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I was gonna say it, but then you did. My non-tech partner 100% agrees. “Love it” is a term that I’ve heard. I do have a few (literally a few) custom shortcuts

I was gonna say it, but then you did. My non-tech partner 100% agrees. “Love it” is a term that I’ve heard. I do have a few (literally a few) custom shortcuts for weird things that it just couldn’t figure out, like playing specifically our local radio station, but other than that it’s amazing. “Hey Siri, play <whatever>” while we make dinner. “Hey Siri, turn it up!” Hey Siri good morning, turn the lights on, set a timer, she mostly does it all with aplomb. If this one broke I’d have another within half an hour. I might get the Mini just to put in another room and mess about. Now, caveat: I’ve never used Alexa or Google. I have no doubt that their voice assistant stuff would be better, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let one of those things listen to me at home. I just don’t trust them at all.

baggy_trough 6y ago
I'm glad you're happy about it, but for me, Siri is a disaster. It only has about a 75% chance to get a simple music command right. Pretty hopeless.
- AlphaSite 6y ago
  Google assisted has a 40-59% success rate for simple alarm and timer commands in my home.
  - kaishiro 6y ago
    That is a surprisingly exact percentage range. How are you tracking this?
- bengale 6y ago
  I'm always pretty surprised by the disparity, I wonder if its an accent thing. Quite frequently we use our HomePod from the other room since they were too pricey (before today) to put in each room. I cant think of a time where its had an issue with us giving it commands even when we're hollering from the adjacent room.
  - nmca 6y ago
    It probably is - I live in London with a spectrum of housemates from about the place and the needed "Alexa voice" is basically RP if you want it to work at all.
- matwood 6y ago
  Siri has gotten much better for me. It's actually useful now. With my Airpod Pros I can reliably respond to texts using my voice. Music commands are also much better. I'm not sure if I have just adapted my commands to ones that work, if Siri is improving, or it's both.
72deluxe 6y ago
I must be getting old because playing an audio track, looking up some information or changing the volume seems a first world "problem" and is still incredibly easy just by using the device that is performing the task, eg. playing music. Back in the day, using my CD player or cassette player didn't seem like hard work. The gulf between the "issues" that these devices solve and real problems in the world (starvation, war, death by covid) has never been wider. I honestly am happy that they're useful for people but they feel like devices looking for a real purpose. I know someone with 70+ "smart" lightbulbs and cameras and devices all over his house and I do not understand how turning the light on or off can be considered too difficult for him to do. I think reading through this thread confirms it! Didn't mean to target your comment in general but this is as far as I've got reading through this thread. Like you, I wouldn't trust the Google or Amazon devices at all!
- jen729w 6y ago
  A sign of getting old indeed: when the technology at stage `n` is surely good enough and you see no reason for `n+1`. ;-) You also set up a nice straw man there. Nobody’s saying that these things are “solving problems”. They’re just cool new technology. Being able to ask for an album while I’m chopping the vegetables for dinner is cool. Why not?
  - 72deluxe 6y ago
    I must accept I am out of touch with the kids, like Principal Skinner... "why not" is quite a good question though. I will ponder, thanks.
- JshWright 6y ago
  Turning off one light is not hard. Walking through the house in the evening to make sure the kids didn't leave lights on (and to lock up the various doors, and set the thermostat back, etc) is annoying. Being able to speak a single voice command to do all that on my way upstairs is much more convenient. Could I still do it by going to a different room? Absolutely. Is it nicer to not have to do that? Definitely. Why did you have a CD player if cassettes worked for your? Was rewinding the cassette really too much trouble? Kids these days...

baggy_trough 6y ago

I'm glad you're happy about it, but for me, Siri is a disaster. It only has about a 75% chance to get a simple music command right. Pretty hopeless.

AlphaSite 6y ago
Google assisted has a 40-59% success rate for simple alarm and timer commands in my home.
- kaishiro 6y ago
  That is a surprisingly exact percentage range. How are you tracking this?
bengale 6y ago
I'm always pretty surprised by the disparity, I wonder if its an accent thing. Quite frequently we use our HomePod from the other room since they were too pricey (before today) to put in each room. I cant think of a time where its had an issue with us giving it commands even when we're hollering from the adjacent room.
- nmca 6y ago
  It probably is - I live in London with a spectrum of housemates from about the place and the needed "Alexa voice" is basically RP if you want it to work at all.
matwood 6y ago
Siri has gotten much better for me. It's actually useful now. With my Airpod Pros I can reliably respond to texts using my voice. Music commands are also much better. I'm not sure if I have just adapted my commands to ones that work, if Siri is improving, or it's both.

72deluxe 6y ago

I must be getting old because playing an audio track, looking up some information or changing the volume seems a first world "problem" and is still incredibly easy just by using the device that is performing the task, eg. playing music. Back in the day, using my CD player or cassette player didn't seem like hard work. The gulf between the "issues" that these devices solve and real problems in the world (starvation, war, death by covid) has never been wider. I honestly am happy that they're useful for people but they feel like devices looking for a real purpose. I know someone with 70+ "smart" lightbulbs and cameras and devices all over his house and I do not understand how turning the light on or off can be considered too difficult for him to do. I think reading through this thread confirms it! Didn't mean to target your comment in general but this is as far as I've got reading through this thread. Like you, I wouldn't trust the Google or Amazon devices at all!

jen729w 6y ago
A sign of getting old indeed: when the technology at stage `n` is surely good enough and you see no reason for `n+1`. ;-) You also set up a nice straw man there. Nobody’s saying that these things are “solving problems”. They’re just cool new technology. Being able to ask for an album while I’m chopping the vegetables for dinner is cool. Why not?
- 72deluxe 6y ago
  I must accept I am out of touch with the kids, like Principal Skinner... "why not" is quite a good question though. I will ponder, thanks.
JshWright 6y ago
Turning off one light is not hard. Walking through the house in the evening to make sure the kids didn't leave lights on (and to lock up the various doors, and set the thermostat back, etc) is annoying. Being able to speak a single voice command to do all that on my way upstairs is much more convenient. Could I still do it by going to a different room? Absolutely. Is it nicer to not have to do that? Definitely. Why did you have a CD player if cassettes worked for your? Was rewinding the cassette really too much trouble? Kids these days...