spraveen80

Fitbit is next. It is very hard for un-diversified hardware companies to exist once the product becomes commoditized.

I didn't see anything in this article that mentions that the natural language understanding is done in the cloud. May be I am missing something, but I don't understand why everyone is jumping to the conclusion that the NLU is also done in the cloud and downvoting other's comments that said so.

From what I've seen, Siri sends compressed audio to the cloud which translates that to text. What happens to the text and how does that translate to action? Where is this being handled? Is there any proof that this is done in the cloud?

Google probably expects that all designers/product management folks that they are interviewing to be good at programming too. There are good programmers, good designers and some people who are really good at both. Since a lot of people want to work at Google, they are using that to their advantage and hiring good designers who are also good programmers.

+1. The article's argument is plain wrong.

It is a systemic problem. Let me give an example where reasonable number of people will laugh at you if you don't bribe your way out of a harmless situation.

Road infrastructure is sorely lacking in India which results in crowded streets. A huge percentage of drivers violate traffic laws everyday to gain even the slightest advantage over fellow roadsters. If the person gets pulled over, what is the best thing to do in that situation: go to the nearby police station, wait for a few hours, pay the fine legally or bribe the cop and get on with your travel? Which would you choose? In this case the person who violated traffic is almost begging for the traffic cop to take a bribe so that he can be on his way.

Same situation permeates every public office. Do not underestimate the problem caused by people who are willing to pay a bribe to get preferential service. As long as such people exist, people who accept bribes cannot be shamed into not accepting it.

I agree point 2 and 3 could be too challenging to overcome. But on point 1, a story could be important for a search query considering who has upvoted it.