11 ms·

I think it is just me but I find this 'book me a concert and fancy dinner' schtick rather boring. May be well off people are so busy and book these things so of

by geodel 10y ago

I think it is just me but I find this 'book me a concert and fancy dinner' schtick rather boring. May be well off people are so busy and book these things so often that these virtual assistant really save time if price is of no concern to them.

mdellavo 10y ago
I thought it was odd they used SMS when they had a few other communication apps to chose from.
- Jtsummers 10y ago
  They'd have to pick one of their dozen offerings for that. Can you really say that one child is your favorite out of your whole brood?
bduerst 10y ago
Eh, it's boilerplate. Supposedly it's open for integration with mobile apps, so you could say 'Order ahead my usual at Philz', and it would ask you back, 'Order a large tesora for pickup at Philz Coffee in Santa Clara in 15 minutes?', to which you say 'yes'. Theoretically, anyways.
- camillomiller 10y ago
  I think so too, but it's still "sloppy writing". They can at least try and be a bit creative with that. It's really not exciting at all.
mrspeaker 10y ago
Does anybody actually use these virtual assistants? They seem like the bluetooth dongle of the mid-2000s - friends wouldn't let friends use them. Is it just for people who drive? Or will there be a tipping point when it won't seem so arrogant barking commands on the subway or in a quiet office?
- yazaddaruvala 10y ago
  Every alarm, timer, and reminder I set (on my phone), are set by voice. I chose it because "Set an alarm for 8am" really is the best interface to interact with that subsystem.
  - dplgk 10y ago
    I think parent is talking more about: "Please buy tickets to concert" "Front row tickets to concert purchased for $500" "Wait no, buy the cheapest tickets!" "Cancelling order! Purchased last row tickets for $10" "Only $10? Well maybe I can spend a little more an not be in the last row" etc
    - fizzbatter 10y ago
      Agreed, i don't want it to do any of that. With that said, there are plenty of things i'd love to be able to use it for. Texting _(via Telegram.. app support, not just SMS!)_, remind/alarm, and information are my main ones. Currently, i only use it for alarms. I'd love if Assistants became good enough to conversationally text someone.
    - inopinatus 10y ago
      This is exactly the kind of exasperating dialogue I've had with underwhelming organic assistants too. It is not a problem confined to machines. Ergo, the next step in virtual personal assistants is learning your preferences and being able to apply them. It's not hard to imagine the following exchange: "Alexa, book me a flight to Sydney for Wednesday" Alexa knows that I'm in Melbourne, that I always fly economy class on flights under three hours, have a strong preference for Oneworld airlines, fly direct whenever possible, and like to fly in the mornings except between 8am or 10am on weekdays. "I found three flights on Wednesday that match your preferences. On your kitchen screen now. Which one shall I book?" The next development after that would be intermodal transport scheduling and calendar awareness: "Alexa, book me travel for the Sydney board meeting". "Here's an itinerary that matches your diary and preferences."
      - 10y ago
zippergz 10y ago
Even when price is no concern to me, I am pretty picky about the exact arrangements. Which seats at the concert? Which restaurant, what reservation time? Which airline and seat on the plane (for the also common travel example)? Etc. Yeah, I'm busy, and I book this kind of stuff all the time. But I don't trust an automated system to arrange things the way I like them. With a human assistant, they quickly learn my preferences and style, and can make informed guesses (or ping me for a preference if they need to). Automating this isn't attractive to me.
- geodel 10y ago
  I totally agree. I guess once details you mentioned are added, these assistants would look more like dreadful nag than clever companion.
- Paul-ish 10y ago
  I think Google would love to learn, then serve, your preferences in all these areas. I would find that creepy though.
  - zippergz 10y ago
    I'm less worried about the creepy factor, and more about the nuance that I think would be hard to encapsulate in a user profile. There are a lot of complex factors that go into a decision. It can't be boiled down to "I always want to fly United, and I must have an aisle seat." Or "Italian is my favorite kind of food." There are a ton of other factors that go into the decisions, and those factors may change day to day. One day I might choose a different airline than usual because they have a nonstop flight. The next day, I might decide to stick with my primary airline despite two connections because I need the miles. When I choose restaurants, I often like to skim the yelp reviews -- not choosing solely on star rating or cuisine, but on the comments. I don't know how a virtual assistant could navigate this kind of stuff, even with tons of data about me.
  - kalleboo 10y ago
    Google has no negative feedback though. You can't tell them, "no, I meant THIS"
harveywi 10y ago
"Google EnnUI: The UI for Existential Boredom."
drewrv 10y ago
I think they do it to leave a nice image in the customers head. Saying "remind me to buy cat litter" does not.
- mmanfrin 10y ago
  I ironically only ever use the amazon ordering feature on the Echo to buy catfood.
ateevchopra 10y ago
The way I see Google assistant is that it's a combination of many apps (or maybe interface to many). Now I can have Google Assistant Icon on my homescreen and use it to do many things like: * Set up an alarm * See the Distance * Search nearby places/restaurants/gas stations * Play some song * Look up facts * Look up news * See my agenda for the day * Search for my personal photos and maybe much more.... I rarely use the voice input. The thing I liked about allo is that I can chat with it. Even when i'm in a crowded bus, I can use my assistant instead of saying "OK Google".
- agumonkey 10y ago
  Google Now search box could already do that right ?
joshstrange 10y ago
I use Siri for 3 things: * Quick conversions "How many Tablespoons are in a Cup" * Setting Reminders "Remind me at 9:30am today to pay my rent" * Setting Timers "Set a time for 10 minutes" Anything else and I can normally do it faster. That's not to say Siri couldn't beat me at doing something but that I have to repeat myself or I get the dreaded "I search the web and found this..." Not only are the results normally shit but it's Bing.... Need I say more? Timers, conversions, and reminders are the only thing she can consistently beat me on. Also I RARELY use her in public as it's distracting/annoying to the people around me. Reminders in the only thing I will use in public and only if I need to enter it in fast. If I have the time I'll manually enter it.
- pdxandi 10y ago
  That is quite honestly the exact three reasons I use Siri. I do, however, open Google fairly often to search for complicated answers. The Google voice dictation engine is so incredibly accurate.
  - BinaryIdiot 10y ago
    See, 9 times out of 10 when I try this I end up getting a generic Google search result page back. It's gotten to the point where I rarely even use Google Now beyond the items parent mentioned above. Google Now is awful at conversing (unlike Siri, Echo or Cortana) by which I mean if I don't use exact syntax the other services seem more forgiving whereas Google gives me a search result page. What the hell am I ever going to do with that? Has anyone ever used voice dictation then actually wanted to see a search results page? At least anecdotally everyone I have asked about this said if they get search results back they just immediately close it sometimes even to open up a web browser and re-search for it!
    - BinaryIdiot 10y ago
      Hmm my comment is getting downvoted but I don't understand why. Do people have a difference experience with Google Now than I do? Seemed fairly common to people I knew. I'd love to hear some feedback. For instance I've even had it open up a search page when I asked for the weather for a certain area; if the syntax isn't really really close you just get search and that's it.
mmanfrin 10y ago
I use the Echo/Alexa for calling an uber (because my last step for getting ready to leave is usually 'find my phone'). Also, reservations are pretty easy to do over voice. "Book me a table for 2 at Hakkasan this Friday at 7" is enough for an app to get right, clocking in at only 11 words.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

by geodel 10y ago

mdellavo 10y ago

I thought it was odd they used SMS when they had a few other communication apps to chose from.

Jtsummers 10y ago
They'd have to pick one of their dozen offerings for that. Can you really say that one child is your favorite out of your whole brood?

bduerst 10y ago

Eh, it's boilerplate. Supposedly it's open for integration with mobile apps, so you could say 'Order ahead my usual at Philz', and it would ask you back, 'Order a large tesora for pickup at Philz Coffee in Santa Clara in 15 minutes?', to which you say 'yes'. Theoretically, anyways.

camillomiller 10y ago
I think so too, but it's still "sloppy writing". They can at least try and be a bit creative with that. It's really not exciting at all.

mrspeaker 10y ago

Does anybody actually use these virtual assistants? They seem like the bluetooth dongle of the mid-2000s - friends wouldn't let friends use them. Is it just for people who drive? Or will there be a tipping point when it won't seem so arrogant barking commands on the subway or in a quiet office?

yazaddaruvala 10y ago
Every alarm, timer, and reminder I set (on my phone), are set by voice. I chose it because "Set an alarm for 8am" really is the best interface to interact with that subsystem.
- dplgk 10y ago
  I think parent is talking more about: "Please buy tickets to concert" "Front row tickets to concert purchased for $500" "Wait no, buy the cheapest tickets!" "Cancelling order! Purchased last row tickets for $10" "Only $10? Well maybe I can spend a little more an not be in the last row" etc
  - fizzbatter 10y ago
    Agreed, i don't want it to do any of that. With that said, there are plenty of things i'd love to be able to use it for. Texting _(via Telegram.. app support, not just SMS!)_, remind/alarm, and information are my main ones. Currently, i only use it for alarms. I'd love if Assistants became good enough to conversationally text someone.
  - inopinatus 10y ago
    This is exactly the kind of exasperating dialogue I've had with underwhelming organic assistants too. It is not a problem confined to machines. Ergo, the next step in virtual personal assistants is learning your preferences and being able to apply them. It's not hard to imagine the following exchange: "Alexa, book me a flight to Sydney for Wednesday" Alexa knows that I'm in Melbourne, that I always fly economy class on flights under three hours, have a strong preference for Oneworld airlines, fly direct whenever possible, and like to fly in the mornings except between 8am or 10am on weekdays. "I found three flights on Wednesday that match your preferences. On your kitchen screen now. Which one shall I book?" The next development after that would be intermodal transport scheduling and calendar awareness: "Alexa, book me travel for the Sydney board meeting". "Here's an itinerary that matches your diary and preferences."
    - 10y ago

zippergz 10y ago

Even when price is no concern to me, I am pretty picky about the exact arrangements. Which seats at the concert? Which restaurant, what reservation time? Which airline and seat on the plane (for the also common travel example)? Etc. Yeah, I'm busy, and I book this kind of stuff all the time. But I don't trust an automated system to arrange things the way I like them. With a human assistant, they quickly learn my preferences and style, and can make informed guesses (or ping me for a preference if they need to). Automating this isn't attractive to me.

geodel 10y ago
I totally agree. I guess once details you mentioned are added, these assistants would look more like dreadful nag than clever companion.
Paul-ish 10y ago
I think Google would love to learn, then serve, your preferences in all these areas. I would find that creepy though.
- zippergz 10y ago
  I'm less worried about the creepy factor, and more about the nuance that I think would be hard to encapsulate in a user profile. There are a lot of complex factors that go into a decision. It can't be boiled down to "I always want to fly United, and I must have an aisle seat." Or "Italian is my favorite kind of food." There are a ton of other factors that go into the decisions, and those factors may change day to day. One day I might choose a different airline than usual because they have a nonstop flight. The next day, I might decide to stick with my primary airline despite two connections because I need the miles. When I choose restaurants, I often like to skim the yelp reviews -- not choosing solely on star rating or cuisine, but on the comments. I don't know how a virtual assistant could navigate this kind of stuff, even with tons of data about me.
- kalleboo 10y ago
  Google has no negative feedback though. You can't tell them, "no, I meant THIS"

harveywi 10y ago

"Google EnnUI: The UI for Existential Boredom."

drewrv 10y ago

I think they do it to leave a nice image in the customers head. Saying "remind me to buy cat litter" does not.

mmanfrin 10y ago
I ironically only ever use the amazon ordering feature on the Echo to buy catfood.

ateevchopra 10y ago

The way I see Google assistant is that it's a combination of many apps (or maybe interface to many). Now I can have Google Assistant Icon on my homescreen and use it to do many things like: * Set up an alarm * See the Distance * Search nearby places/restaurants/gas stations * Play some song * Look up facts * Look up news * See my agenda for the day * Search for my personal photos and maybe much more.... I rarely use the voice input. The thing I liked about allo is that I can chat with it. Even when i'm in a crowded bus, I can use my assistant instead of saying "OK Google".

agumonkey 10y ago
Google Now search box could already do that right ?

joshstrange 10y ago

I use Siri for 3 things: * Quick conversions "How many Tablespoons are in a Cup" * Setting Reminders "Remind me at 9:30am today to pay my rent" * Setting Timers "Set a time for 10 minutes" Anything else and I can normally do it faster. That's not to say Siri couldn't beat me at doing something but that I have to repeat myself or I get the dreaded "I search the web and found this..." Not only are the results normally shit but it's Bing.... Need I say more? Timers, conversions, and reminders are the only thing she can consistently beat me on. Also I RARELY use her in public as it's distracting/annoying to the people around me. Reminders in the only thing I will use in public and only if I need to enter it in fast. If I have the time I'll manually enter it.

pdxandi 10y ago
That is quite honestly the exact three reasons I use Siri. I do, however, open Google fairly often to search for complicated answers. The Google voice dictation engine is so incredibly accurate.
- BinaryIdiot 10y ago
  See, 9 times out of 10 when I try this I end up getting a generic Google search result page back. It's gotten to the point where I rarely even use Google Now beyond the items parent mentioned above. Google Now is awful at conversing (unlike Siri, Echo or Cortana) by which I mean if I don't use exact syntax the other services seem more forgiving whereas Google gives me a search result page. What the hell am I ever going to do with that? Has anyone ever used voice dictation then actually wanted to see a search results page? At least anecdotally everyone I have asked about this said if they get search results back they just immediately close it sometimes even to open up a web browser and re-search for it!
  - BinaryIdiot 10y ago
    Hmm my comment is getting downvoted but I don't understand why. Do people have a difference experience with Google Now than I do? Seemed fairly common to people I knew. I'd love to hear some feedback. For instance I've even had it open up a search page when I asked for the weather for a certain area; if the syntax isn't really really close you just get search and that's it.

mmanfrin 10y ago

I use the Echo/Alexa for calling an uber (because my last step for getting ready to leave is usually 'find my phone'). Also, reservations are pretty easy to do over voice. "Book me a table for 2 at Hakkasan this Friday at 7" is enough for an app to get right, clocking in at only 11 words.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]