Slashdot Mirror
Woman Uses 'Hey Siri' To Call An Ambulance and Help Save Her Child's Life (networkworld.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Networkworld: When Apple released the iPhone 6s, it included a great new Siri feature which enables users to activate the intelligent assistant via voice. Dubbed 'Hey Siri,' the feature is particularly convenient because the iPhone 6s' M9 motion co-processor is 'always listening' and thereby lets users use 'Hey Siri' even when the device isn't connected to a power source. Recently, Stacey Gleeson of Australia used the 'Hey Siri' feature to successfully call an ambulance while she was tending to her daughter Giana who had stopped breathing. "I picked her up and sat down with her on the floor," Gleeson said in an interview. "And as I checked her airways, I looked over and remembered my phone." Thinking quick on her feet, Gleeson said, "Hey Siri, call the ambulance." Fortunately, Gleeson managed to resuscitate her daughter while the ambulance was in route. And while it's impossible to know for sure, it's entirely possible that the time Gleeson saved by not having to call an ambulance manually helped save her daughter's life. "Saving me the trouble of having to physically dial emergency services was a godsend," Gleeson said.
"the feature is particularly convenient because the iPhone 6s' M9 motion co-processor is 'always listening' and thereby lets users use 'Hey Siri' even when the device isn't connected to a power source."
This is supposed to make us love how its always recording our conversations
Turn on your microphones (which could potentially be used for mass surveillance) or let your children die... Is this an advertisement by Apple or the NSA?
Apple isn't taking credit for anything. This is a puff piece by Network World.
Kudos to the mom for knowing how to save her child's life. This is important knowledge that every parent should possess and be able to put to use. Great job mom!
Oh, and she called for an ambulance with her phone.
"The ferrets, they're every where I tell you!"
This was brilliant; I wonder why he posted as anonymous coward*; I want to give him credit.
*(Well, I can guess why-- he probably figured that half the moderators would rate this -1 incoherent and his Karma would drop to values you have to measure in Kelvin. Say, why doesn't slashdot have a moderation "-1 incoherent", anyway?)
Extremely unlikely. The few seconds difference it might make is lost in the noise in all the factors that affect the response time. This rings as a bullshit justification of constant surveillance: "We're always watching out for you! Like a helpful older sibling."
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
None of these always-on systems track every word you say, because this would run your battery dry in no time. They all have just a low-power minimal voice-recognition in hardware that only recognizes the keywords and only then wake up and hand over control to the SoC itself for what you're actually saying.
Besides, if Big Brother wants to listen to your microphone he can just do that anyway, no need for such tricks. If you don't trust your networked microphone containing device not to listen to you, don't carry it to begin with. This is true for every fucking phone or tablet or computer.
She was doing resuscitation on her daughter, it was dark, yes it may very well have been key in saving the daughter's life. In life or death situations every moment counts.
I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
As an Apple user, this really creeps me out.
The Sun is our star. He said another star. Two completely different things.
I also asked my co-workers about this, and one suggested that we'll be living in black holes in millions of years. Another replied "that would suck".
Am I the only one who thinks it would be hilarious to be on a crowded bus and shout "hey Siri" and watch as about fifteen to twenty or so phones all go "ding" at about the same time?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Sure she could. But she didn't have to, so why would she?
Because we all know how well voice functions work.
This story could just as easily been "Woman saves child despite Siri calling her friend Annie instead of the requested ambulance"
She is lucky it worked out, but taking the 3 seconds to dial 911 would have been the safer choice, imo.
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
I'm also not really a huge fan of hysteric women. In every zombie movie I eventually start rooting for the zombies when someone starts screaming instead of walking (not even running, WALKING) away.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
YET
Keywords like "Hey, Siri", or "OK, Google". Or "bomb" or "overthrow" or "cocaine" or...
Quite right. But, even though they can key up the microphone at any time, they don't know when it's interesting to do so. That's where the keyword recognition comes in. Say the secret phrase and it surreptitiously sends a few seconds of audio to the NSA who can then decide whether or not to add you to the list of listening targets.
Okay, I say it like it's a done deal, and even I don't believe that they're doing it yet. But it'd be possible, and it allows for previously unheard-of levels of snooping. Without voice recognition it's not feasible because it'd take too much manpower to even spot-check all those microphones. But if you can enlist the aid of the device itself to secretly alert the authorities... Now you're talking! What law enforcement agency wouldn't like to have an informant in every pocket? Make the list of keywords downloadable, too. Get word of an ISIS plot? Load "ISIS" into the keyword list. Whoa, they changed their name to "Totally Without A Terrorism Scheme" this week? Update the list, let the phones alert us when someone talks about TWATS! AMBER alert? Load the kid's name into every phone in the area. Sure you'll have a ton of false positives, but Think Of The Children! Honestly, is it any more ridiculous then sending a text message with a vague description of the kid to every phone in a 100 mile radius?
Sure I'm paranoid. But am I paranoid enough?
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
What happens if someone shout "Hey Siri call an ambulance" in a crowded room full of iPhone 6?
Try it! Library of Babel