"With the Alexa App, conversations and contacts go where you go. When you’re away from home, use the app to make a quick call or send a message to your family’s Echo. Alexa calling and messaging is free—to get started download the Alexa App."
Alexa is now in the messaging and communication game.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/09/amazon-enables-free-calls-...
A phone number works anywhere in the world, to anywhere in the world, with anyone who has a phone. All e-mail providers work with each other. I don't care who you're with, and I wouldn't even have to know except it's usually part of the address. SMS works no matter which provider we both have.
It feels like we're taking huge steps backwards. Instead of sending a message to a phone number or e-mail address, I'll use iMessage or Google Hangouts or Skype or Slack or.... Video call? We can do FaceTime or Hangouts or Skype or....
Will these things start interoperating with each other eventually, or are we just doomed forever?
And SMS is also frustratingly non-universal. After years of having cell service with one of the large providers, I switched to Fi last year since I was going to be out of the country a lot. The biggest annoyance has been most short code SMS not working. Each SMS shortcode is only supported on a provider-by-provider basis.
I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just pointing out that even your examples of open, interoperable protocols are instances where we've traded some of that open interoperability for convenience.
Slack is an outlier because you don't actually need to communicate with everyone in the world on Slack.
But for others, it would be completely unreasonable to ask your acquaintances to pay to install Skype to talk to you. And you probably wouldn't pay for Skype if it didn't interop with whatever other people were paying for.
In a world where switching costs for consumers are so low, interop becomes less important because you can ask your contacts to install an app if it's useful enough.
There are plenty of working open standards to do the basics, its if you want to do anything beyond the basics that you end up in a walled garden.
Bonus points if there is a standard way to 'get a call' or 'search for a contact' that cuts across the video conf apps.
They used to. We have open or defacto standards for texts, chat, voip, and video calls. We had/have free and paid clients available. They withered on the vine, without support from the big players.
I don't know why more messaging services use XMPP to bootstrap their userbase. It would allow you to switch to a new service, while you could still talk to your friends that haven't moved yet.
Otherwise I'd see a use of this device for small kids (parents would protect them from generic chat apps, and they're not good at typing yet) and people who put their phone in random places in the house and only check when they actively want to do something on it.
This is also absolutely going to kill Nucleus[1] which was the first device released with Alexa Voice Service integrated and was heavily hyped by Amazon at the time.
We reached an interesting point in time where the internet incumbents (Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon) can copy and extend any interesting idea quickly. I remember those days when Microsoft and Intel were ruling the world.
Presumably everyone who would even consider buying this already has a computer at home, which does that better anyway.
Sort of a post-iPad reaction to the failure of tablets.
- This is way less creepy-looking than the Amazon Look (https://www.amazon.com/Echo-Hands-Free-Camera-Style-Assistan...), but it is actually very similar.
- It is great to add a screen to the Echo. Just more feedback on interacting with it, and possibility to watch YouTube, Netflix, etc. casually.
- It doesn't have the same cool minimalism as the Echo. The Echo sits on my counter and looks nice when not in use. I think this one looks much clunkier.
- I definitely want to try one.
Seriously, these boxes should have a pair of eyes drawn on them as part of the design, to remind the user that they are being watched.
For example, I got an Amazon Tap because I liked having a physical button to enable the mic. They then released a setting in the Alexa app that allowed it to always listen when toggled on (yes, I realize if I truly cared about privacy that a button like that is just an illusion and they can record whenever they want).
That was fine, I tried it out in situations where I didn't have a free hand (doing dishes for example). It had red notification lights that came on when it was always listening which reminded me the setting was on. This is also important because of the way the battery drains when it is on.
Recently I went to switch it on, and no red lights. There was no visible indicator my Tap was listening or not.
Why would they decide to remove that?
My echo is right next to the TV.
Presumably, they could come out with an Amazon Echo-fied TV sometime in the future though, but their priority of device releases seems careful and calculated.
Amazon Echo first, to see if there's even any market for digital assistants.
Amazon Echo Dot next, to extend their reach in the house.
Amazon Echo Look and Show third and fourth, released at roughly the same time, to extend their reach into some of people's everyday behaviors.
I imagine they have a roadmap that is aligned to other everyday behaviors and prioritized against what is easier to aid with a AI-powered digital assistant. Changing behaviors are never easy, so presumably, they are targeting ones that are less habitualized, under-served, or not currently served at all.
With that theory in mind, TV is already a well-served need, so it wouldn't be a high priority to Amazon Echo-fy just yet.
Also, it doesn't tie you to having to have a TV in a location you want one.
For watching anything long and serious, I would definitely send it to my TV.
Watching random videos while washing the dishes though is great.
I like their approach from the business perspective. Give the people a voice controlled speaker. Give them a remote! Now, give them a voice-controlled camera! Now, give them a voice-controlled screen! Soon, give them <insert novel sensor> and let them go hands free! Rinse-repeat.
Apple is the juggernaut and is likely to overthink its product offerings and how it affects the ecosystem of existing devices. Just like the Kindle, Amazon is ready to flood the market with SKUs to see what sticks. They're building their brand in hardware very quickly and leading the market with the strongest connected home ecosystem.
Not just the Kindle devices, but also a growing range of Amazon Basics store-brand products, including batteries, headphones, Bluetooth speakers, paper shredders, towels and sheets, yoga mats, ... the list goes on and on. While many are undoubtedly existing products with the Amazon name stamped on them, Amazon has generally been building a lot of experience working with suppliers/manufacturers.
This seems to be the case, they are taking a short release cycle iterative approach to get it into the customers hands fast. Very lean-startup-esque.
Apple on the other hand is more of a luxury brand. The dynamics with luxury brands is a bit different and high-end product development is more involved. Customer retention and brand consistency is critical to their business. And given their track record and ability to attract talent they don't seem to have much of an issue with doing a yearly waterfall-esque style release.
I'm not sure it makes sense for them to push out a high volume of products. They seemed to operate best when they had a few focused offerings in each category. If they want to expand they should hit new markets instead of flooding one with lots of options (which seems to be the way Tim is going).
But otherwise I agree, Apple tends to pigeonhole their 'ecosystem' into everything, which smells of valuing internal business goal instead of consumer values.
Source: ;)
With a screen now, it's like my own personal drive-thru to order whatever, products, food, whatever amazon is selling.
They would fail the certification because apparently people didn't know how to test, or used fake numbers to make phone calls and complained the call would not connect, or the certificate validation (that was working before) would fail, etc. All sorts of things. VERY frustrating process. I wouldn't make any change, submit the skill again for certification and get different results.
Now they announce their own calling feature, a week after finally approving our update.
Silly me.
You can't buy one, and if you try developing for it, you can't test or demo anything that is location-based.
And this is why the Echo will ultimately lose the market to every other voice assistant.
You need to link the skill with a RingByName account in order to use it. Yes, it works well. However, Amazon's speech recognition from Alexa is a challenge for names. Works fine most of the time for American names, but it struggles with foreign names. Results also vary depending on the accent of the user, so our skill always repeats what it got from Amazon to make sure users don't call someone else. We had to do some "magic" in the backend to try to find a contact even though an exact match wasn't found, which works very nicely.
I do not want what amounts to an always-on black-box surveillance device in my home and I simply do not understand why other people think it is okay. I honestly don't.
Down with this sort of thing!
Clearly you've done this calculation but come up with a different answer. Assuming there is some utility there, it must be the surveillance aspect that is the problem. If you got an Echo, what harm do you think you would likely experience?
If I need peace of mind away from home, I can simply plug in a webcam or connect the otherwise-airgapped security system to the network while I'm away. If I want a hands-free mic, I can buy one with a power switch and connect it to whatever setup I need it for.
If amazon releases hardware that makes it verifiably possible to have such setups, more power to them I suppose. But as likely they won't, as they prefer "all-in-one" solutions that give them "last-mile level" control over how their devices get used, I will probably never buy such devices from them.
I used it a bit, but turned it of permanently after one day I logged in to my router and saw that Echo was generating noticeable amount of traffic even though no one was at home.
I think the only way I could try always on device again is if company like Amazon would provide API and I would create the always-on device.
In short I want to be in control what is being sent and what isn't.
While portable devices can be a useful tool, far too many people are addicted to the dopamine hit they get by hitting "refresh", and/or distracted by shiny tech baubles.
90% of my interaction with my standard echo has been "what's the weather".
Even when I want visual controls for music, I'd rather pull out my phone than walk over to a screen.
"Alexa turn on/off the lights" "Alexa turn my home temperature to 20 degrees" "Alexa play Sublime FM Radio" "Alexa turn on work mode" -> scene activates for working "Alexa turn on sleep mode" -> scene activates for going to bed "Alexa turn off my tv"
Its mainly OpenHab on a raspberry pi that enables all this. However some things (like my thermostat) are directly connected to the Echo.
Also things like the Chromecast dont work well with the Echo. So i'm lost there.
Otherwise its great.
Getting the screen and speakers subsidized by the lock-in is a pretty intriguing model. Not sure I could get the hardware at that price point elsewhere. Will be interesting to see if there's a modding community that develops.
A 7 day forecast is probably better with the screen.
>Even when I want visual controls for music, I'd rather
Clearly it's for the Karaoke capability :)
On the other hand, Google Assistant is unsurprisingly better at recognizing voice, give more information about everything. I am going to soon dump my echo for a home, just waiting for the Google IO to see if there will be a home-2.
That's about it right now, I don't use it for anything else. I find you really need to enunciate your words otherwise it just gets confused and gives up (that's a UK midlands accent for you though...)
I would not mind full home integration to where it detects me by my phone if not my saying I'm home and turning lights on if needed and more. (better yet, get me phone integration so that it knows when I am coming home after an hour or so away - knows I am on my street and stuff turns on)
technology is going to give everyone a personal assistant at home and one day it may just follow you. (Dave, while we are in the store don't forget to get the eggs)
- step by step cooking tutorials that auto pause until you say "alexa, play/preview next step" - multiple named timers on the screen - shopping lists are way better visually - video calls to cooking tutors (I wonder if there's a market for this?)
I do see the Echo Show sitting on the kitchen island, but at $229, not so sure.
I remember when I first saw an iPod Nano with the color screen and the scroll wheel that magically scrolled up and down by just moving your finger around it without actually turning a wheel. It seemed like magic. Same thing when I first saw the iPhone/iPod Touch. Apple's products were very carefully designed and only released when they were perfect, and very rarely failed to wow you.
Amazon on the other hand, always seems to rush things to market and then see what sticks. I understand that this is largely their ethos, but when it comes to Amazon hardware, I've found myself pretty cynical towards it because they've released so much poorly-executed crap over the years. Even with Alexa, I like many others, find that it's pretty much useless for anything beyond playing music or setting a timer.
Having an Echo, I saw this and my first thought was "meh." I have a feeling that if Apple released a similar product category, that wouldn't be the case.
"Apple's products were very carefully designed..."
Maybe they've gone with this form factor because of the 2x 2" speakers? But why would I want that when it could be plugged directly into my home audio setup?
Or maybe it's so they can include a touchscreen? But I thought the whole point was hands-free conversational interaction?
I guess I'm missing the point of this. Why would I, as a normal consumer, get this instead of a regular Amazon Echo?
It seems like the big pitch they're making right now is on communications, but there are loads of reasons why I can imagine it being useful. Most mornings, I ask Alexa about the weather. Usually, the voice response is all I need, but occasionally, there are storms in the forecast, and there's a big difference between "60% chance of thunderstorms" and "here's the radar image".
Traffic is another good example. You want to know that there's a 30 minute delay on your route to work, but it's more important to know where so you can plan your route around it.
Just look at human interactions. We mostly communicate by voice, but that doesn't mean that we attempt to provide every answer as spoken conversation. If I ask my hypothetical assistant what a lemur looks like, he or she would grab an image from Google -- not spend 5 minutes giving me descriptions of dimensions and colors.
Back when I used Android, Google Now seemed to really do this right (if creepily): it figured out when/where you commuted and would give you a heads-up before you left, offering to plan a route around the trouble. More useful since you take your phone with you. Also you didn't have to ask.
The selling point of this genre of devices seems to rest on the utility of voice control, but this products only innovation is a built in display.
My TV takes 15 seconds on average to start up, and then another 3 or 4 to have sound. There is no easy way to turn them on and off in a reliable manner, and for some unknown reason many disable CEC by default...
Not to mention that having to choose between watching something on TV and using the device is an annoying decision to make in a lot of cases.
I think the key part of the screen is how it functions as output rather than as input. It can "fail" more gracefully when it has no idea what you're talking about, or when there are troubleshooting issues.
And on that point, I have sort of come to the same conclusion that these home assistants would be best as plug ins to a TV with HDMI pass through. Keep the audio input interface but default to a video output interface that overlays on your TV, somewhat similar to what the Xbox used to do with snapped windows.
Very much disagree. My TV is not in the part of the house I spend most of my time, and when I'm watching TV I almost certainly don't want a bunch of stuff overlaid on top of whatever I'm watching. I could conceptually see something like this working in my kitchen/dining room, but not if I have to put a TV there just for that.
Wait - is "HDMI passthrough" a thing ?
I wouldn't think so - HDMI has copy protection on it and so an HDMI passthrough device would need to MITM the normal signal ...
Would be very interested to know if this exists and if so, how it works ...
This seems like a nice step in that direction but I've been spoiled by the low cost of the Echo Dot, which when it's on sale is so cheap it can be a stocking stuffer. I don't think I could pay $229 for the first generation version of the Show, but will likely get its cheaper, more advanced iterations.
Friend 1: Where do you want to go to the movies tonight? .. Friend 2: I dunno Alexa have any good suggestions? Alexa: Star Trek is playing x:00 at X theatre. Things of this nature.
Which reminds me, I've got a Keurig to hack...
It's not helping that big companies like Amazon want to establish themselves as _the_ hub for IoT.
As soon as they get the ability to play specific episodes (it knows what you're asking, it just can't do it yet) and hook it up to the knowledge graph? Ok Google, show me the Futurama episode where Hermes loses his job on living room.
It's really handy but "Hey Siri" works maybe 30% of the time. I don't really use it anymore. The worst part is that Siri can't integrate with other music apps, other note taking apps, other video players, or pretty much anything. So it's incredibly crippled despite being able to parse my requests.
If Alexa can fix that, this would be pretty neat.
Until Alexa, I hadn't tried Siri since its initial launch years ago. I was surprised to see that its AI/NLP was as good as Alexa's. So the killer feature really is the convenient and reliable interface provided by the Echo's mics.
You answered your own question. Not every device used in a home (remote control, light switch, thermostat) needs to be replaced with a full tablet computer, even if it could be.
An always on dedicated device that lives in one location with excellent array mics is going to be more useful to me than a tablet that I have to locate and turn on before I can use it.
I also had an old Moto Defy I kept for years and years plugged into a wall outlet as a dedicated tune-in audio device. Listen all I want to TuneIn and it wouldn't eat my phone's battery because my old appliance phone was on a charger and my phone was unused in my pocket or whatever. After a couple years on the charger, maybe it was the heat, I donno, the battery bubbled up as they do before they blow up and I got rid of it.
I had a nexus 7 and my kids have had two generations of ipads and there is no perfect stand out there. There are some the fold and collapse when you don't want them to. There are some that hold nicely as long as you're not plugged into charging. There are some that work but look ugly and cluttered. Its a hard problem, apparently. You folks will laugh but my kids solution to the problem of too many devices and not enough space for charging is a device pyramid. I've noticed the main difference between harder-core older computer users and noob/kids is tolerance of dust, grease, and dirt on the screen, so a pyramid of devices on a desk makes sense to kids and noobs even as a more experienced professional who looked into screens 10 hours per day WTFs about it.
Portable is a fail for appliances. I don't want my kids leaving Alexa in a laundry basket or between the cushions in the couch. I don't want to step on it at night. I don't want one more thing to yell at my kids to put it down and go to sleep its your bed time. No one wants a portable surround sound system or a portable toilet or a portable microwave oven. Or even more utilitarian, contemplate a portable hot water heater. A jetboil is nice when I'm camping and drinking my tea but I wouldn't want to replace my houses hot water heater with a jetboil at every sink and over the shower. A portable outside air temperature thermometer is a good analogy where not knowing where to look to see the temperature is not a feature.
Alexa already does more things than I'm interested in having her do. Something that does more is even less interesting than you'd imagine.
Unlike my experiments above, this new thing apparently just works yet costs about the same. I'll take the product that actually works.
The first case is the "want" factor that others have mentioned on this thread. It's less that I "need" an Echo in my home, and more that it makes certain activities easier: I can get measurement conversions, set timers, and pause my movie while my hands are occupied cooking in the kitchen; I can get the weather forecast while putting on my shoes on the way out; and now, I can also answer calls and send/receive messages while my hands are occupied. It's less that I couldn't do that with my phone or computer and more that Echo-like devices make this more convenient.
The second case involves the fact that there is a comparatively small, but still significant portion of the population that cannot effectively use touch devices to do the things that the rest of us can easily do with our phones. The people who "need" this kind of device the most, in my opinion, are those suffering from paralysis causing them to be unable to use their hands or fingers with enough dexterity to operate a touch screen, or unable to use them at all. These devices are real life-changers for this group, since they can now control lights, their television and other entertainment options, and talk to their loved ones -- all activities that were difficult, expensive (requiring specialized devices), or impossible before.
In addition to this first group, there are also those who often have difficulty figuring out how to use computer/touch screen technology, even though they are physically able to -- the elderly are probably the first example that comes to mind. It's much, much easier to just set up an Echo Show and be able to "drop in" on your grandmother and chat, than it is to get her set up with an iPhone or a computer and teach her how to Skype or text.
So all in all, most people will get this for the "cool" factor and because it makes their lives a little easier, but some people will gain a huge benefit from it.
"Alexa, play Kendrick Lamar on Spotify."
Just like that, I have music throughout the house and in the front and back yards. You can also get more specific with commands in order to limit where the music plays, what music service is polled, etc.
It is much easier than pulling out a device, navigating to the application, typing in a search string, selecting the artist, and clicking shuffle playback for all of the artist's songs.
So much faster to speak it out now that their recognition is so damn accurate.
My wife fought me on it until I noticed she too was using Siri more, although the UX with Siri is not as great as Google's Assistant IMHO.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3473799-Alexa.html
So if you have any evidence to back up your claim you should post it and claim your 5 minutes of celebrity.
I only ask this because, if there is some company that genuinely cares about their customers, it's Amazon but from personal and anecdotal experience.
Ideally, you could authorize people to call you by giving each person/entity a different token that authorizes them to call you. Then if that person/entity sells the token to 3rd parties, you not only know who sold you out, but also you have the ability to revoke that token easily.
Hopefully Google, Samsung or Microsoft(?!) will sell open hardware/firmware that isn't subsidized by collecting information.
Amazon is basically following the CueCat strategy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat#Failure
> The company's response to these hacks was to assert that users did not own the devices and had no right to modify or reverse engineer them. Threats of legal action against the hackers swiftly brought on more controversy and criticism.
For your other comment, what kind of command-response skill could be monetized? Surely for the majority of use cases, the Alexa skill should remain free with your purchased/subscribed product on the other side? E.g. the "skill" to read NPR should always be free, but NPR is still monetized via subscription or commercials.
The only example that jumps out at me would be Amazon Echo Games, something like text-based adventures built for voice. Otherwise, skills themselves are just a gateway to an already monetized service, no?
I wish I could install OK Google on Echo.
Edit - looks like you can, with a custom skill - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR-LVPMU7F4
Everyone speculating on Apple acquisitions should be considering a Sony or LG buyout. I own stock in neither.
If you can think of a way to have an artificial assistant of that class without being tied in to a corporation, I'm all ears.
I am not against any category of products, but as a person who likes to own and manage fewer devices, I like my devices to be versatile.
In the meantime, you can connect an Echo Dot to a Play:5 (or any other Sonos speaker that has a line-in): http://www.sam-mallery.com/2016/12/5-tips-for-using-amazon-e...
Of course, that button is a handy indicator for Amazon to know when to record stuff :)
(I had to search to make sure this didn't already exist, and I'm surprised it doesn't.)
Only wish the outer shell on this one looked a bit nicer / slicker.
Really want an "Alexa" type replacement for smoke detectors. Location seems perfect for speakers / music in a house.
Scary to think that privacy for average consumer is basically dead.
You can install hangouts duo on IOS, but likely not on alexa. You can install Alexa on Android (not through google play). You can't install facetime on Alexa or Android.
These three are very different in terms of hardware and price.
this functionality will probably need a custom firmware tho.
I'm not kidding at all, although I can sympathize this might seem a touch ridiculous. Billions were made off the "its kinda like a tricoder or a ST:TOS communicator but its mostly a phone". Its highly likely a lot of money will be made selling each member of the general populace a handful of ST:TNG communicator buttons in or around 2030. Schools will spare no expense to make sure each kid has one "for security and learning purposes only of course". Your music service will be part of the communicator badge ecosystem or it won't exist much longer, and so on.
https://www.amazon.com/Sony-HIDC10-Personal-Discontinued-Man...
For me this product makes sense for elderly in the digital age to keep them connected.
It works! :D
Am I the only one that's creeped up by that?
-Orwell, 1984
The answer, in a kind of trivalent nutshell, is: (1) emotional stress, (2) physical vanity, (3) a certain queer kind of self- obliterating logic in the microeconomics of consumer high-tech."
David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest
Every time a new Echo is released, the warnings go out. If you don't want one, don't get one.
In the meantime, the cellphone that you carry with you everywhere will report your location, voice, etc much more effectively.
Here's a 2 year old Echo story, maybe we can recycle some of the comments?
