Smart Home crap, or something. (Was: Echo.)

[Random]

There's always a relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1807/

[thesameguy]

That seems like a great thing to do to pretty much everyone.

[thesameguy]

This thing seems incredibly clumsy looking.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J24C0TI...cc_kt_ann_dark



Solid idea, but the packaging seems ridiculous to me.

[Kchrpm]

Seems simple and unoffensive. Enough to have people randomly place it...wherever you would place such a thing? I don't know. I bet there are a bunch of grandparents that will happily say "Hey Alexa, call the kids" and get a video call that requires nothing else of them.

[thesameguy]

That's the thing - where would you place it? It's 3.5" thick, which makes it clumsy on a wall and it's only a 7" screen which makes it difficult more than a few feet from your face. If it's designed to hang on a wall where you might stand in front of it to read it, it should be picture-thin. If it's designed to go on a coffee table where it's going to be six or eight feet away from your head, it should be a bigger screen. It feels like a beta product, like a proof of concept, not a polished, finished device. I've wanted this type of interface, but not this particular one. I wouldn't know where to put it.

[Kchrpm]

Hmm...let's think like grandmothers.

In the kitchen, so it can show them recipes or TV while cooking?

In the sewing room/office/other room used for sitting at a table/desk while doing a hobby?

On the nightstand next to their recliner and/or bed-that-lifts-their-back?

[thesameguy]

I just don't see any of those placements as practical with this form factor. Something that protrudes from the wall 3.5" is going to get knocked into if not knocked off. On "sitting height" desk or table a 7" screen is very small. Hold an iPad Mini or Kindle at arm's length and try to use it. That is the opposite of ergonomically sound for grandma, and unlike a Mini or Kindle it's plugged and several pounds, so you're not going to hold it closer to your face. On a nightstand next to your bed craned around 180 degrees? Seems uncomfortable.

This Show product is just some weird intersection between too small to place, too big to hold, and too thick to hang. People are used to mm thick devices, not multi-inch thick devices. Making it wedge-shaped, suggesting it's a table-top item helps get folks out of that in your hand/by your face mindset, but then a 7" screen? Way below what people are accustomed to for a desktop or tabletop interface. If it's going to be a stationary object, it needs to be sized so that grandma can see it at arm's length. Grandma can't see a 7" screen an arm's length away!

[Kchrpm]

Amazon adds the ability to call any other Amazon Echo user, Google responds with the ability to call any phone number: http://www.androidcentral.com/watch-...ng-google-home

Hmm, it has more added functionality than an article I read earlier mentioned: http://gizmodo.com/all-the-new-stuff...-do-1795303924

- "Push" notifications (it could speak up when there's bad traffic on the route to your next appointment, or if your flight is delayed), and maybe reminders finally
- A new Chromecast view mode where it can show visual answers to questions you've asked, like the weather or your calendar

- Bluetooth support: in the devices we already have? They already have Bluetooth in them and it just wasn't turned on? I'm confused.

[thesameguy]

Back in my day, we had devices tethered to a physical location that you used to contact other people when you hoped they were in a specific place.

What's old is new again, but with 24 bit color this time.

[Freude am Fahren]

I think you could always bluetooth out from a google home, no? They're adding the ability to stream bluetooth to the device to used as a bt speaker? Am I wrong?

I would love to be able to walk into my room when I get home, say "Hey google (or preferably, "MUTHUR"*), play music from my phone." And it would just pick up with whatever I was listening to earlier in my car or whatever. I listen to my music collection much more than streaming anyway. Hopefully that will be an option

*still no ability to change the listen to me phrase.