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I use my Alexa all the time, but 99% of it is: Alexa, time! Alexa, set an alarm for 5 minutes! Alexa how many minutes left? Alexa, turn off/on all the lights!

I use my Alexa all the time, but 99% of it is: Alexa, time! Alexa, set an alarm for 5 minutes! Alexa how many minutes left? Alexa, turn off/on all the lights! That’s basically it. I wrote some apps for it a long time ago to do custom stuff like read me some Reddit pages, but the SDK changed or something and eventually they just died and it wasn’t obvious to me how to recreate it/not worth the effort. I really wish there was an easy way to just put python scripts onto the device or something. The process of going through Amazon is pretty unnecessarily complex and annoying. I know there are ways of doing this stuff with raspberry pi, but also: not really worth the effort. If I cared that much I’d just make a PWA for my house and give that to my wife and kids.

ikt 4y ago
> I really wish there was an easy way to just put python scripts onto the device or something. Doesn't https://mycroft.ai https://mycroft.ai fit this purpose? Looks like you can ssh in: https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/mark-ii/advanced/ssh-access https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/mark-ii/advanced/ssh-access and has python running on it: https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/docs/skill-development/introduction/python-resources https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/docs/skill-development/introdu... Has anyone got one though?
- chimprich 4y ago
  We really need free versions of virtual assistants, but Mycroft doesn't seem to be getting there. It seems to be $350 (no international pricing?) which seems far too high to be realistic. More subjectively, that's quite an ugly-looking unit. Also, not shipping till Jan? I'd be interested to see a review if anyone has managed to get one.
SkyPuncher 4y ago
This has been my compliant with all of this voice control stuff. The dev teams are so damn focused on being able to answer some esoteric query that you're asking as joke, they forget that you only want to do like 5 basic things: * Set an alarm/reminder * Read then send a text message (while driving). It doesn't even have to be good. Just something that I can send while driving. * Maybe.....maybe ask for the weather. * Turn a named household device on/off. * Play a song It's like these services all completely overlook the actions that you'd be taking on your phone anyways.
- Chico75 4y ago
  > * Play a song Thanks to their newest Amazon Music update, they managed to break this one by only allowing shuffling unless you pay extra for Amazon Music.
- grayfaced 4y ago
  Exactly. Mine is only used for timers/alarms, weather and as a bluetooth speaker. I just want those to work reliably. Every time it tries to change my behavior ("I can also...") it is actively annoying me. But I also recognize that my usage won't generate revenue and will continue to cost. Surely they can't just keep offering free service forever on equipment that was purchased at deep discount. But I don't think offering gimmicks is the answer to this.
- saghm 4y ago
  > Maybe.....maybe ask for the weather I remember one time I asked my Google Home the weather to see if it was cold enough to put on a jacket, and after hearing a temperature that I was ambivalent about, I took a risk and tried asking it what the wind speed was. It started reading out the Wikipedia page for "wind speed" until I told it to stop.
  - lamontcg 4y ago
    They all do stuff like that. It'd be really nice to have a button to turn that off entirely. I never want a device to literally read me long-form webpages. Stop trying to LARP as a Starship AGI when you aren't one.
  - projektfu 4y ago
    Alexa, what's the wind like today? Worked for me
    - saghm 4y ago
      Totally possible that I just phrased the query in a way it didn't understand, and totally possible that a Google Home just can't do this (or couldn't at the time). If anything, I think that kind of illustrates another important point; not only is it hard to figure out what exactly a given voice assistant is capable of doing, it's also pretty hard to tell the difference between "I need to phrase this differently" and "this device can't answer the question I have". I guess it's like how professional dog trainers say that they're really training the person rather than the dog; the quickest path to getting a voice assistant that people can use isn't just training the language model, but training people to talk to it correctly. This makes sense, given how similar trends happened with text-based search engines.
WXLCKNO 4y ago
Same way I used my google home. And then one time out of 10 or something it added crap like "by the way, if you ever wanna know about blabla, you can just ask me to do blabla". Now I don't own a google home mini anymore.
- rdl 4y ago
  Amazon has been adding that too which makes me want to switch away (I'm already uncomfortable with the security risks of a third party controlled cloud microphone, but it's ok in my kitchen and bedroom where no sensitive audio happens.)
alasdair_ 4y ago
I suggest putting everything you can into home assistant and relying on that, since you host it yourself. It's also far more powerful than anything amazon provides anyway. Then, the only integration you need is Alexa-> Home Assistant, so there is only one thing that can break.
- benjaminwootton 4y ago
  What is Home Assistant? Google doesn’t help….
  - jonahhorowitz 4y ago
    https://www.home-assistant.io/ https://www.home-assistant.io/
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
29athrowaway 4y ago
I use Alexa for everything. - To ask for the weather, weather alerts, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed - To ask about outdoor air quality, indoor air quality (requires air quality monitors) - As a baby monitor (crying detector routine) - To know when to empty the dehumidifier bucket (humidity > 60% routine) - To know when someone left the AC fan off (high CO2 routine) - To know when to open the window (high VOC routine) - To know when to turn on the HEPA filters on high (high PM routine) - To turn lights or on off - To manage the thermostat temperature - For music during lunch/dinner - Reminder for meetings, taking out the trash, etc. - Timers, alerts, alarms, reminders... - To automatically turn off devices at night via smart plugs - Vacuuming, mopping - To locate my phone by calling myself - Stock prices I couldn't live without it.
- poxrud 4y ago
  What do you use for VOC/PM detection that integrates with Alexa?
  - 29athrowaway 4y ago
    Alexa Smart air quality monitor.
- Eric_WVGG 4y ago
  so from the perspective of an executive trying to make money off it: utterly useless
  - 29athrowaway 4y ago
    I also order stuff as it runs out.
  - edgyquant 4y ago
    Or they could just charge for costs + profit and let people decide if it’s worth the price. The SV business model is good for small companies to get rapid growth but after that it’s just bad economics
  - 4y ago
ars 4y ago
People want voice control because they see it in movies and TV. But what they forget that the only reason movies and TV have it in the first place is because that way the audience hears what the character wants! It's not because it's actually a better interface - because it's not! Same with glass interfaces with no buttons - they make them because they are cheaper, not because it's better. But they look really cool, so people start to think they are actually better. I'm sure there are tons more examples of things people think are done because they are better, but are actually done to save money or for some unrelated reason. Maybe shoelaces that are laced inside-out. In the box they want the ends to point inward, but when you wear them you are supposed to relace them so they end up pointing outward.
- jve 4y ago
  I get your point > Same with glass interfaces with no buttons - they make them because they are cheaper, not because it's better. But are you saying current smartphones are somehow worse than button phones? I'll pass on that. And they ain't cheaper too :)
  - rhuru 4y ago
    Current smartphones have infinite number of buttons due to touch screen.
imartin2k 4y ago
Same here. I love my Alexa speaker and use it several times daily — for the same use cases as you, plus asking Alexa to start music streaming. Been doing so for many years and it’s unlikely that would change anymore.
mrtksn 4y ago
>I use my Alexa all the time, but 99% of it is: Alexa, time! Alexa, set an alarm for 5 minutes! Alexa how many minutes left? Alexa, turn off/on all the lights! That's also why Siri is good enough even though it is destroyed in a trivia contest against Google or Amazon. Voice UI is very bad since you don't have a way to know what it can do reliably. Treating it as general artificial intelligence doesn't work because the experience feels like trying to get a really stupid person do something for you. It's much easier to do it yourself than to find a sentence structure that works for this particular request but not for others. Voice UI is only good for basic commands that you know the device is capable of.
- cuteboy19 4y ago
  > Ok Google lock the device >> I'm sorry I can't do that > Ok Google clear notifications >> Opens Bluetooth (!) > Ok Google WhatsApp call xyz >> I can't call with duo (!) yet > Ok Google restart phone >> To restart your phone <instructions>
  - 8n4vidtmkvmk 4y ago
    even commands that used to work will suddenly stop working. "turn off office lights" no longer works because "office lamp" suddenly got precedence over "office room" and im too lazy to rename everything to accomodate Google
  - selfhoster11 4y ago
    Google Assistant is incomparably worse at affecting the device it's running on than Siri.

ikt 4y ago

> I really wish there was an easy way to just put python scripts onto the device or something. Doesn't https://mycroft.ai https://mycroft.ai fit this purpose? Looks like you can ssh in: https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/mark-ii/advanced/ssh-access https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/mark-ii/advanced/ssh-access and has python running on it: https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/docs/skill-development/introduction/python-resources https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/docs/skill-development/introdu... Has anyone got one though?

chimprich 4y ago
We really need free versions of virtual assistants, but Mycroft doesn't seem to be getting there. It seems to be $350 (no international pricing?) which seems far too high to be realistic. More subjectively, that's quite an ugly-looking unit. Also, not shipping till Jan? I'd be interested to see a review if anyone has managed to get one.

SkyPuncher 4y ago

This has been my compliant with all of this voice control stuff. The dev teams are so damn focused on being able to answer some esoteric query that you're asking as joke, they forget that you only want to do like 5 basic things: * Set an alarm/reminder * Read then send a text message (while driving). It doesn't even have to be good. Just something that I can send while driving. * Maybe.....maybe ask for the weather. * Turn a named household device on/off. * Play a song It's like these services all completely overlook the actions that you'd be taking on your phone anyways.

Chico75 4y ago
> * Play a song Thanks to their newest Amazon Music update, they managed to break this one by only allowing shuffling unless you pay extra for Amazon Music.
grayfaced 4y ago
Exactly. Mine is only used for timers/alarms, weather and as a bluetooth speaker. I just want those to work reliably. Every time it tries to change my behavior ("I can also...") it is actively annoying me. But I also recognize that my usage won't generate revenue and will continue to cost. Surely they can't just keep offering free service forever on equipment that was purchased at deep discount. But I don't think offering gimmicks is the answer to this.
saghm 4y ago
> Maybe.....maybe ask for the weather I remember one time I asked my Google Home the weather to see if it was cold enough to put on a jacket, and after hearing a temperature that I was ambivalent about, I took a risk and tried asking it what the wind speed was. It started reading out the Wikipedia page for "wind speed" until I told it to stop.
- lamontcg 4y ago
  They all do stuff like that. It'd be really nice to have a button to turn that off entirely. I never want a device to literally read me long-form webpages. Stop trying to LARP as a Starship AGI when you aren't one.
- projektfu 4y ago
  Alexa, what's the wind like today? Worked for me
  - saghm 4y ago
    Totally possible that I just phrased the query in a way it didn't understand, and totally possible that a Google Home just can't do this (or couldn't at the time). If anything, I think that kind of illustrates another important point; not only is it hard to figure out what exactly a given voice assistant is capable of doing, it's also pretty hard to tell the difference between "I need to phrase this differently" and "this device can't answer the question I have". I guess it's like how professional dog trainers say that they're really training the person rather than the dog; the quickest path to getting a voice assistant that people can use isn't just training the language model, but training people to talk to it correctly. This makes sense, given how similar trends happened with text-based search engines.

WXLCKNO 4y ago

Same way I used my google home. And then one time out of 10 or something it added crap like "by the way, if you ever wanna know about blabla, you can just ask me to do blabla". Now I don't own a google home mini anymore.

rdl 4y ago
Amazon has been adding that too which makes me want to switch away (I'm already uncomfortable with the security risks of a third party controlled cloud microphone, but it's ok in my kitchen and bedroom where no sensitive audio happens.)

alasdair_ 4y ago

I suggest putting everything you can into home assistant and relying on that, since you host it yourself. It's also far more powerful than anything amazon provides anyway. Then, the only integration you need is Alexa-> Home Assistant, so there is only one thing that can break.

benjaminwootton 4y ago
What is Home Assistant? Google doesn’t help….
- jonahhorowitz 4y ago
  https://www.home-assistant.io/ https://www.home-assistant.io/
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

29athrowaway 4y ago

I use Alexa for everything. - To ask for the weather, weather alerts, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed - To ask about outdoor air quality, indoor air quality (requires air quality monitors) - As a baby monitor (crying detector routine) - To know when to empty the dehumidifier bucket (humidity > 60% routine) - To know when someone left the AC fan off (high CO2 routine) - To know when to open the window (high VOC routine) - To know when to turn on the HEPA filters on high (high PM routine) - To turn lights or on off - To manage the thermostat temperature - For music during lunch/dinner - Reminder for meetings, taking out the trash, etc. - Timers, alerts, alarms, reminders... - To automatically turn off devices at night via smart plugs - Vacuuming, mopping - To locate my phone by calling myself - Stock prices I couldn't live without it.

poxrud 4y ago
What do you use for VOC/PM detection that integrates with Alexa?
- 29athrowaway 4y ago
  Alexa Smart air quality monitor.
Eric_WVGG 4y ago
so from the perspective of an executive trying to make money off it: utterly useless
- 29athrowaway 4y ago
  I also order stuff as it runs out.
- edgyquant 4y ago
  Or they could just charge for costs + profit and let people decide if it’s worth the price. The SV business model is good for small companies to get rapid growth but after that it’s just bad economics
- 4y ago

ars 4y ago

People want voice control because they see it in movies and TV. But what they forget that the only reason movies and TV have it in the first place is because that way the audience hears what the character wants! It's not because it's actually a better interface - because it's not! Same with glass interfaces with no buttons - they make them because they are cheaper, not because it's better. But they look really cool, so people start to think they are actually better. I'm sure there are tons more examples of things people think are done because they are better, but are actually done to save money or for some unrelated reason. Maybe shoelaces that are laced inside-out. In the box they want the ends to point inward, but when you wear them you are supposed to relace them so they end up pointing outward.

jve 4y ago
I get your point > Same with glass interfaces with no buttons - they make them because they are cheaper, not because it's better. But are you saying current smartphones are somehow worse than button phones? I'll pass on that. And they ain't cheaper too :)
- rhuru 4y ago
  Current smartphones have infinite number of buttons due to touch screen.

imartin2k 4y ago

Same here. I love my Alexa speaker and use it several times daily — for the same use cases as you, plus asking Alexa to start music streaming. Been doing so for many years and it’s unlikely that would change anymore.

mrtksn 4y ago

>I use my Alexa all the time, but 99% of it is: Alexa, time! Alexa, set an alarm for 5 minutes! Alexa how many minutes left? Alexa, turn off/on all the lights! That's also why Siri is good enough even though it is destroyed in a trivia contest against Google or Amazon. Voice UI is very bad since you don't have a way to know what it can do reliably. Treating it as general artificial intelligence doesn't work because the experience feels like trying to get a really stupid person do something for you. It's much easier to do it yourself than to find a sentence structure that works for this particular request but not for others. Voice UI is only good for basic commands that you know the device is capable of.

cuteboy19 4y ago
> Ok Google lock the device >> I'm sorry I can't do that > Ok Google clear notifications >> Opens Bluetooth (!) > Ok Google WhatsApp call xyz >> I can't call with duo (!) yet > Ok Google restart phone >> To restart your phone <instructions>
- 8n4vidtmkvmk 4y ago
  even commands that used to work will suddenly stop working. "turn off office lights" no longer works because "office lamp" suddenly got precedence over "office room" and im too lazy to rename everything to accomodate Google
- selfhoster11 4y ago
  Google Assistant is incomparably worse at affecting the device it's running on than Siri.