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Alexa has a fundamental short coming that stops them from being a robust operating system like the writer describes: the cognitive load in memorizing all possib
by JoeCortopassi 10y ago
Alexa has a fundamental short coming that stops them from being a robust operating system like the writer describes: the cognitive load in memorizing all possible variations of 3rd party apps on their platform. Siri might have greater difficulty with natural language processing than Alexa, but I never have to think much about the word order or phrasing. With Alexa, I'm constantly feeling like I'm playing MadLibs with my eyes closed.
That being said, the openness of their platform is a huge benefit, and the main reason I have one. I for one am very interested in seeing which improves first: Siri's natural language processing, or Alexa's contextual matching of their api.
I know Google Now wins in a lot of areas, and there is a group of people that have no problem using them, but overall sentiment seems to be one of distrust in giving them an always on microphone
- flippyhead 10y ago> With Alexa, I'm constantly feeling like I'm playing MadLibs with my eyes closed. Well said!
- throwaway2016a 10y agoI made my own app and I can't even remember how to use it. I keep saying the wrong trigger word. It's my one gripe with Alexa is that the app name needs to be a prefixed. What I want to say: > Alexa, open the garage door What I actually need to say > Alexa, tell Some App Name to open the garage door
- cptskippy 10y ago> It's my one gripe with Alexa is that the app name needs to be a prefixed. The thing that annoys me is when this doesn't work. > "Alexa, play <station name as it appears in Alexa App> on Pandora" > "I couldn't find <station name as it appears in Alexa App>, here's some crap on Amazon Music"
- illumin8 10y agoYou know you can set the default music provider in the Alexa app, right? Setting this to Spotify allowed me to stop asking Alexa to "play X on spotify" and just say "play X" without getting bounced to Amazon music.
- cptskippy 10y agoYes. It doesn't help. Alexa will understand what was spoken perfectly, it shows as much in the App. Sometimes if finds the station, most of the time it doesn't. Regardless of the default music provider or the qualified "on Pandora", Alexa will fail to find the request and default to searching Prime Music.
- dalore 10y agoSubmit this to Amazon and they will fix it. I try and get it to play Kiss FM UK and says a strange word and then dies. Raised it to Amazon and they are looking into it.
- always_good 10y agoThe dream: > they will fix it The reality: > they are looking into it
- bbcbasic 10y agoThe dream: > they are looking into it The reality: > it's written in a ticket somewhere
- cptskippy 10y agoI submit every card in the App, it hasn't helped yet.
- ergothus 10y agoHuh. I have a very high degree of confidence that I used to do exactly that, though it's been a few months since I did so. I just tried now, and it doesn't work, just like you said. I wonder if they changed something, or my memory has tricked me. (The weird thing is not only that I remember doing it that way, but I have no memories of having any troubles with it, and this is certainly what I would do on my first try)
- theseanstewart 10y agoThis is also a big gripe of mine. I created an app that can be used as a fun "neutral" third-party when instructing my toddler to do something. What I want it to say: > Alexa, tell %NAME% it's time (for a nap|to go to bed|to eat dinner) What I have to say: > Alexa, tell Toddler Boss to tell %NAME% it's time to go to bed. It's not natural sounding at all.
- sp00ls 10y agoRuss Hanneman? This is what he did on HBO's Silicon Valley. It was quite..weird.
- TheOneTrueKyle 10y agoHe's disrupting parenting!
- throwaway2016a 10y agoExactly! Funny you should say that... one of the first apps I tried to make was to just say "Alexa, tell [my wife's or daughter's name] I love her" and I gave up because unless I name the app with my wife's name as the app name it won't work the way I want.
- Raphmedia 10y agoCould you not create an app called %NAME% which then uses Toddler Boss?
- theseanstewart 10y agoHa! I didn't even think about that. But it's not ideal for vertically scaling the family :)
- jessaustin 10y agoNames are cheap... cheaper than kids anyway!
- 10y ago
- lewisl9029 10y agoIs that a intrinsic limitation or just an omission with the implementation? I have a TP-Link Smart Switch and have their Kasa app integrated with my Echo, and all I need to do is name my switches and say things like "Alexa, [device name] on", "Alexa, turn on [device name]". So it's definitely possible for 3rd party apps to turn devices on and off with Alexa without requiring users to mention the app name. Maybe you just need to change your app to add your garage door as a device to the Echo and use the provided on/off commands rather than register your own custom commands? I can imagine the device on/off paradigm could be limiting for certain use cases, but not for this one.
- Klathmon 10y agoI hate this, what would "on" be for a garage door? I have a google home, and through integration with IFTTT I can say "Okay Google open the garage door" and it will work. It's so much smoother than telling the garage to "turn on", or telling the front door to "turn off". It's the major reason why i've stopped using and actually sold the echo but i'm getting a second home soon.
- heywire 10y agoI love all of this smart home stuff, but the software developer in me cringes at the thought of some message queue connection getting messed up somewhere and my garage door going up and down 3 hours later as I lay in bed...
- Klathmon 10y agoI've got fixes for that, mainly that it can't open from the Home when we aren't home, and it announces when the garage door opens by literally "announcing" it through the home's speaker, as well as a notification on my phone. There's also some trickery that you can do with IFTTT's activation time variable and checking how long it's been since it was "asked" to do something vs when it got to my system. It's not for everyone, but i'm really enjoying the setup. Although if i could I would remove IFTTT from the whole equation. Everything else is running off of a server in my house, so IFTTT is the only part that's really not fully in my control. But as it's nothing but a "layer" on top of the rest as an "ease of activation" kind of thing, i'm not that worried.
- RandallBrown 10y agoYou could set it up to say "Alexa, tell my garage to open." Not perfect, but a little better.
- heywire 10y agoAs someone who recently got an Echo Dot for Christmas, it seems like some apps do have this capability. For example, I paired my Sensi Thermostat, and I only need to say, "Alexa, set thermostat to 70 degrees".
- LeoPanthera 10y agoSmart home functions are built-in, and not a "skill".
- vlunkr 10y agoEcho has an always on microphone as well. The story is that audio gets sent to a temporary buffer on a server somewhere to listen for your trigger word, and I trust them, but it would be so easy to start storing that data if they wanted, (or rather, the NSA wanted). I'm not normally really intense about privacy (relative to other tech people I know), but all these devices creep me out.
- Jarwain 10y agoI was under the impression that the audio is stored locally while listening for the trigger word. Once the trigger word is recognized, Alexa begins recording and sends the result to be processed.
- spdustin 10y agoNo, the processing for the trigger is done locally, no network communication until the trigger is recognized. That's why you can only have one of a couple of trigger words.
- kajecounterhack 10y agoThe same is true of most modern android phones with Google Now AFAIK. E.g Moto X was one of the first phones with a low power dedicated ASIC for wakeup-word recognition to further make it sustainable on mobile devices.
- vlunkr 10y agoYeah I read somewhere that it was all sent off, but everything else I've looked at says it's all local.
- hackmiester 10y agoThe data is not sent to a server all the time - only when someone is using the device. Source: tcpdump
- joezydeco 10y agoDo you have a rough guess as to how compressed the outbound audio is?
- LargeCompanies 10y agoUsed Siri since 2011 and use to love it. Then this summer I used Google Now and just recently bought a Google Home. Google wins hands down and makes using Siri frustrating! For me Google Now and Alexa are the next huge leaps in computing ... like the iPhone was. I wish Google would create an app store much like Apple's where users try an app out and buy it for a buck if they like it. I have my google now hooked up to turn my TV, lights and thermostat on. It understands my commands 97% of the time vs. Siri's 85%.
- daveguy 10y agoCan you activate Google home without saying Google yet? Okay Google! Is about the most awkward thing to have to say as a wake word as I have heard. It makes me want to throw my phone if I have to say it more than once. Hey Google! Isn't much better. They are never going to win if you have to babble awkward phrases when you use it. Alexa just rolls off the tongue. Edit: Amusingly, when I said "OK Google!" "Change your wake word" to my phone just now... It replied with: here is information from Amazon.com. (information about how to change Alexa's wake word to Echo or Amazon). Ok Google. You have to fix this.
- LargeCompanies 10y agobefore I started I am using Siri to type that stop it Siri… Well I agree… I don't like having to say OK Google turn the light on… Or OK Google… Or everything… It does not feel conversational. But there needs to be a command otherwise the AI speaker will be doing thing every time I hear something… Maybe we can change the name that would be good
- jessaustin 10y agoEventually this sort of thing will be triggered with gestures. Big at first, but gradually smaller until one can input surreptitiously.
- LargeCompanies 10y ago