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We have at least 8 of the things around the house and use them all the time. They're vastly superior to Google/Apple offerings for us. It would be superduper i

We have at least 8 of the things around the house and use them all the time. They're vastly superior to Google/Apple offerings for us. It would be superduper if AMZN would work with customers to ensure Alexa solves problems that actually exist in ways that are genuinely satisfying, instead of trying to be clever or whatever it is they're doing. The "By the way" intrusion, for example, has nearly evicted the whole concept.

louthy 4y ago
> The "By the way" intrusion For those of us that don’t use Alexa, what’s this?
- danpalmer 4y ago
  It advertises other functionality. Typically functionality that allows you to spend money with Amazon. Siri has started telling me the company that provides it’s weather data every ~10th time I ask for the weather and I feel like even that crosses a line. I do hope Apple have a metric for how many customers swear at HomePods and have someone trying to minimise that.
- SomeHacker44 4y ago
  Sometimes, after answering your actual query, Alexa continues to blather on about something useless, starting with "By the way..." I wish I knew how to stop it, but telling her "don't say by the way anymore" returns blank stares. Maddening.
- ergonaught 4y ago
  You: "Alexa, turn off the lights." Echo: "Okay. By the way, did you know I can do some other random thing wholly unrelated to the task you gave me, the description of which interrupts something that matters and now you've lost it because you are screaming at me to shut up, please god shut up, please never ever make suggestions?"
  - zbrozek 4y ago
    I have very few use cases for a voice assistant, but like them quite a lot. Setting timers and controlling the lights without having to touch anything and while moving around the house is fantastic. Having the voice assistant actually talk back and say anything at all more than the absolutely minimum possible response is unwelcome. Getting a 'by the way' response makes me want to chuck the hardware into the pool. That whole ecosystem is on my list of things to evict and replace with a self-hosted solution, but I've had too-limited time lately to go down that rabbit hole.
    - tartoran 4y ago
      Voice assistants will truly thrive when users have full control and all the data is local. We’ll never see this coming from a large player like Amazon.
- travisd 4y ago
  With my Google Home speaker, I’ll tell it to turn off the lights (which it probably has maybe 95% accuracy of getting right in the first place…). But it will then say “Okay, turning off 5 lights. By the way, you can ask me how long your morning commute will take!” which is just annoying when you’re trying to get to bed.
  - someguy212 4y ago
    Oh so advertisements.
aetherson 4y ago
The "by the way" thing is awful. I would legit pay a $50 premium for a voice assistant that only tried to do the few things that voice assistants are good at and never bothered me with Amazon's attempts to get me to use it for useless crap.
- rolenthedeep 4y ago
  Have you looked into Mycroft? It's an open source voice assistant, which runs on hardware you physically own and keep in your house.
  - walterbell 4y ago
    $350 for an equivalent to Echo! https://mycroft.ai/product/mark-ii/ https://mycroft.ai/product/mark-ii/ If Amazon is going to kill Alexa, they should be forced to unlock their (Linux?) firmware to avoid millions of devices going into landfills. The open-source community will come up with a replacement that can use their stellar hardware.
    - shagie 4y ago
      > $350 for an equivalent to Echo! You missed the "Pricing Available Until November 30th, 2022" and the corresponding grayed and struck price of $499.00
      - walterbell 4y ago
        Yikes, that's the price of a used Linux laptop with echo cancellation hardware.
        shagie 4y ago
        The really off thing for me with the idea of it is I've got multiple devices. I've got an Alexa device in six different rooms that I got back in (looking up order) 2016(!!) for $260. Looking at about $40 per device that's been running for over half a decade each. For me, the price to replace these all would be be a few thousand dollars. For me, if Amazon was to discontinue Alexa (not a prediction), putting home pods in the rooms that lack them (yes, I have Alexa and Siri sitting next to each other) would be less than the cost of a single Mycroft.

louthy 4y ago

> The "By the way" intrusion For those of us that don’t use Alexa, what’s this?

danpalmer 4y ago
It advertises other functionality. Typically functionality that allows you to spend money with Amazon. Siri has started telling me the company that provides it’s weather data every ~10th time I ask for the weather and I feel like even that crosses a line. I do hope Apple have a metric for how many customers swear at HomePods and have someone trying to minimise that.
SomeHacker44 4y ago
Sometimes, after answering your actual query, Alexa continues to blather on about something useless, starting with "By the way..." I wish I knew how to stop it, but telling her "don't say by the way anymore" returns blank stares. Maddening.
ergonaught 4y ago
You: "Alexa, turn off the lights." Echo: "Okay. By the way, did you know I can do some other random thing wholly unrelated to the task you gave me, the description of which interrupts something that matters and now you've lost it because you are screaming at me to shut up, please god shut up, please never ever make suggestions?"
- zbrozek 4y ago
  I have very few use cases for a voice assistant, but like them quite a lot. Setting timers and controlling the lights without having to touch anything and while moving around the house is fantastic. Having the voice assistant actually talk back and say anything at all more than the absolutely minimum possible response is unwelcome. Getting a 'by the way' response makes me want to chuck the hardware into the pool. That whole ecosystem is on my list of things to evict and replace with a self-hosted solution, but I've had too-limited time lately to go down that rabbit hole.
  - tartoran 4y ago
    Voice assistants will truly thrive when users have full control and all the data is local. We’ll never see this coming from a large player like Amazon.
travisd 4y ago
With my Google Home speaker, I’ll tell it to turn off the lights (which it probably has maybe 95% accuracy of getting right in the first place…). But it will then say “Okay, turning off 5 lights. By the way, you can ask me how long your morning commute will take!” which is just annoying when you’re trying to get to bed.
- someguy212 4y ago
  Oh so advertisements.

aetherson 4y ago

The "by the way" thing is awful. I would legit pay a $50 premium for a voice assistant that only tried to do the few things that voice assistants are good at and never bothered me with Amazon's attempts to get me to use it for useless crap.

rolenthedeep 4y ago
Have you looked into Mycroft? It's an open source voice assistant, which runs on hardware you physically own and keep in your house.
- walterbell 4y ago
  $350 for an equivalent to Echo! https://mycroft.ai/product/mark-ii/ https://mycroft.ai/product/mark-ii/ If Amazon is going to kill Alexa, they should be forced to unlock their (Linux?) firmware to avoid millions of devices going into landfills. The open-source community will come up with a replacement that can use their stellar hardware.
  - shagie 4y ago
    > $350 for an equivalent to Echo! You missed the "Pricing Available Until November 30th, 2022" and the corresponding grayed and struck price of $499.00
    - walterbell 4y ago
      Yikes, that's the price of a used Linux laptop with echo cancellation hardware.
      - shagie 4y ago
        The really off thing for me with the idea of it is I've got multiple devices. I've got an Alexa device in six different rooms that I got back in (looking up order) 2016(!!) for $260. Looking at about $40 per device that's been running for over half a decade each. For me, the price to replace these all would be be a few thousand dollars. For me, if Amazon was to discontinue Alexa (not a prediction), putting home pods in the rooms that lack them (yes, I have Alexa and Siri sitting next to each other) would be less than the cost of a single Mycroft.