Wife wants Echo- but all we have is iOS/OSX in the house

[Clix Pix]

To me this is a really disturbing thread......what ever happened to simply walking over to a light switch on the wall or a lamp on a table and....gee, just reaching out and turning the thing on manually? You know, flicking the wall switch, pressing the lamp's switch......????

 

[rockyromero]

To me this is a really disturbing thread......what ever happened to simply walking over to a light switch on the wall or a lamp on a table and....gee, just reaching out and turning the thing on manually? You know, flicking the wall switch, pressing the lamp's switch......????

Yes, that. OK.

How about security? More important than a light switch.

I've installed the August lock and it has given me peace of mind to know that I can remotely check that it's locked for the night. It may only take one time for my life to drastically shift the wrong way.

How about surveillance cameras? Same security thought.

The IOT is entering our lives.

I'm OK with whoever does it best.

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[Clix Pix]

All of these people who schedule their time to go to the gym in order to make themselves physically fit can't be bothered to walk across a room and turn on the light or the telly or whatever?

I guess my age is showing.....

No idea of what "the August lock" is, but yes, security is always important, of course. Over time, that has become a more critical issue than it was twenty or thirty years ago. Surveillance cameras around one's home were not something anyone except perhaps the very wealthy considered and they probably weren't necessary. Now? Well, yes, times have changed.....and one's neighborhood is probably a more serious consideration as well.

 

[Night Spring]

not to mention they only last 5 hours on a charge so hopefully you don't need anything when they die and are charging.

You can charge one AirPod whIle keeping the other in your ear. So when battery is down to about 10%, pop one out and put it in the case to charge, and by the time the one you kept in your ear runs out of juice, the one you put in the charger will be charged up.

 

[rusty2192]

To me this is a really disturbing thread......what ever happened to simply walking over to a light switch on the wall or a lamp on a table and....gee, just reaching out and turning the thing on manually? You know, flicking the wall switch, pressing the lamp's switch......????

Home Automation is about a lot more than being too lazy to walk to a switch, though that is an awesome benefit. It's all about making life easier and better, which is something all Apple users should be able to appreciate.

For example, when I unlock my front door at night, it turns on the lights for me before I even get through the door. When I go on vacation, there is a "ghost" in the house turning lights on and off at certain random intervals to make it look like someone is home. If my smoke alarms go off, the front door is unlocked and every light in the house is turned on. If the garage door is left open for more than 5 minutes I get a text message. Being able to turn on the Christmas tree from anywhere is just a nice bonus. The possibilities are endless.

Back to the topic, I will be getting an Echo one way or another, either as a gift (which is what I expect) or i will just buy one myself after Christmas if I don't. From everything I've read, it should integrate with my all Apple house just fine.

 

[Clix Pix]

I think I am too much of a control freak to want to be depending upon and to have something electronic controlling a lot of things with regard to my home..... It would also not always be an appropriate or realistic response in terms of what actually happens, either. If the fire/smoke alarm goes off in my condo unit, it is usually due to a power failure but not actually related to any life-or-property-threatening actual fire..... Obviously, if I am at home, I always check, though! LOL! If it's simply an instance of just another power failure, well..... simply being a temporary situation (during which I am often actually at home), I would just as soon my front door remain locked, thank you just the same!

As for returning from somewhere and unlocking the front door and getting lights on almost immediately.....well, gee, I can do that quite easily -- all it takes is for me to first unlock my door and then reach in and flick on the light switches which are right by the front door! Gee, what a concept......

 

[rockyromero]

No idea of what "the August lock" is, but yes, security is always important, of course. Over time, that has become a more critical issue than it was twenty or thirty years ago. Surveillance cameras around one's home were not something anyone except perhaps the very wealthy considered and they probably weren't necessary. Now? Well, yes, times have changed.....and one's neighborhood is probably a more serious consideration as well.

August lock automatically unlocks my front door as I approach and locks after I have entered. I can remotely unlock and lock it whenever I want for friends or family or maintenance.

It does bug my wife though, when it's slow to unlock for her. Such is the state of raised expectations, although very handy when arms are full of something.

Needed? A must.

Cameras? It's insurance for the unexpected.

I'll be getting another set of Airpods for my wife. We both watched a movie together, each of us with one pod. We could still hold a conversation as we listened to the sound in the ear. Interesting experience for me, an immediate delight for my wife. No TV blaring sound otherwise. There is some peace in that.

Yes, the future of personal sound and controlling devices for security, fun, and curiosity has begun.

➰

 

[mattopotamus]

I love my Dot. Every morning before I even open my eyes I am Alexa for the weather. It's more dependable than Siri. If I feel like music, Alexa takes care of that, too.

Get her what she wants.

likewise. I have 3 dots (one on each floor). It controls my lights, harmony hub, and nest thermostat. I have all apple products, but it has found its place.
[doublepost=1482328595][/doublepost]

To me this is a really disturbing thread......what ever happened to simply walking over to a light switch on the wall or a lamp on a table and....gee, just reaching out and turning the thing on manually? You know, flicking the wall switch, pressing the lamp's switch......????

It is actually nice when you crawl into bed at night, but forgot to turn off the light in the other room

embrace technology. We will be in self driving cars before we know it.

 

[MistrSynistr]

Who are these goofs coming in here whining about why you can't go and flip a light switch? Do these dweebs have any experience with a smart home or how awesome it is? I wonder if these jabronis still complain about power steering to their kids and still say "why can't you just put some elbow grease into it! you don't need something like that!"

GTFO.

 

[jljue]

My work often requires me to change vehicles frequently for quality testing. It is bad enough to move radar detector, sunglasses, and 2 car seats, but I sometimes forget the garage door opener. Fortunately, I set up automation and had an app on my phone to get the garage door opener, but required to to have to pull out the phone to open and close door during those times. I finally got Homebridge setup to get Siri to talk to my ISY-994i setup, and now I just call out to Siri on my Apple Watch to open and close the garage door for me. That is progress. I don't have to worry about losing or forgetting the garage door opener anymore! This is why I automate; I'm not trying to be lazy.

 

[rockyromero]

That is progress. I don't have to worry about losing or forgetting the garage door opener anymore! This is why I automate; I'm not trying to be lazy.

Progress happens because someone found a better way.

Whether it catches on is a function of market acceptance.

And cost.

And value.

Wait until someone discovers how to do our work while we sleep.

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[rockyromero]

They haven't ignored it, you already have a way to talk to Siri ... iPhone or Apple Watch. Google and Amazon (likely) aren't making your watch or phone so this is their way into the marketplace. Apple is a few steps ahead of them.

Here's someone using Airpods and Apple HomeKit in action.

http://www.imore.com/using-airpods-control-my-homekit-home

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[canyonblue737]

I have Apple EVERYTHING (watch, iPads, iMacs, MacBooks, iPhones, Apple TVs, even the new AirPods...)

BUT I ALSO HAVE *5* Amazon Echo Dots. People who believe AirPods and Apple Watches are a better solution than these always listening home assistants have in my opinion never used one. Even the act of double tapping my AirPods (which I have to be wearing) or use my Watch (which still has a delay) to access Siri is downright painful vs. the near instantaneous span of time from thinking of what I need to ask to asking to getting an answer as I speak into thin air and the Echo answers me. I literally walk in a room and say "Alexa, turn the family room lights on" or while cooking just say "Alexa start a 5 minute timer" and its done. Instantly, no pause, no yelling, no tapping, no looking at a gadget... just normal tone of voice speaking. The microphones are so good that 4 Echos easily cover normal voice range on 3600 sq ft of my top 2 floors and 1 Echo gets most of the livable space in my basement. Total price to me this fall was $200 (Echo Dot's cost $40 this holiday.)

I think Apple IS launching a similar product this year but it will likely be a much higher priced option, $150-200, with a far better music speaker built in but obviously if I need 5 of them it will be $1000 vs. $200 to outfit my house. I'll watch the segment closely but for now I am so, so happy with my investment in Echo and my smart home.

PS: My smart home systems (Lutron Caseta switches, Harmony Hub and 2 Ecobee thermostats) do also work with HomeKit so I've used Siri to control them. It's slower than Echo by far but great for controlling the system when I am out of the house since it uses my Apple TV as a hub.)

 

[kiranmk2]

I've fallen into the trap of "well, I'm in the Apple eco system so need to stick with it." I upgraded my Hue hub to get Homekit integration, but I took a chance on a couple of Echo Dots as an experiment and they have worked out so well. They control the lighting much better than Siri (no need to pull out my phone and work more reliably) - timers and requests work much better than Siri (I suspect the beter microphones on the Alexa devices are behind this). This should be a very worrying development for Apple that could effect then massively; I'm sure a lot of people have bought into the Apple ecosystem completely over the years - perhaps by starting with a Mac, perhaps with an iPhone and then ended up with Mac, iPhone and iPad, subscribing to Apple Music and using Siri. The thought of using a device outside this eco system seems like it would introduce problems (i.e. everything doesn't work together perfectly) but the Echo Dots are priced so competively and work so well that I think more people will see that dropping some Apple serives doesn't hurt their work flow at all. Alexa works with smarthome devices so much better than Siri, it works with Spotify (and Prime Music, of course) and with upcoming Sonos integration, Amazon have the momentum to start unreavelling the Apple package a lot more than Google have managed.

 

[bluespark]

Remember: Apple will continue to get further and further behind as the company is being harvested by Wall Street for short term profits and stock price. Getting out of the Mac business, raising prices to absurd levels, stopping development of airport express and monitors, falling behind on iPhone features, QC problems, as well as massive stock buybacks point directly to the bean counters having taken over the company.

We have all seen this with so many tech companies. It seems to be Apple's turn.

As a Mac user since the 80's this pains me to say, but you almost certainly are correct. As you say, bean counter fingerprints are all over recent Apple decisions. That's not to say all of their stuff is bad -- far from it. But there are enough compromises that we should all be looking beyond the ecosystem in those situations where our immediate needs are best served elsewhere. I don't own an Amazon Echo, but Amazon owns this space right now. To the OP, go for it. You'll have to make a few adjustments to use Echo with your Apple workflow, but those adjustments are almost certainly worth making.
[doublepost=1483253386][/doublepost]

I think I am too much of a control freak to want to be depending upon and to have something electronic controlling a lot of things with regard to my home..... It would also not always be an appropriate or realistic response in terms of what actually happens, either. If the fire/smoke alarm goes off in my condo unit, it is usually due to a power failure but not actually related to any life-or-property-threatening actual fire..... Obviously, if I am at home, I always check, though! LOL! If it's simply an instance of just another power failure, well..... simply being a temporary situation (during which I am often actually at home), I would just as soon my front door remain locked, thank you just the same!

As for returning from somewhere and unlocking the front door and getting lights on almost immediately.....well, gee, I can do that quite easily -- all it takes is for me to first unlock my door and then reach in and flick on the light switches which are right by the front door! Gee, what a concept......

His example of the front door automatically unlocking when the fire alarm goes off is just that -- an example. He's probably not in a condo unit that has the issue you are describing and his needs therefore differ from yours. The idea isn't that everyone needs this technology, but rather that many of us can use it to facilitate things useful to us. I use this stuff for all sorts of things from the mundane (example: my back door unlocks when I enter the garage, making it far easier to carry in armfuls of groceries) to things I couldn't accomplish otherwise (example: I remotely unlocked my house from my office (miles away) to let my neighbor in when an unusual circumstance arose). If you don't need it or if it's not worth the cost to you, then fine. No one is trying to sell you on it -- we're simply describing what it does for us.

 

[rockyromero]

His example of the front door automatically unlocking when the fire alarm goes off is just that -- an example. He's probably not in a condo unit that has the issue you are describing and his needs therefore differ from yours. The idea isn't that everyone needs this technology, but rather that many of us can use it to facilitate things useful to us. I use this stuff for all sorts of things from the mundane (example: my back door unlocks when I enter the garage, making it far easier to carry in armfuls of groceries) to things I couldn't accomplish otherwise (example: I remotely unlocked my house from my office (miles away) to let my neighbor in when an unusual circumstance arose). If you don't need it or if it's not worth the cost to you, then fine. No one is trying to sell you on it -- we're simply describing what it does for us.

This is the year of more robots and devices to control our environment.

I think we sense that one day we may be dependent on something else to complement or support our physical skills. As we age, this is more true.

I'm open to what reasonably fits into my life, regardless of brand.

➰

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

Replace the wife for a woman who shares your affinity for Apple products. Problem solved...

 

[appstate]

Replace the wife for a woman who shares your affinity for Apple products. Problem solved...

But she's a Cajun who can cook

 

[Meister]

You're screwed! Haven't you ever heard: Happy wife, happy life! ?????

You'll be buying an Echo!

(I don't understand the whole Echo or google home thingy.... I have Siri right on my wrist... why do I need some tower thingy in my house listening to everything? )

You mean: No wife, happy life!

If she wants one then she can buy herself one.

 

[rockyromero]

But she's a Cajun who can cook

Hold off on hasty decisions until we see the new batch of femme robots this year.

Futurists think marrying a robot may be possible.

Probably polygamy allowed then.

➰

 

[satcomer]

But she's a Cajun who can cook

So did you get the Echo for her?

 

[appstate]

So did you get the Echo for her?

Yes- just ordered a Dot this morn. Will be here on Wednesday.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Isn't any apple device that does "hey siri" pretty much the exact same thing as an echo dot?

Aside from the cheaper automation devices that work with an echo vs the much more expensive homekit options I'm not sure exactly is better with an echo.
[doublepost=1483304832][/doublepost]

To me this is a really disturbing thread......what ever happened to simply walking over to a light switch on the wall or a lamp on a table and....gee, just reaching out and turning the thing on manually? You know, flicking the wall switch, pressing the lamp's switch......????

The way our apt was designed the light switch isn't right next to the entrance. We connected a smart plug to your lamps and are able to walk into our place with arms both full of groceries and turn the light on without having to touch a switch.

Pretty awesome actually.

 

[satcomer]

Yes- just ordered a Dot this morn. Will be here on Wednesday.

You should have gotten it for your wife for Christmas!

 

[andrewstirling]

We also are an Apple house (2 iPhones, 2 iPads, 2 iMacs, 2 MacBook Pro/Air, AEBS) but bought a Echo. It's very convenient to use but does not integrate with iTunes, Calendar, or Reminders (it uses Amazon Prime for music and Google for calendar and reminders). Not a big problem -- to add to the reminders list it's just "Hey Siri" with an iPad in the room and "Alexa" for most everything else. The Echo is a great product. (Amazon also makes the best readers.)

There are ways around the reminders issue using ifttt. I also set up a google calendar which syncs automatically with my iOS calendar. Alexa then uses google calendar.

To the OP get an echo. It's genuinely impressive and useful particularly if you start adding harmony remotes and smart heating systems