Start building Actions on Google • Hacker News Board

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#21

Post by jaxondu » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 6:51 PM UTC

jasonallen wrote: post #3

Amazon lost the phone and tablet wars, so they shifted their focus to the voice assistant market, and are now ahead of competitors with their Alexa skills SDK. It's great to see Google now step up too. I expect Microsoft and Apple follow suit. It's pretty easy to imagine how one could port simple 'voice command' apps between platforms ('hey, order a pizza/uber/etc...). Over time, however, these platforms should emerg…

> I expect Microsoft and Apple follow suit.

Apple already has SiriKit since iOS 10. I believe you can order an Uber ride with Siri, never tried, I don't use Siri.

https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/content/docum...

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#22

Post by julianpye » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 7:08 PM UTC

pkates wrote: post #17

API.AI is really great but I really don't like this UX. From using and developing for the Amazon Echo for the last year or so this "Conversational" setup just sounds super unnatural. You want bus times: Amazon: "Alexa, ask [nextbus] [for the next bus]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [nextbus] when is the next bus?" Perfect: "[keyword], when is the next bus?" (context set in advance for the specific bus you care…

Spot on! At the core of the bot trend is the fact that users do not want to navigate through menus anymore. They are tired of searching for that one icon on screen after screen so they can enable a function. So they just want an interaction at the root that feels natural and gets them to the goal quickly.

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#23

Post by vthallam » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 7:08 PM UTC

pkates wrote: post #17

API.AI is really great but I really don't like this UX. From using and developing for the Amazon Echo for the last year or so this "Conversational" setup just sounds super unnatural. You want bus times: Amazon: "Alexa, ask [nextbus] [for the next bus]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [nextbus] when is the next bus?" Perfect: "[keyword], when is the next bus?" (context set in advance for the specific bus you care…

I don't think that the newly released Actions always expect a conversation. In scenarios where it makes sense to just reply with an answer you can still do that. I am guessing you just have to use something like 'Hey Google, can you check when is the next bus to SFO on "

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#24

Post by hirsin » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 7:12 PM UTC

Ajedi32 wrote: post #4

Pretty neat, but from a user's perspective I'm a little disappointed that the current implementation seems to require me to explicitly tell Google what app I want to interact with. I'd rather be able to just ask Google "Find me a movie ticket for Rogue One on Thursday" and have it be able to infer that I want to use the movie tickets app installed on my phone, than for me to have to explicitly say "Let me talk to Fan…

The problem with protocol activation is that there are a million different endpoints and you either

* Keep a list of every single one that apps can opt into. This is how you end up with "midsized_sedan_carwashing" in an enum list. It's a developer drain for Google/Microsoft/Amazon and creates "wait for the next release for 'largetruck_carwashing' so you can release your app".

* Let apps run wild and claim any protocol (in this case, the word "movie ticket") they like. This is how you get malware claiming the .pdf or http:// protocols.

* Let certain special apps run wild. This is how you end up with "Buy Tickets With Fandango" advertised on the side of the box while Brown Paper Tickets or another startup is left in the cold/ "ask brown paper tickets for..."

No solutions here, it's a hard space if you want to protect users but also enable developers equally. In the first two cases you also need to create confusing UI for the user to select which app they want for movies vs drycleaning.

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#25

Post by ausjke » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 7:16 PM UTC

Any info on the pricing? Amazon always has its pricing info along with any announcements. and yes I like this chatboot API from google, to compete with amazon lex/polly. Competition will bring out the best for developers.

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#26

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 7:23 PM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #5

jasonallen wrote: post #3

Amazon lost the phone and tablet wars, so they shifted their focus to the voice assistant market, and are now ahead of competitors with their Alexa skills SDK. It's great to see Google now step up too. I expect Microsoft and Apple follow suit. It's pretty easy to imagine how one could port simple 'voice command' apps between platforms ('hey, order a pizza/uber/etc...). Over time, however, these platforms should emerg…

Google Now is about 95% of the way there on the sports thing (it is always showing me information about a couple of teams it knows I am interested in, including game status).

[deleted]

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#27

Post by drampelt » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 7:25 PM UTC

pkates wrote: post #17

API.AI is really great but I really don't like this UX. From using and developing for the Amazon Echo for the last year or so this "Conversational" setup just sounds super unnatural. You want bus times: Amazon: "Alexa, ask [nextbus] [for the next bus]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [nextbus] when is the next bus?" Perfect: "[keyword], when is the next bus?" (context set in advance for the specific bus you care…

From the documentation, they also support Amazon Echo style actions such as "Tell Personal Chef to find me chicken recipes" or "Ask $name to $action_phrase".

See https://developers.google.com/actions/distribute/invocation-...

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#28

Post by refulgentis » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 7:29 PM UTC

pkates wrote: post #17

API.AI is really great but I really don't like this UX. From using and developing for the Amazon Echo for the last year or so this "Conversational" setup just sounds super unnatural. You want bus times: Amazon: "Alexa, ask [nextbus] [for the next bus]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [nextbus] when is the next bus?" Perfect: "[keyword], when is the next bus?" (context set in advance for the specific bus you care…

It's a nod to Siri requiring the app name, Siri API was punted from iOS 9 to add that, it was considered a privacy risk.

I don't agree FWIW.

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#29

Post by agildehaus » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 7:39 PM UTC

sorenjan wrote: post #7

Why won't they release Assistant for all Android phones? Nobody uses Allo, and Pixel is a small minority of the market.

> Pixel is a small minority of the market

Exactly that. They're trying to promote Pixel phones by making Assistant an exclusive feature.

Re: Start building Actions on Google

#30

Post by TeMPOraL » Thu, Dec 08, 2016, 7:43 PM UTC

hirsin wrote: post #24

Ajedi32 wrote: post #4

Pretty neat, but from a user's perspective I'm a little disappointed that the current implementation seems to require me to explicitly tell Google what app I want to interact with. I'd rather be able to just ask Google "Find me a movie ticket for Rogue One on Thursday" and have it be able to infer that I want to use the movie tickets app installed on my phone, than for me to have to explicitly say "Let me talk to Fan…

The problem with protocol activation is that there are a million different endpoints and you either * Keep a list of every single one that apps can opt into. This is how you end up with "midsized_sedan_carwashing" in an enum list. It's a developer drain for Google/Microsoft/Amazon and creates "wait for the next release for 'largetruck_carwashing' so you can release your app". * Let apps run wild and claim any protoco…

That's why personally I want a fully configurable system in which I myself do the #3. But this ain't gonna happen, because nobody is building anything for advanced users anymore :<.