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Amazon Echo Dot

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Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#271

Post by pbreit »

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.)

How complicated is controlling a TV or a radio? And voice is much easier for a variety of tasks than remote controls.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#272

Post by hammock »

jerf wrote: post #84
hoorayimhelping wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem is that voice interfaces break down pretty quickly once you try to do anything complicated I've done a fair bit of interface engineering for the web. Between that and using so much software over the course of my life, I'd say that this applies to GUIs just as much as voice interfaces.

Yes, but GUIs have two or three dimensions available (up/down, left/right, time) whereas voice just has the one (time). We humans can also full-duplex GUIs much more easily than voice-based interface. And GUIs at least can be hooked up to full-powered grammar-based interfaces whereas voice, somewhat ironically considering the nature of human communication, has more trouble with it. (I'd suggest this is actually a com…

Just as the mouse input has evolved to include multitouch and 3d touch gestures, voice input can also evolve. The full range of tone, inflection, pitch, etc is available from the human voice.

I wonder if NLP research should have started as our ancestors did, with grunts and hoots and cries. Instead it's focused on recognizing full words and sentences while almost completely ignoring inflection.

Another dimension to add with vocal input is directional. If you have mics in all corners of a room, which direction you speak in can affect whether "turn off" operates your TV, your lights or your oven.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#273

Post by balls187 »

sp332 wrote: post #45
bovermyer wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it needs external speakers, unlike the original Echo. However, you only need an Echo to preorder a Dot, you don't need an Echo for a Dot to work.

FTA: Includes a built-in speaker so it can work on its own

The speaker is for voice feedback only. Doesn't actually support music, news, audiobooks etc.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#274

Post by Nullabillity »

Karunamon wrote: post #180
Nullabillity wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPhone is still locked down, and it still sucks.

If by "locked down" you mean able to develop and deploy your own software onto[1], then sure. Given what's going on with the FBI, I'm starting to see the absurd security of the platform as more a positive than a negative. [1]: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2933052/apple-frees-casual-io...

> If by "locked down" you mean able to develop and deploy your own software onto[1], then sure.

That doesn't allow publishing anywhere, which is still behind a paywall and still tightly controlled. It also still requires you to use a Mac, from what I can tell.

> Given what's going on with the FBI, I'm starting to see the absurd security of the platform as more a positive than a negative.

Oh yes, the wonderful mixup between "security" and security. "Security" is just DRM and Tivoization by another name. Actual security would mean a device that doesn't come with horrible RCE vulnerabilities out of the box, which Apple doesn't exactly have a stellar reputation for, as well as allowing the user to choose things like what data applications have access to. The two have absolutely nothing in common.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#275

Post by gherkin0 »

jdminhbg wrote: post #248
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".

> 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 n…

> Human personal assistants were connected to the outside world...

There's a difference between the "always on" communication these devices have and communication the user specifically requests.

When I want to make an airline reservation, I'm requesting the device to send the booking information to the airline. I'm not asking it to send a recording to the mothership of everything that happened in my home for the last 5 hours, which a human assistant would never do.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#276

Post by freehunter »

hammock wrote: post #272
jerf wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but GUIs have two or three dimensions available (up/down, left/right, time) whereas voice just has the one (time). We humans can also full-duplex GUIs much more easily than voice-based interface. And GUIs at least can be hooked up to full-powered grammar-based interfaces whereas voice, somewhat ironically considering the nature of human communication, has more trouble with it. (I'd suggest this is actually a com…

Just as the mouse input has evolved to include multitouch and 3d touch gestures, voice input can also evolve. The full range of tone, inflection, pitch, etc is available from the human voice. I wonder if NLP research should have started as our ancestors did, with grunts and hoots and cries. Instead it's focused on recognizing full words and sentences while almost completely ignoring inflection. Another dimension to a…

Very good points. I can't wait until devices can read my emotions or inflections in my voice. I can voice-to-text most of my short messages, but anything that requires punctuation or god forbid emojis still require manual input. And I don't want to have to say "period" or "exclamation mark" to indicate my desired punctuation. If I say it unusually loudly, insert an exclamation mark. If I pause at the end of a sentence (Word has known a grammatically correct sentence for decades) and don't say "um" or "uh", put a period. If my inflection goes up or there is a question word in the sentence, add a question mark.

There is a lot of improvement for voice processing in several dimensions of voice.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#277

Post by nostrademons »

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.)

I've found that the voice recognition on Android phones works well enough to be useful in a wide variety of circumstances. Navigating, getting directions, setting alarms, taking notes, sending text messages, sending emails, searching for things, and many more. When I was still using my Moto X I did the majority of every-day tasks with voice recognition.

The iPhone is catching up fast too...my wife's taken to sending emails via Siri (to avoid strain on her hands), and most of the time it gets things perfectly.

The biggest problem is privacy. One of the nice things about touchscreens is that you have a personal dialog with the device that can't be overheard by anyone nearby. That doesn't apply to voice recognition systems, and it can be pretty awkward to dictate an e-mail to a phone in a crowded place.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#278

Post by foodstances »

jedberg wrote: post #163
rdudek wrote: post #151

What's stopping people from accidentally ordering things with this thing? Could I go into somebody's house that has one of these devices setup and say "Alexa, order some breast clamps" ?

Yes. Yes you can. Hilarity ensues. The "security" is the you have to trust the people you invite into your house. It's not great security. :) (ok, that's not entirely true. as far as I can tell, you can only reorder things they've already bought via the website)

Make a webpage that automatically starts playing an audio clip of someone saying those things, trick people into visiting the page and hope their laptop isn't muted.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#279

Post by freehunter »

Domenic_S wrote: post #177
rrrx3 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "play some good 60s rock" example isn't a VUI breakdown, it's a functionality gap in the backend. One that will probably be fixed pretty quickly, given the way things are headed. A VUI breakdown would be inability to understand accents, or non-responsiveness to commands. As a user input, Alexa is pretty well buttoned up.

Sounds like the Enterprise computer: Geordi: Computer, subdued lighting. (computer turns the lights off) Geordi No, that's... that's too much. I don't want it dark. I want it cozy. Computer: Please state your request in precise candlepower. (The scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPZnR3Ue1n4 )

There will certainly be some aspects of the computer training the human, too. Just using this as an example, I don't know how much candlepower I want, but computers don't get bored or annoyed by my requests. I could start with 1 candlepower and move up to 10 if it's not bright enough. 100 might be too bright, so now I know what range I'm looking at. Next time I could just say "computer, 12 candlepower lighting, please".

Computers train users on how to use the computer all the time. It's less ideal than having the computer know everything, but once you know what you can expect from a computer, it's easier to get a good result.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#280

Post by fluxquanta »

gherkin0 wrote: post #275
jdminhbg wrote: post #248

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. 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 n…

> Human personal assistants were connected to the outside world... There's a difference between the "always on" communication these devices have and communication the user specifically requests. When I want to make an airline reservation, I'm requesting the device to send the booking information to the airline. I'm not asking it to send a recording to the mothership of everything that happened in my home for the last…

Hah, it'd be like hiring a personal assistant from a staffing agency who is constantly on the phone with the staffing agency parroting what you say.
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