When the “virtual personal assistant” computer program I Want Sandy debuted last year, I derided it for a) not providing anything that a savvy web-user couldn’t set up themselves by using Google Calendar Alerts and b) using a cliche “Girl Friday/’50s Secretary” logo [pictured] that was not only sexist but pretty cheesy, as if they were aiming for “cutesy retro” but wound up with “annoying stereotype.” [CNNMoney describes the program as "a kind of virtual assistant; you send “her” emails with specific instructions or keywords, such as birthdays to remember or appointments you need to keep, and she emails you or text-messages you at a time of your choosing to help you remember."]
Well, I Want Sandy has just become the latest victim of the economic recession. However, don’t cry for Sandy. Values of n, the company that developed the program, was recently acquired by everyone’s favorite microblogging platform, Twitter. Does this mean Twitter is developing a program of its own that will provide the same services Sandy did, only without lame “hot secretary” tropes? We can only hope.