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Google Home

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Re: Google Home

#31

Post by martincmartin »

pbnjay wrote: post #5

I find it odd that Google is going to take so long to get this out the door - "later this year" seems like ages. Did they start on the hardware that late? Amazon has what, 6 months to get more competitive on the search/trivia front? or this is going to kill it.

The hardware for this is the easiest part. Understanding voice that's far from the microphone (sound gets muffled, echos off walls, etc.), with other sounds in the background, is significantly harder than understanding speech near the microphone.

Re: Google Home

#32

Post by t0mbstone »

Please, please, please be a completely open, extensible platform...

I want to be able to control my Apple TV with my Google Home device.

I want to be able to control my Phillips Hue and LiFX bulbs.

I want to be able to build my own custom home automation server endpoints and point my Google Home commands at them.

I want to be able to remote start my car with a voice command.

I want to be able to control my Harmony remote, and all of the devices connected to my Harmony hub.

I want to be able to access my Google calendar.

I want to be able to make hands-free phone calls to anyone on my Google contacts.

If my grandmother falls, I want her to be able to call 911 by talking to the Google Home device.

I want to be able to ask wolfram alpha questions by voice.

I want to be able to have a back-and-forth conversation to arrive at a conclusion. I don't want to have to say a perfectly formulated command like, "Add an event to my calendar on Jan 1, 2016 at 2:00 pm titled go to the pool party". I want to be able to say, "Can you add an event to my calendar?", and then answer a series of questions. I hate having to formulate complex commands as a single sentence.

I want to be able to have a Google Home device in each room, without having to give each one its own wake-up word. Just have the closest one to me respond to my voice (based on how well it can hear me).

I want to be able to play music on all of my Google Home devices at the same time, and have the music perfectly synchronized.

This is my wish list. I am currently able to do more than half of these items with Amazon Echo, but I had to do a bunch of hacking and it was a pain in the ass.

If Google Home can deliver on these points, I would switch from Amazon Echo in a heartbeat.

Re: Google Home

#33

Post by profmonocle »

vox_mollis wrote: post #11
free2rhyme214 wrote: post #10

Competition against Amazon Echo is always positive for consumers.

Perhaps, but bear in mind that Google is a PRISM partner, whereas Amazon is not. The NSA will likely record every sound from your house, if you own this. Edit: Downvoters, please educate me on where I am wrong. Thanks.

> The NSA will likely record every sound from your house, if you own this.

It would be very easy to detect something fishy was going on. Even if the device was locked down and the connection was encrypted, they couldn't hide it if the device was uploading large volumes of data with no explanation.

Re: Google Home

#34

Post by castis »

vox_mollis wrote: post #11
free2rhyme214 wrote: post #10

Competition against Amazon Echo is always positive for consumers.

Perhaps, but bear in mind that Google is a PRISM partner, whereas Amazon is not. The NSA will likely record every sound from your house, if you own this. Edit: Downvoters, please educate me on where I am wrong. Thanks.

If I had to fathom a guess, your downvotes may spring from "The NSA will likely record every sound from your house".

I don't know much on all the subjects that would converge over _the NSA storing all the audio from everyones house_ but it seems unlikely. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about though.

Re: Google Home

#35

Post by cookiecaper »

vox_mollis wrote: post #11
free2rhyme214 wrote: post #10

Competition against Amazon Echo is always positive for consumers.

Perhaps, but bear in mind that Google is a PRISM partner, whereas Amazon is not. The NSA will likely record every sound from your house, if you own this. Edit: Downvoters, please educate me on where I am wrong. Thanks.

I upvoted you before you went grey because I do think that's a salient point, but I would guess you're being downvoted because the suggestion that the NSA will record the activity in your home around the clock is considered excessively paranoid. These devices usually perform hotword detection locally and don't start sending data up to the cloud until the hotword is spoken, at which point they capture only a few seconds of audio.

Beyond that, there's really no difference between Google Home and a Nexus phone. If Google wanted to record all of the audio around you, they're already equipped to do so for like 50% of the population that runs Android (and there has been speculation that intel agencies are able to remotely activate cell phone microphones and listen in).

Re: Google Home

#36

Post by angryasian »

balls187 wrote: post #15
free2rhyme214 wrote: post #10

Competition against Amazon Echo is always positive for consumers.

Yes, except I trust Google FAR less than I trust Amazon--simply because Google has permeated in many more facets of my digital life (gdocs, gmail, chrome, maps, search, etc). Amazon just has my shopping history.

Actually I would believe that your purchase history is far more lucrative to a company than anything else you listed.

Re: Google Home

#37

Post by demian0311 »

izolate wrote: post #6

Looks like something that should've been under the Nest brand. Whatever happened to that?

You're right. When I got the Nest products I assumed Google would foster integration with them. If I can't raise my Nest thermometer by voice with this then that'll be Google training me once again to not invest in their platforms.

Re: Google Home

#38

Post by balls187 »

buddylw wrote: post #29
balls187 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, except I trust Google FAR less than I trust Amazon--simply because Google has permeated in many more facets of my digital life (gdocs, gmail, chrome, maps, search, etc). Amazon just has my shopping history.

I don't really 'trust' either company, but the fact that I'm in so deep with Google already makes me less hesitant to add this one thing. Google already knows me. I've basically slept with Google, so seeing me naked is just not a big deal. If Google uses that against me or gets compromised by a third party I'm screwed anyway and the transcripts from my living room will be the least of my worries.

Interesting take. I should rephrase this to say--I am less interested in allowing google to profit even more from me.

Re: Google Home

#39

Post by angryasian »

deprave wrote: post #28

A company that makes money by collecting and selling access to personal information about people is offering to put a microphone in your home. If you need a product like this, for the sake of your privacy, buy an Echo.

Lets stop this nonsense. They don't sell access to your personal information. There is nowhere that I can buy your personal information from google. What they sell is access to your attention. When advertising, I'm looking for people that match these characteristics, and what I'm purchasing is the possibility to show you an ad if you match certain criteria.

Re: Google Home

#40

Post by swalsh »

As somoene who runs a small ecommerce company i'm really hoping the next platform is open, and not owned by Amazon (or Google). I sell products where purchasing them would be fantastic via a voice interface. If Amazon owns it though, there's no way I'm going to get any fraction of that business. The ownership of these voice platforms is a huge risk for market competition. The voice interface naturally lends itself to "choose the first choice that fits my paramters, and let's go with it". If you say "Alexa, book me a taxi to the airport". Alexa chooses who takes you. Being the priority choice is a huge advantage for whoever wins that. It's just so much power in the hands of so few. It's the opposite of what the internet should've been.
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