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Google Home

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Re: Google Home

#141

Post by hayleox »

t0mbstone wrote: post #32

Please, please, please be a completely open, extensible platform... I want to be able to control my Apple TV with my Google Home device. I want to be able to control my Phillips Hue and LiFX bulbs. I want to be able to build my own custom home automation server endpoints and point my Google Home commands at them. I want to be able to remote start my car with a voice command. I want to be able to control my Harmony re…

According to Ars Technica, Google Home is actually gonna be more locked down than Amazon Echo.

> Initially, Google says that it will not be creating APIs for Assistant and Home and that as such, any integrations with services and other devices will have to come from Google first. This approach is a contrast with the Echo, which is designed to be extensible.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/05/google-assistant-and...

Dreams = crushed :(

Re: Google Home

#142

Post by d0mine »

noonespecial wrote: post #120
cheald wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do. And I recognize the hypocrisy of that. I think the difference for me is that my phone isn't a permanent fixture in my house - it's not explicitly a surveillance device. Echo/Home are explicitly audio surveillance devices, though ostensibly benevolent in their design. I can stick my phone in a Faraday bag easily enough if I want to. I guess what it comes down to is that while I recognize that I sacrifice a measu…

Its not that I don't think that Google and Amazon are probably acting in my best interests now . They probably are. Also not that I think that the government couldn't spy on me if they wanted to. They could. The scenario that worries me is that years from now, Google and Amazon may be coerced into turning over what I said yesterday to a corrupt government fishing through the past for word-crime. And boy-howdy, it tur…

If we believe Snowden then Google and Amazon as well as any technology company that collects user data are enabling spying on you for many years now.

Re: Google Home

#143

Post by scrumper »

Analemma_ wrote: post #26
cheald wrote: post #19

When I was younger, I dreamed of something like this. Voice control for my home! A Star Trek computer that I can interact with conversationally! I just say what I want and it happens! Now, I just see an internet-connected microphone in a software black box which I can only interpret as a giant frickin' security liability. I want this, but unless it's open source top-to-bottom, I won't ever actually put one in my home…

This entire keynote just keeps highlighting that one sentence from the end of Maciej's wonderful http://idlewords.com/talks/internet_with_a_human_face.htm "Yesterday ... I realized how long it had been since I looked at a new technology with wonder, instead of an automatic feeling of dread." EDIT: Speaking of Maciej, if you're not already following him on Twitter, today is the day to do that. He's having a field day…

He is a phenomenal writer. Just realized I've been reading him for well over a decade now.

Re: Google Home

#144

Post by ewindisch »

fizzbatter wrote: post #20

I'm dying for an Echo / Home that is fully api friendly and allows custom keywords. I want to buy an interface to my own home assistant. I want a hackers friend. Sure, offline-capable would be great too, but for now just give me the damn api hooks. :s edit : Note that i believe Echo has a pretty good API. I just don't want to talk to echo haha. I want to talk to my system.

The Echo not only allows you to extend its vocabulary, Amazon offers the Echo functionality as as a service that any developer can use from their own hardware.

If you wanted to use your own voice recognition and natural language processing, you could easily tie that into open source vocabulary that has been written for Echo.

Re: Google Home

#145

Post by erstorreyk »

t0mbstone wrote: post #32

Please, please, please be a completely open, extensible platform... I want to be able to control my Apple TV with my Google Home device. I want to be able to control my Phillips Hue and LiFX bulbs. I want to be able to build my own custom home automation server endpoints and point my Google Home commands at them. I want to be able to remote start my car with a voice command. I want to be able to control my Harmony re…

I want subqueries.

1. What's the name of that film that came out around the time of Jane's birthday party, the one with that guy in that I always confuse with Adam Sandler?

2. Where can I go for lunch and sit outside in the sunshine?

3. Play me some music that I'd like but nothing too recent.

Re: Google Home

#146

Post by partiallypro »

Microsoft, where are you? Cortana on a device that is similar to the chip Master Chief has would be incredibly popular, and it done right could also be just as popular. Especially since Cortana is on every platform and completely agnostic unlike Google Home and Echo. Give it the same extensible API as Cortana has on Windows 10, etc and it could be a home run. Don't let Google and Amazon eat your lunch here.

I do wonder though how Google/Microsoft/Apple will handle there being multiple instances of their devices able to take commands. So if I say "Hey Cortana" or "Ok Google" will each device have to sort of communicate with the other to only activate the one that is closest?

Re: Google Home

#147

Post by Oletros »

lazyjones wrote: post #51

What's the business model for Google Home? Will it suddenly splurt out an advertising message in the middle of the night, or will it rather include subtle product placements in otherwise harmless answers? Remember, it's made by a company that thinks it's appropriate to put text ads on the first spots of your search results, in increasingly confusing ways.

> What's the business model for Google Home?

Do they give them away for free?

Re: Google Home

#148

Post by ryan_lane »

cheald wrote: post #25
jff wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably have on in your pocket already, is the thing. (I agree though, I don't want this in my house, and I turned off the "Ok Google" functionality on my phone)

I do. And I recognize the hypocrisy of that. I think the difference for me is that my phone isn't a permanent fixture in my house - it's not explicitly a surveillance device. Echo/Home are explicitly audio surveillance devices, though ostensibly benevolent in their design. I can stick my phone in a Faraday bag easily enough if I want to. I guess what it comes down to is that while I recognize that I sacrifice a measu…

Cell phones aren't allowed into classified environments in US government buildings because they can be remotely turned into listening devices without the owner's knowledge. There's been guidance on this for a long time. The cell phone in your pocket is definitely a surveillance device.

Let's be real. You don't keep your phone in a Faraday bag and you probably never will.

Re: Google Home

#149

Post by scrollaway »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #112
t0mbstone wrote: post #32

Please, please, please be a completely open, extensible platform... I want to be able to control my Apple TV with my Google Home device. I want to be able to control my Phillips Hue and LiFX bulbs. I want to be able to build my own custom home automation server endpoints and point my Google Home commands at them. I want to be able to remote start my car with a voice command. I want to be able to control my Harmony re…

I have only two wishes: > Please, please, please be a completely open, extensible platform... That's one. The second one is, please make it self-hosted. No cloud bullshit. I know I'll probably never live to see the second one coming true.

How would you make it self-hosted without making it suck? High quality voice recognition in a small box doesn't seem to be a thing that's even remotely possible today, let alone the query processing and knowledge database that comes with it.

You could build this on a pi with a mic, speakers, some foss stt and tts engines and some basic training data. But it'll suck.

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