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The only time I ordered something with Alexa is when Amazon offered a $10 credit to do so. It's a terrible interface for one, but the biggest hurdle is that I

by gav 8y ago

The only time I ordered something with Alexa is when Amazon offered a $10 credit to do so. It's a terrible interface for one, but the biggest hurdle is that I really don't trust Amazon's pricing. Between add-on items, pantry, and third-party merchants, I always feel that I have to double check if I'm getting ripped off. I think a lot of this would be alleviated by better integration with the mobile app so I could go "Alexa, order AA batteries" and it would add to an order in progress, so that I could then verify the items later on and complete.

grahamburger 8y ago
You can do this, just tried it to verify. "Alexa add ______ to my shopping cart."
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  That's a bit of a mouthful. And it's generally a problem with all those voice assistants.
  - Klathmon 8y ago
    It's like an extra word... It sounds like you just don't like voice assistants, which is fine but don't pretend that the words "shopping cart" are insurmountably larger than "buy".
    - TeMPOraL 8y ago
      It's not just an extra word. It's many extra syllables, when compared to: "Alexa, buy ___". I don't like existing voice assistants, but for different reasons - mainly related to being online-only, and not giving ability to add commands at top-level. I want to say "Alexa, X" instead of "Alexa, ask SomeCommercialBrand to do X", ad nauseam.
      - vageli 8y ago
        Exactly. With a real life (human) assistant, you don't need to be so explicit with delegation.
      - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
        I'd have thought you could specify the verb to use and how to action the verb use, at least to some extent -- eg 'buy' means add items to my shopping list from the list of past-purchased items, flagging new items; 'checkout' means buy the current list.
      - noitsnot 8y ago
        How many commands to Alexa at this point are at least 3+ words, though. I would think the majority. Alexa, set an alarm, reminder, timer for... Alexa play ___album/song by ___. Alexa, play ___ on TuneIn.
      - delecti 8y ago
        > I want to say "Alexa, X" instead of "Alexa, ask SomeCommercialBrand to do X", ad nauseam. Isn't that exactly what the Alexa skills are for? If you want a skill that's not available you can make your own, which is exactly what you want to be able to do.
        gervase 8y ago
        The skills (usually) must follow a specific syntax involving the word "ask". So, for example, if you're using the Domino's skill to buy pizza, you say something like "Alexa, open [pizza brand] and place my Easy Order", or "Alexa, ask [pizza brand] to track my order." which are significantly more unwieldy (and more importantly, hard to remember) than "Alexa, order a pizza." I frequently have to chain several, distinct "Alexa" commands together to achieve my desired end state. For example, if I want to turn on all the lights in my house, set their brightnesses to 100%, and set their colors to soft white, I have to send that as three distinct commands. Being able to create a shortcut, such as "Alexa, Lumos" or whatever would save roughly 30 seconds per instance. Edit: I forgot to mention that some larger skills are exempt from this, once Amazon has added additional integrations. For example, for my thermostat, I can say "Alexa, set the AC to 78" rather than "Alexa, ask [brand] to set the temperature to 78". I still haven't discovered the special syntax to set the AC to Away mode yet.
melling 8y ago
I reorder paper towels all the time. It’s the fastest solution. When I get around to it, I’ll find a few other things that work well.
- monkmartinez 8y ago
  I wonder tho... are you better off buying paper towels at Costco if you have one available?
  - paulcole 8y ago
    Depends on what you mean by better off. I mean how much can you “save” on paper towels by going to Costco? $10-20 at most? Not even factoring in the cost of the membership and the hassle of going to the store.
    - lgregg 8y ago
      that Costco pizza though... that in itself is the membership.
      - tbyehl 8y ago
        Ewwwww. The hotdogs and churros tho!
        lgregg 8y ago
        Churros are good! I'm not a fan of the hotdogs though, but glad you like them!
      - justwalt 8y ago
        You don’t need a membership for the pizza, same with Sam’s club! Though I think both pizzas have declined in quality over the years to make up for their identical price.
        8y ago

by gav 8y ago

grahamburger 8y ago

You can do this, just tried it to verify. "Alexa add ______ to my shopping cart."

TeMPOraL 8y ago
That's a bit of a mouthful. And it's generally a problem with all those voice assistants.
- Klathmon 8y ago
  It's like an extra word... It sounds like you just don't like voice assistants, which is fine but don't pretend that the words "shopping cart" are insurmountably larger than "buy".
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    It's not just an extra word. It's many extra syllables, when compared to: "Alexa, buy ___". I don't like existing voice assistants, but for different reasons - mainly related to being online-only, and not giving ability to add commands at top-level. I want to say "Alexa, X" instead of "Alexa, ask SomeCommercialBrand to do X", ad nauseam.
    - vageli 8y ago
      Exactly. With a real life (human) assistant, you don't need to be so explicit with delegation.
    - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
      I'd have thought you could specify the verb to use and how to action the verb use, at least to some extent -- eg 'buy' means add items to my shopping list from the list of past-purchased items, flagging new items; 'checkout' means buy the current list.
    - noitsnot 8y ago
      How many commands to Alexa at this point are at least 3+ words, though. I would think the majority. Alexa, set an alarm, reminder, timer for... Alexa play ___album/song by ___. Alexa, play ___ on TuneIn.
    - delecti 8y ago
      > I want to say "Alexa, X" instead of "Alexa, ask SomeCommercialBrand to do X", ad nauseam. Isn't that exactly what the Alexa skills are for? If you want a skill that's not available you can make your own, which is exactly what you want to be able to do.
      - gervase 8y ago
        The skills (usually) must follow a specific syntax involving the word "ask". So, for example, if you're using the Domino's skill to buy pizza, you say something like "Alexa, open [pizza brand] and place my Easy Order", or "Alexa, ask [pizza brand] to track my order." which are significantly more unwieldy (and more importantly, hard to remember) than "Alexa, order a pizza." I frequently have to chain several, distinct "Alexa" commands together to achieve my desired end state. For example, if I want to turn on all the lights in my house, set their brightnesses to 100%, and set their colors to soft white, I have to send that as three distinct commands. Being able to create a shortcut, such as "Alexa, Lumos" or whatever would save roughly 30 seconds per instance. Edit: I forgot to mention that some larger skills are exempt from this, once Amazon has added additional integrations. For example, for my thermostat, I can say "Alexa, set the AC to 78" rather than "Alexa, ask [brand] to set the temperature to 78". I still haven't discovered the special syntax to set the AC to Away mode yet.

melling 8y ago

I reorder paper towels all the time. It’s the fastest solution. When I get around to it, I’ll find a few other things that work well.

monkmartinez 8y ago
I wonder tho... are you better off buying paper towels at Costco if you have one available?
- paulcole 8y ago
  Depends on what you mean by better off. I mean how much can you “save” on paper towels by going to Costco? $10-20 at most? Not even factoring in the cost of the membership and the hassle of going to the store.
  - lgregg 8y ago
    that Costco pizza though... that in itself is the membership.
    - tbyehl 8y ago
      Ewwwww. The hotdogs and churros tho!
      - lgregg 8y ago
        Churros are good! I'm not a fan of the hotdogs though, but glad you like them!
    - justwalt 8y ago
      You don’t need a membership for the pizza, same with Sam’s club! Though I think both pizzas have declined in quality over the years to make up for their identical price.
      - 8y ago