With the iPhone 4S released over the weekend, scores of Apple users were introduced to Siri, a personal assistant application with voice recognition software that responds to various requests.
Anxious to test out its capabilities, we got right to work in asking various questions to Siri. To see if the personal assistant is a true Buckeye, we began asking her questions any Ohio State student would know.
I started out with some easy questions for my personal assistant, questions that I would expect any voice recognition software to understand.
“Where is the best pizza in Columbus, Ohio?”
Siri gave me a list of 20 or so pizza places, and per my request, sorted them by rating. Hounddog’s Pizza, Adriatico’s Pizza and Tommy’s Pizza all made the list.
Pass.
“What is the state tree of Ohio?”
For this, Siri quickly came back with a fact sheet about the buckeye tree.
Impressive.
While we were on the subject, I simply asked Siri, “What is a buckeye?” And again, Siri impressed me with an almost instant definition of a buckeye.
“The inedible nutlike seed of the horse chestnut,” Siri read.
Check. Now time for something a little more difficult.
I asked: “Where is The Horseshoe?”
Siri had no idea what I was asking. I then asked Siri for the lyrics for “Carmen Ohio,” and she was equally stumped.
“Would you like to do a web search for that?,” Siri asked.
I asked Siri if I needed an umbrella for Wednesday.
“Yes, it is likely to rain,” Siri said. She also provided a map of the forecast for the week.
The capabilities of Siri are impressive in some areas. After playing around with several common knowledge questions, I came up with a few of these gems.
I asked: “Siri, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”
She responded instantly with, “A woodchuck would chuck as much as a woodchuck could chuck.”
I asked: “What is your favorite color?”
Siri answered: “My favorite color is.. well, I don’t know how to say it in your language, It’s sort of greenish, but with more dimensions.”
As we were getting off topic, I directed Siri back to the subject on hand. Is Siri a true Buckeye?
I asked her something any Buckeye fan knows: “Who is the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner?”
Let’s just say Siri has never had the honor of meeting Archie Griffin.
Toward the end of the conversation with Siri, I informed her that it was 6:32 p.m., and that a certain state up North continued to suck.
“Well, I’m not from Michigan,” Siri said. “But it looks bad tomorrow.”
I think she was talking about the weather, but still, hilarious.
