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New PARC software turns a cell phone into a personal assistant
Can recommend local restaurants, concerts or where to buy the latest Xbox
Sharon Gaudin, Computerworld, November 21, 2007
Excerpts from the article:
Ever wish you had a personal assistant? Someone who could recommend a good restaurant when you're traveling to a new city? Someone who could give you a list of shops where you might find that perfect gift?
In a few years, that personal assistant just might be your own cell phone.
Engineers at Palo Alto Research Center Inc. (PARC) have developed software that they say can make recommendations about local restaurants, concerts, shopping areas and other activities based on the time of day, the user's physical location and the user's personal tastes. The researchers aim to let the software, called Magitti, turn a cell phone into a personal assistant of sorts.
"We're trying to make [the cell phone] more like a human," said Victoria Bellotti, a principal scientist at PARC. "Instead of just directing stuff at you, it tries to make inferences about what kind of activity you're engaged in..."
PARC is researching and developing the software on behalf of a Japanese company, Dai Nippon Printing Co. Bellotti said PARC already tried the software out on users in the Palo Alto, Calif., area, and it will have its first official trial run in Japan next spring...
Bellotti said the software focuses on five different activity modes: eating, shopping, seeing, doing and reading. The software, in essence, learns from the user. What does he like to do on Friday nights? What types of restaurants does he prefer when he's out of town? Where does he like to shop on Sundays? Magitti will offer suggestions to users based on the answers to such questions...
Bellotti said the software uses artificial intelligence algorithms that make inferences about what the user is doing by comparing the GPS location of, say a restaurant he frequents for brunch, with a database of eateries. Based on the knowledge the Magitti accumulates, recommendations will change, and hopefully become more honed, over time.
Don't like what the software is giving you for options? Say no and redirect it by doing a search for something different, she added. The software also learns by what users dismiss...
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