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The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

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Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#101

Post by C14L »

Washuu wrote: post #87
notyourwork wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Alexa, what's the weather?" This isn't too difficult. I know Google is well off in this space but Alexa is pretty damn good too.

"Alexa, what's the weather?" It proceeds to tell me the weather for a state over. "Alexa, set my location to XXXXX." It can't do that. Actually getting correct location details requires downloading a separate smart phone application and digging through its menus to figure out how to set the location for each individual Alexa device.

Same. Alexa insists to tell me the weather of the city I lived until a year ago. No idea how to inform her that I moved.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#102

Post by Mindwipe »

eh78ssxv2f wrote: post #48
cma wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds sort of like the lack of Youtube on Windows Phone.

Isn't it different though? Publishing YouTube app on Windows Phone requires Google to put extra effort into developing an app for a completely new platform which I assume requires lot of engineering effort. Selling Chromecast on Amazon probably does not cost Amazon any extra engineering effort. So, I do not believe that the two situations are equivalent.

It unquestionably requires engineering effort. And business effort to clear the rights.

It's fairly straightforward as these things go, but to suggest it doesn't require anything is flat out wrong.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#103

Post by andy_ppp »

Can we be absolutely certain that everything before “Ok, Google” or “Alexa” isn’t being recorded, by the companies or by back doors created by the security services? Seems too much like a telescreen for my liking.

The problem is I would love one I could trust!

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#104

Post by tonyedgecombe »

vlunkr wrote: post #56
mulletbum wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got new tires, but didn't buy a car, so they are worthless. That is basically what you are saying here. We both agree, it will tell you the weather, your commute, and play some music. Those are the things you grew tired of, but many people have their entire homes wired to these devices (me included). I don't use them daily, I use them hourly at home. It runs my sprinklers, lawn mowers, vacuums, lights, alarms, time…

Lawn mower? Have we crossed that line now? Sounds like a good premise for a horror movie.

You: Alexa mow the lawn and feed the cat.

Alexa hears: Mow the cat.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#105

Post by Mindwipe »

megablast wrote: post #83
geoffpado wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft put out their own YouTube app, no development needed from Google. Google then blocked that app: https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/15/4624706/google-blocks-win...

Sure, since Microsoft didn’t show any ads for google. I think Microsoft might be pissed if google started hosting free copies of their software on their servers.

And allowed downloads, putting Google at billions of dollars in liabilities on their music license agreements.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#107

Post by icc97 »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #76
dilap wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having to say "OK, Google" instead of just "Google" (or "Alexa") is a deal-breaker. Google's products don't feel like they are designed by humans.

"Google" is an extremely common word in casual conversation. Any human who tested a device that activated every time you said "Google" would quickly recommend a change to a less likely phrase.

I think the point is that Google shouldn't be in the name at all.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#108

Post by woolvalley »

fermienrico wrote: post #7

Google is miles ahead in terms of a conversational assistant. There is a lot of friction in using voice activated services. If I have a choice of typing "Weather in XXXXX zip" in the address bar vs. asking an assistant, I choose the former. Therefore, every time I use anything else but Google, I am afraid it won't recognize my command and I immediately feel like throwing that thing out of the window. I need to be 100…

I think a big reason why people chose the dot is the price. With a home mini you need to also buy a chromecast to use your speakers, while an echo dot has that aux out already.

Music is the universal killer app of these devices. My relative after talking to me basically chose the dot because of the above reason.

For myself, thats what I ended up using the dot for in my house. Music, weather, traffic & turning off some lights.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#109

Post by dawnerd »

jmgao wrote: post #71
dilap wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number of syllables isn't the problem, it's that prefixing every request with "OK," feels extremely unnatural -- almost like you're treating the Google assistant in a sardonic or sarcastic manner. (Also, "OK" is a very unnatural prefix! Notice how you accidentally replaced it with "hey". I watched a 7 year repeatedly do this a couple of days ago with Google Home, concluding it was broken. Compare w/ Alexa, which…

AFAIK, 'Hey Google' as a hotword was supported on the Google Home from the beginning.

It's what I started with and didn't even realize okay google was also valid. I wish they'd just let us designate our own, or at least give more choices.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#110

Post by icc97 »

jmgao wrote: post #71
dilap wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The number of syllables isn't the problem, it's that prefixing every request with "OK," feels extremely unnatural -- almost like you're treating the Google assistant in a sardonic or sarcastic manner. (Also, "OK" is a very unnatural prefix! Notice how you accidentally replaced it with "hey". I watched a 7 year repeatedly do this a couple of days ago with Google Home, concluding it was broken. Compare w/ Alexa, which…

AFAIK, 'Hey Google' as a hotword was supported on the Google Home from the beginning.

But that's still pretty terrible, they now have to support both 'OK Google' and 'Hey Google' and 'XXX Google' for all other countries.
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