Siri

What if Siri had the personality of an overbearing Chinese mother? 【Video】

How do I revert back this upgrade?!

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How Microsoft created a virtual assistant that could blow Siri away

YouTube/calloftreyarch

Windows Phone is still a distant third to Apple and Android in the smartphone market, but Microsoft is hoping to change that with the introduction of Windows Phone 8.1— and more importantly its personal digital assistant Cortana.

Microsoft claims that Cortana isn’t like your average virtual assistant. She’s supposed to be a little wittier, more personable, and capable of learning more about you than Siri or Google Now.

After using Cortana for a week and speaking with Microsoft’s Marcus Ash, Partner Group program manager, it’s clear that the company’s got a lot riding on the success of its new virtual assistant.

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Japanese artists dream up a cartoon version of Apple’s Siri

We’re all familiar with Apple’s module for voice commands, Siri. Available with Apple mobile devices, which are sold in 14 different countries, Siri is well-known around the world. But things start to get interesting when Siri is used in a language other than its original English.

When said in Japanese, Siri turns into Shiri, which is just one letter off from “Oshiri,” the Japanese word for “butt.” With a name like that, you can imagine what asset the illustrators of the Internet chose to accentuate when drawing the personification of Apple’s personal assistant and knowledge navigator. Just be warned, you might be embarrassed to look at some of these images at work.

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Siri Puts the “Ass” Back into Personal Assistant with Her Japanese Record Debut

Japanese independent musicians IOSYS (ee-oh-she-su) have a treat in store for us this Christmas.  They created a concept album titled Teach me Shiri Sensei! starring everyone’s favorite virtual assistant who only knows what you’re saying half of the time, Siri.

You might be wondering from the image above why anthropomorphic moé Siri (yes, that’s her) has a severe case of plumber’s crack. It’s not just pervy for the sake of being pervy. In Japanese, there isn’t really a “see/si” sound. Instead, it’s a “she” sound.

First, this can make it very funny when a Japanese person asks “May I take a seat?” Second, this changes the pronunciation of Siri to “Shiri”, which is the Japanese word for “buttocks.”  This word play is a major theme in the album.

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While there are still a few kinks to be straightened out, and it’s not quite the life-changing service that Apple have been claiming it to be, the iPhone’s PA program Siri is still capable of making a few users chuckle.

Perhaps just seeing what their new iPhone’s electronic assistant could do can do, or perhaps just immensely bored one day, a Japanese iPhone user told Siri something about herself–

“Tomorrow’s my birthday…”

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