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Apple 'Pressing Ahead' Into Prototype Testing for Echo-Like Smart Home Device Powered by Siri
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Apple, Apple, Appl, app , ap, a
that's the echo I hear.
My experience is the same and I tried many times.
Just mentioning one quick aspect about controlling lights
Most Americans I know never turn off the lights as they think electricity doesn't cost much.
That included my wife and kids.
Being trained by my parents long arm of the law - whack- to switch off lights when I leave a room
I am glad to still be capable to switch off lights.
As for security to pretend I am home, I have nothing but and MBP and a TV thieves would want.
I can still turn on a radio by myself, walk over to turn sound down etc.etc.
Do we really need more devices to make us more sedentary and get fatter by the minute?
Until Siri can exercise for me and I feel the pounds dropping off it's a no go.
No, that's where it starts. A missing device size, a compromised exterior... If Apple persists with rehashing models into their third iteration, it suggests clearly, Apple doesn't really care about great products and customers, but instead, just cares about great profits.
I will never install an always-listening microphone / software in my home. Unless it becomes as useful as Rosie on the Jetsons, the privacy concerns are not outweighed by the minor convenience. Pressing a button to get my device is listen is fine.
I get a lot worried about live microphones and cameras on all the time watching and listening to everything I and my family do or say. Privacy statements are meaningless protections. I can see Google and Amazon using the info for targeted ads and marketing info. I trust Apple a bit more but not that much. Every camera in my house is physically covered in some way when I am not using it. Microphones are a bit more of an issue but most are not in common areas or are supposedly only on when using the equipment.
Don't even think of activating a home assistant with a button! 'Hey Siri, where's the bloody remote?' Hands-free activation works great on the iPhone and I want that command to be picked up anywhere in my home or office. I also want to be able to customise the activating command, so I can finally have my own Albert in the cave.
They aren't buying because the design is compromised (antenna lines, camera budge), they aren't buying because there is a missing device size (4-inch). Hardly anyone I know puts a case on their phone, so you can't generalise, it's mixed. People aren't buying new iPhones BECAUSE they are aren't being given real good reasons to upgrade.
IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH AESTHETICS. Generation 3 of iPhone 6 (aka iPhone 7) is just that, an old design with done up looks. No one wants that.
This is probably the single nail-on-head voice assistant comment I've read anywhere. It's brilliantly encapsulates exactly how Siri &etc should work. "Show me" and "tell me" are two quite different things.
Apple seems to be aware of the privacy issues, and building safeguards against Big Brother into their technology. This makes their products like Siri less useful than they might otherwise be, but I appreciate the efforts to not build a cold war era dystopian future right out of classic science fiction.
I want the Happylife Home, but I certainly don't want to get eaten by the lions in the nursery.
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Perish the thought!
I need 15 of whatever Apple comes up with to compete with the Echo.
My home is an automation mess right now. I just switched to eeros to build a mesh network within my home. I have 6 Hue lights (color and white) connected. I also have two Sono speakers. I have a Ring video doorbell. And of course I have all my apple toys - timecapsule, imac, macbook air, 2 ipads, 2 iphones, 2 apple tvs, and 2 watches. Except for the lights all my non apple toys fail to talk to homekit, so it's a bit of a mess. I hope that whatever Apple does is through the Apple TV, because, I am not sure I want another IOT device in the house.
I just hope they allow you to define how you activate it at a distance. Right now in my household a "Hey Siri" will get you the attention of several devices, and often more than one device will act on what you're asking for. It's unnerving. And I don't want to just turn off Hey Siri, because each device, individually, needs it.
Think we should update the Mac lineup?
Hell no we need to make a Siri powered speaker! We cant let another company make something we don't!
Hell no we need to make a Siri powered speaker! We cant let another company make something we don't!
Protruding camera is going to stay for a long time. Coming from the Galaxy S7 (which is thicker, but still has a protruding camera) to the iPhone 7 i realized:
Even though the IP7 is not much thinner, it makes a big difference. It's much less annoying to have in my pocket and feels better to hold.
And since they wan't the camera to get better, they can not make the camera smaller. And they also don't want to make the phone thicker=> Protruding camera stays. Sorry.
And the iPhone 7 IS great. They only thing they didn't change (much) is the design. So maybe it's just not shiny enough for you.
Steve Jobs did that too. What flagship product did Apple ever release that was the first of its kind?
The article says they're working on improving Siri.
My guess is they will be using the new Piezo microphones that support beam forming when placed in an array. So basically it'll be able to pick out whichever voice it's listening to from the others in a room.
The rumor comes from sources, not guesswork. Perhaps the way facial recognition is intended to function isn't what you're expecting.
That said, current consumer facial recognition tech is very advanced and capable of identifying people at a distance. Will only improve over time.
If they do release a voice controlled home devices here are 3 things I think it needs to differentiate itself from Amazon and Google:
- Security. It needs to be a lot more secure from unwanted or unknown intrusion than it's competitors.
- Reliability. If it doesn't understand what I'm saying or I need to repeat/rephrase commands constantly to get it to work it's not going to sell very well.
- Features or abilities not found on its competitors products. Apple was an early adopter of AI with Siri but other companies have since caught up or passed them. It would be nice to see features that the competitors don't have that I would want to use.
They could use infrared light instead of visible light, but that would bring other problems into play- IR remote conflicts for one.