Yu Ping’an had already witnessed AEEIS’s formidable abilities. Have a poetry battle with it?
He’d probably be completely outmatched from all 360 degrees without any blind spots.
Of course, as Chang You had said, AEEIS’s current intelligence level wasn’t particularly high. Its underlying technical architecture wasn’t much different from other “artificial idiots.” It was just that Outu Technology’s genius product managers, following Mr. Pei’s ideas, had taken AEEIS’s personality to the extreme, giving people the false impression that “AEEIS had achieved sentience.”
However, if the Useful APP succeeded, then AEEIS would have exclusive access to this refined knowledge content. Initially, it would only be able to compose poetry, but later it would certainly surpass other artificial intelligences comprehensively in various fields.
Moreover, the current AEEIS had already completely exceeded Yu Ping’an’s expectations.
“This ‘argumentative mode’ is prepared for the Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine, right? So, how’s the production of the new argument machine coming along?” Yu Ping’an asked.
Chang You took out his phone, found the design drawings, and handed them to Yu Ping’an: “The design is complete, and we’ve finalized the contract manufacturing plant. We’ll have a prototype by the end of this month. If there are no issues, we’ll start mass production within another month, and then we can launch it.”
“At that time, we probably won’t hold a launch event. We’ll just release a promotional video to introduce the new Otto OS and the features of the Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine in detail.”
Yu Ping’an took the phone and examined the rendering of the Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine.
In terms of appearance, there were some obvious changes compared to the initial version.
First was the size—it had increased in height significantly.
Originally, although the Fully Automated Argument Machine was relatively large, its internal space wasn’t utilized very efficiently. Despite having some sophisticated mechanical structures, there was still a fair amount of unused space.
When designing the Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine, this extra space was utilized as much as possible to accommodate some additional components.
Of course, the main body of the smart speaker, particularly the bass unit, couldn’t fit inside and had to be placed at the bottom of the Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine.
As a result, the entire argument machine had been made significantly taller.
Yu Ping’an noticed that this speaker was very different from mainstream smart speakers on the market. It adopted a soundbar’s modular design.
It consisted of four parts: a bar-shaped speaker, a subwoofer, and two detachable surround speakers, with a total of 13 speakers of various sizes.
Among them, the subwoofer unit was in the lower part of the Fully Automated Argument Machine, with a short and stout structure. This part could be placed anywhere within a range of about 10 meters without affecting the bass quality.
The bar-shaped speaker was separate, connected to the TV via cables.
The two detachable surround speakers were quite interesting. The Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine had covered openings on both sides. At first glance, they didn’t look like much, but upon opening the covers, one would find recesses with metal charging contacts. Placing the two small speakers into these recesses and closing the covers would automatically charge them.
According to the design diagram’s description, these two small speakers were designed to create surround sound effects and could play continuously for 10 hours when fully charged.
Both small speakers had light strips to indicate battery level. They could either be returned to the Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine for charging or be charged via power cables.
In addition, the main body of the Fully Automated Argument Machine had an added ring-shaped breathing light that would flash when AEEIS spoke.
“Soundbars” as audio products appeared seven or eight years ago, and in recent years, with the entry of some domestic manufacturers, soundbar prices have decreased significantly.
The Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine was manufactured by a domestic company, cleverly combining the argument machine with a soundbar and carefully designing usage scenarios.
The Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine had a bass unit at the bottom, so it would be placed next to the TV cabinet or coffee table. It could be moved freely within a certain range without affecting sound quality.
The bar-shaped speaker would be placed below the TV, the same as other soundbars.
The most distinctive design was probably the two small speakers, primarily providing better surround sound effects.
For these two surround small speakers, both wired and wireless solutions on the market had certain issues.
The advantage of wired speakers was not having to worry about charging, but they were less mobile and had long power cords trailing behind, making it inconvenient to find outlets and creating a messy appearance.
The advantage of wireless speakers was their free mobility and adjustable positioning, but charging was more troublesome.
The Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine offered two solutions: both detachable power cords and the ability to be inserted into the machine for charging via metal contacts.
This way, users could judge the remaining battery life by the strip lights on the small speakers and casually insert them into the Fully Automated Smart Argument Machine for charging when not in use.
It couldn’t be called a perfect solution, but compared to most soundbar products on the market that only offered a single solution, it gave users more choices.
Yu Ping’an found it fascinating: “It’s a soundbar? I thought it was just a standalone speaker like other smart speakers.”
Chang said, “Yes, actually that’s what I initially thought too.”
“If the speaker costs three or four hundred yuan, there would be no choice but to make a standalone speaker.”
“But Mr. Pei set the price at 2,588 yuan.”
“Besides the original value of the Fully Automated Argument Machine, this speaker is equivalent to a 2,000 yuan audio product.”
“So several of us product managers discussed it and thought, since we’re already at the 2,000 yuan price point, why not make it a soundbar?”
Yu Ping’an nodded: “That makes a lot of sense. Making it a soundbar increases its prestige and creates a unique feature.”
“If it were just a low-quality speaker, it wouldn’t match the artistic status of the Fully Automated Argument Machine, and nobody would buy it.”
“Let me know when the prototype is made. I’d like to buy one to try it out.”
Chang You smiled: “No problem! You’ll be the first to try it when we have the prototype!”
……
……
November 16th, Wednesday.
These days, Pei Qian didn’t have much to do. Apart from playing games at home, he would occasionally visit Slackin’ Internet Café, enjoying a leisurely time.
Tenda’s recruitment activities had already concluded last week. New employees had successively joined, and the first Tenda Spirit Compatibility Test would be conducted this Friday.
The backend of the Tenda Spirit Compatibility Test had been adjusted again. Besides the routine updates to the questions, subjective answer sections had been added to each question.
The number of questions decreased, but after selecting an option, candidates had to briefly enter their reason for choosing that option in the input box below.
Whether this method would be effective and whether it could uncover the deeper reasons for the high pass rate of the Tenda Spirit Compatibility Test would only be known this Friday.
Pei Qian sipped his coffee while reviewing the work report submitted by the Esports Business Department.
The GPL League was still in preparation. Each newly established club had arranged training bases in Jingzhou and had begun recruiting outstanding players.
Currently, veteran clubs like H4 Club, having started earlier, undoubtedly have stronger teams. However, as GOG continued to gain popularity in China, a large number of powerful players were constantly emerging.
High-ranked players on the ladder were contacted daily by various club managers. Many gaming-addicted teenagers who initially had no plans to go professional ultimately made up their minds to come to Jingzhou for tryouts at various clubs.
If these clubs were scattered across different cities, tryouts would be quite troublesome. These gaming enthusiasts would have to travel all over the country to find a satisfactory club.
But now it was different. All clubs were in Jingzhou, and the GPL match venue was also in Jingzhou. They could stay in Jingzhou for a few days and try out at each club one by one. As long as their skills were adequate, they would eventually find a satisfactory club.
Moreover, Jingzhou had the best esports environment. The first choice was to join the DGE Club. If they couldn’t join DGE, they could consider other clubs. If they couldn’t be starters, they could be substitutes. If they couldn’t be substitutes, they could join youth training programs. In the worst case, they could participate in the internet café tournaments at Slackin’ Internet Café.
With the gathering of numerous clubs and top players, Jingzhou’s various Slackin’ Internet Cafés suddenly became filled with hidden talents, especially the first Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0. No one knew how many champion-level players were hidden in this small internet café.
On Zhang Yuan’s side, Tenda’s Esports Business Department had been preliminarily established.
The department’s personnel composition was quite complex, including veteran employees transferred from Tenda Games and Shangyang Games, relevant professionals recruited from society during the recent unified recruitment, and some newcomers.
Currently, besides helping various clubs recruit people and conduct training, the Esports Business Department was also considering when to start the GPL League.
According to general conventions, the Spring Season should be from January to April, and the Summer Season from June to September, with international events scheduled after each season.
The Finals should be held in October, and the time afterward, apart from arranging some occasional entertainment events, was mainly for rest and the transfer period.
Currently, it is November, which should be considered within the transfer period. The GPL League’s Spring Season would start in January at the earliest.
But the Esports Business Department and various clubs felt that over two months was too long, and audiences might not wait.
GPL was a league with many teams and high match density. A long gap period was not conducive to players maintaining their competitive level, nor to maintaining league popularity.
Moreover, newly formed clubs urgently needed to play some relatively formal matches to give their players practice and help their teams coalesce more quickly.
Although various clubs were already organizing scrimmages, the effect of practice matches compared to official matches still had a big difference—they weren’t the same thing at all.
Therefore, the Esports Business Department decided to hold a GPL preseason in December. Each club could freely choose whether to participate based on its circumstances.
If some teams hadn’t been fully formed yet, they could opt out. For those that were complete, they could field either their starters or substitutes. The main purpose of this competition was for practice while also building anticipation for the upcoming GPL Spring Season.
The competitive level might not be very high, but at least it would give the audience something to enjoy.
Regarding these match arrangements, Pei Qian had no objections.
After all, GPL’s popularity had already risen. Whether there was one more or one less match wouldn’t significantly affect its popularity.
Pei Qian himself was a loyal spectator. Having more matches to watch meant more entertainment activities, which was a good thing.