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I was taking with a friend who said ,"people use Alexa like a toaster, we haven't found what this interface will be really good at" But what if it /is/ just a

by zwkrt 8y ago

I was taking with a friend who said ,"people use Alexa like a toaster, we haven't found what this interface will be really good at" But what if it /is/ just a toaster? Tech people tend to have high hopes for technology but technology must serve a purpose and it will go the way of the dodo if the purpose of not strong or clear. For me, having a voice interface for music and calls is enough justification for such a device, and I assume this is true for others as well. It's a classic case of over-engineering and then shopping around for a use case for the 25-use Swiss army knife that no one asked for.

taco_emoji 8y ago
I don't think it's enough justification--you can get a "dumb" bluetooth- or wifi-enabled speaker to hook up with the voice-enabled smartphone you already have in your pocket. The value proposition for an Alexa or Google Home has to be over and above that functionality.
- oarsinsync 8y ago
  The smart speaker is always fixed in place, always listening, always ready to play and independent of anything else. Your phone needs to be in range of the 'dumb' speaker, needs to be paired to it / connected to the same wireless network, can't be used for any other audio functions, and probably can't be in your pocket if you want it to be listening for voice commands. It now also can't be trained to your voice specifically if you have others in your home who want to use it, which makes it ripe for abuse whenever you leave the home.
- zwkrt 8y ago
  I agree that the current solution is unfortunate, but most customers are seemingly blind to that or more generally demand seems inelastic to that aspect so I didn't address it.
mrlala 8y ago
I agree, why does it have to do a billion things? I use it for, in this order * Music * Kitchen timers while cooking * Setting simple reminders without having to go into a phone app or some crap (alexa, remind me to do X at 10am) * Kids asking random questions (alexa, how many moons does jupiter have) Other random stuff like weather maybe, when a sports game is on... But this is all just pretty basic stuff you would expect from a voice interface... to me, it has all the "killer apps" built in with the above.
- dugluak 8y ago
  I agree with all of the above. Setting a timer was never as easy as it is now with Google (I don't have Alexa). I tell my 5 year old to set a timer for me and all he has to do is say "OK Google set a timer for 15 minutes" This was "the future" few years ago and we are living in it now :)
ionised 8y ago
> or me, having a voice interface for music and calls is enough justification for such a device, and I assume this is true for others as well. I wouldn't assume anything like that.

by zwkrt 8y ago

taco_emoji 8y ago

I don't think it's enough justification--you can get a "dumb" bluetooth- or wifi-enabled speaker to hook up with the voice-enabled smartphone you already have in your pocket. The value proposition for an Alexa or Google Home has to be over and above that functionality.

oarsinsync 8y ago
The smart speaker is always fixed in place, always listening, always ready to play and independent of anything else. Your phone needs to be in range of the 'dumb' speaker, needs to be paired to it / connected to the same wireless network, can't be used for any other audio functions, and probably can't be in your pocket if you want it to be listening for voice commands. It now also can't be trained to your voice specifically if you have others in your home who want to use it, which makes it ripe for abuse whenever you leave the home.
zwkrt 8y ago
I agree that the current solution is unfortunate, but most customers are seemingly blind to that or more generally demand seems inelastic to that aspect so I didn't address it.

mrlala 8y ago

I agree, why does it have to do a billion things? I use it for, in this order * Music * Kitchen timers while cooking * Setting simple reminders without having to go into a phone app or some crap (alexa, remind me to do X at 10am) * Kids asking random questions (alexa, how many moons does jupiter have) Other random stuff like weather maybe, when a sports game is on... But this is all just pretty basic stuff you would expect from a voice interface... to me, it has all the "killer apps" built in with the above.

dugluak 8y ago
I agree with all of the above. Setting a timer was never as easy as it is now with Google (I don't have Alexa). I tell my 5 year old to set a timer for me and all he has to do is say "OK Google set a timer for 15 minutes" This was "the future" few years ago and we are living in it now :)

ionised 8y ago

> or me, having a voice interface for music and calls is enough justification for such a device, and I assume this is true for others as well. I wouldn't assume anything like that.