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Writing a bit about the Echo has been on my todo list but this article touches on a lot of points I was thinking about. I got it thinking it would be a bit of a

by sisk 11y ago

Writing a bit about the Echo has been on my todo list but this article touches on a lot of points I was thinking about. I got it thinking it would be a bit of a gimmick—and to an extent, it still is at times. But, as the author found, it has snuck into facets of my life. Shopping lists, weather, home automation, etc. The thing is, it's a natural interface with a decent interaction model. Keyboards, mice, etc, have all become second nature to most of us but they're still not truly natural. The Echo feels like one of the first voice-based interfaces that isn't a complete gimmick. And the hardware does an amazing job of perking up when I say the wake word and picking me out of a room full of noise. What really convinced me of it's value was when I started digging in to writing a skill for it. My grandfather passed recently and my grandmother has horrible eyesight. I wrote a skill that enables my grandmother to ask to start a phone call. She is then asked who she would like to call. Once she says a name, she receives a call on her landline, is greeted, and the call is forwarded to the intended recipient. There was a small learning curve ("you can't just say, 'call John,' you have to ask her to 'start a phone call'") but it has worked and has provided an often confused elderly woman with poor eyesight a straightforward way of connecting with her loved ones.

jwoah12 11y ago
That sounds fantastic. We got my grandfather an Echo for the same reason. How can I get a hold of that skill for him?
- sisk 11y ago
  It's currently unpublished because there is an associated cost (Twilio for making the call) and it's not OSS because 1) needs cleaning, 2) was thinking of building a public service out of it. That said, that's enough of a kick for me to actually clean it up and publish some stuff. I'll email you when I throw pieces of it online (in the next day or two). At the very least, I wasn't able to find a lib that performs all the steps Amazon asks of you to validate the request so I wrote a utility library and hapi auth plugin for that. I'll release those. Made a quick demonstration video: https://youtu.be/TkVnhp4F1xk https://youtu.be/TkVnhp4F1xk
hammock 11y ago
That's a touching use of Echo and wouldn't it be even easier on iPhone or Android? "Ok Moto X, call John." Instantly connected. I have an Echo and I love it. The skills SDK is one of the best parts about it. The most common arguments against Echo though are that it's just your phone's voice service, but with less features and in a fixed location.
- bitdeveloper 11y ago
  For an elderly woman with poor eyesight, a fixed location landline that never needs updating or maintenance is probably preferred over an easily lost phone that needs to get plugged in, updated, etc.
  - jkestner 11y ago
    We're hungry for better design, and unfortunately technologically complex products are where the progress is being made. Case in point, Nest. So we take the bad with the good. But yeah, in this case, there are big-button landline phones with speed dial.
    - scott_s 11y ago
      And yet, sisk's grandmother prefers this method. Even removing a small amount of friction can have big changes in how people behave with technology.
    - sisk 11y ago
      True and I totally agree that the simplest solution is generally the best and that not ever "problem" needs a technologically complex solution. Nothing worse than entering a "smart home" and being told not to use the light switches[^1]. :) In this particular case, we've tried a big button phone. The problems with it are two fold: first, cataracts impact her straight forward vision and she's not able to remember button placement. Second, it's not uncommon for her to forget what she intended to do before getting there. The simple act of walking to the phone to initiate a call is enough time for her to forget who she wanted to call in the first place. At least in this case, she can act on the thought immediately and be reminded when she gets to the ringing phone. [^1]: full disclosure: I can toggle my lights with my Echo. I use z-wave light switches though so people that aren't nerds like me don't have to personify the appliances in my apartment.
peteretep 11y ago
> Shopping lists, weather, home automation Funny, I felt the article gave unusually short shrift to Siri, which I use for all of those things, in addition to "What time is it in X?", alarms, and so on. Siri is not working so well when music plays, and I wish I could easily add skills to it, so if they've cracked that then it's something.
- sisk 11y ago
  Those are the two biggest differences, for sure. All the big players have done a good job of speech to text (at least for USA English—saw an Englishman have to break into his best John Wayne impression for an on-stage demonstration about a month ago). But the Echo hardware does a great job of isolating your voice and the platform allows us to write skills for it quite easily. I wouldn't be surprised to see the other guys make steps in a similar direction if the Echo continues to succeed.
  - neves 11y ago
    It's impressive how some Google services are worse for other languages. It is better understanding my poor spoken English than my native language. Even the simple dictionary doesn't a lot of basic conjugations that doesn't exist in English, like the for the pronoun "We". These subtle differences in technology are a great lever for English speaking countries.
- ghaff 11y ago
  There can be music playing and I can shout across the room to my Echo to add something to a shopping list and it gets it right most of the time. I use an old iPhone to play music on my stereo system. I'm lucky if I can get "Hey Siri, STOP" to work when music is playing even if I walk right up to it. The Echo is still pretty "dumb" as soon as you deviate from fairly precise commands that it understands but the voice recognition itself is far and away the best I've seen. The platform aspect is interesting even if I find it mostly still pretty gimicky. But it's got potential.
- Touche 11y ago
  I haven't used an iPhone in a while, does Siri have a wake word? Does it work when the phone is in standby? Android has "Ok Google" but it doesn't work when in standby and doesn't work from the distance that Echo does. I think that's really its killer feature. You are in the pantry and notice you're out of basil, you say "Alexa, add basil to my shopping list" and it's done. No pulling out your phone, no unlock screens, you just say what you want to happen and it works.
dominotw 11y ago
What a great idea.I would like to do this for my grandmother too, but she doesn't speak english. It would probably take another decade before devices like these could understand other languages by then whole world would start speaking english anyhow.

by sisk 11y ago

jwoah12 11y ago

That sounds fantastic. We got my grandfather an Echo for the same reason. How can I get a hold of that skill for him?

sisk 11y ago
It's currently unpublished because there is an associated cost (Twilio for making the call) and it's not OSS because 1) needs cleaning, 2) was thinking of building a public service out of it. That said, that's enough of a kick for me to actually clean it up and publish some stuff. I'll email you when I throw pieces of it online (in the next day or two). At the very least, I wasn't able to find a lib that performs all the steps Amazon asks of you to validate the request so I wrote a utility library and hapi auth plugin for that. I'll release those. Made a quick demonstration video: https://youtu.be/TkVnhp4F1xk https://youtu.be/TkVnhp4F1xk

hammock 11y ago

That's a touching use of Echo and wouldn't it be even easier on iPhone or Android? "Ok Moto X, call John." Instantly connected. I have an Echo and I love it. The skills SDK is one of the best parts about it. The most common arguments against Echo though are that it's just your phone's voice service, but with less features and in a fixed location.

bitdeveloper 11y ago
For an elderly woman with poor eyesight, a fixed location landline that never needs updating or maintenance is probably preferred over an easily lost phone that needs to get plugged in, updated, etc.
- jkestner 11y ago
  We're hungry for better design, and unfortunately technologically complex products are where the progress is being made. Case in point, Nest. So we take the bad with the good. But yeah, in this case, there are big-button landline phones with speed dial.
  - scott_s 11y ago
    And yet, sisk's grandmother prefers this method. Even removing a small amount of friction can have big changes in how people behave with technology.
  - sisk 11y ago
    True and I totally agree that the simplest solution is generally the best and that not ever "problem" needs a technologically complex solution. Nothing worse than entering a "smart home" and being told not to use the light switches[^1]. :) In this particular case, we've tried a big button phone. The problems with it are two fold: first, cataracts impact her straight forward vision and she's not able to remember button placement. Second, it's not uncommon for her to forget what she intended to do before getting there. The simple act of walking to the phone to initiate a call is enough time for her to forget who she wanted to call in the first place. At least in this case, she can act on the thought immediately and be reminded when she gets to the ringing phone. [^1]: full disclosure: I can toggle my lights with my Echo. I use z-wave light switches though so people that aren't nerds like me don't have to personify the appliances in my apartment.

peteretep 11y ago

> Shopping lists, weather, home automation Funny, I felt the article gave unusually short shrift to Siri, which I use for all of those things, in addition to "What time is it in X?", alarms, and so on. Siri is not working so well when music plays, and I wish I could easily add skills to it, so if they've cracked that then it's something.

sisk 11y ago
Those are the two biggest differences, for sure. All the big players have done a good job of speech to text (at least for USA English—saw an Englishman have to break into his best John Wayne impression for an on-stage demonstration about a month ago). But the Echo hardware does a great job of isolating your voice and the platform allows us to write skills for it quite easily. I wouldn't be surprised to see the other guys make steps in a similar direction if the Echo continues to succeed.
- neves 11y ago
  It's impressive how some Google services are worse for other languages. It is better understanding my poor spoken English than my native language. Even the simple dictionary doesn't a lot of basic conjugations that doesn't exist in English, like the for the pronoun "We". These subtle differences in technology are a great lever for English speaking countries.
ghaff 11y ago
There can be music playing and I can shout across the room to my Echo to add something to a shopping list and it gets it right most of the time. I use an old iPhone to play music on my stereo system. I'm lucky if I can get "Hey Siri, STOP" to work when music is playing even if I walk right up to it. The Echo is still pretty "dumb" as soon as you deviate from fairly precise commands that it understands but the voice recognition itself is far and away the best I've seen. The platform aspect is interesting even if I find it mostly still pretty gimicky. But it's got potential.
Touche 11y ago
I haven't used an iPhone in a while, does Siri have a wake word? Does it work when the phone is in standby? Android has "Ok Google" but it doesn't work when in standby and doesn't work from the distance that Echo does. I think that's really its killer feature. You are in the pantry and notice you're out of basil, you say "Alexa, add basil to my shopping list" and it's done. No pulling out your phone, no unlock screens, you just say what you want to happen and it works.

dominotw 11y ago

What a great idea.I would like to do this for my grandmother too, but she doesn't speak english. It would probably take another decade before devices like these could understand other languages by then whole world would start speaking english anyhow.