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Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

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Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#141

Post by TeMPOraL »

neilpanchal wrote: post #65
askvictor wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More important than the button is the status indicator - I need to know if the call is muted or not. Even better, promote it to an OS-level icon/badge/overlay. If my mic is actively in use, please make it blindingly obvious.

It's a toggle switch. The action and its current status is combined.

And then I have to keep hovering over the icon and guessing from the tooltip whether I'm muted or not. Unfortunately, different software tends to be inconsistent with toggle buttons - sometimes the icon tells you what is, sometimes it tells you what will happen if you click it.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#142

Post by coding_unit_1 »

mcv wrote: post #139
systemvoltage wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this sort of a Fizz Buzz for a UX/UI design professional? I don't mean to demean anyone, but I see this sort of a thing literally everywhere. Hiding important and absolutely crucial information (that can make or break your product) in the name of minimalism. Coming out of a company that has one of the highest hiring bars for software engineering, and yet, their products have such an awful UX/UI. This isn't an e…

Exactly. Everybody does this. In anything using video, UI elements apparently need to be hidden as much as possible. In virtual meetings, Youtube, and it's often an option in games. And sometimes it's great, because you get to focus on the content, and sometimes it's not, because you lose control. It's something that should be optional or configurable. It's great to have shortcuts for the most common commands (like s…

I don't disagree, but all the video conferencing tools have a shortcut for mute/unmute. Google Meet included (Cmd+D on a Mac).

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#143

Post by roel_v »

jcims wrote: post #81
TacoSteemers wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have similar problems with Zoom. The mute/unmute changes position and can be hidden in a top bar that slides out. In some fullscreen situations there is no button to get out of fullscreen. Sometimes double-click works, sometimes it doesn't. Recently I could not even alt-tab away, basically my computer got 'locked' by zoom. https://tacosteemers.com/articles/2020-10-16-ux-anti-pattern...

I imagine most know this by now but the space bar works as a push to talk button in Zoom (as long as it has focus of course). I really think there is a market for a physical video conference controller. If I could get a hefty slab of something with quality buttons to enable/disable video, push to talk/mute/unmute, bring to foreground, ‘on air’ light and end call, I’d easily pay $100 for it.

These exist, e.g. the Elgato Stream Deck. It's basically a keypad with x buttons (there are various versions) that each are small lcd displays that you can program to show and do anything you want (so you can make it do the 'on air' display thing you mention). Its main use case is for streamers to switch between scenes in their streaming software, but I use it for video conferencing (with OBS's virtual camera) to switch between full-screen camera view and desktop sharing, and do stuff like mute/unmute etc.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#144

Post by jcims »

Spoom wrote: post #129
jcims wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine most know this by now but the space bar works as a push to talk button in Zoom (as long as it has focus of course). I really think there is a market for a physical video conference controller. If I could get a hefty slab of something with quality buttons to enable/disable video, push to talk/mute/unmute, bring to foreground, ‘on air’ light and end call, I’d easily pay $100 for it.

These exist, but they're quite a bit more expensive. They're really nice to have though, and one reason I sometimes miss the office. https://meetingdevices.withgoogle.com/ I bet there is similar hardware the works with Zoom. Googler, opinions my own.

Yes! I worked at Crittenden Lane about five years ago and really liked the hardware at the time. The whole thing was eye-opening for me, how seamlessly I could meet with folks whether they were in Zurich or on the second floor...I imagine it has only got better since then.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#145

Post by TeMPOraL »

raverbashing wrote: post #135
helpfulgoogler wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not what you asked for, but you can mute/unmute quickly with the keyboard shortcut: ⌘/Ctrl + d

Zoom at least uses Cmd+Shift-A for Audio and V for Video But as the recent Google Icon kerfuffle, UI/UX is not their strength (probably because of opinionated technical people that think you need to A/B shades of blue)

Teams uses something equally silly, like Ctrl+Shift+M for mute/unmute, IIRC.

Which is pretty annoying, because the mute button is about the most important button in a videoconferencing tool, and I want to have it under a single keypress, so it can be used effortlessly, with my left hand (the same that operates Alt+Tab, while my right hand is on the mouse, scrolling ... well, meeting agenda, let's say).

I'd fix that for myself with AutoHotkey, but I can't, because Teams is just another Electron app, so I can't just look at which UI component has the focus to create a rule, "if focused on Teams video call and not its chat, rebind M to Ctrl+Shift+M".

One of the countless reasons I hate it when people do custom UI, instead of using OS-provided controls.

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#147

Post by jcims »

roel_v wrote: post #143
jcims wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine most know this by now but the space bar works as a push to talk button in Zoom (as long as it has focus of course). I really think there is a market for a physical video conference controller. If I could get a hefty slab of something with quality buttons to enable/disable video, push to talk/mute/unmute, bring to foreground, ‘on air’ light and end call, I’d easily pay $100 for it.

These exist, e.g. the Elgato Stream Deck. It's basically a keypad with x buttons (there are various versions) that each are small lcd displays that you can program to show and do anything you want (so you can make it do the 'on air' display thing you mention). Its main use case is for streamers to switch between scenes in their streaming software, but I use it for video conferencing (with OBS's virtual camera) to swi…

Whoa the mini is perfect! One in stock at the local geek shop, definitely going to pick it up. Thank you!!!

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#149

Post by hrktb »

jonex wrote: post #130
hrktb wrote: post #76

I don’t understand this part: > In the current version, model inference is executed on the client’s CPU for low power consumption and widest device coverage. Naively I would think model inference done server side would have the lower CPU power (from the client point of view) and widest device coverage (client does nothing more), what am I missing ?

It is done on the CPU instead of the GPU. GPU would seem like the natural choice for a convolution heavy model but was not used here for the mentioned reasons.

Thanks, it makes sense

Re: Background Features in Google Meet, Powered by Web ML

#150

Post by magicalhippo »

coding_unit_1 wrote: post #142
mcv wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Everybody does this. In anything using video, UI elements apparently need to be hidden as much as possible. In virtual meetings, Youtube, and it's often an option in games. And sometimes it's great, because you get to focus on the content, and sometimes it's not, because you lose control. It's something that should be optional or configurable. It's great to have shortcuts for the most common commands (like s…

I don't disagree, but all the video conferencing tools have a shortcut for mute/unmute. Google Meet included (Cmd+D on a Mac).

But what's the shortcut for the random conference tool the organizers of this meeting decided to use?

Just make it visible. It's supposed to be a tool, function over form.

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