We all know Siri. Most probably remember it as the digital assistant on their iPhone whom they once asked about the weather and then never talked to again. Others might know it as the colorful wavy lines that appear on the bottom of your iPhone screen when you accidentally press the home button too long. A few might even think of it as a valuable virtual companion.
But I recently got to know anther side to Siri: a DJ with a master's degree in trolling.
SEE ALSO:Reviewers love HomePod's loud, bass-y sound, but hate how dumb Siri isHere's what happened: Fresh from its unboxing, the Apple HomePod was sitting in the middle of the Mashable studio, the centerpiece of an impromptu listening session. Senior Tech Correspondent Ray Wong, Video Producer Michelle Yan, and I were sitting around Apple's new smart speaker, each taking turns at commanding Siri to play songs, adjust the volume, and other actions.
On one of the times it came around to me, I had a wisp of childhood nostalgia and hit Siri with what I thought was an easy one.
"Hey Siri, play the theme from Spider-Man."
Now, I realize there are many Spider-Man movies and TV shows, and that asking for the Spider-Man theme, with no other guidelines, might be confusing to a computer, even if it is a glorified one like a HomePod. Still, I would expect that from even a cursory analysis of which Spider-Man theme people play the most often, it would have to be the now-iconic theme from the classic '60s cartoon. Indeed, anyone with even a tiny level of cultural knowledge should know it's the only Spider-Man theme music that everyone knows. It should be the default.
But instead of the familiar theme song, Siri announced it would play a version of the song by some group called the Sound of Monday. I could only get about 12 seconds into the cover's showy horns and obnoxious-sounding lead singer before I gave the order: "Hey Siri, never play that song again."
Siri understood loud and clear, or at least she seemed to, telling me she would save the preference.
With that song essentially blocked, I tried again, "Hey Siri, play the theme from Spider-Man."
And here's where things went south. Siri, seemingly with no memory of our exchange just seconds earlier, went right into The Sound of Monday cover — again.
Annoyed, I said, "Hey Siri, I just told you to never play this song again."
"OK, turning Repeat on," she replied, taking her obliviousness to a new level of aggravation, leaving me gape-mouthed and Ray LOL-ing. Ray and I repeated the whole experience (you can see part of the exchange in the video below) to make sure it wasn't just a one-off.
To be fair to Siri and the HomePod, the actual theme to the '60s Spider-Man TV series doesn't appear to be in Apple Music. You can find it on Spotify and Amazon Music, but it's buried in compilations of TV show themes.
So I'll give Apple's digital assistant a pass on not finding the right song, even if it's one of the most well-known songs in the world. But playing a song I just said never to play without so much as an "Are you sure?" (which she's more than capable of asking -- she hits you with the question every time you want to turn the volume up to 100%). And then turning on Repeat when I admonish her for it?
Now you're just trolling, Apple.
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