6 ms·

One thing that bothers me is how all-or-nothing visual assistance on today's smartphones is. It expects you to either be blind or be perfect. It baffles me I

One thing that bothers me is how all-or-nothing visual assistance on today's smartphones is. It expects you to either be blind or be perfect. It baffles me I can't say "Ok Google, read me this web page."

Rebelgecko 6y ago
Disclaimer: I am Google shill Have you tried recently? "OK Google, read me this web page" does pretty much what you'd expect. There's nice quality of life features of people who can see. The page scrolls as it's read, and the current word is highlighted.
- causality0 6y ago
  Well hot damn, it works. Fascinating how the TTS voice is completely different from, and about a thousand times more pleasant than, any of the standard voices.
  - miki123211 6y ago
    According to Google employees, this goes through the cloud, so can be much, much better, while sacrificing responsiveness, which is crucial for a normal screen reader.
    - causality0 6y ago
      To me the older on-device was much more pleasant than the current one. In fact almost every alternative TTS system like the old SVOX and Ivona voices sound better than the current selection of Google ones. It's like someone turned the treble knob up and no matter which voice you pick they sound screechy.
- dheera 6y ago
  Here are some of the most common things I've wanted, all of which do not work: "OK google zoom out the map a little" (while driving) "OK google scroll down" "OK google insert a waypoint for the next grocery store" (while driving) "OK google turn off the alarm" "OK google switch the map to satellite view" "OK google what color is the Uber I just called"
  - causality0 6y ago
    I wish it would quit treating two places with identical names as equally relevant no matter what their relative distances. Gee Google, did I want the one that's ten miles away or the one that's 186 miles away? Being able to say "take me to the Home Depot that's beside a Walmart" would also be nice. My personal pet peeve, though, is the absolute and deliberate refusal of Google to voice-type the word "o'clock." It is bizarre, and I say it is deliberate because it's not confusing it for another word. No, you can stand there and say o'clock over and over again, and the circle will keep pulsing indicating it's listening to you, but it will type nothing. It's infuriating because it stops you from being specific. You say "start at four-fifteen" and Google knows to type "start at 4:15". But if you say "start at four o'clock" you just get "start at 4" and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. You can say "We'll go at one o'clock, two o'clock, four o'clock, five o'clock" and it just types "we'll go at 1245" Why?!
  - basch 6y ago
    >"OK google insert a waypoint for the next grocery store" (while driving) This one in particular. Or "what are the best couple restaurants on the way" followed by adding it to the route.
    - jabroni_salad 6y ago
      I would be goog4life if I could specify 'The cheapest gas station next to the interstate within the next 30 miles in the direction I am already traveling'.
- Zarel 6y ago
  Honestly, my issue with Google Assistant has always been how inconsistent it is. I gave up on voice control because "ok google play my anime playlist" only worked around 40% of the time (even though I spoke it clearly and it transcribed it no problem). The other 60% it would play Terrordome by AniMe which is not remotely what I wanted. This is despite going out of my way to create a playlist named "anime" because of course there was no way Google Assistant would ever understand "ok google play 微かな密かな確かなミライ".
  - causality0 6y ago
    For me the reliability has taken a nosedive over the last couple of years. Lately it's started capitalizing random words for no reason. I can just have a random sentence and it will Decide half of it is Proper nouns.

Rebelgecko 6y ago

Disclaimer: I am Google shill Have you tried recently? "OK Google, read me this web page" does pretty much what you'd expect. There's nice quality of life features of people who can see. The page scrolls as it's read, and the current word is highlighted.

causality0 6y ago
Well hot damn, it works. Fascinating how the TTS voice is completely different from, and about a thousand times more pleasant than, any of the standard voices.
- miki123211 6y ago
  According to Google employees, this goes through the cloud, so can be much, much better, while sacrificing responsiveness, which is crucial for a normal screen reader.
  - causality0 6y ago
    To me the older on-device was much more pleasant than the current one. In fact almost every alternative TTS system like the old SVOX and Ivona voices sound better than the current selection of Google ones. It's like someone turned the treble knob up and no matter which voice you pick they sound screechy.
dheera 6y ago
Here are some of the most common things I've wanted, all of which do not work: "OK google zoom out the map a little" (while driving) "OK google scroll down" "OK google insert a waypoint for the next grocery store" (while driving) "OK google turn off the alarm" "OK google switch the map to satellite view" "OK google what color is the Uber I just called"
- causality0 6y ago
  I wish it would quit treating two places with identical names as equally relevant no matter what their relative distances. Gee Google, did I want the one that's ten miles away or the one that's 186 miles away? Being able to say "take me to the Home Depot that's beside a Walmart" would also be nice. My personal pet peeve, though, is the absolute and deliberate refusal of Google to voice-type the word "o'clock." It is bizarre, and I say it is deliberate because it's not confusing it for another word. No, you can stand there and say o'clock over and over again, and the circle will keep pulsing indicating it's listening to you, but it will type nothing. It's infuriating because it stops you from being specific. You say "start at four-fifteen" and Google knows to type "start at 4:15". But if you say "start at four o'clock" you just get "start at 4" and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. You can say "We'll go at one o'clock, two o'clock, four o'clock, five o'clock" and it just types "we'll go at 1245" Why?!
- basch 6y ago
  >"OK google insert a waypoint for the next grocery store" (while driving) This one in particular. Or "what are the best couple restaurants on the way" followed by adding it to the route.
  - jabroni_salad 6y ago
    I would be goog4life if I could specify 'The cheapest gas station next to the interstate within the next 30 miles in the direction I am already traveling'.
Zarel 6y ago
Honestly, my issue with Google Assistant has always been how inconsistent it is. I gave up on voice control because "ok google play my anime playlist" only worked around 40% of the time (even though I spoke it clearly and it transcribed it no problem). The other 60% it would play Terrordome by AniMe which is not remotely what I wanted. This is despite going out of my way to create a playlist named "anime" because of course there was no way Google Assistant would ever understand "ok google play 微かな密かな確かなミライ".
- causality0 6y ago
  For me the reliability has taken a nosedive over the last couple of years. Lately it's started capitalizing random words for no reason. I can just have a random sentence and it will Decide half of it is Proper nouns.