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Amazon Echo Dot

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Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#241

Post by ansible »

t0mbstone wrote: post #224
ansible wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since the processing is cloud based, and they know my identity, why don't the devices recognize this fact and cooperate. Instead of just 7 beam forming mics in the Echo, if you have two within hearing distance you could have the benefit of 14 and a unified response. The echo and noise reduction software that I'm aware of can't really do that in a reasonable fashion. With current solutions, you've got one DSP that's r…

Just have the Echo that hears the person best be the one that responds. So simple, and easy to implement. I honestly don't understand why Amazon hasn't fixed this yet. It's so fucking obvious.

Agreed. Doing something sensible at a higher level than the actual audio recording would be easily possible.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#242

Post by LeoPanthera »

ape4 wrote: post #238
binarymax wrote: post #115

Be forewarned - if I am invited into your home for any reason, and I see an Alexa device, I will vocally add a large shopping list of nonsense to your Amazon cart :)

Alexa, how do I do activity. Oh and please order a mile of bubble wrap.

Incredibly, for an Amazon product, Alexa is terrible at buying things. You can only order things you've bought before, as far as I can tell, and even then, only some things, selected by a filter I don't understand.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#243

Post by brooksc »

arien wrote: post #98
fluxquanta wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Almost. More specifically, we didn't think that the personal assistant would have to communicate with a corporation that wants our info to make (more) money. The government option doesn't sound any better, either. I think they are rather creepy, because it's so obvious there is (or, could be) a hidden agenda.

Whenever I read these, I can't tell if the group is paranoid or prescient. But anyway I ordered one via my alexa. Amazon probably already knew I would.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#244

Post by LeoPanthera »

Someone1234 wrote: post #169
tnorthcutt wrote: post #137

Echo Dot ($89.99) is available exclusively for Prime Members through Alexa Voice Shopping. To order your Echo Dot, use your Echo or Fire TV and just ask: “Alexa, order Echo Dot.”

I noticed that, so I assume they're targeting this as an accessory for existing Echo owners (additional rooms, etc). But here's what confuses me: The Dot SEEMS like it would work extremely well without owning an Echo, the two don't seem to integrate together, the Dot just uses an external speaker instead of an internal one. So maybe this is just a promo available to Echo owners and everyone will be able to buy it lat…

The Dot does have an internal speaker - just a tiny crap one.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#245

Post by dharma1 »

ausjke wrote: post #184
ausjke wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For voice activated solutions the hard part is the front end, i.e. voice recognition, which is what Alexa is strong at. Once this is covered, it's relatively easy to cover the rest. Really the core competency of Alexa is its excellent voice recognition performance, which is still hard to find elsewhere these days.

https://www.quora.com/Speech-Recognition/Which-is-the-best-o... There are a few open source alternative, Kaldi is new to me

This one looks promising too, although very early days. https://github.com/srvk/eesen

I think we'll see something state of the art (that runs on mobile devices pretty soon in the open source world.

You also need a good microphone setup to get good quality speech in.

Both Echo and Dot have a 7 mic array with beamforming, which helps a lot with far field speech recognition.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#246

Post by jallmann »

tlrobinson wrote: post #189
jallmann wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 com…

> It's also less accessible Well, I think blind people would disagree with you. > I hope that pervasive auditory UI doesn't become any sort of standard without an accompanying visual/physical interface. Any speech interface could be trivially translated to a text interface, right?

> Well, I think blind people would disagree with you.

Answered downthread.

> Any speech interface could be trivially translated to a text interface, right?

Pretty much, which is why UIs should not be exclusively auditory, that is, delivered without an accompanying visual interface (text or otherwise). Ordering the Echo Dot verbally is a cute gimmick given its premise, but it would really suck if otherwise useful products and services were only usable through audio.

Hopefully the audio UI trend does not follow the obsession over touch screens: a rapidly adopted, de facto standard driven by tastemakers that leave little consideration for others that might prefer an actual keyboard or other physical affordances.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#247

Post by roymurdock »

aroman wrote: post #181
roymurdock wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alexa requires AWS to run. It's a symbiotic relationship, and Alexa is the consumer-facing AI extension. They've marketed it better than Watson and Siri so far, giving it new hardware to live in and opening it up to developers. But without AWS, there is no Alexa.

>they've marketed it better than Siri really?

Yeah, their super bowl commercial with Alec Baldwin was a huge hit. And everyone who uses amazon sees the thing plastered across the front page every time they use the website. They're also much more active on social media, and have (presumably) paid to get #AmazonEcho trending now on Twitter.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#248

Post by jdminhbg »

fluxquanta wrote: post #80
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".

> 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.

Human personal assistants were connected to the outside world -- how else would they make appointments and reservations, book flights, find out what the weather would be, etc.? The whole point is to be connected to the outside world, automatic or no.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#249

Post by atomical »

ghaff wrote: post #29
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 problem is that voice interfaces break down pretty quickly once you try to do anything complicated. The Echo has pretty solid voice recognition--far better than anything else I've ever used--but it's still hard to get it to do anything useful once you get beyond a pretty narrow script. (e.g. what's the weather forecast, play this artist, etc.)

And if you do get beyond a narrow range does the user spend a lot of time thinking about how to craft a question so that the machine can understand it?

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#250

Post by kamaal »

fluxquanta wrote: post #80
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".

I wonder what sort of memory related tech it would take to pack nearly all of the internet in a small space, and have it incrementally update(the internet!) and yet write it in available memory.

Besides any contact with outside world would need communication. So you can't have an entirely standalone gadget.

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