If Amazon gains by providing this service to prime members then why don't they have a voice control app for iOS/Android to connect with Alexa? (not just the setup Alexa app)
Amazon Echo Dot
391–400 of 410 posts
Re: Amazon Echo Dot
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the processing requirements for handling on-device Siri would destroy battery life.
This actually doesn't seem to be the case. Take a look at Google Translate's offline voice recognition AND translation - it's really amazing, considering it's all happening on your device.
I forget where it was, but they published something about training a very small very fast neural network that could fit comfortably in the phone's memory. Tricky tricky. :D
Re: Amazon Echo Dot
#393Earlier 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.
> So simple, and easy to implement.
Ah yes, the rally cry of the person not doing the actual development work... In my experience, rarely is _anything_ "So simple, and easy to implement".
Re: Amazon Echo Dot
#394Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Yes, I'd like to see the possibility to select text, right click and select "read out loud".
Re: Amazon Echo Dot
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
Being overheard isn't the only privacy concern. Most of these solutions offload the speech recognition and language parsing functions to corporate servers. I like texting with Siri but I'm not exactly keen on having Apple record everything. It also seems limiting in that I can't use voice commands without a network. It would be nice for voice recognition platforms to start being built in. I know there's training data…
I think the processing requirements for handling on-device Siri would destroy battery life.
Worse for battery life than firing up the radio?
Re: Amazon Echo Dot
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Yes, I'd like to see the possibility to select text, right click and select "read out loud".
I think all the browsers on OS X support that using the system text-to-speech (edit: Safari and Chrome, not Firefox)
Re: Amazon Echo Dot
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, I'd like to see the possibility to select text, right click and select "read out loud".
I think all the browsers on OS X support that using the system text-to-speech (edit: Safari and Chrome, not Firefox)
I'm using Linux. It seems that Linux is falling behind in the area of speech input/output. I hope they will catch up.
Re: Amazon Echo Dot
#398In one example: "Alexa, adjust my home thermostat to 74 degrees"
It would kill some people if used here in Europe (because we would rather adjust our thermostats in radians).
More seriously, is there any protections against dangerous orders? (eg Your kid ordering 42 tons of sweets on Amazon)
"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that"
Re: Amazon Echo Dot
#399The 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.)
The other issue is it becomes less useful when more than one person is active in the room. Small party? Interface no longer functioning as talking in the background interferes.
Re: Amazon Echo Dot
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Being overheard isn't the only privacy concern. Most of these solutions offload the speech recognition and language parsing functions to corporate servers. I like texting with Siri but I'm not exactly keen on having Apple record everything. It also seems limiting in that I can't use voice commands without a network. It would be nice for voice recognition platforms to start being built in. I know there's training data…
And devices that listen to you 100% of the time is yet another privacy concern... even if they don't send everything to a remote server.