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> Very frustrating when there is a lot of potential this is my experience as well. Often my Alexa gets told to F-off. ME: "Alexa play music" Alexa : Playing

> Very frustrating when there is a lot of potential this is my experience as well. Often my Alexa gets told to F-off. ME: "Alexa play music" Alexa : Playing Spotify... Nothing..no music.. repeat asking it to play music.. nothing. > The push for engagement is what is killing it for me. It had potential, but instead of getting the basics working they keep focusing on everything else? I dont care about Alexa telling me about all the new things it can do when it cant do the core reason i bought for reliably. Now it is relegated to telling me the weather, being a kitchen timer, and adding items to my shopping list.

mbajkowski 4y ago
In addition, and not considering privacy concerns, I've found relegating them to kids entertainment to be a pretty good use case. Conversations go into all sorts of random directions, it misunderstand most of the intent which can be very funny at time, answers incorrectly, but the kids don't mind at bit and simply keep on going.
- yummypaint 4y ago
  Hopefully they are discerning enough that this kind of thing isn't a concern? https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/28/22856832/amazon-alexa-challenge-child-dangerous-electricity-algorithm https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/28/22856832/amazon-alexa-ch...
exo-cortex 4y ago
Would this open-source alternative "mycroft" be capable of replacing the functions Alexa is currently relegated to?
- kennend3 4y ago
  I've looked at a few alternatives and they all face the same core issue : The Alexa's hardware is really good, it is the software that is the issue. If i install Mycroft, what will it run on? I guess a Pi? Does this look anywhere near as refined as an Alexa device? How much time will i need to spend to get it working vs simply plugging an Alexa in?
  - ASalazarMX 4y ago
    Telegram chat bots are pretty useful, because you're supposed to tell them commands, not natural language. Alexa wouldn't need sophisticated software if you interacted with it with a series of limited commands instead of natural language.
  - porjo 4y ago
    > If I install Mycroft, what will it run on? How about Mycroft's own device? https://mycroft.ai/product/mark-ii/ https://mycroft.ai/product/mark-ii/
- avryhof 4y ago
  Last I checked, the mycroft timer could set simple timers, (set a 5 minute timer, etc.) but things like repeating timers weren't working yet. It's getting better, but in many cases it's not there yet. I'm not complaining because as much as I want to help, I simply can't spend enough time to get into the code. I want to use mycroft, since their privacy concerns are a real thing.

mbajkowski 4y ago

In addition, and not considering privacy concerns, I've found relegating them to kids entertainment to be a pretty good use case. Conversations go into all sorts of random directions, it misunderstand most of the intent which can be very funny at time, answers incorrectly, but the kids don't mind at bit and simply keep on going.

yummypaint 4y ago
Hopefully they are discerning enough that this kind of thing isn't a concern? https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/28/22856832/amazon-alexa-challenge-child-dangerous-electricity-algorithm https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/28/22856832/amazon-alexa-ch...

exo-cortex 4y ago

Would this open-source alternative "mycroft" be capable of replacing the functions Alexa is currently relegated to?

kennend3 4y ago
I've looked at a few alternatives and they all face the same core issue : The Alexa's hardware is really good, it is the software that is the issue. If i install Mycroft, what will it run on? I guess a Pi? Does this look anywhere near as refined as an Alexa device? How much time will i need to spend to get it working vs simply plugging an Alexa in?
- ASalazarMX 4y ago
  Telegram chat bots are pretty useful, because you're supposed to tell them commands, not natural language. Alexa wouldn't need sophisticated software if you interacted with it with a series of limited commands instead of natural language.
- porjo 4y ago
  > If I install Mycroft, what will it run on? How about Mycroft's own device? https://mycroft.ai/product/mark-ii/ https://mycroft.ai/product/mark-ii/
avryhof 4y ago
Last I checked, the mycroft timer could set simple timers, (set a 5 minute timer, etc.) but things like repeating timers weren't working yet. It's getting better, but in many cases it's not there yet. I'm not complaining because as much as I want to help, I simply can't spend enough time to get into the code. I want to use mycroft, since their privacy concerns are a real thing.