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Alexa, why have you charged me £2 to say the Hail Mary?

theguardian.com

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Re: Alexa, why have you charged me £2 to say the Hail Mary?

#121

Post by vidarh »

rgrieselhuber wrote: post #96
probably_wrong wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the risk of sounding like a drug dealer, have you tried one? The main reason why I'll probably never buy an Alexa is because it sucks at the specific things I need it to do, but I concede that there's something liberating about just yelling at the computer and getting a reply. If I'm about to leave and I don't know which jacket to pick, being able to yell "Alexa, what's the weather like?" keeps me from switching c…

I just don't see those tradeoffs adding up for me. My days in the Bay Area taught me to dress in layers and always have extra layers when going out anyway, although I know it was just one example you were giving. I don't even like to speak around them because I assume they are archiving every voice sample forever.

That's the thing, you won't really know how much they add up until you start using one. Even then it took a long time before I used it as much as I do now. My son uses it even more, e.g. preferring to ask it to do maths rather than opening up a calculator app.

But frankly "hands free" timers/reminders/alarms alone is enough of a killer feature for me alone.

Re: Alexa, why have you charged me £2 to say the Hail Mary?

#122

Post by Ekaros »

RileyJames wrote: post #14
feintruled wrote: post #6

I don't think this particular incident is any kind of big deal, though it's funny. It was only a £1.99 a month and there was a 7-day free trial anyway. Amazon say they emailed about it as confirmation. I think the issue it shows is how you can't trust voice control for anything important. It's just a bad interface for buying stuff particularly. If I am buying some dog food, I search dog food, glance over the options,…

> “Amazon say they emailed about it as confirmation.“ The elderly woman stated she didn’t own a computer, or know how to use one. Yes, it’s an edge case.

How was the account setup in first place? Did she go to store, pick up device. Go home and read it her information and credit card number to create an account?

Re: Alexa, why have you charged me £2 to say the Hail Mary?

#123

Post by vidarh »

retrac wrote: post #36
haunter wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's incredibly useful for people with disabilities

I can see that. But I hope it never becomes standard. I find them aggravating because of my disability. An acquaintance has made every light in their home integrated into Google's services. I have a mild speech impediment and Google seems incapable of recognising my speech as speech. "Hey Google. HEY GOOGLE. Hey Gooooogle! Turn off the lights." I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. "Hey Goooooooogle! Turn. Off. The. Lights…

This is a problem because your acquaintance have used smart bulbs instead of replacing their switches with smart switches. Lightwave rf switches and similar can be controlled with Google/Alexa or their own app, but still have buttons to push as well. I absolutely understand your frustration with that.

In terms of understanding, it'll improve. I have a broad Scandinavian accent. My Alexa handles that just fine for the most part. It's not more than a few years ago most speech recognition struggled with that (I remember a phone booking line that insisted on recognising me saying "London" as "Birmingham")

Re: Alexa, why have you charged me £2 to say the Hail Mary?

#124

Post by Ekaros »

mdp2021 wrote: post #21

> set up by my sister... and is attached to her... account > can inadvertently enter into premium subscriptions simply by saying yes So this individual (sister to a journalist at the Guardian, which facilitates information spreading and highlights the possibility of under the radar cases) gives somebody else a voice controlled machine linked to a credit card. What could possibly.

Reminds me of having accounts for kids with the payment details...

Re: Alexa, why have you charged me £2 to say the Hail Mary?

#125

Post by feintruled »

Agentlien wrote: post #70
ghaff wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voice control is mostly pretty disappointing. Setting an alarm, playing an album, getting a quick weather forecast? OK. But something more complicated where you really would like good voice control--like when driving--not so much. For example, with podcasts, I find I really need to pre-populate a playlist and by and large I find trying to totally control my phone by voice is very hit and miss. Voice assistants have g…

I tried using Google Assistant a few years ago and it was so frustrating in some dumb ways. A notable example was when I tried using it to make a call. I told it to call my wife, by name, and it couldn't understand her name at all. So I said "call my wife" and it asked who my wife is. I couldn't answer with voice, because it still didn't understand her name. But it did give me a popup to select her from my address bo…

I had the same problem funny enough! My wife has an Irish name that Google cannot pronounce (Alexa is much better in this one area) so I can't message her unless I try to match the mispronunciation (which I balk at out of self-respect) but it allows you to set nicknames for people. So I gave my wife, the nickname 'my wife'. I had to use the UI to do that, and even then, do I really trust Google to message the right person?

Re: Alexa, why have you charged me £2 to say the Hail Mary?

#126

Post by mdp2021 »

vidarh wrote: post #120
mdp2021 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> HN is a diverse bunch. There are lots of non-technical people here. But even ignoring that, there's a hell of a difference between 'knowing to how to code' and 'knowing how to write an Android app' Absolutely, and absolutely. But if one is keen on QoL boosts, coding remains a foremost helpful skill, and currently coding for mobile devices is a further booster. > several evenings ... and a lot more I would suggest t…

> is probably lower than you seem to suggest (if you are already proficient in Java) So in other words it's probably not lower than suggested. And certainly higher than the skills required to order and plug in a home assistant that offers a superior interface (doesn't require clean and free hands)

True it is that the technologist engineers, in a way, to celebrate laziness. But on the other hand, it does not take a hacker to «order and plug in».

Now, the context is more on drawbacks, and it was the very poster to note an intention to «replace [it] with something fully local».

Re: Alexa, why have you charged me £2 to say the Hail Mary?

#127

Post by breakfastduck »

jsjohnst wrote: post #53
ghaff wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For that matter, my measuring cups have both imperial and metric units and my digital scale handles both as well. Seems far more foolproof than doing a lot of unit conversions.

Yup. Like I don’t even get the conversion argument at all. “1 cup of flour weighs 125g”. Except when the recipe was using something other than all purpose flour. I’ve had Alexa incorrectly hear the specifics necessary to answer those type questions too many times to ever trust it, let alone to take the preposterous stance that Alexa is the only way to solve the problem.

Not a single person arguing against you has ever said it's the only way.

You just can't comprehend the fact some people think it's more convenient to use a voice triggered device when cooking than have numerous conversion charts or multiple measuring devices (especially in kitchens where space is at a premium. Let alone messy hands).

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