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I could never understand “assistants” like this. I dream about “assistant” like Focus in “Horizon” – so in a more passive way. For me, the best “assistant” is

I could never understand “assistants” like this. I dream about “assistant” like Focus in “Horizon” – so in a more passive way. For me, the best “assistant” is the one I don't pay attention to.

IgorPartola 5y ago
“Alexa, set lights to 40%” “Alexa, set an egg timer for 12 minutes” “Alexa, set an alarm for 6:45am” “Alexa, play Stories Podcast on Spotify” These or variations of these are the most used commands at my house. Passive assistants can’t really figure out that I or my kids want to play a specific podcast or when to set a timer when cooking. Lighting is another tricky one. Sometimes I’m reading and want bright lights. Sometimes I want scenic lights. Sometimes I want very low lights while falling asleep. I suspect most people don’t use their smart assistants for shopping. I do occasionally ask it a random question like “what year was Einstein born” when I don’t feel like whipping out my phone or play an occasional round of 20 questions with my kids. But that’s rare compared to the typical usage.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  I have an egg timer I just turn the dial on. Replacing it with a billion transistors scratches a non-existent itch for me. What I want is an assistant that will handle all my bookkeeping for me. Right now, I have to log in to the account, then download all the statements for the last tax year. Evidently, no bank has such an option. Nope. You gotta do it month by month, click, download, save, back, back, click, download, save, back, back, until you scream. Then ya gotta download the transactions for the last year in a format that quicken can use. You can download transactions for last week, last month, last 12 months. No option for "last tax year". So you have to manually enter 1/1/2021, then 12/31/2021, then confirm, then download, then save, then do it all over again for the CVS version. Then you gotta poke around looking for the tax documents. Then I gotta get the transactions for a credit card I canceled 6 months ago. But since I canceled it, I can't download the transactions. It must be only me that has these problems. Why is that? Does nobody else need to pay taxes? No, I doan need no help setting a $%^&# egg timer :-) Maybe if I become bedridden I'll need help flipping a light switch. Until then, nope.
  - IgorPartola 5y ago
    Depends on how you cook. I like to cool big complicated meals that take hours. At any given time I will have 3-4 timers going concurrently. I need to know which timer is going off. Also my hands are often covered in food as I am cooking and washing them to set a timers slows me down. When walking into a dark room carrying a heavy box it is often easier to use a voice assistant to turn on lights. It’s also frankly more fun. What you are looking for is not a home assistant. You want an accountant + QuickBooks. For $1000/year or so you can get both and be happy. Intelligence is often cheaper than artificial intelligence.
    - WalterBright 5y ago
      I admit I don't cook much. As for turning on lights when carrying, that's why I have an elbow! The switch is at elbow height. > It’s also frankly more fun What, this isn't fun? https://www.amazon.com/Clapper-Sound-Activated-Switch-White/dp/B000O7L364 https://www.amazon.com/Clapper-Sound-Activated-Switch-White/...
      - jjeaff 5y ago
        I'll wager you don't have kids. I'd have to spend half an hour a day traveling around the house turning off light switches countless times if it weren't for an easy "hey Google, turn off the kitchen lights" or "turn of all the lights".
        f1refly 5y ago
        We didn't have home automation when my grandparents where kids, when my parents where kids, when me and my brother where kids. We managed to turn off the lights. Have you considered to just teach your kids to turn off lights? It's not like flipping a light switch is an impossible task for a kid, they even managed to flip it when turning the light on!
        jjeaff 5y ago
        My grandparents got along fine as kids with an outhouse and no computers at all. So I'm not sure what your point is. For one, my grandparents, didn't have nearly the number of light switches even with a comparable house size. And "just teaching" kids to turn the lights off is quite laughable. My kids know how to turn off lights and know they should turn them off when they leave the room. But knowing and always remembering to do it are two different things. I also forget to turn them off sometimes. I remember my dad grumbling quite a bit about having to go around turning off the lights or having to run back in the house after you get outside and see the lighted windows. Just one less little hassle.
- lysp 5y ago
  I often use mine for weather when I'm getting ready, or "is it going to rain". A friend of mine does a shopping list on his "add eggs to shopping list".
- pjerem 5y ago
  > “Alexa, set lights to 40%” > “Alexa, set an egg timer for 12 minutes” > “Alexa, set an alarm for 6:45am” > “Alexa, play Stories Podcast on Spotify” It’s not that it looks useless. It’s sure looks pretty cool to be able to switch on the light with the sound of my voice. But the privacy cost is extremely huge for something that isn’t that much revolutionary. I’ll just keep pressing the button. That’s less cool, I admit that and I’m even somewhat jealous. But I’m never going to allow Amazon (or any company) listen to me constant just not to press a button. I respect and have no issue with your choice but it feels wrong justifying the utility without mentioning the drawbacks.
  - Semaphor 5y ago
    > I’ll just keep pressing the button. Not always possible, I heavily make use of Alexa while both my hands are dirty from baking or cooking. Both dumb units to metric, and setting timers. But I am pretty happy with the voice recognition, so I’m currently waiting on Pi Zero 2 W’s becoming available again and replacing her with Rhasspy.
    - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
      > Not always possible What did you do before your voice assistant? Did you leave the light on until such time that your hands became clean?
BatteryMountain 5y ago
For those unfamiliar with "Focus in “Horizon”", can you shortly explain why/how this is better?
- joekrill 5y ago
  In the game Horizon: Zero Dawn (and now Horizon: Forbidden West) the main character Aloy uses a device called a Focus that let's her visualize - usually via a virtual heads-up-display - data about the world around her (things like detecting and tracking nearby objects, or reading data from and interacting with devices). I don't think it's really a comparable to a voice assistant. It's more "Google Glass" than "Google Assistant".
  - mromanuk 5y ago
    I would prefer a voice, like the one in Her. Would be nice if it can predict what I need next and plan ahead. Smart enough, probably above Siri/Alexa/Cortana and below a person (hopefully).

IgorPartola 5y ago

“Alexa, set lights to 40%” “Alexa, set an egg timer for 12 minutes” “Alexa, set an alarm for 6:45am” “Alexa, play Stories Podcast on Spotify” These or variations of these are the most used commands at my house. Passive assistants can’t really figure out that I or my kids want to play a specific podcast or when to set a timer when cooking. Lighting is another tricky one. Sometimes I’m reading and want bright lights. Sometimes I want scenic lights. Sometimes I want very low lights while falling asleep. I suspect most people don’t use their smart assistants for shopping. I do occasionally ask it a random question like “what year was Einstein born” when I don’t feel like whipping out my phone or play an occasional round of 20 questions with my kids. But that’s rare compared to the typical usage.

WalterBright 5y ago
I have an egg timer I just turn the dial on. Replacing it with a billion transistors scratches a non-existent itch for me. What I want is an assistant that will handle all my bookkeeping for me. Right now, I have to log in to the account, then download all the statements for the last tax year. Evidently, no bank has such an option. Nope. You gotta do it month by month, click, download, save, back, back, click, download, save, back, back, until you scream. Then ya gotta download the transactions for the last year in a format that quicken can use. You can download transactions for last week, last month, last 12 months. No option for "last tax year". So you have to manually enter 1/1/2021, then 12/31/2021, then confirm, then download, then save, then do it all over again for the CVS version. Then you gotta poke around looking for the tax documents. Then I gotta get the transactions for a credit card I canceled 6 months ago. But since I canceled it, I can't download the transactions. It must be only me that has these problems. Why is that? Does nobody else need to pay taxes? No, I doan need no help setting a $%^&# egg timer :-) Maybe if I become bedridden I'll need help flipping a light switch. Until then, nope.
- IgorPartola 5y ago
  Depends on how you cook. I like to cool big complicated meals that take hours. At any given time I will have 3-4 timers going concurrently. I need to know which timer is going off. Also my hands are often covered in food as I am cooking and washing them to set a timers slows me down. When walking into a dark room carrying a heavy box it is often easier to use a voice assistant to turn on lights. It’s also frankly more fun. What you are looking for is not a home assistant. You want an accountant + QuickBooks. For $1000/year or so you can get both and be happy. Intelligence is often cheaper than artificial intelligence.
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    I admit I don't cook much. As for turning on lights when carrying, that's why I have an elbow! The switch is at elbow height. > It’s also frankly more fun What, this isn't fun? https://www.amazon.com/Clapper-Sound-Activated-Switch-White/dp/B000O7L364 https://www.amazon.com/Clapper-Sound-Activated-Switch-White/...
    - jjeaff 5y ago
      I'll wager you don't have kids. I'd have to spend half an hour a day traveling around the house turning off light switches countless times if it weren't for an easy "hey Google, turn off the kitchen lights" or "turn of all the lights".
      - f1refly 5y ago
        We didn't have home automation when my grandparents where kids, when my parents where kids, when me and my brother where kids. We managed to turn off the lights. Have you considered to just teach your kids to turn off lights? It's not like flipping a light switch is an impossible task for a kid, they even managed to flip it when turning the light on!
        jjeaff 5y ago
        My grandparents got along fine as kids with an outhouse and no computers at all. So I'm not sure what your point is. For one, my grandparents, didn't have nearly the number of light switches even with a comparable house size. And "just teaching" kids to turn the lights off is quite laughable. My kids know how to turn off lights and know they should turn them off when they leave the room. But knowing and always remembering to do it are two different things. I also forget to turn them off sometimes. I remember my dad grumbling quite a bit about having to go around turning off the lights or having to run back in the house after you get outside and see the lighted windows. Just one less little hassle.
lysp 5y ago
I often use mine for weather when I'm getting ready, or "is it going to rain". A friend of mine does a shopping list on his "add eggs to shopping list".
pjerem 5y ago
> “Alexa, set lights to 40%” > “Alexa, set an egg timer for 12 minutes” > “Alexa, set an alarm for 6:45am” > “Alexa, play Stories Podcast on Spotify” It’s not that it looks useless. It’s sure looks pretty cool to be able to switch on the light with the sound of my voice. But the privacy cost is extremely huge for something that isn’t that much revolutionary. I’ll just keep pressing the button. That’s less cool, I admit that and I’m even somewhat jealous. But I’m never going to allow Amazon (or any company) listen to me constant just not to press a button. I respect and have no issue with your choice but it feels wrong justifying the utility without mentioning the drawbacks.
- Semaphor 5y ago
  > I’ll just keep pressing the button. Not always possible, I heavily make use of Alexa while both my hands are dirty from baking or cooking. Both dumb units to metric, and setting timers. But I am pretty happy with the voice recognition, so I’m currently waiting on Pi Zero 2 W’s becoming available again and replacing her with Rhasspy.
  - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
    > Not always possible What did you do before your voice assistant? Did you leave the light on until such time that your hands became clean?

BatteryMountain 5y ago

For those unfamiliar with "Focus in “Horizon”", can you shortly explain why/how this is better?

joekrill 5y ago
In the game Horizon: Zero Dawn (and now Horizon: Forbidden West) the main character Aloy uses a device called a Focus that let's her visualize - usually via a virtual heads-up-display - data about the world around her (things like detecting and tracking nearby objects, or reading data from and interacting with devices). I don't think it's really a comparable to a voice assistant. It's more "Google Glass" than "Google Assistant".
- mromanuk 5y ago
  I would prefer a voice, like the one in Her. Would be nice if it can predict what I need next and plan ahead. Smart enough, probably above Siri/Alexa/Cortana and below a person (hopefully).