Re: ::scr Desktop Dipsy

[Simon Batistoni <simon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/10/01 19:32 +0100, David Cantrell wrote:
> Thing is, lots of these tasks - like "fire up my tax return" or "play mp3
> playlist $foo" would be fairly time-consuming to implement, but can either
> be done so much more quickly by just clicking an icon, or they are done so
> rarely that it's not worth the trouble.

Certain of these could rely on limited intelligence, though. For
example, "dipsy, play Radiohead The Bends" could search the HDD (or
designated portions of it) for folders with those words or similar
in, check if the contents are mp3s or m3us, and play them
accordingly. So you wouldn't specifically teach it where an album
resided, it would Just Do It... The same may even be achievable with
"fire up my tax return". If it finds one doc on the whole system
called "Tax Return.xls", it'll open it. If it finds several or none,
it'll ask you where it is, or present a list of closest matches. And
once you've taught it that "~/docs/2001/tax_return.xls" is your tax
return, it won't need to ask again.

> That's the beauty of dipsy, she comes up with
> bizarre but cool stuff when you least expect it.  Dipsy, however, has
> benefited from having lots of teachers where a Desktop Dipsy would have
> just one.  

Although the original concept, as discussed at the pub last night,
was that the desktop versions could collaborate, and learn certain
things together, so you could tell Desktop Dipsy to learn stuff from
#london.pm dipsy, for example, broadening the bot's range of
experience. Again, this is something that is partially implemented
in dipsy - if she doesn't know something, she'll go and ask purl and
realdoll.

> Dipsy also has the advantage of being just a bit of fun instead
> of a serious tool - we don't mind if she says stupid things, as we're not
> relying on her.  If, however, I ask Desktop Dipsy "what's Simon's mobile
> number" and it instead tells me the home number for completely the wrong
> Simon, I'll be mildly pissed off. 

Well, it needs to be mildly intelligent, but that's not that hard.
If it has 3 Simons, it can respond with "Simon Wistow, Simon
Batistoni or Simon Cozens?", for example. This is not hard. Most
intelligent website engines have this kind of interface already.

I think a certain amount of silliness is actually what makes dipsy
most attractive. You can play (as some of us were this lunchtime)
with Harry Potter spells which make (her|he|it) burst into flames,
or get it to quote Meaning of Liff entries at you. But it is also
extremely useful at times - see currency exchanges, and some of the
actually informative factoids.

I think this could make a very interesting project for the
increasingly bot-obsessed #london.pm community, even if it never
grows up beyond being a fun toy for a few people.

-- 

Simon Batistoni            Penseroso Ltd
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simon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx     +44 20 7242 0570
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