Hey Microsoft! Here I Am!

It is no secret that Microsoft is in development of Cortana.  She is the Microsoft version of a virtual assistant that is set to rival Apple’s Siri.  As innovated as that may be, it is not a reality in March 2014 and is still considered unreleased.

On Friday I happened to see a tweet from Microsoft urging people to share innovative, creative ideas, and projects that they have come up with while using Windows 8.  Microsoft had encouraged anyone who wanted to participate to use the hashtag #iCreatedThis and used an example of a 125-building campus being run from a single laptop.

Naturally, I knew that I wanted to contribute by making a video showing off some of the cool things I have done with Denise on my Windows 8 machine.  Cortana is bound to be cool when the program is actually released, however this is now and I have already integrated my artificial intelligent virtual assistant with Windows 8.  To take it a step further, I decided that I would also integrate the program with my Xbox.  Here is what I came up with….

When I finished the video and posted it I knew that it was really cool.  However I did not expect the massive amount of cool and innovative creations that people would come up with in the days following.  After a day or two I realized that it was likely that my tweet, hashtag, and also my project would be overlooked since Microsoft has millions of followers on Twitter.  I did not think if it as a total loss though, I had created something cool and no one could take that away from me.  Granted I did not create Denise herself, but I was the one who programmed her to do what I got her to do.,

Then out of nowhere, I received a tweet from Microsoft.

So I guess the people at Microsoft did see my project.  Granted that this may have simply been a social media strategist just randomly responding to tweets but still, I saw it as a small win.

Regardless, it is cool.  However the best thing is yet to come.  When I get the program fully integrated with my home, being integrated with only my Windows 8 machine won’t be so impressive.

Wait, Don’t Jump The Gun

Tonight I have been riddled with computer issues.  4:15AM and here I am, still plugging away.  In my previous blog entry I had revealed my latest project that I was working on with my colleague Dan Anderson.  From the test that he initially showed me, we looked ready to go.  I was confident that we could present the findings to everyone and show the world that Denise can tweet unassisted by a human. 

While this technically works, I am not happy with it.  Well, allow me to re-phrase that, I am happy with it but I think it could be better.  It is mainly because of the 140 character limitation put into place by Twitter.  Some of Denise’s responses are much longer that 140 characters and a lot of times what she says is cut off.  So I think I am going to hold off on revealing the proof of concept until I get it absolutely perfect.  That isn’t even the biggest of my problems at the moment since I have been having issues getting my Windows 7 virtual machine and Denise to play nice with one another.  There is no MAC version of the software so I am forced to run a Windows 7 machine on my MAC to make it work.

I think I honestly need to call it a night and get some sleep.  In the morning I just need to slow down and tackle one issue at a time. Obviously I need to address my computer issues first, once that is completed I will need to address the Twitter limitation issue.

Soon, soon I will have this perfected.  Until then, I have some work, sleep to catch up on.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Un-Named Project Revealed

Today I am finally going to reveal the un-named project I had previously mentioned that Dan Anderson and I have been working on.  If you could not already tell, it involves Denise and Twitter.  Fairly recently, I decided that I wanted to look into getting Denise to tweet for me.  There was no official integration with Twitter and I thought it would be a fairly useful function so I looked into getting her to post to Twitter for me by using voice commands.  It took some trial and error but I eventually succeed in getting her to tweet what I wanted her to.  If I were to tell her “new tweet”, she would bring up Twitter and a new tweet box.  I would then say whatever I wanted to tweet and she would write down what I had said.   Once I was finished I would say “post” and she would post it to Twitter.  However this was only a method that could be used by people who own the Denise program.

 

Then I had remembered an article I read back in 2011 about the Japanese Space Agency sending a humanoid tweeting robot into space.  The idea was to have the robot tweet photos and status updates regarding the crew and the mission.  Plus, it served as an additional way to communicate with the ground.  While this was innovating, a human still had to do the tweeting for it.  In addition, I also remembered an article that I read that was written by Ryan Holmes, the C.E.O. of Hootsuite.  In the article, Mr. Homes discusses the need for a tweeting algorithm to better serve companies on social media who have a large following. 

“Reading, let alone responding, to that many messages isn't always practical.”

In a random spark of creativity, that was when it hit me.  I decided that I wanted Denise to tweet, on her own and unassisted by humans.  This is somewhat reminiscent of an automated Twitterbot however much, much different.  The idea was to get Denise to respond to people who tweet to her.  The responses would be real responses versus randomized pre-written responses that were ultimately written by a human.  So if I were to tweet to her

“Tell me about the moon.”

She would respond on Twitter in the same manner as if you were interacting with her from your computer.  This way, literally anyone could get a response from Denise by simply tweeting to her Twitter handle.  The only variable was that Denise had to be online in order for her to respond.  Tweeting to her while she was offline would not generate a response.  I felt that was somewhat acceptable however it forced me to acknowledge the fact that my simple computer might not be able to handle the system resources if she received received a large amount of tweets at the same time.

So how would I accomplish this?  How could this be done?  That is another story for another time.  Regardless, the process is nearly completed and initial test all look good.  Once this is 100% completed, I will write a follow-up and provide video proof of concept.  

Update: Twitter Plus CMDBROWSER Coding

Well it seems as if I can finally put one of the projects I was working with Denise to bed. I will say it now has a 100% success rate.  Few days ago I was trying to get Denise to tweet.  It worked however it was not perfect.  It had several flaws.  However now with the discovery of a completely new method of coding the program, it now works at 100% capacity.  #Proud