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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

#31

Post by kevinmchugh »

dev_north_east wrote: post #8
gtsteve wrote: post #6

I bought an Echo speaker when they first came out. The sound quality is impressive (to my untrained ear), but the development experience is not. The first thing I wanted to do was to add a feature so I could add a task to my to-do list software which is not supported by Alexa. It turns out that you cannot construct a sentence along the lines of "Tell Asana to add a task: ". You can't actually have a 'slot' which cont…

> I normally have it on mute because I find it activates and starts recording private conversations. What?!

It can mistrigger on phrases like "take a left on" or "they got a Lexus". My parents have one and get a kick out of the misactivations.

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

#32

Post by lbacaj »

Anecdotally a developer friend of mine strongly suspects, most people, are like him and not actually using these home speakers very much.

I’ve been working on a an Audio App that reads any articles to you for iOS/Android and planned to bring it to the Echo and he seems to suggest my efforts are totally wasted. Although their market reach seems to be massive, likely related to their cheap price, not surprised by this article that their actual usage is incredibly low. Most people seem to buy them and then forget about them.

As a shameless self plug, if you would like to check out my app that reads articles to you using beautiful sounding AI/ML, find it here:

https://articulu.com

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

#33

Post by i_am_nomad »

Maybe the problem is with the entire concept of distinct, discrete apps. Voice as an “interface” is based around conversation, not functional blocks and clickable items. A truly enjoyable and useful Alexa would have a conversation with you - even if a practical and transactional one - and the various functions and “apps” would be woven seamlessly into that, just as a human assistant might learn a new skill and work it helpfully into the conversation.

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

#34

Post by ctruelson »

lbacaj wrote: post #32

Anecdotally a developer friend of mine strongly suspects, most people, are like him and not actually using these home speakers very much. I’ve been working on a an Audio App that reads any articles to you for iOS/Android and planned to bring it to the Echo and he seems to suggest my efforts are totally wasted. Although their market reach seems to be massive, likely related to their cheap price, not surprised by this…

Curious, are the articles dictated by a human or a machine?

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

#35

Post by sigi45 »

lbacaj wrote: post #32

Anecdotally a developer friend of mine strongly suspects, most people, are like him and not actually using these home speakers very much. I’ve been working on a an Audio App that reads any articles to you for iOS/Android and planned to bring it to the Echo and he seems to suggest my efforts are totally wasted. Although their market reach seems to be massive, likely related to their cheap price, not surprised by this…

I'm using the timer, alarm, hue integration for my lights, music and weather.

Those are by far my killer features why i use it and why i like it.

I haven't looked at any amazon skill store as i don't see any reason for it.

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

#36

Post by mcdan »

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…

This is right. No none has yet written “The Design of Everyday Things” for voice interaction. We just don’t know what works yet so we are redoing what was done before.

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

#37

Post by sigi45 »

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…

Novelity for sure but i use the timer/alarm clock so frequently, that i will rebuy a new one if the old one breaks.

I use it for: - I have to go in 1h but i only need 30 minutes to prepare the leave so timer for 30minutes - Pizza / food - short nap - for learning

And quite often.

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

#38

Post by dev_north_east »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #31
dev_north_east wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I normally have it on mute because I find it activates and starts recording private conversations. What?!

It can mistrigger on phrases like "take a left on" or "they got a Lexus". My parents have one and get a kick out of the misactivations.

Wow. I was under the mistaken impression that the devices were more robust than that.

I'm very anti these devices, now I'm even moreso!

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

#39

Post by jv0010 »

I think the whole voice activation hype inflated itself where people are naturally wanting to see the next big thing and of course people used this as an example - the title says it all.

Furthermore we need to look at what makes voice less restrictive and that’s making it instant. They are still reliant on it being cloud / web based which creates a lag and makes it awkward and nothing like ‘talking to something or someone ‘

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

#40

Post by throwawaymath »

lbacaj wrote: post #32

Anecdotally a developer friend of mine strongly suspects, most people, are like him and not actually using these home speakers very much. I’ve been working on a an Audio App that reads any articles to you for iOS/Android and planned to bring it to the Echo and he seems to suggest my efforts are totally wasted. Although their market reach seems to be massive, likely related to their cheap price, not surprised by this…

As a counterpoint, thanks to an Echo in most rooms of my house and Hue lights everywhere I almost never touch a light switch. Likewise I generally use the Echo timers instead of oven timers for cooking, and I like using them as Spotify speakers. And I can't remember the last time I left my house before I asked the Echo about the weather. Sometimes my wife even uses it as an intercom if I'm in my office, but I concede that feature is a bit janky.

Whenever my wife and I go away we usually remark to each other that it suddenly feels very backwards to have to do things without the Echo. That might not be the best word, but it definitely feels like we're missing something integral to our home life when we don't have them around.

That being said, it's expensive to set up Hue lights everywhere and an Echo in every room. My setup might be one of the reasons I use it so much.

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