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I'm pretty deep into the Apple ecosystem (iPhone, Watch, iPad, MBP), but when it comes to smart speakers, I've always used a combination of Echo and Alexa-compa

I'm pretty deep into the Apple ecosystem (iPhone, Watch, iPad, MBP), but when it comes to smart speakers, I've always used a combination of Echo and Alexa-compatible Sonos devices. The Alexa devices have always bothered me. Not just because of the baseline privacy concerns, but because it seems so damn easy to activate the trigger word on accident. The absolute worst part being a false positive activation of my Sonos system while watching a movie/show. When this happens (and it happens a lot), the audio volume of the show is lowered significantly to allow Alexa to hear the rest of the command. Pause the show, wait til "she" stops listening, rewind the show very slightly because I missed whatever was just said due to the volume shift, resume the video, instantly pause again at the moment she was originally triggered until she stops listening, resume the show, this time without having to rewind since I paused soon enough not to miss any dialog. Maddening. And the fact that all of these false positives get sent straight to Amazon doesn't make me feel great. I didn't need a HomePod for its audio quality since I already have great quality with the Sonos system, and couldn't justify the original HomePod's price as a command/control-focused smart speaker with a home already filled with Alexa devices. All of that to say, HomePod mini is perfect for me. I can throw out my Echos, disable Alexa on the Sonos system, and scatter a couple of Minis to replace the Echos. This is something I didn't realize I wanted.

aasasd 6y ago
Sounds like you'd benefit from some sort of an automation script where, when a movie or a show starts playing, Alexa is disabled.
schrodinger 6y ago
Can Homepod Mini control Sonos?
- Thlom 6y ago
  The new generation Sonos support airplay2, so I guess so. To an extent at least.
lostgame 6y ago
>> The absolute worst part being a false positive activation of my Sonos system while watching a movie/show. South Park, being; well, South Park - actually did an episode taking advantage of this and trolling thousands of viewers: https://mashable.com/2017/09/14/south-park-alexa-google-home-nsfw-cartman/ https://mashable.com/2017/09/14/south-park-alexa-google-home... (not really SFW content, strong language)
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
michaelbrooks 6y ago
I know exactly what you mean, but if you say "cancel", it will shut it off faster. It is still a big annoyance which I hope gets fixed at some point in the future.
jakejarvis 6y ago
Binged Schitt’s Creek over the last few weeks and David shouting “Alexis!” triggered all of my Sonos speakers. Every. Single. Time.
- ls612 6y ago
  I mean, if you binge The Witcher TV series you’ll probably trigger your apple voice products a lot. It’s the unfortunate consequence of choosing real names for virtual assistants. Only google home is really immune to this.
blackrock 6y ago
Alexa is just creepy. I suspect that the device is constantly recording the audio in your room, and sending that to Amazon’s servers in the cloud. Because I doubt that the little puck has enough processing power inside it to handle speech recognition. This allows Amazon the ability to continually upgrade their servers, without the need to upgrade the puck. And only when the server detects it’s prompt, “Alexa”, will it send a response back to the puck. This is how the little device appears to be so responsive. And not surprisingly, this bit of functionality is not marketed by Amazon. After all, who the hell in their right mind, would want to be constantly monitored, and have all their private conversations at home be secretly recorded by Amazon. In fact, I suspect that all the voice assistant devices from other manufacturers, like Google, are doing exactly this.

aasasd 6y ago

Sounds like you'd benefit from some sort of an automation script where, when a movie or a show starts playing, Alexa is disabled.

schrodinger 6y ago

Can Homepod Mini control Sonos?

Thlom 6y ago
The new generation Sonos support airplay2, so I guess so. To an extent at least.

lostgame 6y ago

>> The absolute worst part being a false positive activation of my Sonos system while watching a movie/show. South Park, being; well, South Park - actually did an episode taking advantage of this and trolling thousands of viewers: https://mashable.com/2017/09/14/south-park-alexa-google-home-nsfw-cartman/ https://mashable.com/2017/09/14/south-park-alexa-google-home... (not really SFW content, strong language)

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

michaelbrooks 6y ago

I know exactly what you mean, but if you say "cancel", it will shut it off faster. It is still a big annoyance which I hope gets fixed at some point in the future.

jakejarvis 6y ago

Binged Schitt’s Creek over the last few weeks and David shouting “Alexis!” triggered all of my Sonos speakers. Every. Single. Time.

ls612 6y ago
I mean, if you binge The Witcher TV series you’ll probably trigger your apple voice products a lot. It’s the unfortunate consequence of choosing real names for virtual assistants. Only google home is really immune to this.

blackrock 6y ago

Alexa is just creepy. I suspect that the device is constantly recording the audio in your room, and sending that to Amazon’s servers in the cloud. Because I doubt that the little puck has enough processing power inside it to handle speech recognition. This allows Amazon the ability to continually upgrade their servers, without the need to upgrade the puck. And only when the server detects it’s prompt, “Alexa”, will it send a response back to the puck. This is how the little device appears to be so responsive. And not surprisingly, this bit of functionality is not marketed by Amazon. After all, who the hell in their right mind, would want to be constantly monitored, and have all their private conversations at home be secretly recorded by Amazon. In fact, I suspect that all the voice assistant devices from other manufacturers, like Google, are doing exactly this.