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Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

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Re: Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

#71

Post by aylons »

jenscow wrote: post #36
nl wrote: post #29

I think this is great, and at the same time highlights a usability problem with conversational interfaces: we don't know how to make them discoverable. Google attempts to do this by letting you stumble upon commands, but I don't think that is good enough. I don't think tutorials are either, but I don't have any solid alternatives.

How about, when you perform an action manually it says "by the way, in future you can just tell me to ..."

Not a new problem, nor a new solution: emacs has done this for a long time [1].

I wonder if we have to pass through all design stages every time something changes.

[1] https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/M_...

Re: Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

#72

Post by pasbesoin »

nl wrote: post #29

I think this is great, and at the same time highlights a usability problem with conversational interfaces: we don't know how to make them discoverable. Google attempts to do this by letting you stumble upon commands, but I don't think that is good enough. I don't think tutorials are either, but I don't have any solid alternatives.

And then they change the interface -- with no notice. And let you search blindly for and stumble your way through the new way to do it -- if it still exists.

This is particularly frustrating with regard to my parents and their Android phones. I'll get them set on how to do something... and then it suddenly no longer works, anymore.

For a gang of kids or twenty-somethings who are constantly communicating about the tech in their hands, this... word of mouth / osmosis approach to adoption may work.

For many others, it's damned frustrating. Including for the techie family members who end up having to help them -- over and over and over...

Re: Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

#73

Post by zbuttram »

Donzo wrote: post #47
ryanmonroe wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Siri gave me the same response for a few days but apparently they've reverted that change because it has since started working normally again.

I am referring to the Google Now app.

Siri does kind of do a similar thing, to her a reminder is in the reminders app, you have to actually say alarm or timer if you want an alarm or a timer in the clock app, might be something similar with Google Now?

Re: Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

#74

Post by zbuttram »

puddintane wrote: post #35
nl wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that an iOS thing? On Android reminders through the Google Now interface seem to work fine.

Yes he does mention it was on an iOS device in his post. It was a bit confusing at first but I'm absolutely sure he is talking about iOS with the scheduling reminders.

Seems like he means the Google app on iOS, so this would be the Google app telling him to use the Google Calendar app in theory.

Re: Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

#75

Post by zeveb »

Klathmon wrote: post #28
10dpd wrote: post #9

Technologies used for a static list (!): react redux reselect aphrodite material-ui stylz redux-form react-helmet webpack faker lodash moment

Do you actually have a problem that any of those are causing? I mean the site comes in at around 500kb transferred. That's not small, but it's also not obscenely large. A single large-ish image can easily blow that out of the water. Yeah, it could afford to lose some weight in the javascript (although looking at it now, i'm not sure they can. much of the size of the javascript is string literals for all of the option…

> Do you actually have a problem that any of those are causing?

With JavaScript turned off (an essential security precaution), no text is visible at all, which is a bit of a problem.

> I mean the site comes in at around 500kb transferred. That's not small, but it's also not obscenely large.

The actual content on the page really isn't that large. I got too bored to actually complete this, but you can see an example of what it could have looked like at http://pastebin.com/DBgK4Tv9

It could have progressively enhanced itself, taking the plain-text HTML page, parsing out the choices in the em tags (which could of course have had classes attached to mark them as choices, or even to indicate classes of choices, e.g. 'day-name'). It would have been a perfectly useful tool for people without JavaScript; it would have been perfectly useful printed on a page.

And, frankly, it would almost certainly have been a lot smaller than 500K.

That doesn't take away from how cool it is: the author did a nice, exhaustive job (so exhausted I got exhausted trying to recreate it). He should be commended for it. But we should all reflect on how we got into a situation in which the easiest thing for him to do was the wrong thing, and how we can instead get into a situation where the easy thing is the right thing.

Re: Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

#76

Post by chdir »

Kudos to a clean & useful design.

As a side note, it makes me wonder that with all the brainy AI, it's we who are still learning computer's language instead of the other way around. I hope that'll change in the next 3-5 years, where we don't have to memorize the syntax & limitations of voice commands.

Re: Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

#77

Post by zeveb »

fixermark wrote: post #69
wolfwyrd wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's ok - it's made with <3

And depending on the toolchain the author chose, it may also be made in less time than it'd take to hand-roll and tags into a list.

With a decent editor, hand-rolling and tags ain't too bad. With a good scriptable editor, hand-unrolling the different options is also surprisingly easy.

Re: Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

#78

Post by toxican »

webkike wrote: post #70
Donzo wrote: post #27

I used to love using the "remind me to" command. It was a fast and convenient way to set alarms. Recently, when I attempted to use it on iOS, I was hit with an alert that "reminders have been moved to the Calendar app," where it is far less convenient to set up a reminder. Instead of just setting the alarm with my voice and then confirming it, I have to use a click wheel to set the time, and it takes like three more…

I think that alternatively can't you just use the "set an alarm for" command? It works on android

"Set an alarm for..." was pretty much all I used Siri for and all I really use OK Google for now. On Android at least, the reminder notifications don't grab my attention at all, so I need an alarm.

Re: Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

#79

Post by Klathmon »

zeveb wrote: post #75
Klathmon wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you actually have a problem that any of those are causing? I mean the site comes in at around 500kb transferred. That's not small, but it's also not obscenely large. A single large-ish image can easily blow that out of the water. Yeah, it could afford to lose some weight in the javascript (although looking at it now, i'm not sure they can. much of the size of the javascript is string literals for all of the option…

> Do you actually have a problem that any of those are causing? With JavaScript turned off (an essential security precaution), no text is visible at all, which is a bit of a problem. > I mean the site comes in at around 500kb transferred. That's not small, but it's also not obscenely large. The actual content on the page really isn't that large. I got too bored to actually complete this, but you can see an example of…

Well, I disagree with you on disabling javascript being an "essential security precaution", but that's another discussion...

As for the rest, there's also the point that the author probably wouldn't have done this that way. That seems like a dumb sentence, but hopefully i can explain it.

This kind of thing isn't going to make any money, even with ads this is an niche thing and would probably end up making him tens of dollars at most (unless he got really lucky). That means that most likely his motivation was to "show off" a bit. Show potential employers that he can use those technologies, show off his professional skill, and at the same time solve a problem that he saw himself. So most likely it wouldn't have been made without those technologies.

But either way, I don't think that this is the wrong way of doing things. I know that many disagree with me, but for most "web apps" progressive enhancement is dead. Yeah, for a simple company website, or something which should be accessed by as many people as possible like government websites, PE is still very alive, but for everything else, it's done. Javascript is part of the platform, and disabling javascript but still expecting a fully useful web is like disabling python and still expecting all of your linux tools to work the same (after all, those same devs could have written their code in C, then progressively enhanced it with python).

It's part of the platform, and it's here to stay. Disabling javascript is not the solution to security issues.

Re: Show HN: “OK Google” – Explore Google Now voice commands

#80

Post by [deleted] »

zbuttram wrote: post #74
puddintane wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes he does mention it was on an iOS device in his post. It was a bit confusing at first but I'm absolutely sure he is talking about iOS with the scheduling reminders.

Seems like he means the Google app on iOS, so this would be the Google app telling him to use the Google Calendar app in theory.

[deleted]
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