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Amazon Echo Dot

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Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#71

Post by arscan »

xd1936 wrote: post #13

My problem with Alexa is, I don't want to invest in a new ecosystem. I'm fine with Amazon being the hub that connects all of my services, but I don't want to use Amazon To-Do List, Amazon Prime Radio, Amazon Traffic, Amazon Sports, Amazon Calendar, Amazon Weather. That being said, they announce partnerships with more and more services every month. Things are looking up.

I'd be happy for more full-service ecosystems to choose from. The more that users get fragmented between these ecosystems, the more each ecosystem is incentivized to open up.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#73

Post by Touche »

vonklaus wrote: post #12
nilsjuenemann wrote: post #4

Only for US customers... "Requirements * A U.S. Amazon account * A U.S. shipping address (50 United States and the District of Columbia only) * An annual Amazon Prime membership or 30-day Amazon Prime free trial * A payment method issued by a U.S. bank with a U.S. billing address in your 1-Click settings * A device with access to the Alexa Voice Service (such as Amazon Echo)"

I'm American. This makes sense, if anyone was going to order awhat seems like a range extender, for a device that just brings you stuff you were too lazy to type, it would be Americans. Googleglass problem. The interface is me yelling publicly. So not super sure that is going to be adopted well.

It's you yelling in your home. It's fine, your dog won't judge you.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#74

Post by jallmann »

startupfounder wrote: post #14

The transition from primarily visual UX towards an auditorial UX is really powerful. Looking at screens to get key information distracts me from my surroundings and seems archaic. My wife is a sound designer who has opened my eyes to the importance of sounds both in film and in the world. It's not that I was unaware of sounds, but I didn't realize how important they are to centering me in this world and the made up w…

> The transition from primarily visual UX towards an auditorial UX is really powerful.

It's also less accessible. I'm sure auditory UI is useful in many cases, but it also seems to be more cumbersome in others. In any case, I hope that pervasive auditory UI doesn't become any sort of standard without an accompanying visual/physical interface.

> Try watching a scary movie with the sound turned off, it turns into a comedy

Allow me to be pedantic and say it is that being fully immersed in the context of the movie that really matters. You could probably achieve a similar suspenseful effect with silence+subtitles, although I'm sure the experience isn't identical. Otherwise, the deaf could never enjoy scary movies, including me.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#75

Post by masonhipp »

This is a better product than the original. They added one of the most requested features (audio out) and didn't remove anything important (unless you don't have a better plug-in speaker system).

The biggest oversight is now the fact that it can't work together with an existing Echo: Amazon is making us order these _using_ an Echo... but the two devices don't communicate at all and require individual wake words. I wanted this as an added mic for my existing system, not as a new independent system.

Big step in the right direction though.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#76

Post by drzaiusapelord »

startupfounder wrote: post #14

The transition from primarily visual UX towards an auditorial UX is really powerful. Looking at screens to get key information distracts me from my surroundings and seems archaic. My wife is a sound designer who has opened my eyes to the importance of sounds both in film and in the world. It's not that I was unaware of sounds, but I didn't realize how important they are to centering me in this world and the made up w…

I really liked how this was done in the movie 'Her.' There's something especially nice about only having your attention distracted audibly and not visually, especially in public.

I wonder if the smartphone age will go away as quickly as it came. I picture a world where we just have smart wearables like a watch which has a tiny visual interface, but a powerful audio one (speaker, earpiece, put watch up to ear, etc). It seems a lot less intrusive. I imagine as we get better with AI and voice recognition, it'll be as practical as a phone. What I'm able to do with Google Now on my watch is fairly impressive today. We already have the technology to understand things in context like "Navigate to Katz's deli" brings up Google Maps to the deli as opposed to a google search results page about navigating to a cat themed deli, which was the status quo not too long ago with voice search.

I imagine carrying around this big selfie/facebook machine around, constantly charging it, whipping it out all the time, etc will be pretty gauche if wearable-only solutions become competitive.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#77

Post by joekrill »

pierrebeaucamp wrote: post #64

I would love to have something similar as open source software. How can I trust this device if I can't examine the code used for hotword recognition? Also, it would be great to be able to put the software on different hardware - something with digital audio output for example. The concept of Alexa is amazing, but distributing it as properitary software limits its potential.

They do have something called Alexa Voice Services (AVS), which provides the underlying technology. You could take advantage of that and know that you are only sending along data when you want to.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#79

Post by masonhipp »

Rezo wrote: post #61

"If you have more than one Echo or Echo Dot, you can set a different wake word for each". This is something I've been thinking is becoming more problematic as well as an opportunity for real ubiquity. I have 3 separate devices nearby that are Google Now voice activated (the newer devices support this even if the screen is off), and they will sometimes trigger at the same time accidentally. Since the processing is clo…

I agree with this entirely. I've been waiting patiently for a way to add microphone distance to my Echo and this is perfect for that... except it doesn't work that way.

I am very much hoping they fix it in the future and add a software layer to combine/route commands with one single wake word.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#80

Post by fluxquanta »

caractacus wrote: post #63

When did I turn from the enthusiastic kid who dreamed of audio-controlled personal assistants like this to a cranky old man who doesn't want anything remotely spy-possible in his house?

I think when we were kids we didn't think that the personal assistant would have to communicate with the outside world via the internet in order to perform its function.

If all of "Alexa" was included in a disconnected local database I bet it would still be as appealing.

Rosie on the Jetsons didn't have to "phone home".

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