I have had the new iPhone 4S for almost a week now.  No, I have not been playing Angry Birds or First Person Shooters; I have been talking to my phone.  Sound Strange?  Siri is the new built in “assistant” that takes voice commands on the iPhone and it is amazing,  I want coffee,  all I have to do is ask my phone “I need Coffee!” and Siri will reply, “there are 5 great coffee shops close to you.”

“What is the traffic like..”  Siri tells me.

Siri, Where did you come from?

Siri will reply, “This is not about me, but about you.”

What is your Background, Siri?

SIRI is the results of 40 years of research funded by DARPA-Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency via SRI International.  The DARPA PAL program (the Personalized Assistant that Learns) focused on improving the way that computers support humans through the use of cognitive systems and artificial intelligence.  SIRI is the result of the research and development by contributions from Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Massachusetts, the University of Rochester, the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Oregon State University, the University of Southern California, and Stanford University, as well as from SRI.

Anyone who has studied the beginnings of the internet may recognize DARPA.  What amazes me?  “40 years of research funded by DARPA….”  

While Siri is indeed very neat, one must wonder what kind of damage this thing is doing to your bandwidth.  Complaints have surfaced that Siri is doubling data usage.  I have a tendency to be around a lot of W-Fi hotspots throughout my day, so I am really not that concerned.  If you do not have a bunch of hotspots available to you throughout your day, then it would be best to monitor your data usage very close.

Overall, I am very excited about my new iPhone and SIRI.  The bottom line, SIRI keeps my appointments, reminds me of things and just helps me out!