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Amazon Echo Dot

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Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#381

Post by ams6110 »

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 just can't stand talking to a computer. Never liked the idea of it. I loathe voice-controlled telephone menus. I can type faster than I can talk (if you include the inevitable revisions -- even without it's pretty close). I don't even like to leave messages on voicemail. I don't think voice interfaces are anything I will ever use if there's another option.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#382

Post by visarga »

bckmn wrote: post #295
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…

You would probably be interested in what we've been building over at https://www.narro.co .

It would be nice if it could extract forum discussions, like YC and Reddit. Sometimes I like to hear the text I am reading, it helps with concentration.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#383

Post by visarga »

ansible wrote: post #109
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…

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…

> I don't think it would enhance the user experience.

Baidu trains the voice recognizer by adding all kinds of noise to the training data. I think it might be easier to do that than use multiple microphones. The neural net learns to do the difficult process of separation of useful data from noise.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#384

Post by sib »

tlrobinson wrote: post #365
sib wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The traffic is encrypted. But you could certainly watch the network traffic and see that there's no traffic if the Echo doesn't wake and the lights don't turn on. (Of course, you'd have to trust that it isn't time delayed for hours in some sort of intentionally-sneaky way.) It would also be possible to take a look at the hardware design and determine the linkage between the "mic mute" button light being on and power…

> It would also be possible to take a look at the hardware design and determine the linkage between the "mic mute" button light being on and power going to the mics. How would the mics listen for the wake word if they aren't always on?

There is a mic mute button that is able to turn off the mics, which then prevents the device from waking up, as it is not receiving audio signals to process and detect the wake word. When the button is activated (== the mics are off), there is a glowing red light illuminated inside the button.

My point was that you could check to see if the linkage between that red indicator light and the power going to the mics was in software or hardware.

This is analogous to the warning light that many laptops have for when the built-in webcam is on.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#385

Post by nl »

dragonwriter wrote: post #346
saym wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The use of Google Now from my bluetooth'd helmet has really improved my motorcycling experience. Real easy to say: "Okay Google... navigate to California Academy of Sciences." What's missing for me is spotify/app specific integration.

> What's missing for me is spotify/app specific integration. For that to really happen in a robust way, I think Google needs to open up Custom Voice Actions. [0] https://developers.google.com/voice-actions/custom-actions

"Ok Google.... Play on Spotify" works for me.

I agree discovery of these magic phrases needs work.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#386

Post by nl »

saym wrote: post #369
mehta wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought this already worked. Okay Google... Play music will start Music app Okay Google... Start Radio will start NPR app

I can say "Open Spotify" and it will open the app. Then I have a button on the helmet that sends the Play command. But I can't do anything robust like playing a specific artist. Perhaps if I used Google Music the integration would be built out.

On my phone "Play " uses Google Music. "Play on Spotify" makes it use Spotify.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#387

Post by dharma1 »

t0mbstone wrote: post #231
ghaff wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to pick on you :-), but I have these things called light switches in my house that work pretty well for turning on and off lights. I confess to not seeing much attraction to smart lightbulbs with names. (To be fair, if I had a lot of lights not connected to switches as was the case when I moved into my current house, I'd probably have put in smart lightbulbs rather than doing as much rewiring as I did.)

Light switches are great, but there is something really nice about laying in bed and dimming the lights by voice. Or right before going to sleep, you remember you left the living room light on, so you say, "Alexa, turn off the living room light", and watch as the glow under the door disappears. It's a luxury, but it's a lot of fun if you are lazy. I also use the Echo to adjust my nest thermostat, control my entire ho…

How do you use it to control your home theatre?

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#388

Post by [deleted] »

t0mbstone wrote: post #231
ghaff wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to pick on you :-), but I have these things called light switches in my house that work pretty well for turning on and off lights. I confess to not seeing much attraction to smart lightbulbs with names. (To be fair, if I had a lot of lights not connected to switches as was the case when I moved into my current house, I'd probably have put in smart lightbulbs rather than doing as much rewiring as I did.)

Light switches are great, but there is something really nice about laying in bed and dimming the lights by voice. Or right before going to sleep, you remember you left the living room light on, so you say, "Alexa, turn off the living room light", and watch as the glow under the door disappears. It's a luxury, but it's a lot of fun if you are lazy. I also use the Echo to adjust my nest thermostat, control my entire ho…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#389

Post by [deleted] »

t0mbstone wrote: post #231
ghaff wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to pick on you :-), but I have these things called light switches in my house that work pretty well for turning on and off lights. I confess to not seeing much attraction to smart lightbulbs with names. (To be fair, if I had a lot of lights not connected to switches as was the case when I moved into my current house, I'd probably have put in smart lightbulbs rather than doing as much rewiring as I did.)

Light switches are great, but there is something really nice about laying in bed and dimming the lights by voice. Or right before going to sleep, you remember you left the living room light on, so you say, "Alexa, turn off the living room light", and watch as the glow under the door disappears. It's a luxury, but it's a lot of fun if you are lazy. I also use the Echo to adjust my nest thermostat, control my entire ho…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#390

Post by IshKebab »

Touche wrote: post #376
wyldfire wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it does seem to exclude media. > Built-in speaker for voice feedback when not connected to external speakers > Includes a built-in speaker so it can work on its own as a smart alarm clock in the bedroom, an assistant in the kitchen, or anywhere you might want a voice-controlled computer

That's crazy, why do I want this without a speaker? The bluetooth speakers they recommend are all really expensive; a speaker + Echo Dot is more expensive than a regular Echo... why wouldn't I just get a second Echo?

You can plug it into a hifi system.
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