Why Google is Terrified About Alexa and What it's Doing in Response

DooKey

DooKey

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According to a report last month from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, Amazon (WARNING auto play video) controls more than three-quarters of the market for home automation devices and Google accounts for most of the rest. This isn't a position Google likes to find itself in and they plan on doing something about it. One recent change they made was to add reminders to its home assistant that lets consumers get voice prompts to walk their dog or take out the trash. They want to personalize their devices as much as possible. Furthermore, Google sits on a mountain of data and they plan to use it to compete better with Amazon.

In the new world of voice-powered computing, Amazon is rolling out popular features like skills and reminders that take users entirely out of Google's massive ecosystem. Late last month, Google added reminders to its home assistant, a long-awaited feature that lets consumers get voice prompts to walk their dog or take out the trash.
 
I've read reviews comparing the two systems, and Google's overall functionality did seem more robust... that is, until Amazon shipped their updates last month. The new Echo Plus includes the hub right there in the machine, and makes up much of the difference for Amazon.

Ain't competition grand?
 
Ships already left the dock and sailed...I'd personally never fork over money to google considering their devices are all overpriced. Google Home might have better "Search/Question/Answer" functionality but they'll never catch up to Amazon with all the Home Automation IoT device/app (IFTTT) integration.
 
They could start by giving their assistant a human name like the others. "OK Google" just doesn't sound pleasant at all.
 
I want none of these little spies in my home, and I have the "assistant" on my phone and Cortana on my computer disabled.

My fiance got a coupon for a free Google home with her Pixel when she bought it. We decided not to redeem it. I also won an Amazon Echo device in a raffle. I declined the prize.

This bullshit needs to stop. These assistants are stupid, add no value what so ever and do nothing but harm.
 
vegeta535 said:
Do you really think Amazon isn't collecting your data also?
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I find the correlation somewhat helpful on Amazon though...especially when it recommends related products to stuff you buy...buying some speakers? It'll recommend speaker wires...etc...
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
Dear Google, Amazon has a HUGE customer database and their device fits right into how they work. you on the other hand...want to sell every last bit it data you can on us...
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This was the selling point for Kindle, too. It was perfect for Amazon. They sold books. Selling an e-reader to put those on was great.

Alexa interfaces perfect with Amazon. That was their first priority. Buy an Echo, buy more shit from Amazon with it. Yes, it does a lot more, but it connects to Amazon to buy anything, play their music service, etc..

I already assume Google, Amazon, etc. have my data and none of it is really private. It's just another interface to their services. If I want to keep something private, I wouldn't do anything with it online.
 
ThreeDee said:
Uh ...No! .. they are not .. I mean , Alexa would never do that to me .. she ... she loves me.. I know it.
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CjoPt0c.jpg
 
I haven't used the google home hub product, but I have owned an echo since it's beta phase. I am also extremely familiar with Google Home and Chromecast in general. When I first got my Echo I was expecting it to be yet another gadget that would fairly soon just be gathering dust. Boy was I wrong on that one. I use it daily. The fact that Amazon has been steadily improving and adding features has been great.

The Audible client is probably my most used. I love going from my car, to my office etc and just continue where I left off listening. I now have 3 Alexa devices. The Echo, the Tap and the Show. I use the tap all of the time. It's my outdoor device. Music, Audio Books, as a timer when grilling/smoking. It's excellent. My Echo is my Alarm Clock, music player, daily weather report.

A while back, Amazon added multi room music, similar to a chromecast speaker set up. But, it is much better experience and far more reliable so far. I have a couple of Chromecast speakers to compare. Also, not needing a phone or tablet to start things off makes it so much easier. Streaming Pandora, Amazon music, iheart radio, etc to multiple rooms is really nice.

I like the device a lot, and I'm not even using most of the "personal assistant" aspects. Simply because my office doesn't run a mail/calendaring system it can use.
 
I'm all Echos at this point, but I do wish they had some kind of youtube functionality. Been using mine since the 2nd gen dots came out and really like them.
 
Montu said:
According to a report last month from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, Amazon (WARNING auto play video) controls more than three-quarters of the market for home automation devices and Google accounts for most of the rest. This isn't a position Google likes to find itself in and they plan on doing something about it. One recent change they made was to add reminders to its home assistant that lets consumers get voice prompts to walk their dog or take out the trash. They want to personalize their devices as much as possible. Furthermore, Google sits on a mountain of data and they plan to use it to compete better with Amazon.

In the new world of voice-powered computing, Amazon is rolling out popular features like skills and reminders that take users entirely out of Google's massive ecosystem. Late last month, Google added reminders to its home assistant, a long-awaited feature that lets consumers get voice prompts to walk their dog or take out the trash.
Click to expand...
Google is waaaaay behind here. If you have a Gsuite account google's assistant doesn't work with your account..but alexa will. google has made several boneheaded moves(they they stubbornly refuse to correct). As long as they continue with this type of behavior they will flal further behind.
 
Can't we just outright ban all of these devices?

I'm all for IOT, as long as:

1.) There is a commitment to issue security patches quickly for the life of the device (no shorter than 10 years)

2.) It is never used to harvest data on a user

3.) Must have a mode in which they can operate locally only, without connecting to an external cloud service.

I can't believe that People are actually spreading these things throughout their homes. It's unbelievably bone headed, especially given the inevitable security flaws these things will encounter, many of which check will never be patched for. KRACK is just one example.

Unless we can get industry agreement on the two points above, all things IOT need to be blanket banned.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I want none of these little spies in my home, and I have the "assistant" on my phone and Cortana on my computer disabled.

My fiance got a coupon for a free Google home with her Pixel when she bought it. We decided not to redeem it. I also won an Amazon Echo device in a raffle. I declined the prize.

This bullshit needs to stop. These assistants are stupid, add no value what so ever and do nothing but harm.
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Why would you not take the prizes and sell them or give them away?
 
JMCB said:
Why would you not take the prizes and sell them or give them away?
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Wasn't worth the effort.

The Google home - for instance - only sells for like $100. By the time it is used you have to sell it at a discount, so I'd probably only make $70 or so from it.

I'd have to make more than that to make it worth posting ads, responding to messages, negotiating prices, arranging to ship, etc etc, especially when you compare it to what that time is worth in "billable" hours.

I don't bother selling anything unless I can get at least a couple of hundred bucks for it. It's just not worth the time and effort. I don't have enough time to do all the things I want to do as it is.

I'm not sure exactly where I draw the line. It is somewhere between $200 and $300. I'd definitely spend the time to sell something at $300. At $200 I could go either way, and might just leave it in a box in the basement instead.

That, and I would't feel right turning around and selling something I have such strong objections to, to someone else.
 
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Nobody I know in the real world actually cares about or wants one of these. Nobody I know who works in technology and knows what these actually do would have one either. I'm sure they're popular, but I have no clue who's buying them. Why would you want an always recording microphone in your house? Are people bonkers?

You remember the days when you could just have a media player, and media. You put the media in, it played stuff. How hard was that for people that we need this shite? Who's lives are literally so busy they can't take 30 seconds to pick up a remote control, or take an hour to drive to the shops and buy something. It's actually a pleasure to do it. It's got so bad now that when I do go to the shops to buy something, they normally never have it and tell me to order it online anyway.

World's fucked up man, I swear.
 
So what company is going to invent the jamming device? You know, the one you keep on your key fob so when you walk into someone's house that has one of these devices, you can cripple it without destroying it while you are there.
Hell if I want my voice and shit recorded/tracked/monitored.
 
davethehedgehog said:
Nobody I know in the real world actually cares about or wants one of these. Nobody I know who works in technology and knows what these actually do would have one either. I'm sure they're popular, but I have no clue who's buying them. Why would you want an always recording microphone in your house? Are people bonkers?

You remember the days when you could just have a media player, and media. You put the media in, it played stuff. How hard was that for people that we need this shite? Who's lives are literally so busy they can't take 30 seconds to pick up a remote control, or take an hour to drive to the shops and buy something. It's actually a pleasure to do it. It's got so bad now that when I do go to the shops to buy something, they normally never have it and tell me to order it online anyway.

World's fucked up man, I swear.
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Zarathustra[H] said:
Can't we just outright ban all of these devices?

I'm all for IOT, as long as:

1.) There is a commitment to issue security patches quickly for the life of the device (no shorter than 10 years)

2.) It is never used to harvest data on a user

3.) Must have a mode in which they can operate locally only, without connecting to an external cloud service.

I can't believe that People are actually spreading these things throughout their homes. It's unbelievably bone headed, especially given the inevitable security flaws these things will encounter, many of which check will never be patched for. KRACK is just one example.

Unless we can get industry agreement on the two points above, all things IOT need to be blanket banned.
Click to expand...

Do you all own a cell phone? You now have a mic the government can access where ever you are not only in your home. Put back on your water-wings, strap up your elbow pads, and place the tin-foil back on your heads.
 
So, is sex better with one or more of these telescreens in the room?
 
I think Alexa is successful due to Amazon pretty much monopolizing online sales for almost everything and Alexa is integrated into making all Amazon purchases using voice the easiest thing on earth.

Only way Google Home gains marketshare is by making their Google Store relevant and an equal to Amazon. Until that happens, it will be a novelty item and be irrelevant despite it being functionally equivalent to Alexa.
 
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I was drunk over at this girls house this past weekend and she had an Alexa, but I couldn't get it to play music...
 
Rahh said:
Do you all own a cell phone? You now have a mic the government can access where ever you are not only in your home. Put back on your water-wings, strap up your elbow pads, and place the tin-foil back on your heads.
Click to expand...

A lot of people are amazed at how accurate those phone mics are. I have a V20 and I use the Google Assistant a lot. I talk to my phone when it's still in my pocket very often and then pull it out to see the results if I can't hear it telling me what I want to know. The voice recognition is awesome, too.

I was recently traveling home from work in Knoxville, TN. I kept asking my phone "How far am I from work?" and my passenger, who also has an Android phone, would get the results on his phone as well. I started laughing that it would pick up my voice when I said "Okay Google" and started looking up all sorts of embarrassing stuff (gay porn, big black dicks, etc...) and his phone would pick it up every time. Since my phone only listens to my voice he couldn't do it to me. Needless to say, he went through the steps to set up his phone the same way. Haha
 
Gee Google, maybe if you were not such an untrustworthy, ad pushing monopoly cunt of a company, more people would invite you into their homes. Enjoy your ad dollars you pieces of shit.
 
umeng2002 said:
I was drunk over at this girls house this past weekend and she had an Alexa, but I couldn't get it to play music...
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I'm guessing the girls name was Lexi and her alexa kept reciting bible verses...
 
Sorry Google. I'm not willing to pay for every streaming service or ecosystem available, so our Echo Dot has been fantastic for unlocking value and convenience for content that already comes with Amazon Prime or other free services.
 
Amazon has caught a lot of companies off guard: Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc. I have friends that work at a large retailer in the US (not Walmart). Used to be Walmart was their #1 enemy/source of fear. When the Amazon announcement of Whole Foods came out, the CEO had a crisis meeting and was hysterical. This retailer is terrified over the long term implications of what Amazon is doing. It's not that this retailer isn't trying to innovate, they just aren't going it near the same speed as Amazon.
How the hell did Google and Apple let Alexa sneak out to become the dominate platform for homes?
AWS even has the same technology available. It's easy to program and use. Apple - can't, closed. Google - they have multiple APIs and they are a pain in the ass to use (compared to Alexa).
The one area Amazon is kind of weak is on mobile devices. I know they have the app, but it's not the default assistant. With the Fire Phone disaster, I kind of doubt Amazon will get back to that market (although their Fire Tablets still sell well and they have apps...)
 
steakman1971 said:
The one area Amazon is kind of weak is on mobile devices. I know they have the app, but it's not the default assistant. With the Fire Phone disaster, I kind of doubt Amazon will get back to that market (although their Fire Tablets still sell well and they have apps...)
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I wonder how much of the Fire Phone learning, if not the technology itself, went into Alexa. While it was indeed a disaster, I'd be willing to bet it has helped them with Alexa.
 
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