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I like the idea of having something like the Star Trek computer at home. I can ask it questions, instruct it to do things, and so on. I get the allure, at least

I like the idea of having something like the Star Trek computer at home. I can ask it questions, instruct it to do things, and so on. I get the allure, at least in theory. I've got Google, Apple, and Microsoft phones around, but none are set to answer to wake words. Cortana on my laptop is as shut-off as possible. They all need to be manually-initiated. Transmitting voice without taking a direct, physical action is basically where I draw the line. After all, typing something into a search engine needs a sequence of specific actions. I think that the extra barrier provides the psychological comfort I need. It's easy to sound like a luddite nutter worrying about some vague conspiracy. On the other hand, it feels like a lot of companies are getting good practice at boiling frogs, slowly re-framing what most of society thinks of as its comfort zone, concerning technology like this.

tomrod 9y ago
It seems like giving a direct, non-voice command makes sense. I'm thinking of a repurposed Amazon Dash button[0] embedded in a watch, perhaps in a smartwatch app, or glasses, or key fob. The general flow of "doing things" has almost always had a specific turn-on function -- starting a car, opening a browser, kicking off a work project, and so on. Rarely should things maintain a holding pattern. [0] https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/blogs/amazon-dash-button-tear-down/5d888fe1e3a641f5890d7265334df690 https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/blogs/amazon-dash-button-te...
- shagie 9y ago
  Aside from pull and push - there's another model of information. Ambient. The Ambient orb ( http://www.ambientdevices.com http://www.ambientdevices.com ) was one that kicked it off many years ago. Clocks are the classical version of this. I've got a hue light that has its intensity in the morning a function of the snowfall over the last 8 hours (do I need to shovel now). Not everything needs a button. That said, for the button... if it takes more than a few minutes to reconfigure a dash button, consider an IoT button https://aws.amazon.com/iotbutton/ https://aws.amazon.com/iotbutton/ that already does the arbitrary integration.
  - khedoros1 9y ago
    An ambient information source doesn't bug me, even if it has to actively fetch the data. An example would be my phone's weather report feature. I actually have it retrieve weather for multiple locations: where I usually am, and areas where various family members live.
- defo_nonconvex 9y ago
  The battery life on the Dash buttons seems subpar. Having torn one down last weekend, <100 presses has it down to 50pc. No easy way to replace power supply with something USB rechargeable either.
eikenberry 9y ago
Something I've been watching that might interest you is Mycroft (https://mycroft.ai/ https://mycroft.ai/). It's free software and open hardware version of the echo, etc.
- defo_nonconvex 9y ago
  Needs to phone MyCroft homebase for setup (didn't look hard enough to figure a way around that), and uses Google's STT. Privacy...not attained. I shouldn't have to ask Google to open a local file for me.
  - khedoros1 9y ago
    > Needs to phone MyCroft homebase for setup (didn't look hard enough to figure a way around that) I think part of their documentation said that you can skip that part, if you want. Ah, found it. Their github Readme has a section titled "Using Mycroft Without Home": https://github.com/MycroftAI/mycroft-core#using-mycroft-without-home https://github.com/MycroftAI/mycroft-core#using-mycroft-with... Apparently, various groups are using some open speech engines (CMUSphinx and Kaldi) to work on internationalization support: https://community.mycroft.ai/t/are-there-any-plans-to-move-from-google-stt-to-something-like-kaldi-or-cmu-sphinx-while-openstt-is-in-development/1494/4 https://community.mycroft.ai/t/are-there-any-plans-to-move-f... > Privacy...not attained. > I shouldn't have to ask Google to open a local file for me. I agree.
- khedoros1 9y ago
  In a similar vein, I've kept track of Jasper (http://jasperproject.github.io http://jasperproject.github.io) in the past. Conceptually, I like it because it wouldn't require an internet connection (and attendant information leakage). The downsides that I see are that PocketSphinx usually needs some serious tweaking to work well, and Julius certainly needs some pretty heavy configuration to get going. Mycroft seems to be oriented around using their account system by default, and it looks like it's built around Google STT too. I feel like I'd need to do a code audit...or more likely find a way to replace the STT system. Almost 20 years ago, I had a mostly-working speech recognition system on my 400MHZ PC. We ought to have enough functionality in open software now to built a decent assistant without turning to software outside of our control.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

tomrod 9y ago

It seems like giving a direct, non-voice command makes sense. I'm thinking of a repurposed Amazon Dash button[0] embedded in a watch, perhaps in a smartwatch app, or glasses, or key fob. The general flow of "doing things" has almost always had a specific turn-on function -- starting a car, opening a browser, kicking off a work project, and so on. Rarely should things maintain a holding pattern. [0] https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/blogs/amazon-dash-button-tear-down/5d888fe1e3a641f5890d7265334df690 https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/blogs/amazon-dash-button-te...

shagie 9y ago
Aside from pull and push - there's another model of information. Ambient. The Ambient orb ( http://www.ambientdevices.com http://www.ambientdevices.com ) was one that kicked it off many years ago. Clocks are the classical version of this. I've got a hue light that has its intensity in the morning a function of the snowfall over the last 8 hours (do I need to shovel now). Not everything needs a button. That said, for the button... if it takes more than a few minutes to reconfigure a dash button, consider an IoT button https://aws.amazon.com/iotbutton/ https://aws.amazon.com/iotbutton/ that already does the arbitrary integration.
- khedoros1 9y ago
  An ambient information source doesn't bug me, even if it has to actively fetch the data. An example would be my phone's weather report feature. I actually have it retrieve weather for multiple locations: where I usually am, and areas where various family members live.
defo_nonconvex 9y ago
The battery life on the Dash buttons seems subpar. Having torn one down last weekend, <100 presses has it down to 50pc. No easy way to replace power supply with something USB rechargeable either.

eikenberry 9y ago

Something I've been watching that might interest you is Mycroft (https://mycroft.ai/ https://mycroft.ai/). It's free software and open hardware version of the echo, etc.

defo_nonconvex 9y ago
Needs to phone MyCroft homebase for setup (didn't look hard enough to figure a way around that), and uses Google's STT. Privacy...not attained. I shouldn't have to ask Google to open a local file for me.
- khedoros1 9y ago
  > Needs to phone MyCroft homebase for setup (didn't look hard enough to figure a way around that) I think part of their documentation said that you can skip that part, if you want. Ah, found it. Their github Readme has a section titled "Using Mycroft Without Home": https://github.com/MycroftAI/mycroft-core#using-mycroft-without-home https://github.com/MycroftAI/mycroft-core#using-mycroft-with... Apparently, various groups are using some open speech engines (CMUSphinx and Kaldi) to work on internationalization support: https://community.mycroft.ai/t/are-there-any-plans-to-move-from-google-stt-to-something-like-kaldi-or-cmu-sphinx-while-openstt-is-in-development/1494/4 https://community.mycroft.ai/t/are-there-any-plans-to-move-f... > Privacy...not attained. > I shouldn't have to ask Google to open a local file for me. I agree.
khedoros1 9y ago
In a similar vein, I've kept track of Jasper (http://jasperproject.github.io http://jasperproject.github.io) in the past. Conceptually, I like it because it wouldn't require an internet connection (and attendant information leakage). The downsides that I see are that PocketSphinx usually needs some serious tweaking to work well, and Julius certainly needs some pretty heavy configuration to get going. Mycroft seems to be oriented around using their account system by default, and it looks like it's built around Google STT too. I feel like I'd need to do a code audit...or more likely find a way to replace the STT system. Almost 20 years ago, I had a mostly-working speech recognition system on my 400MHZ PC. We ought to have enough functionality in open software now to built a decent assistant without turning to software outside of our control.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]