Erik Naggum  <erik@naggum.no> wrote:
+---------------
|   there's something in the engineering culture that just doesn't quite get
|   this idea that people want to be relieved of remembering accurately, and
|   there's no limit to what people don't want to remember.  whenever I call
|   directory assistance, for instance, chances are that I will call again
|   the next time I need the same number unless I write it down, but all of
|   this stuff is already in electronic form, so why can't the stupid
|   telephone just record it?  sigh.  some technologies are so lame.
+---------------

This month's Scientific American has three articles about some very
interesting work being done at the MIT Media Lab's "Project Oxygen" for
imbuing such characteristics into hand-held devices, especially speaker-
independent voice-response systems with enough knowledge of English that
you could say "Call the last number I asked directory assistance for",
and it would.

They have a working prototype weather information system that handles
queries like these [paraphrased from memory, but see the sidebar on the
second "Oxygen" article]:

	Q: What's the weather in Boston?
	A: The current weather in Boston is 54 degrees with clear skies.
	Q: How about Washington?
	A: The current weather in Washington is 49 degrees and raining.
	Q: And tomorrow?
	A: The forecast weather for Washington tomorrow is 51 degrees and
	   occasional light rain showers.

 
-Rob

-----
Rob Warnock, 8L-855             rpw3@sgi.com
Applied Networking              http://reality.sgi.com/rpw3/
Silicon Graphics, Inc.          Phone: 650-933-1673
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy.         FAX: 650-933-0511  
Mountain View, CA  94043        PP-ASEL-IA