5 ms·

Soon You Won't Have to Say 'Hey Google' to Launch Google Assistant

14 points by joeyespo 9y ago

dustinmoris 9y ago
Really looking forward to this feature! I've had Google Home since the first day it became available in the UK and it's proven to be really useful. I love how I can ask Google random questions and it gives me very accurate answers, play my favourite songs or let Google surprise me by suggesting a music genre. Depending on my mood I might ask Google to play anything from classical music to heavy metal. The best thing about Google is that the more I use it the more I discover how useful it can be. For example last week I was running up and down through my flat packing some stuff and I quickly had to go to a grocery store at 10PM and I thought instead of opening my Google maps and check all nearby stores manually I thought I'll try to ask Google which grocery store is still open near me and it gave me a perfectly matching answer. I was really impressed!
- trendia 9y ago
  I had the opposite experience. I asked Google: "Hey Google:, whatis the score of [University] basketball game?" Even though the game was going on, Google told me about the women's basketball game the following day. It took about 5 min before I could get Google to give me the results I wanted. I have had a lot of results like this--Google becomes useless. It's faster for me to search for it by hand.
zitterbewegung 9y ago
Soon I will be able to be monitored by Google without my consent. Since now it will be hard to know what word will trigger it or even if I will hear the result of the trigger word.
- Lordarminius 9y ago
  I had the same thought. I wonder if this is not already happening.
- monkeynotes 9y ago
  Huh? I don't disagree that devices like GH might listen in on you more than you are aware of, but how does customizing the trigger word change anything beyond which word summons an interaction? I mean why would changing it from 'hey google' to 'hey alfred' or even simply 'alfred' make GH more likely to monitor you without consent? Why would it be harder to know what will trigger it, or make the results less likely to be heard?
  - imglorp 9y ago
    In theory, the device could only listen for its trigger word using local processing, which then and only then would trigger a cloud upload to process the following phrase. The user has implicitly indicated "I'd like a cloud lookup on this please, and I understand what I say next is going somewhere out of my control." If you go with continuous recognition and upload, you then have everything you say being removed from your control. You'll see situations where cloud providers' records are subpoena'ed like that murder case with Alexa. [1] You'll also see cloud providers say "if you want to hav a private conversation, you best leave the room." [2] That's terribad for everyone. 1. https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/07/amazon-hands-over-alexa-data-after-murder-suspect-gives-the-okay/ https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/07/amazon-hands-over-alexa-... 2. https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-warning-our-smart-tvs-record-your-living-room-chatter/ https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-warning-our-smart-tvs-rec...
    - bootlooped 9y ago
      I don't think they would move to continuous recognition and upload. I think it would simply be listening for a different keyword, which it would recognize on-device, and then upload the audio following that. It would be pretty insane if every android smartphone was continuous uploading audio to Google's servers for processing. Can you imagine the processing requirements, the bandwidth load, the battery drain?
      - imglorp 9y ago
        Mobile, yeah, but going by the above two references, both the Alexa and Samsung examples _are_ doing something with continuous upload or they wouldn't be in the news.
- bitmapbrother 9y ago
  I find it funny how selective privacy warriors like to impose their beliefs on user privacy on other people, but yet have no desire to go all in and prohibit the user tracking performed by their credit card companies, ISP and cell carrier. A real privacy warrior would use cash only or barter, use payphones only and only log into BBS's using an acoustic coupler modem connected to that said payphone.
jccooper 9y ago
Various Android phones have had that for ages. Shouldn't be very hard.
- bootlooped 9y ago
  My 2014 Moto X did this. When I switched to a Nexus 6P I was bewildered why I could no longer pick my own phrase.
lighttower 9y ago
Great. Can't wait for the day when I can selectively summon Google Home without having to awake every single Android device within an earshot.
- zamalek 9y ago
  There's actually a support page for this, outlining the steps to make sure that this doesn't happen (basically: have Google Home installed on your phone). It doesn't work.
tzs 9y ago
Trigger words have their place, but come on Google, Amazon, and Apple...the obviously correct primary way to tell the device you are about to speak a command or query should be by tapping a replica of a Star Trek combadge worn on the front of your shirt. At its simplest, all this needs to be is a Bluetooth button paired with the device. Higher end badges could also be available that include microphone and speaker and can communicate with the device over something longer range than Bluetooth, such as WiFi, to provide access to the device when outside of voice range. Such badges already exist for hands-free calling with cell phones [1], so its not like there is some technological limit to building such things. [1] http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/jmgi/ http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/jmgi/

14 points by joeyespo 9y ago

Really looking forward to this feature! I've had Google Home since the first day it became available in the UK and it's proven to be really useful. I love how I can ask Google random questions and it gives me very accurate answers, play my favourite songs or let Google surprise me by suggesting a music genre. Depending on my mood I might ask Google to play anything from classical music to heavy metal. The best thing about Google is that the more I use it the more I discover how useful it can be. For example last week I was running up and down through my flat packing some stuff and I quickly had to go to a grocery store at 10PM and I thought instead of opening my Google maps and check all nearby stores manually I thought I'll try to ask Google which grocery store is still open near me and it gave me a perfectly matching answer. I was really impressed!

trendia 9y ago
I had the opposite experience. I asked Google: "Hey Google:, whatis the score of [University] basketball game?" Even though the game was going on, Google told me about the women's basketball game the following day. It took about 5 min before I could get Google to give me the results I wanted. I have had a lot of results like this--Google becomes useless. It's faster for me to search for it by hand.

zitterbewegung 9y ago

Soon I will be able to be monitored by Google without my consent. Since now it will be hard to know what word will trigger it or even if I will hear the result of the trigger word.

Lordarminius 9y ago
I had the same thought. I wonder if this is not already happening.
monkeynotes 9y ago
Huh? I don't disagree that devices like GH might listen in on you more than you are aware of, but how does customizing the trigger word change anything beyond which word summons an interaction? I mean why would changing it from 'hey google' to 'hey alfred' or even simply 'alfred' make GH more likely to monitor you without consent? Why would it be harder to know what will trigger it, or make the results less likely to be heard?
- imglorp 9y ago
  In theory, the device could only listen for its trigger word using local processing, which then and only then would trigger a cloud upload to process the following phrase. The user has implicitly indicated "I'd like a cloud lookup on this please, and I understand what I say next is going somewhere out of my control." If you go with continuous recognition and upload, you then have everything you say being removed from your control. You'll see situations where cloud providers' records are subpoena'ed like that murder case with Alexa. [1] You'll also see cloud providers say "if you want to hav a private conversation, you best leave the room." [2] That's terribad for everyone. 1. https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/07/amazon-hands-over-alexa-data-after-murder-suspect-gives-the-okay/ https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/07/amazon-hands-over-alexa-... 2. https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-warning-our-smart-tvs-record-your-living-room-chatter/ https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-warning-our-smart-tvs-rec...
  - bootlooped 9y ago
    I don't think they would move to continuous recognition and upload. I think it would simply be listening for a different keyword, which it would recognize on-device, and then upload the audio following that. It would be pretty insane if every android smartphone was continuous uploading audio to Google's servers for processing. Can you imagine the processing requirements, the bandwidth load, the battery drain?
    - imglorp 9y ago
      Mobile, yeah, but going by the above two references, both the Alexa and Samsung examples _are_ doing something with continuous upload or they wouldn't be in the news.
bitmapbrother 9y ago
I find it funny how selective privacy warriors like to impose their beliefs on user privacy on other people, but yet have no desire to go all in and prohibit the user tracking performed by their credit card companies, ISP and cell carrier. A real privacy warrior would use cash only or barter, use payphones only and only log into BBS's using an acoustic coupler modem connected to that said payphone.

jccooper 9y ago

Various Android phones have had that for ages. Shouldn't be very hard.

bootlooped 9y ago
My 2014 Moto X did this. When I switched to a Nexus 6P I was bewildered why I could no longer pick my own phrase.

lighttower 9y ago

Great. Can't wait for the day when I can selectively summon Google Home without having to awake every single Android device within an earshot.

zamalek 9y ago
There's actually a support page for this, outlining the steps to make sure that this doesn't happen (basically: have Google Home installed on your phone). It doesn't work.

tzs 9y ago

Trigger words have their place, but come on Google, Amazon, and Apple...the obviously correct primary way to tell the device you are about to speak a command or query should be by tapping a replica of a Star Trek combadge worn on the front of your shirt. At its simplest, all this needs to be is a Bluetooth button paired with the device. Higher end badges could also be available that include microphone and speaker and can communicate with the device over something longer range than Bluetooth, such as WiFi, to provide access to the device when outside of voice range. Such badges already exist for hands-free calling with cell phones [1], so its not like there is some technological limit to building such things. [1] http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/jmgi/ http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/jmgi/