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Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

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Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#141

Post by taco_emoji »

portmanteaufu wrote: post #103
abakker wrote: post #87

The problem is that Alexa is just a consumer voice command line. UI discoverability is impossible, and everything that you can do is just a utility that does something else. There are no native apps because everything that it can do is just an IO to something else. If they actually get conversational, this will change, but until then, it’s just a command line with no man page.

> The problem is that Alexa is just a consumer voice command line. UI discoverability is impossible, and everything that you can do is just a utility that does something else. In a way, I think it's even worse than that. I've used Alexa since the Echo was a relatively new product. Back then, I experimented with new phrases and commands often, but was frequently greeted with wrong answers or "Sorry, I don't know how t…

These devices have a huge marketing problem. Like the Alexa commercial that shows somebody pausing a Prime TV show to order something from the Amazon store. Cool, I guess--except I can already order stuff while watching TV by using my smartphone, so the value proposition is completely absent.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#142

Post by chipotle_coyote »

gdne wrote: post #20

The problem is the interface. Voice commands and their responses are linear, one dimensional. It’s difficult to represent complex interaction within that scope. Think of all the investment that has gone into telephone based automated customer support. The best interface conceived so far is the dreaded phone tree. That’s essentially the same interface smart speakers are exposing. The opportunity is to figure out how t…

Well, imagine a goal-based system. The first utterance to a voice assistant provides some inputs and a goal, like booking an Uber, but if you haven't provided all the inputs it needs to meet the goal, the assistant knows how to ask for more information, and also saves enough state to let you modify (or cancel) requests after the fact. This is arguably more advanced than a phone tree; you're not just giving keywords to advance along the branches.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#143

Post by tomc1985 »

melling wrote: post #130
tomc1985 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, which is how much of the world still lives. Spotty internet access at best

That’s why you don’t see rapid iteration in the rest of the world. Google, Apple, Amazon can update their voice devices continuously without a local software release. If the next generation voice algorithms needs twice as much hardware, your $30 device will still work because the processing is in the cloud. Video games, for example, have been trying to move to the cloud. Put all the code in the cloud and just send th…

I don't want rapid (rabid?) iteration, I want shit that works.

"The cloud" is little more than a hyped-up, glorified business objective; human beings shouldn't have to be connected to the hive mind to enjoy the full benefits of technology. Nothing smacks of SV-style elitism more than the proliferation of "the cloud"

And you can pry my locally-installed videogames from my cold-dead hands. I hope every single streaming startup in that sector fails spectacularly.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#144

Post by mFixman »

StevePerkins wrote: post #18

My Echo was an interesting novelty at first. But a couple years in now, it is essentially (in order of usefulness): 1. An alarm clock / kitchen timer 2. A thing that tells me the weather report during morning coffee, so I know what to wear 3. A DJ that my kids yell at to play pop music If it died tomorrow, I'd probably just go back to using my phone for these 3 things rather than buy a new one. I can't imagine gettin…

4. An interface that allows me to listen to the ratio or to podcasts without having to touch (and potentially get distracted by) my cellphone.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#146

Post by taco_emoji »

zwkrt wrote: post #136

I was taking with a friend who said ,"people use Alexa like a toaster, we haven't found what this interface will be really good at" But what if it /is/ just a toaster? Tech people tend to have high hopes for technology but technology must serve a purpose and it will go the way of the dodo if the purpose of not strong or clear. For me, having a voice interface for music and calls is enough justification for such a dev…

I don't think it's enough justification--you can get a "dumb" bluetooth- or wifi-enabled speaker to hook up with the voice-enabled smartphone you already have in your pocket. The value proposition for an Alexa or Google Home has to be over and above that functionality.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#147

Post by sp332 »

abakker wrote: post #87

The problem is that Alexa is just a consumer voice command line. UI discoverability is impossible, and everything that you can do is just a utility that does something else. There are no native apps because everything that it can do is just an IO to something else. If they actually get conversational, this will change, but until then, it’s just a command line with no man page.

There are native apps, but I don't know how compelling they are yet. https://medium.com/@james3burke/creating-stories-using-amazo...

Edit: there's also a third-party skill that will let you play old-school adventure/interactive fiction games. https://www.amazon.com/Vitaly-Lishchenko-Interactive-Fiction...

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#148

Post by sp332 »

Spare_account wrote: post #88
aedron wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, in two years our Google Home has only 'misfired' once, and that was when someone on TV said 'Hey Google'. It is in the living room and sees heavy use by a family of five.

> our Google Home has only 'misfired' once ... when someone on TV said 'Hey Google' Is that a misfire? It reacted to the trigger phrase. Have you trained it to only react to your voice (I know that's an option for Google assistant, but I didn't do it for mine).

Amazon added a real-time sanity check, so if too many Echo devices are triggered with similar sounds within a few hundred milliseconds, it will ignore them. This was after some TV ads or shows had intentionally abused it.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#149

Post by cbsks »

empath75 wrote: post #131
sandworm101 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "Hey, we know you tried to ask your Echo to report its volume level before and it didn't work This makes me shudder. Such a functionality would mean that they stored your failed request in some sort of database, a database that they later used to send you a personalized marketing email. A machine cataloging our voice for later inspection is a very dark future. Alexa should delete and scrub any iota of voice that i…

They are 100% storing everything and so is google. You can actually go to google and replay all the recordings they have saved of you.

You can also replay the audio from all your Alexa commands in the app. In iOS it’s in Settings -> Alexa Account -> History.

Re: Amazon’s Alexa Has 80k Apps and No Runaway Hit

#150

Post by justusthane »

sp332 wrote: post #148
Spare_account wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> our Google Home has only 'misfired' once ... when someone on TV said 'Hey Google' Is that a misfire? It reacted to the trigger phrase. Have you trained it to only react to your voice (I know that's an option for Google assistant, but I didn't do it for mine).

Amazon added a real-time sanity check, so if too many Echo devices are triggered with similar sounds within a few hundred milliseconds, it will ignore them. This was after some TV ads or shows had intentionally abused it.

Wow! That feels kind of insane, but makes so much sense.
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