topic Re: Home Assistants in Discussions & Feedback

Home Assistants

EmilieT — Fri, 10 May 2019 07:25:54 GMT

Hi everyone,

Digital home assistants have become more and more sophisticated over the past few years, and an increasing number of companies are developping and releasing their own version of the smart devices. They can perform a wide range of tasks, help you with your day to day organisation and the overall control of your house. Their potential keeps on growing!

Do any of you guys use home assistants, such as Google Home or Alexa?

If you do use one, I'd love to know what benefits you find to these digital home assistants, and how you prefer to use them - whether it's through speakers, using the mini version of the device, or through your TV. What kind of things do you use them for, i.e. playing music, setting timers, checking the weather, turning your TV on, etc? What do you think the best, and most fun functions are?

If you do not use one, is there any particular reason behind this choice? Do you have any reservations, or feedback on what home assistants can or cannot do that is stopping you from getting one?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this!

Re: Home Assistants

TallTrees — Fri, 10 May 2019 07:40:25 GMT

Hi @EmilieT

I have not got an artificial intelligent gaget/assistant

I think they could be very useful especially for those people living alone.

I don't know whether they can make an emergency call but this would

be very good. My neighbour fell down and broke her shoulder so this

would have helped her get assistance if she could have communicated with

something like that.

I use my phone for day to day reminders.

I would like them to get more sophisticated before getting one.

There have been some worries about being "listened" to ~ so this would be a worry.

Re: Home Assistants

EmilieT — Fri, 10 May 2019 07:45:49 GMT

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, @TallTrees

I'm so sorry to hear about your neighbour's fall I don't own a home assistant myself at the moment so I'm not sure if they can be used to make emergency calls, but that'd definitely be a great use for them.

You say you would like them to get more sophisticated before getting one, I was wondering if there were any specific things you had in mind on that? What kind of functionality or advancement would be a deciding factor for you?

Re: Home Assistants

TallTrees — Fri, 10 May 2019 08:31:20 GMT

Hi @EmilieT

Thanks for your reply ~

If they could do an "all round job" switch things on/off ~ this is good for all persons with difficulties.

Ring an emergency number ~

if this was linked to a fire alarm system this could save a major fire and save lives

linked to an ambulance service in emergency

or call a nominated person for help

Entertainment I know it does this.

Re: Home Assistants

gmarkj — Fri, 10 May 2019 08:39:08 GMT

We have two Echo dots.
Most frequent use is to set timers while cooking (SO handy).
Also used for music, tell the time, send messages to other Alexa devices (which freaks out the mother in law as hers is linked to our account).
Most frustrating is that it doesn't seem to work as well as the google assistant when searching for things.
At Christmas had the lights plugged into a smart plug that was Alexa compatible so could turn the lights on and off without crawling under the tree...

Re: Home Assistants

EmilieT — Fri, 10 May 2019 08:46:51 GMT

@TallTrees

Very interesting, thanks for letting me know what you'd like these kind of devices to do for you I think they've been doing more and more, and they can certainly keep on getting better and more useful. I hadn't thought of them as much in terms of accessibility and how they can be of use for those more vulnerable or in emergency situations, but it's a great point!

@gmarkj

The cooking timer must be so handy indeed, I can't count how often I've had my hands dirty from chopping things and needed to set a timer right away but had to first wash up. I love as well the Christmas lights use, so practical!

When you say it doesn't work as well with the Google assistant to search for things, is it specific things or more overall whenever you ask for it to find some information for you? Anything else that you can'd like it to do better/additionally?

Re: Home Assistants

gmarkj — Fri, 10 May 2019 09:15:49 GMT

Sometimes I ask Alexa to search for something and it replies with something along the lines of "sorry, i don't understand".
When I do the same search using google I get matches of some kind.
Not sure about anything else though.

Re: Home Assistants

Cleoriff — Fri, 10 May 2019 09:22:24 GMT

I watched a TV programme called 'Hard to Please OAP's'

A few 'celebrity' folk taking part in this and they are dealing with technology.

One of them asked Alexa for a recipe for Spanish Omelette. Alexa kept replying with a recipe for Mexican Chicken. I laughed at the frustration and anger of June Brown and Amanda Barrie trying to get this recipe.

Re: Home Assistants

EmilieT — Fri, 10 May 2019 09:37:32 GMT

@gmarkj So it's the voice recognition that somehow doesn't work well for searches? But it works well for any other actions you're asking the Echo to perform? That's quite strange, but interesting to think about ...

@Cleoriff I love that

Re: Home Assistants

gmarkj — Fri, 10 May 2019 10:08:07 GMT

Not sure it is the voice recognition @EmilieT as it works fine when asking for other things. Think it is just the search capability of Alexa.
There are skills that you can add in one way or another that can make up for this, but as one is rather complicated I haven't gone down that road yet...

Re: Home Assistants

jonsie — Fri, 10 May 2019 10:26:06 GMT

I have to say that I find Alexa to be a bit dumb with too many 'blonde' moments

Re: Home Assistants

EmilieT — Fri, 10 May 2019 11:05:21 GMT

@gmarkj

Oh I see! If you do decide to go down that road, it'd be interesting to hear how you get on

@jonsie

Are you speaking from first-hand experience or from seeing videos/hearing stories? Also I'm wondering if you find this is in all those types of devices or mostly with Alexa?

Re: Home Assistants

jonsie — Fri, 10 May 2019 11:07:28 GMT

I'm forever getting the response 'Sorry, I don't understand that" although she does seem to be able to find the weather back home.

Re: Home Assistants

davethorp — Fri, 10 May 2019 11:12:02 GMT

I have amazon echo speakers throughout my house

3 in the living room (2 regular echo speakers and an echo sub in a stereo setup), one in the kitchen and one in each of the bedrooms

Main uses are playing music (apple music or the radio), setting alarms and timers, controlling my central heating and lights (hive thermostat and lights) and occasionally playing trivia games

I'm normally an Apple fan but Siri and the homepod are much more limited than Echo and Alexa are (wouldn't be able to control my heating and lights from homepod as they are not homekit devices) not to mention I've been able to fill my house with echo speakers for not much more than the cost of one homepod

Re: Home Assistants

Glory1 — Fri, 10 May 2019 18:43:42 GMT

Interesting reading this thread and what devices people have and what they use them for.

Now I don't have any of these, just Alexa on my phone and Kindle, as well as the Google Assistant on my phone.

I used Alexa on my phone and Kindle and the Google Assistant a couple of times, more out of curiousity than anything else. I prefer Google, if honest though I find it just as easy to let my stylus 'do the walking' to slightly misquote an ad of years ago for Yellow Pages.

To be fair, the Google Assistant was a touch quicker than my typing out what I wanted, and there were no 'typos' in my voice. But I still tap out my search requests rather than using either Alexa or the Google Assistant. But your uses and @TallTrees suggestions make me wonder if getting an Echo, of all the various tech mightn't be a bad idea after all.

Re: Home Assistants

EmilieT — Mon, 13 May 2019 08:41:28 GMT

@jonsie I can see how that could be frustrating Apart from the weather, what else do you/would you use it for?

@davethorp That's quite a setup, sounds very useful as well I'm curious about the trivia games, it's the first I hear of that use; is it a functionality of Alexa to ask you some random questions or do you use it to get answers to trivia questions from board games?

@Glory1 Voice command and voice typing isn't something I'm using much either, although this might be just a matter of habit. Can you think of other uses, similar to the ones @TallTrees mentioned, that you'd also find personally very useful??

Re: Home Assistants

Glory1 — Mon, 13 May 2019 12:15:08 GMT

@EmilieT I do agree with you about habit when thinking about using Alexa or Google Assistant on my phone. I'm just so used to going straight to search and tapping out my question that it's only when the answer is coming up that I think I could have spoken that question, and as said no 'typos' in my voice. You just fall back on what your used to so often. I'm not a technophobe, so that's definitely not the problem. Just the case of 'old habits die hard' for me, I think.

@TallTrees' suggestions are excellent, particularly being able to dial emergency numbers in case of an accident at home or a fire. Living alone myself I'd find that particularly beneficial. Can't think of anything else along similar lines, though. But the 2 would be very useful for anyone living alone or even if not living alone. Family members often panic in an emergency and run around like the proverbial chickens. An Echo or Alexa wouldn't have that problem!

Re: Home Assistants

davethorp — Mon, 13 May 2019 14:27:08 GMT

@EmilieT the trivia quizzes are through Alexa skills you can add to Alexa devices. The main ones I play are Question of the Day which as implied asks you a daily multiple choice question awarding points based on the difficulty of the question.

The other one I play is Pointless which is based on the popular BBC quiz and features 3 questions a day along with the voices of Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman

Re: Home Assistants

Marjo — Mon, 13 May 2019 15:07:54 GMT

I'd love to have a home assistant, the Echo for example. I live alone and even though I do talk to my cats sometimes it's not the same as speaking to someone(or something) that actually answers back. So I think I'd enjoy an occasional chat to fill the silence. I also like the idea of searching something on the internet just by asking out loud. If there's any features that would help learning a new language (especially pronunciation) that would be interesting!

Have you tried any Alexa "easter eggs" guys? See a list here for example - apparently it's quite funny although I haven't personally tried.

Re: Home Assistants

jonsie — Mon, 13 May 2019 15:12:27 GMT

I'll try that when I get home.

My carers do most of the home assistance and I'm hoping to train my wife when I get home. Fat chance. ..!