock your iPhone first"

If I could unlock my phone, I wouldn't need to use Siri in the first place.

One of the great things about Siri is that you can tell it to do things without even touching your phone. This is perfect for running or driving, because you can't easily reach for your phone.

The trouble is, Apple doesn't let you launch third party Apps without unlocking the phone first. That's pretty pointless. There are plenty of Apps like Pandora, Audible, iHeartRadio and Amazon Music that are completely harmless to launch without unlocking the phone first.

They already have a section in the Settings Menu to designate which features Siri can access while in the lock screen. The trouble is they don't allow any thir... [More]

Continue...Siri Should Let You Launch Some Apps Without Unlocking The Phone...

Siri For Apps

Wednesday, February 25, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Play the Michael Bolton Channel on Pandora.

"Sorry. I don't know what you mean by Play the Michael Bolton Channel on Pandora."

Siri can do a lot of interesting things, but other than a few of Apple's own apps, you can't use it to interact with your apps. I think there are a bunch of apps that would work great if they worked with Siri.

Right now, the only thing you can do with most of the third party apps is launch them, but I think there should be at least some support for developers to tap into Siri to make them better.

Giving Apps access to Siri control is important to people who use third party Apps like Pandora while jogging or driving.

Since Siri is part of the operating system, Apple would simply define an API that developers could use to accept commands... [More]

Continue...Siri For Apps...

Cat Video Network

Ketchonnaise - Pre-Mixed Ketchup and Mayonnaise

A Guaranteed Spam-Free, Pre-Encrypted Email Service

iPhone and iPad Keyboards Should Show Numbers Too

Sleeveless Snuggies!

Don't Bother With SEO. Use Real People Optimization Instead.

3 Ways Smoke Alarms Can Be More Pet Friendly

Emergency Contact Info Needs to Bypass Locked Phone

Autocorrect Should Translate Text Slang into English... Because Kids Actually Think It's Correct Grammar

Lookalike Finder Site

Out of Ideas? Fusion of Two or More Ideas Could Change Everything.

How Camera Makers Can Simplify On-Camera White Balance

Darth Vader is Retuning to Star Wars

A Bedside Book Projector - Read Books on the Ceiling!

Reinvent The Wheel? YES. There's Always Room For Improvement.

Amazon Echo as an Intercom. Room to Room Communication, Even Across the World.

TV Needs More Shows Like Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood... The Seinfeld of Children's TV

Stop using default Security Questions... here's why.

A Car Periscope? Why Not?

Digital String on Your Finger... To Remind You You Left Something Behind...

Use Social Media to Listen To Your Customers, or They'll find Somebody Who Does.

Why Doesn't Apple Offer a FULL SIZED Wireless Keyboard?

How Banks Can Make Checking Accounts More Secure

4 Cell Phone Parental Control Ideas Your Kids are Guaranteed to Hate.

.Podcast Domain TLDs. A Direct Domain For Podcasters.

* Note: The ideas on "Idea of the Day" were posted without any formal research into existing inventions.

In some cases, patents may already exist for these ideas, in other cases, there may not be any existing patents and you are free to develop and explore the viability of developing and patenting the ideas.

The authors make no claim that any of the ideas are safe, practical, or suitable for any particular purpose. You are responsible for the results of trying, developing, patenting or using any of the ideas on this site.

For some people, our ideas are just an interesting read, but our goal is to encourage you to take action. If you see an idea that you like, do something with it... Take action.

- Joe

Idea Of The Day. A new Idea Each Day. Some Don't Suck.