6 ms·

The ad-hoc instant intercom is also a HUGE win. In the 50s and 60s, all the fancy houses on TV had an intercom (didn't the Brady Bunch?). The intercom seemed

The ad-hoc instant intercom is also a HUGE win. In the 50s and 60s, all the fancy houses on TV had an intercom (didn't the Brady Bunch?). The intercom seemed to just fade away. However, I would MUCH rather say "Alexia, tell upstairs that 'its time for dinner'", and it to be replayed upstairs. Rather than walking into the next room and yelling up the stairs like a neanderthal.

jethro_tell 10y ago
>Rather than walking into the next room and yelling up the stairs like a neanderthal 'My Cave is so big I can't even shout to the end. . . '
- new_hackers 10y ago
  The question is not can I shout, rather should I shout. I shant hazard a kerfuffle in the nursery, or disruption in the conservatory.
- bengoodger 10y ago
  My house is nearly 120 feet wide end to end, split across three levels. My wife & I use IM/SMS to communicate from the extremities. The struggle is real.
swalsh 10y ago
> Rather than walking into the next room and yelling up the stairs like a neanderthal. The main use case I had in my mind is when my son is sleeping, shouting is undesirable. It would just be really convienent.
donatj 10y ago
My parents fancy phone had an intercom in the early 2000s and god it was handy. I truly miss this but not enough to justify setting up a house phone.
OJFord 10y ago
It doesn't support ad-hoc networking, so although it would be technically possible I imagine the only way for a third-party to implement it would be to record & store on one; download & play on the other. That said, I think the bigger problem would be triggering it to playback the recording - unless I'm missing something, they just respond to spoken commands. Which would mean at best you could use it like a voicemail service: "Alexa, play me any messages sent from downstairs".
- xavi 10y ago
  there are rumors about spoken push notifications http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/9/8/12848586/amazon-alexa-echo-speaker-push-notifications-rumor http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/9/8/12848586/ama...
  - i2shar 10y ago
    FYI: I wrote an app that does that on a Raspberry Pi / Mac: https://github.com/i2shar/express-text-to-speech https://github.com/i2shar/express-text-to-speech
heywire 10y ago
>However, I would MUCH rather say "Alexia, tell upstairs that 'its time for dinner'", and it to be replayed upstairs. Rather than walking into the next room and yelling up the stairs like a neanderthal. I struggle to find to the words to express just how absurd this sounds to me. I must be getting old.
- true_religion 10y ago
  Not old enough. I live in a house with a dumbwaiter so late night snacks can easily be sent back to the kitchen with a click of a button. Other things that were great, and I now miss---vaccum tubes in offices. Sure you don't need them to send messages, but if you want to send anything physical, however small, now you have to walk. Oh and I certainly miss the bell system, where you could stand in the living room and ring a bell in any room in the house to tell the occupants that dinner was ready.
  - GBond 10y ago
    So what you are saying is you prefer a dumbwaiter over a smart home.
- URSpider94 10y ago
  I have to agree with the grandparent -- intercoms were quite common in houses in the 60's and 70's. Then they fell out of fashion, possibly because of cordless phones? Most multi-handset cordless phones have a built-in intercom that will ring all the other handsets and establish a loopback call. But I bet not many people even have those any more ... So, I would say this is not so much new as retro. True old-timers would recognize this use case right away.
- nihonde 10y ago
  My house in Japan has an intercom system that connects to the front doorbell camera and the shower water temp control panel. There are portable audio/video monitors that you can use to speak to any of these nodes. This is pretty common in new homes here.
gambiting 10y ago
In my parents house we had an intercom - it was just a dumb telephone switch which my dad bought second hand for cheap, and then few telephones around the house - so he would actually call me from downstairs for dinner(it was very annoying at the time :P)
eridius 10y ago
Growing up, my parents' house actually had a small business telephone system installed, including intercom functionality. We used it all the time. Definitely for things like "dinner time!", but also for things like my mom telling my brothers and I that it's time to get up without her having to get up first.
billforsternz 10y ago
A simple tip to improve your life and those close to you (just a little); Never shout in this situation. Take the time to walk up the stairs and impart the message with normal volume, courtesy and kindness.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

jethro_tell 10y ago

>Rather than walking into the next room and yelling up the stairs like a neanderthal 'My Cave is so big I can't even shout to the end. . . '

new_hackers 10y ago
The question is not can I shout, rather should I shout. I shant hazard a kerfuffle in the nursery, or disruption in the conservatory.
bengoodger 10y ago
My house is nearly 120 feet wide end to end, split across three levels. My wife & I use IM/SMS to communicate from the extremities. The struggle is real.

swalsh 10y ago

> Rather than walking into the next room and yelling up the stairs like a neanderthal. The main use case I had in my mind is when my son is sleeping, shouting is undesirable. It would just be really convienent.

donatj 10y ago

My parents fancy phone had an intercom in the early 2000s and god it was handy. I truly miss this but not enough to justify setting up a house phone.

OJFord 10y ago

It doesn't support ad-hoc networking, so although it would be technically possible I imagine the only way for a third-party to implement it would be to record & store on one; download & play on the other. That said, I think the bigger problem would be triggering it to playback the recording - unless I'm missing something, they just respond to spoken commands. Which would mean at best you could use it like a voicemail service: "Alexa, play me any messages sent from downstairs".

xavi 10y ago
there are rumors about spoken push notifications http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/9/8/12848586/amazon-alexa-echo-speaker-push-notifications-rumor http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/9/8/12848586/ama...
- i2shar 10y ago
  FYI: I wrote an app that does that on a Raspberry Pi / Mac: https://github.com/i2shar/express-text-to-speech https://github.com/i2shar/express-text-to-speech

heywire 10y ago

>However, I would MUCH rather say "Alexia, tell upstairs that 'its time for dinner'", and it to be replayed upstairs. Rather than walking into the next room and yelling up the stairs like a neanderthal. I struggle to find to the words to express just how absurd this sounds to me. I must be getting old.

true_religion 10y ago
Not old enough. I live in a house with a dumbwaiter so late night snacks can easily be sent back to the kitchen with a click of a button. Other things that were great, and I now miss---vaccum tubes in offices. Sure you don't need them to send messages, but if you want to send anything physical, however small, now you have to walk. Oh and I certainly miss the bell system, where you could stand in the living room and ring a bell in any room in the house to tell the occupants that dinner was ready.
- GBond 10y ago
  So what you are saying is you prefer a dumbwaiter over a smart home.
URSpider94 10y ago
I have to agree with the grandparent -- intercoms were quite common in houses in the 60's and 70's. Then they fell out of fashion, possibly because of cordless phones? Most multi-handset cordless phones have a built-in intercom that will ring all the other handsets and establish a loopback call. But I bet not many people even have those any more ... So, I would say this is not so much new as retro. True old-timers would recognize this use case right away.
nihonde 10y ago
My house in Japan has an intercom system that connects to the front doorbell camera and the shower water temp control panel. There are portable audio/video monitors that you can use to speak to any of these nodes. This is pretty common in new homes here.

gambiting 10y ago

In my parents house we had an intercom - it was just a dumb telephone switch which my dad bought second hand for cheap, and then few telephones around the house - so he would actually call me from downstairs for dinner(it was very annoying at the time :P)

eridius 10y ago

Growing up, my parents' house actually had a small business telephone system installed, including intercom functionality. We used it all the time. Definitely for things like "dinner time!", but also for things like my mom telling my brothers and I that it's time to get up without her having to get up first.

billforsternz 10y ago

A simple tip to improve your life and those close to you (just a little); Never shout in this situation. Take the time to walk up the stairs and impart the message with normal volume, courtesy and kindness.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]