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Windows 10 'Home Hub' Is Microsoft's Response To Amazon Echo and Google Home (mashable.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the arch-enemy dept.

Microsoft's response to the Amazon Echo and Google Home is Home Hub, a software update for Windows 10's Cortana personal assistant that turns any Windows PC into a smart speaker of sorts. Mashable reports: Microsoft's smart digital assistant Cortana can already answer your queries, even if the PC's screen is locked. The Home Hub is tied to Cortana and takes this a few steps further. It would add a special app with features such as calendar appointments, sticky notes and shopping lists. A Home Hub-enabled PC might have a Welcome Screen, a full-screen app that displays all these, like a virtual fridge door. Multiple users (i.e. family members) could use the Home Hub, either by authenticating through Windows Hello or by working in a family-shared account. Cortana would get more powerful on Home Hub; it could, for example, control smart home devices, such as lights and locks. And even though all of this will work on any Windows 10 device -- potentially making the PC the center of your smart home experience -- third-party manufacturers will be able to build devices that work with Home Hub. You can read Windows Central's massive report here. Do note that Home Hub is not official and individual features could change over time. The update is slated for 2017.

58 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. And it will be indtalled and enabled automatically by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Whether you like it or not!

  2. your privacy for some magic beans by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Yes. You can turn on the sprinkler system without a valve, a time clock or even the effort of a button push.

    Those old ways were completely exhausting.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:your privacy for some magic beans by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Not exhausting, expensive, and sometimes bad.

      I replaced my sprinkler system with a smart automated one after the second time I flooded the neighbour's yard due to forgetting to turn it off. It also paid for itself in not wasting water or killing plants that shouldn't have been submerged. Something doesn't need to be exhausting to be replaced. How about smart thermostats that turn the heating off when they know you're not home? How about lights that you can turn on anywhere preventing you from either rolling your ankle in the dark or spending lots of money to put in a dual switch?

      The only thing exhausting is people's attitudes.

    2. Re:your privacy for some magic beans by Xest · · Score: 2

      I thought the Echo Dot would be a fun thing to play with so I got them whilst they were cheap during Black Friday fortnight or however long they've managed to drag it out for now. I read that you can even order food through apps like Just Eat, but when I first used it I didn't really know you had to ask specific Just Eat commands.

      So imagine how disturbed I was when I said "Alexa, I'd like to order some food", and she replied "From your order history, I can see that you have ordered 12kg Dog Food. Is this what you want?". I shouted no, and I she repeated the same thing (I guess because we ordered the dogs different flavours they were treated as different products).

      This is what they think of us, they think we should eat dog food, their path to making us subservient has already begun. I hope you like dried chicken and rice smooshed into brown dry kibbles, because it's all we're apparently going to be eating when they take over given that they apparently already view us as mere dogs.

    3. Re:your privacy for some magic beans by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Black Friday fortnight

      Right! And since they're clearly going to drag it out with Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Trade Tuesday, and Black Friday fortnight, could the stores just stay closed on Thanksgiving so retail employees could relax one final day with their families?

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    4. Re:your privacy for some magic beans by Xest · · Score: 1

      Is there any statutory legal obligation to credit public holidays like Thanksgiving as leave for those who are made to work it in the US?

      My wife works in retail and runs a few stores, and the only day they don't open now is Christmas day, however all 7 other UK public holidays are added to their leave so in some ways it works out for her as she can combine them all for an extra full week. Means she has something like 34 days leave a year now.

    5. Re:your privacy for some magic beans by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Is there any statutory legal obligation to credit public holidays like Thanksgiving as leave for those who are made to work it in the US?

      No. In fact, though employers may grant some number of holidays as paid each year, it is not required by US federal law.

      My wife works in retail and runs a few stores, and the only day they don't open now is Christmas day, however all 7 other UK public holidays are added to their leave so in some ways it works out for her as she can combine them all for an extra full week. Means she has something like 34 days leave a year now.

      American retail employees typically receive minimal benefits and low pay, unless they are skilled commissioned salesmen or managers.

      Personal example: I worked at a jewelry store years ago. The low hourly wage was augmented by a small commission (1-2%), although I received decent wages from Black Friday through the end of December (35-45% of our annual sales were in those 5 weeks).

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

  3. Re:And it will be indtalled and enabled automatica by jfdavis668 · · Score: 2

    All your appliances will stop working until you locate the latest driver.

  4. First question ... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft's smart digital assistant Cortana can already answer your queries, even if the PC's screen is locked.

    Cortana. How do I break into this locked PC?

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:First question ... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      With poisontap. You would know if you read /. more regularly, it was featured here two weeks ago.

      (Yes, I fully expect Cortana to eventually berate you for forgetting stuff. At least in its Jewish Mom setting)

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Honestly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    These devices are totally not going to be spying on you 24/7.

    1. Re:Honestly by youngone · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I wouldn't be worried about this anyway. Microsoft are just going through the motions with this.

      Amazon and Google have put a bit of thought it, even if the idea is totally creepy if you really think about it, but Microsoft have just panicked (as they do) and announced a thing which won't work properly and no-one wants.

      Actually, as I wrote that the thought came to me that maybe it's someone at Microsoft who remembers the days when if Microsoft announced their version of something that another company had already produced, the other companies' product died completely.

      I mean those days are long gone, but it's a thought.

    2. Re:Honestly by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Relax. This is MS. It won't work anyway.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Honestly by WaffleMonster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And do you know why MS is so successful? It's because users do not run OS's they run applications.

      The vast majority of people have no problem with MS automatically pushing bug and security related fixes to their machine.

      Interesting contradiction. The OS isn't important. Then comes assertion people have no problem being constantly harassed to update and then reboot their operating systems when all they care about is their applications? How does this even make sense?

      Updates are widely seen as an annoyance or even harmful hence Microsoft's misguided attempt to strong arm people into having no choice. Especially as they turn the screws on transforming their customers into products we can't have people making their own decisions.

      They have no problem with the anonymous telemetry being sent to MS.

      In the same way people have no problem when criminals covertly case their homes without their knowledge.

      I still don't see why people are upset with anonymous telemetry being communicated back to MS. Maybe they don't know what "anonymous" means.

      Here is a little thought experiment for those who don't "get it". Would you accept someone sitting in a parked car in the morning waiting for you to leave your house then following you to work. When you walk across the street they are right behind you following your every move and recording everything you do? I have a feeling the response from most people would be either to call the police or get into a fist fight. The only difference between that and what tech companies are doing to users enmasse is stealth.

      The top search engines use your online presence in order to feed you customized adds and links. To do this they need to capture and store enough information on me in order to target my user Id. Every corporation and telecommunication firm are in possession of quite a bit of your personal information of one type or another and to me that is a worse than anything MS might be doing.

      "They do it too" isn't a justification it is an excuse. No more coherent an argument than attempting to justify a speeding ticket before a judge by pointing out the guy in front of you was going much faster asserting you shouldn't have to pay because he got away scott free.

      What is even worse about this argument is that it is 100% backwards. People can chose to visit a website or not. They can elect to run software to mask their activities, encipher their communications and take other measures to protect themselves. If your own computer is always actively working against you even when you are not doing anything "online" then your fucked no matter what. It is a much more serious matter than any big content/advertising company or telecom.

      There are some very intelligent people who work for MS and underestimating them is nonsense. In the beginning IBM grossly underestimated MS and ended losing control of an OS that earned MS billions in sales.

      It doesn't matter how intelligent you are. The only thing that matters is what you accomplish. Technology is driven by hard work way more than it is driven by intellect.

    4. Re:Honestly by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      In the same way people have no problem when criminals covertly case their homes without their knowledge.

      Horseshit. People happily sell their information for nothing at all. comparing it to criminals covertly casing their homes is absurd. Unless you live in a small country town in which case you're actually likely to invite said criminals in for tea and coffee.

    5. Re:Honestly by Xest · · Score: 1

      "Here is a little thought experiment for those who don't "get it". Would you accept someone sitting in a parked car in the morning waiting for you to leave your house then following you to work. When you walk across the street they are right behind you following your every move and recording everything you do?"

      I actually rather think you've missed his point, his point is that Microsoft is sending anonymous data back - i.e. data that can't be tracked to you. Someone following you to work by very definition can be traced back to you because it's you they're following and tracking.

      I think there's a fair discussion to be had about how anonymous the data is, and something still irks me to this day about paying for a product and using my CPU power, storage, and bandwidth for their commercial gain, but I do agree with the GP somewhat that there's unreasonable paranoia about telemetry sent in this way in general. Personally I think there should be something more obvious in it for me if they want to collect this data - i.e. give me a free copy of your software if I'm a test subject and let me explicitly agree to that. Don't make me pay hundreds of pounds for software only to use my computing resources to profit off me even further without my knowledge or explicit consent.

      A large part the reason I think that is because people seem to not care that every search they make, every site they visit, every service they use nowadays typically involves anonymous telemetry being connected (even if you block tracking cookies, your actions are still being tracked and measured server-side). People still use these services, yet when the same thing happens from an OS, or piece of installed software on a desktop, or phone, they suddenly take bigger issue with it, yet the data collected may be no less anonymous than the data they're handing over on a daily basis elsewhere.

  6. Wow are people this transparent? by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Do people have no concept of privacy anymore? It's bad enough my DVD player wants my wifi password and my TV wants to be "smart" e.g. piping my conversations out ot the internet, but now people are actually BUYING devices solely for the purpose of eavesdropping?

    Years back the government withdrew the concept of Total Information Awareness. Really, all they did was figure out a surreptitious way to accomplish the same thing.

    --
    I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    1. Re:Wow are people this transparent? by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      It's bad enough my DVD player wants my wifi password and my TV wants to be

      What sort of slashdotter doesn't have multiple VLANs and SSIDs? Route that through a VPN.

    2. Re:Wow are people this transparent? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      What sort of slashdotter doesn't have multiple VLANs and SSIDs? Route that through a VPN.

      I own a VLAN-capable switch, but its power budget is greater than that of my entire home networking equipment stack including a NAS and now an emby server, since it's all ARM-based and the disks spin down when not in use, which is usually.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Wow are people this transparent? by snookiex · · Score: 1

      The thing is, people may feel a little invaded at the beginning, but then, when they see that giving up their information eases their lives to some extent, they're willing to do it without remorse forever. Apparently receiving alerts about the flights you have to take or traffic jams ahead or turning you lights off from your bed are worth your most personal information.
      As for the government, I'd say they're satisfied with that. Now others are collecting that information for them.

      --
      Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
    4. Re:Wow are people this transparent? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      BUYING devices solely for the purpose of eavesdropping?

      No. People are buying devices to make their life better. People are requesting perfect knowledge of their working lives by their digital assistant. People expect a huge amount of accuracy to their digital assistants that can only be met with huge databases in the background.

      People have been wanting this for 20 years and have been fetishising it in sci-fi for 30 years on top of that. Now it's here a few Slashdot users freak out that the technology is driven by a company and requires data to be sent offsite, ... data which has been sent offsite to many other companies already without complaint anyway.

      Privacy? People don't give a shit.

      That's an insightful sentence that I think I'll post on Facebook now.

  7. Clippy + Roomba by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    ...what could possibly go wrong?

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Clippy + Roomba by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Now you can have something that annoys you while freaking out your cat at the same time.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Clippy + Roomba by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      I am a cat, you insensitive clod!

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  8. Clippy 2.0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hi, it appears you are having trouble sleeping. Would you like me to play calming thunderstorm sounds to help you sleep?

    Hi, it appears you are trying to find something to watch on television. Would you like me to make suggestions based on your browsing history?

    Hi, it appears you have ran out of shampoo. Would you like me to place an order while you are drying off?

    Hi, it appears you are trying to disconnect me. Would you like to discuss your problems while waiting for a Certified Microsoft Reeducation Engineer to arrive?

  9. Voice commands by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

    So does anyone use Siri on a regular basis? I have yet to see anyone use it for anything besides seeing if it works.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    1. Re:Voice commands by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      I used to use it quite a bit while driving but it seems to have gotten worse in the last year or so at picking the correct contact or response. I use Alexa all the time though. Control lights, TV, thermostat, play music (the original one is a decent bluetooth speaker), audiobooks, check news and weather while I'm getting ready in the morning. When I travel I use the app to remotely start audiobooks playing full blast so it sounds like someone is home.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    2. Re:Voice commands by swb · · Score: 1

      My 12 year old loves it and if given the opportunity with mine or my wife's phone, he will use it relentlessly.

      I never use it except in the car to make it dial telephone numbers. When I've tried using it even for basic tasks, it gives me not-quite-useful information or just returns some web search.

  10. Blue Voice of Death? by dugrrr · · Score: 1

    Seriously though, I've always wanted the Star Trek experience of being able to ask "Computer" a question or to perform a task but the reality of having an open mic in my house gives me pause.

    1. Re:Blue Voice of Death? by dugrrr · · Score: 1

      Yes, but it wouldn't be as cool; trade-offs I guess. I suppose my android phone could be considered a potential open mic even if I don't have "OK Google" enabled.

    2. Re:Blue Voice of Death? by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      How about you hide the switch in some kind of chest badge that you tap to activate?

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  11. Great... by Drethon · · Score: 4, Funny

    how do I permanently disable it?

    1. Re:Great... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Don't buy it?

    2. Re:Great... by Drethon · · Score: 1

      Starting to make me want to switch over to Linux for development, might just do that with Visual Studio on Linux

    3. Re:Great... by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Unplug or cut the wire connecting the microphone. Put an SPST switch inline with it so you can easily turn it on and off.

  12. Windows 10 * is Microsoft's * by Excelcia · · Score: 1

    It doesn't matter what * expands to, Microsoft's price inevitably ends up being too high Microsoft can fill in the blanks with hard AI or FTL and I'd still give it back to them unopened. Or, rather, since they prefer to shove everything down your throat now, regurgitated back up as soon as I can rest control back and left in a burning paper bag on their front doorstep.

    No thank-you.

  13. Re:Microsoft for the win! by Excelcia · · Score: 1

    ...

    Please, someone help me out... I'm Canadian, I must not be getting the American humour here.

  14. Missing the point by iamacat · · Score: 1

    Users want a voice assistant when they are in living room, far away from the PC. Just like when iPhone was released, Microsoft has no clue that users might want to do something other than editing documents for printing on a desktop.

  15. home hub is updating place try your request at a l by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    home hub is updating place try your request at a later time

  16. Cortana is a wothless piece of shit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I asked Cortana "What's the weather" yesterday just to try it out. It proceeds to give me the definition of the word "weather." Honestly, it's the most useless horseshit response I have ever had from a search.

  17. Microsoft see, Microsoft do by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    "Microsoft's response to the Amazon Echo and Google Home is Home Hub, a software update for Windows 10's Cortana personal assistant that turns any Windows PC into a smart speaker of sorts."

    No it's not. Based on Microsoft's track record it will be a poorly-designed, late-to-market, barely functional piece of shit that will garner no market share except for that of the die-hard Windows fanbois. After a year or two of disappointing reviews and craptastic software updates they'll discontinue it.

    Once again the wizards at Microsoft see something that someone else designed and, true to form, all they can do is copy it. Poorly.

    Really, Microsoft should change their slogan to, "Wait for us, we're the leader!"

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:Microsoft see, Microsoft do by Voyager529 · · Score: 1

      "Microsoft's response to the Amazon Echo and Google Home is Home Hub, a software update for Windows 10's Cortana personal assistant that turns any Windows PC into a smart speaker of sorts."

      No it's not. Based on Microsoft's track record it will be a poorly-designed, late-to-market, barely functional piece of shit that will garner no market share except for that of the die-hard Windows fanbois. After a year or two of disappointing reviews and craptastic software updates they'll discontinue it.

      That may well be true...but there's a one-in-a-billion chance that Microsoft will be able to make it stick if they can successfully court the XDA community. If a device is mod-friendly, and it becomes "the Echo you can mod", it's possible that it'll carve out a niche for itself...because both Google and Amazon have taken steps to ensure that the modding community isn't welcome.

      Microsoft clearly has no recent evidence of this path, which is why I'm perfectly aware that it's such a remote possibility. However, it's a market hole that neither Google nor Amazon have any chance of filling.

    2. Re:Microsoft see, Microsoft do by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      That may well be true...but there's a one-in-a-billion chance

      Sure, but the odds of winning the Powerball are 1 in 292 million, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

      -

      If a device is mod-friendly, and it becomes "the Echo you can mod", it's possible that it'll carve out a niche for itself..

      Yes, I forgot how "mod-friendly" Microsoft has always been to the hacking/modding community. :)

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  18. Re:The RC cola... by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    Ah, Windows...the RC Cola in the Pepsi-Coke wars of the mobile computing space.

    Yeah, but unlike Windows, I like RC Cola.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  19. Re:Microsoft for the win! by bigfinger76 · · Score: 1

    It's dark humor.

  20. Re:I want a personal AI assistant without internet by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    What I recommend? Get off your lazy ass and turn on the fucking light the old fashioned way, dammit!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  21. Re:The RC cola... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    While almost true, there are actually people that actually genuinely like RC Cola and don't just accept it because there's no real alternative.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  22. Re:Amazon Echo by lgw · · Score: 2

    You guys should really get more easily distinguishable UIDs. 110010001000 does nothing but troll, while 0100010001010011 seems innocuous enough.

    I'll stick with 1001001 myself (possibly the most clever Rush lyric).

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  23. Re:Microsoft for the win! by hyades1 · · Score: 2

    Get a lobotomy and buy a gun.

    All will become clear.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  24. Re:Amazon Echo by Chelmet · · Score: 1

    I don't understand your position here. You seem to troll every thread on the subject of voice activated assistants in order to slag off the Echo, but you're spouting nonsense.

    You frequently claim that 'no one really uses one', but that simply isn't the case. Or perhaps it is, if you mean that 'anyone who uses one often goes on to buy a second'. I have 2 in the house, and they're great. My wife uses them more than I do, but they are a fantastic convenience factor. Not necessary for anything, but handy for dozens of tasks per day.

    For those that are interested in the positives, we find Alexa especially useful when cooking, especially meals that have different items with different oven timings. Bang something in the oven and "Alexa, set a timer for 12 minutes". Go do your thing, then she'll call you back when it's time to put the Naan in, and you set her for another 8 minutes. Like I say not necessary, but handy, especially with greasy fingers. "Alexa, play something relaxing" while my wife does some work. "Alexa, turn off the Livingroom lights" once we've settled down for a movie and can't be bothered getting up. "Alexa: Wikipedia: Blake Lively" when we watch end up arguing about who she's married to.

  25. Won't happen by backslashdot · · Score: 1

    Microsoft has shown over and over that they propose things and then deliver less than 5% of what they propose.
    If you know the politics within Microsoft you would know that a feature like this would never be allowed.

  26. Re:And it will be indtalled and enabled automatica by OolimPhon · · Score: 1

    I can always tape over the microphone.

    Oh, wait...

  27. Home Hub? That name will change by duguk · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yeah, that name will be changing.

    BT (British Telecom) in the UK already make a Home Hub.

    Also "Home Hub" is allegedly already trademarked by Apple.

  28. Re:Amazon Echo by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    Microsoft issued 10 versions of the Windows PocketPC OS. And how many versions of the Surface? And Windows Phone OS? Issuing multiple releases soon after each other is a sign that you are failing and trying to add shit to the product to see what sticks.

  29. Re:Microsoft for the win! by Stan92057 · · Score: 1

    and just how do you know the coward is American?

    --
    Jack of all trades,master of none
  30. More surveillance by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    Here, have a microphone connected to the Internet and Microsoft servers enabled in your house 24/7/365, listening to every sound and voice in your house! What could POSSIBLY be wrong with that!?

    No, NO, NO, just NO!

  31. Re:The RC cola... by backslashdot · · Score: 1

    RC Cola is awesome.

  32. Re:anonymous telemetry by Xest · · Score: 1

    Out of interest, by what mechanism is the data sent? Is there a service that dispatches it over a proprietary protocol running over TCP or similar? When is it sent and so forth? I'd be interested in snooping on it myself to have a look at exactly what does leave my PC, if what you're saying is true then that for us in the EU, puts Microsoft in breach of the European Data Protect Directive, and if I can evidence that happening from my machine then I can lodge a formal complaint with our Information Commissioner.

    What happens if you block transmission of the data on your router's firewall? Does it just give up?

    "Don't think you are having a private conversation when Cortana is on and your near your computer."

    Unless she's developed the ability to detect sound through other means then this is at least one thing I'm safe from as I don't actually have a microphone attached to my PC :) Alexa on the other hand, oh, she's already listening. See my other post for my experience so far with her.

    I was rather annoyed to turn my monitor on the other day and find the usually nice images that change through the day on the lock screen replaced with an advert for fucking Finding Dory. Thankfully it seems you can disable that at least, which I now have.