87: Lei Jun, eager to try

"Thank you all for your patient wait. Now, the television behind me is the Red Star TV we are about to launch."

"A 55-inch large screen, resolution up to 1080p, with a built-in exclusive system we've crafted specifically for televisions. Now, let's turn it on."

"classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

"Turn on the TV."

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"Alright, I've turned it on for you."

As Xiao Xing's crisp electronic synthesized voice faded, the TV screen lit up, and the large screen on the stage displayed the TV's image in real-time.

There were no messy animations upon startup, only a wallpaper showing a little boy looking up at the starry sky, with a line of text written above—Let everyone enjoy the fun of technology.

The TV lit up, but a commotion broke out in the audience.

"What is that thing? Why can it control the TV?"

"Damn, is this some kind of black technology? Direct voice control."

"Letting everyone enjoy the fun of technology is our mission at Red Star, and it's also the goal I've pursued my whole life. Now that we've entered the desktop, what should we play?"

"classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

"Have the TV play 'Drawing Swords'."

"I've found 'Drawing Swords' for you. Which episode would you like to watch?"

"The first one."

As Chen Chen's voice fell, the TV and the large screen began to play 'Drawing Swords' in synchronization.

"This is an intercepting battle not recorded in history; its scale was very small..."

Everyone below the stage was staring intently at the large screen and that speaker, waiting for Chen Chen to continue his introduction.

"classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

"Stop the TV playback."

"Stopped."

"Our Red Star TV uses panels from TCL, and was developed by our Engineers..."

"President Chen, stop talking about the TV, hurry up and talk about that speaker!"

"classmate xiao xing, tell us about this quickly, the TV isn't much to see."

"The speaker! The speaker!"

Seeing that the desired effect had been achieved, Chen Chen feigned a look of helplessness. The TV actually didn't have many highlights to begin with, and Chen Chen wasn't willing to waste time on it; his goal was to draw the audience's focus to Xiao Xing.

In any case, the configuration had already been introduced. When he talked about Xiao Xing later, he could directly discuss the ecosystem and interaction of the Red Star TV, which would leave a deeper impression than a dry introduction of the TV itself.

Facing the audience and pretending to look reluctant, Chen Chen said:

"Alright, since everyone wants to know about our classmate xiao xing so much, then I..."

"I'm here."

"I wasn't calling you, step down for now."

The audience burst into laughter again as they watched Chen impatiently tell the speaker to step down.

"Then let's introduce this speaker first. The full name of this product is... let me mute it first."

Chen Chen was afraid that saying Xiao Xing's name would wake it up, so he quickly walked to the side and pressed the touch button on top to mute it.

In his previous life, when Xiaomi released Xiao Ai, things kept going wrong, and it often wouldn't wake up. Chen Chen was also afraid that the scene would be too noisy and he'd fail like Lei Jun, so he had specially modified one. The official version has 6 microphones, but this launch event modified version has 12 microphones for sound pickup.

Now the effect seemed a bit too good; it would respond as soon as its name was mentioned.

Chen Chen suddenly remembered that in future press conferences, he must first have users mute Xiao Xing, otherwise, he would end up like Lei Jun, crashing his own smart speaker during a launch event.

"Alright, I've muted it. Let's continue. Its full name is the Classmate Xiao Xing Smart Speaker. You can give it voice commands just by saying this wake word."

"As early as the year before last, Fruit Company equipped their phones with a voice assistant. As for its practicality and functionality, I won't say much; those who have used Siri should understand."

I've been thinking that technology shouldn't be like this. Because of Fruit's high prices, many people don't have the chance to experience the convenience of a voice assistant or the latest technological achievements."

"We at Red Star have a mission, which is technological equality. Technology shouldn't be high and mighty; it should serve everyone. At that time, I thought, why can't we at Red Star make a cheaper smart speaker?"

"So the classmate xiao xing project was born. From the project's inception to today's presentation, Red Star's Engineers have gone through two years of research and development."

"I dare not say Red Star is at the absolute forefront of the artificial intelligence field, but today's appearance of classmate xiao xing is our first step into that field."

"It's also our first step towards human-computer interaction."

Chen Chen's words earned him a round of warm applause. Once the scene quieted down, Chen Chen continued his introduction:

"Our previous teaser said 9,527 sound holes. Yes, it's this Xiao Xing speaker. Why isn't it eight thousand, or ten thousand, but exactly 9,527? I believe many students have this question, or does this number have some special meaning?"

"Neither!"

"When our Engineers were creating classmate xiao xing, they believed a smart speaker is still a speaker, and sound quality is also our pursuit."

"Over 200 Red Star Engineers conducted more than 6,000 acoustic tests and found that 9,527 sound holes can improve the aesthetic of the sound by 21%, achieving the best sound effect. So, it has 9,527 sound holes."

"Paired with our four-unit driver system, it delivers impressive performance across high, mid, and low frequencies. Some people always say Japan has a craftsman spirit, taking one thing to the extreme. In my view, only our Chinese Engineers truly possess that craftsman spirit."

"Our Engineers are willing to perform thousands or even tens of thousands of acoustic experiments for a slight improvement in sound quality. Just for that tiny bit of sound effect, is it worth it?"

"From a cost perspective, it's not worth it, but for our user experience, we did it anyway."

"The top of the classmate xiao xing body has four omnidirectional microphones, and there are two more microphones inside the sound holes to capture our voices and commands."

Chen Chen walked forward to turn off Xiao Xing's mute, then retreated to the edge of the stage again.

"I'll demonstrate for everyone. Right now, I'm about 4 meters away from Xiao Xing, which is basically the normal distance in a home."

"classmate xiao xing."

"classmate xiao xing."

Seeing the speaker didn't react, Chen Chen had no choice but to shout louder.

"classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

"It's nothing, step down."

Chen Chen's several calls to classmate xiao xing made the audience laugh uncontrollably; it was the first time they had seen Chen Chen's launch event fail.

Chen Chen was also a bit embarrassed. He had clearly modified it, so why did it still fail?

It seemed he shouldn't have done this demonstration.

"Perhaps some students might say this is just a pre-set Q&A session. Rest assured, it absolutely isn't. Later, I can invite a few audience members to experience it live and do a live Q&A."

"President Chen, me! Over here!"

"President Chen, call me, let me do it!"

"Let go of that speaker, let me take a turn!"

Scanning the scene, he didn't expect that Lei Jun and Yu Chengbei were also very interested in this speaker. Especially Lei Jun, the CEO of a company with tens of billions in revenue, was holding his hand high, seemingly eager to try.