Ask HN: What do you wish digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) could do?

#1

Post by raybb » Sat, Nov 26, 2016, 7:59 PM UTC

I mostly use Allo/Google Now but I've spent time playing with Cortana and Siri as well. Some random things I wish they could do include: Tell me when the high/low tides will be. Do things at a later time (tomorrow at 5 message Jack to bring the frisbee) Of course we'd all like a good API to make our own stuff.

What would you want the assistants to do that would make them more helpful?

Re: Ask HN: What do you wish digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) could do?

#2

Post by Eridrus » Sat, Nov 26, 2016, 8:16 PM UTC

Control my TV, Roku and sound bar so that I never have to look for the damn remote or open the Roku app again.

Re: Ask HN: What do you wish digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) could do?

#3

Post by krautjakob » Sat, Nov 26, 2016, 9:06 PM UTC

I'd be happy if Siri were finally able to understand a proper sentence at least most of the time. That would be helpful.

Re: Ask HN: What do you wish digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) could do?

#4

Post by tooFastFuckYou » Sat, Nov 26, 2016, 9:14 PM UTC

Suck a mean...

Get my toaster to talk to my dishwasher! Or my refrigerator to talk to my oven!

Oh wait, those were the stupid selling points for "home automation" that haven't changed in 20 years...

Um... open the pod-bay doors?

Re: Ask HN: What do you wish digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) could do?

#5

Post by canuckintime » Sat, Nov 26, 2016, 9:15 PM UTC

krautjakob wrote: post #3

I'd be happy if Siri were finally able to understand a proper sentence at least most of the time. That would be helpful.

It's odd that you still can't directly type to Siri, even on the Mac. (You can indirectly type by 'editing' a previous voice query).

The compeitors: Cortana accepts both voice and text input. Google Now/Allo does too (although the new Assistant in the Pixel is only voice though). Alexa is only voice.

Re: Ask HN: What do you wish digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) could do?

#6

Post by jjcm » Sat, Nov 26, 2016, 9:18 PM UTC

More open/extensible APIs. I want to be able to register my own actions with them with ease. Right now Alexa seems to be the most flexible, but even then you gotta do some serious hacking to get it to work.

Another thing I was working on at Microsoft back in the day was contextual deep voice search mixed with touch. Essentially the UI pattern was tap and hold on an app, then speak. The voice command would be sent directly to the app itself so you could have it be recognized by it. Example: hold your finger on the pictures app and say, "show me Mike". It'd then bring up pictures of Mike.

Re: Ask HN: What do you wish digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) could do?

#7

Post by Linell » Sat, Nov 26, 2016, 9:18 PM UTC

I really wish that Alexa could handle push notifications. "Your order is leaving Domino's Pizza now" would be great.

Re: Ask HN: What do you wish digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) could do?

#8

Post by johnchristopher » Sat, Nov 26, 2016, 9:19 PM UTC

I whish Internet access wasn't needed for basic tasks like "play that song".

Re: Ask HN: What do you wish digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) could do?

#9

Post by douche » Sat, Nov 26, 2016, 9:22 PM UTC

Go away. I'm starting to feel like I won't be able to buy a toaster that won't have a personal assistant shoehorn ed into it in a few years.

Maybe I can set them up in a circle and let them babble away to each other?

Re: Ask HN: What do you wish digital assistants (Siri, Alexa, etc.) could do?

#10

Post by cosmouser » Sat, Nov 26, 2016, 9:27 PM UTC

I'd really appreciate a good cooking or baking assistant.