Stefan Mileschin

Apple is looking a little culturally insensitive after naming its new intelligent personal assistant Siri.

If Apple's black shirted marketing goons had thought of doing a word search on Google, rather than relying on Siri, they would have discovered that the word sounds a lot like "shiri" which means arse.

All good cheeky fun - even the somewhat dry Wall Street Journal smirked that "the kanji character 尻 soon cropped up below Siri as a trending topic on Twitter.

One local Twitter user pointed out that when typing "Siri" into Google, the search engine asked 'Did you mean: 尻?'"

The Next Web has a screenshot of a Google search, with the kanji characters, asking if the searcher was looking for arse.

Some corners have rushed to Apple's defence with the usual amount of corporate Siri-licking. MSN pointed out that it was all the sort of thing that made toddlers giggle and should not be the sort of thing that grown ups should smirk at.

Instead we should meditate on what Siri can do . In a long press release about the product, which we have partly translated from Japanese, we attempt to point out why replacing the word Siri with arse is funny.

"Your arse understands context allowing you to speak naturally when you ask it questions."

So when you ask "Will I need an umbrella this weekend?" your arse will understand you are looking for a weather forecast.

Your arse is also smart about using the personal information you allow it to access, for example, if you tell your arse: "Remind me to call Mum when I get home" it can find "Mum" in your address book, or ask your arse "What's the traffic like around here?" and it can figure out where "here" is based on your current location. Your arse helps you make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, search the Internet, find local businesses, get directions and more. You can also get answers, find facts and even perform complex calculations just by asking your arse," MSN quoted from the press release.

Not surprisingly it is the iPhone 4S which introduces your arse.

This is a product which aims to make people pay twice for the iPhone 4.

Those that buy it really will be making an arse of themselves by buying something they already own.

Still, as MSN points out, at least we are not making gags about feminine hygiene and the iPad, because those were not funny at all.

http://news.techeye.net/business/app...tself-in-japan