Friday 15 December 2017

inside voice

A major computer manufacturer is seeking to patent its plans for a virtual personal assistant to inhabit its range of gadgets that can detect and match the volume of the user, to reply with a whisper if the question or command is given in hushed tones.
The technical details are proving to be somewhat more of a challenge than expected and a filing does not mean the feature will be forthcoming. Perhaps Siri was taught to whisper in a saw-mill, not unlike some of the people that I work with who forget others can hear what they’re saying. While it may be more decorous for one’s secret-sharer to not broadcast questions that were meant to be discrete—even though in not sharing with our immediate company, we might be issuing missives to a potential audience of billions forever and ever—at the end of the day, state-of-the-art tools that prevent our needing to talk to or interact with another human does not impress much.