4 ms·

My guess is ~9950 of those employees just do data labeling.

by warent 8y ago

DiabloD3 8y ago
That still implies 50 of them are trying to make it seem like anything but a toy. I was given a Google Home Mini as a Christmas gift (the resident tech god for most people's lives doesn't have one? what, how can this be!? someone rectified that for me), and I've been toying with it... and its the Google assistant in my phone, but in a stand alone device. I mean, don't get me wrong, that's a lot more useful than people realize because.... IT ACTUALLY WORKS. Ridiculously loud kitchen fan hood roaring along at levels that are probably considered unsafe by OSHA standards? "Hey Google, do the thing." "Okay, I'm doing the thing." Upstairs, far away from it? Not even yelling at it, it understands me reasonably and does things alarmingly often. The best impossible magic? "Okay Google, turn my television off." My Chromecast is not named "television" nor "my television", is only referenced in my Home config as the default TV for that room (of which the TV and Mini share), and somehow turns the TV off even though the Chromecast does not expose this functionality anywhere in the Home app (and was assumed to only know how to issue exactly one HDMI CEC command (turn TV on and switch input to here) due to some undocumented and strange hardware issue... hundreds of threads across the Internet all about how can they turn the TV off even though they can turn the TV on, none of them ever figuring out how to issue CEC off or even if the Chromecast can... it can, and the assistant in my tiny speakers knows how to issue this probably undocumented command to the Chromecast). My experience with Alexa? Ideal listening conditions, no background noise, only me talking. "Alexa, do the skill that you know how to do and is advertised in the commercials on TV, any off them." "I'm not quite sure how to help you with that".
- Aeolun 8y ago
  Alexa is like a little kid, you just have to repeat yourself often, and sometimes she pipes up in the middle of a conversation because she wants to do something else. That said, she’s quite capable of turning my TV and lights on and off.
- Bahamut 8y ago
  Seems Siri is much better than Alexa as well - I often hear my roommate struggling with getting Alexa to do what she wants, and various other friends struggling with Alexa as well, usually because of accents. Smart assistants in general have a ways to go still, but perhaps in the next 5-10 years they will be very good.
- shimylining 8y ago
  I have been using Alexa for years. I've been controlling my TV and I have WiFi smart plugs. It is super useful and it has never had issues understanding what I was saying. I have noticed people who have issues they place the device next to a sound source such as a TV or fan or something and obviously this will mess it up. I also don't understand why so much hate for Alexa. Everyone in this thread just seems like a Debbie downer, shi*ing on everything all the time.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    I find Alexa "voice recognition" quite, if not amazingly, good. Native English speaker but definitely not news anchor voice. The problem is in conversational understanding that drops off quickly beyond "What's the weather?"
  - smokeyj 8y ago
    Because it's a spying device people are installing in their homes. These are the same people that are going to complain that it was a huge invasion of privacy in 5 years. It's going to be Facebook all over again. People willingly hand all their data over to daddy Bezos and then wonder why Amazon National Healthcare is charging them insane premiums. Edit: The same people developing facial recognition for the DoD is developing eavesdropping devices for Americans to install in their homes. Why, after the Snowden revelations, would any rational person think the big-brother doesn't have a direct line into your home? Listening to your every word, to your childrens words, to their opinions in formation.. Seems willingly selfish to not only hand over your privacy, but everyone you invite into your life. Edit 2: Considering the investment being put into a smart-microphone, I can only imagine the market for the device is a skunkworks operation. Selling a perfect surveillance device to the CPC perhaps? Beat Google and their project dragonfly to the punch? Hmm
    - wkearney99 8y ago
      Ah yes, the old "the same people" conspiracy shit. Give it a rest. Bring up wireshark and watch if you're so certain "they" are doing that. I have. They're not. At least not with the Alexa device I've got. So maybe instead of spending so much on tinfoil for hats, maybe you should actually TRY some the devices. PROVE there's some actual conspiratorial activities going on. Or not, stfu is just as viable an option.
- kochikame 8y ago
  Agreed, technically it's amazing. My wife and I ave different native languages yet we can speak to it, combining both languages in a single inquiry/conversation and it replies to me in my language and to her in hers. Ingenious stuff, whatever people think of the privacy issues.

My guess is ~9950 of those employees just do data labeling.

by warent 8y ago

My guess is ~9950 of those employees just do data labeling.

That still implies 50 of them are trying to make it seem like anything but a toy. I was given a Google Home Mini as a Christmas gift (the resident tech god for most people's lives doesn't have one? what, how can this be!? someone rectified that for me), and I've been toying with it... and its the Google assistant in my phone, but in a stand alone device. I mean, don't get me wrong, that's a lot more useful than people realize because.... IT ACTUALLY WORKS. Ridiculously loud kitchen fan hood roaring along at levels that are probably considered unsafe by OSHA standards? "Hey Google, do the thing." "Okay, I'm doing the thing." Upstairs, far away from it? Not even yelling at it, it understands me reasonably and does things alarmingly often. The best impossible magic? "Okay Google, turn my television off." My Chromecast is not named "television" nor "my television", is only referenced in my Home config as the default TV for that room (of which the TV and Mini share), and somehow turns the TV off even though the Chromecast does not expose this functionality anywhere in the Home app (and was assumed to only know how to issue exactly one HDMI CEC command (turn TV on and switch input to here) due to some undocumented and strange hardware issue... hundreds of threads across the Internet all about how can they turn the TV off even though they can turn the TV on, none of them ever figuring out how to issue CEC off or even if the Chromecast can... it can, and the assistant in my tiny speakers knows how to issue this probably undocumented command to the Chromecast). My experience with Alexa? Ideal listening conditions, no background noise, only me talking. "Alexa, do the skill that you know how to do and is advertised in the commercials on TV, any off them." "I'm not quite sure how to help you with that".

Aeolun 8y ago
Alexa is like a little kid, you just have to repeat yourself often, and sometimes she pipes up in the middle of a conversation because she wants to do something else. That said, she’s quite capable of turning my TV and lights on and off.
Bahamut 8y ago
Seems Siri is much better than Alexa as well - I often hear my roommate struggling with getting Alexa to do what she wants, and various other friends struggling with Alexa as well, usually because of accents. Smart assistants in general have a ways to go still, but perhaps in the next 5-10 years they will be very good.
shimylining 8y ago
I have been using Alexa for years. I've been controlling my TV and I have WiFi smart plugs. It is super useful and it has never had issues understanding what I was saying. I have noticed people who have issues they place the device next to a sound source such as a TV or fan or something and obviously this will mess it up. I also don't understand why so much hate for Alexa. Everyone in this thread just seems like a Debbie downer, shi*ing on everything all the time.
- ghaff 8y ago
  I find Alexa "voice recognition" quite, if not amazingly, good. Native English speaker but definitely not news anchor voice. The problem is in conversational understanding that drops off quickly beyond "What's the weather?"
- smokeyj 8y ago
  Because it's a spying device people are installing in their homes. These are the same people that are going to complain that it was a huge invasion of privacy in 5 years. It's going to be Facebook all over again. People willingly hand all their data over to daddy Bezos and then wonder why Amazon National Healthcare is charging them insane premiums. Edit: The same people developing facial recognition for the DoD is developing eavesdropping devices for Americans to install in their homes. Why, after the Snowden revelations, would any rational person think the big-brother doesn't have a direct line into your home? Listening to your every word, to your childrens words, to their opinions in formation.. Seems willingly selfish to not only hand over your privacy, but everyone you invite into your life. Edit 2: Considering the investment being put into a smart-microphone, I can only imagine the market for the device is a skunkworks operation. Selling a perfect surveillance device to the CPC perhaps? Beat Google and their project dragonfly to the punch? Hmm
  - wkearney99 8y ago
    Ah yes, the old "the same people" conspiracy shit. Give it a rest. Bring up wireshark and watch if you're so certain "they" are doing that. I have. They're not. At least not with the Alexa device I've got. So maybe instead of spending so much on tinfoil for hats, maybe you should actually TRY some the devices. PROVE there's some actual conspiratorial activities going on. Or not, stfu is just as viable an option.
kochikame 8y ago
Agreed, technically it's amazing. My wife and I ave different native languages yet we can speak to it, combining both languages in a single inquiry/conversation and it replies to me in my language and to her in hers. Ingenious stuff, whatever people think of the privacy issues.