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Google Assistant Coming Soon To More Speakers, Appliances and Other Devices (techcrunch.com)
Google announced today several new third-party speakers that will support the Assistant. Their blog post is a follow-up to a post in May where they announced the general availability of the Google Assistant SDK, which lets anyone download and run the Google Assistant on the gadget of their choice. TechCrunch reports: That's likely to be good for both the voice-powered assistant market, as well as for Google's ability to use its service to collect useful data which it can then use to work on its advertising and marketing products. The more places Assistant appears, the more likely it is that people will engage with the voice companion, and that's not territory Google wants to cede to someone like Amazon. Some of the devices getting Google Assistant coming to IFA include the Anker Zolo Mojo, a small cylinder speaker that's sort of like a third-party Google Home, which will go on sale in late October. Two other smart speakers powered by Assistant, including the Panasonic GA10 and the TicHome Mini, are also on their way. Google is also now making it possible to use Assistant to check on the state of your laundry or dishes, using an integration with LG's line of home appliances, which also includes voice commands for LG's Roomba competitor.
...they have Google Fiber there.
Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.
i mean, Google Reader
At this point in time, I wish Google would show some real love to its apps like...
Photos - Introduce [meaningful] sorting. Let's be able to at least sort video from photos...
Gmail - Move its interface presentation changes from requiring an extension to having this setting by default.
YouTube - Why should I lose sight of my video while scrolling through comments on the desktop version?
Calendar - Why can't I copy an event from place to place?
Google, are these thing so difficult to implement?
More data mining and personal intrusion. Just what we need.
I will not voluntarily have something in my home that constantly spies on me and reports to somebody else. I don't care whether it's the government, some corporation or whatever. The only way they would have my best interests at heart would be on those rare occasions when mine and theirs were congruent .
So no. No. Fuck no. I will not put up with it.
What's ironic is that the flagging PC industry could be revived by a totally locked down, totally secure "personal assistant" like some kind of next-generation Siri. The kind of power needed to run something like that would mean there might finally be a need to get busy on quantum computing for upper middle class families.
Sadly, there's not much chance of it happening. Real power and independence in the hands of a lot of reasonably tech savvy people is the last thing our lords and masters want. They don't care about guns. In the end, a bunch of militia crackpots armed to the teeth would last about five minutes against the armed forces. Independent citizens with minds of their own and the ability to act pretty much like tiny versions of todays multi-national corporations...now that my friends, is a threat to the power structure.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
that allows these "personal assistants" or devices into their homes is just that... an idiot.
P.S. and no not even my phone does this as I have a custom compiled rom on my phone that prevents it. (except for the supa secret nsa spy shit of course lol)
They are keen to get in on the the "OK Google" bullshit.
But they swear that their speakers don't listen!
Yet, they say they are getting in on this voice assistant craze. The two things are not possible.
We expect shit like this from google, but sonos, you cunts can GTFO.
>"I will not voluntarily have something in my home that constantly spies on me and reports to somebody else. "
+1,000 !
I don't want a washing machine, toaster, dryer, security camera, doorbell, iron, refrigerator, vacuum cleaner, lock, toilet, garage door opener, thermostat, microwave oven, car, gun, or cat toy connected to the Internet to some "service". ESPECIALLY one that connects in a way I have absolutely no assurance that I can block or turn off. And that is an opinion coming from someone who LOVES technology- always has and always will. But I want things that *I ABSOLUTELY CONTROL* not some third party.
"IOT" is scary stuff, and not just based on theory, based on actual experience and fact. I don't want my stuff bricked by sloppy and botched forced "updates". I don't want my stuff changing without my consent into something that doesn't do what I bought it for in the first place. I don't want my stuff hacked. I don't want my stuff reporting my "preferences" or activities to some entity. I don't want my stuff to stop working when some company goes out of business or when my Internet connection goes down. I don't want my stuff suddenly telling me what I should not do- or worse, can't do.
Do you?
If it's the soothing voice, I don't want a personal relationship with my machinery.
If I want to search for or order something, I already can. I don't need to speak out loud as I actually type as fast as I can speak and someone else in the room can't enter anything, making eavesdropping impossible.
I will not voluntarily have something in my home that constantly spies on me and reports to somebody else.
So then no cellphone?
all these assistants should be available from all these terminals by use of their separate wake-up phrases ("ok, google", "hey Siri", "alexa", etc)
tone
Sometimes smart phone and sometimes a piece of dead electronics with the battery removed. I am serious about being able to remove that battery. Checked with Samsung first question I asked, which phones have a removable battery, their response, they no longer have a product with a removable battery and I simply hung up. So the only product in my home with a battery and microphone is a smart phone and it spends more time in another room or switched off, than it does with me. I use that smart phone, that smart phone does not use, control, or own me.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
I will not voluntarily have something in my home that constantly spies on me and reports to somebody else.
Do what you like, but you should at least understand what the devices do/don't do. None of the devices currently on the market do what you describe. It's pretty easy to tell that just by watching their network traffic. What they do is to listen constantly for a hotword, using local recognition circuits only. When the hotword is detected, then they start actually listening for your command. I suspect that Google's at least, primarily does command recognition locally, though it also ships a copy of the command off to the cloud for analysis, and storage. You can use the Google Home app to play back everything that it listened to.
Personally, I like my Google Home. I'm annoyed that they nerfed the shopping list in Keep, but the recent addition of phone call support has more than made up for it. It gets used for a lot of different things, including random Google queries (mostly by my boys, to end (briefly) one of their endless debates), questions about weather, traffic, hours that stores are open, etc. I have a Nest thermostat, and controlling that by voice is nice. Oh, and music. More than anything. Especially since I have some Chromecast audio devices connected to various stereos around the house, grouped with the Home, so they all play together. Of course, our phones can do almost all the same things, but the Home is more convenient and seems to do a better job of voice recognition (which is saying something).
I'm not trying to convince you that you should want one. Just pointing out that the "spying" isn't what you claim and there actually is substantial utility.
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Do you think George Orwell's estate could sue Google et Al. for stealing his idea from Nineteen Eighty-four?
Try this question: "What is larger, an elephant or a butterfly?" Just to see the extent of common world knowledge it has.
My friend, it's like you're reading my mind.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
I have an old iPhone 4S with no data plan and location services turned off. No apps except a book reader and a couple of other things, all with privacy maximized. A $100 pay-as-you-go card is good for a year, and I've never yet used one up.
Also, the phone spends so much time completely turned off I only have to charge it about once a week...probably less, actually. When I'm home, you reach me by land line or not at all.
So no, I don't get spied on a lot by my phone...certainly not when I'm at home. Is there anything else I can help you with?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
If you happen to catch my response to this guy, you'll notice that we're pretty much the same. I can't take the battery right out, but all my location stuff is turned off. So is the phone, for that matter. Not that it would have much luck spying on me from the glove box out in the car.
When I'm out, I would leave it in the garage if I cared that it could give away my location.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
I understand what you're saying, and recognize that you and others may find this useful. I am, however, unconvinced that devices that wake up only for a "hot word" will always be devices that wake up only for a "hot word". The lure of all that lovely, profitable private information is just too strong.
Look at how sites like Facebook and LinkedIn have become increasingly aggressive in their data collection. I suspect that as you become accustomed to the functions you mention, you will be asked to give up more and more privacy either to maintain what you have or to take advantage of new utilities.
I would never attempt to make my standards yours, and I thank you for extending the same courtesy to me.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
The lure of all that lovely, profitable private information is just too strong.
No, it's really not. Why? Because if the devices started listening to everything, not just hotword-prefixed commands, it would be found out. I think the makers of the current devices all have enough integrity (and oversight) that they'd tell us rather than wait for it to be discovered. But it would be discovered. And it would drive users away in droves. It would drive me away... and I already run almost everything I do through Google's servers. But listening in on conversations in my home? That's way, way over the line.
Actually, on second thought, I think that in all-party consent states it would probably be illegal for device makers to listen in on everything without getting permission. Further, they'd have to be sure they got permission from everyone who happened to come into the house. The laws in question are focused on telephone conversations, but courts have pretty consistently extended to all recording contexts.
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It's not about technical difficulty, it's about the will to do it Google just doesn't care about users - because the users are NOT the customers.
What Google does care a great deal about it's snooping on users every possible way. That's what the real customers pay for.
You can't turn off the location tracking. All you can do is ask the OS - which you absolutely do not control - to please turn off the location tracking. There is no way to tell if the OS has indeed obeyed your request.
Physical disconnection of the battery is the only real control a user has over a smartphone.
You think Google has integrity? Wow.
Samsung and Vizio smart TVs have already been caught listening in to conversations and shuttling data to the cloud. No one seemed to really care and I don't think Samsung was impacted negatively.
If Google improved their user interfaces, maybe they'd have more users to spy on for their customers.
Win win.
Unfortunately all the good UI designers work for Apple, I don't think Google could make a good interface if they tried.
This. I have yet to need an "assistant", even this many years after Siri has come out. What an "assistant" really means is not just a device listening 24/7, but something actively and constantly sending that info to the mother ship. Does this benefit me? No.
After working with VCs last year, there are only two companies they give a shit about funding. Those that sling ads, and those that suck data. Anything else, they don't care about. The Meitu app did the second part, and look how much it got funding, even though there were many apps doing the same thing in years past.
What the PC industry needs is to look at home servers. A box with a bunch of GPU cards and has the ability to take OpenGL or DirectX video commands and return streaming video. Pretty much OnLive on the LAN. That, and maybe something like a Time Capsule so local machines can backup and sync to it, and the device backs up (encrypted, of course) to a cloud provider if the user wants. That way, if ransomware hits, it isn't too tough for the user to restore and get all their files back.
I have zero interest in smart devices. If a TV requires Internet activation before it will work, it goes back to the store as defective. If I wanted to pay thousands for a fridge, I wouldn't buy a smart fridge. I would buy one that works on natural gas and electric, so if there is a power blackout, my beer is still cold.
...when my Amazon Echo went down for a week (router swap, I'm lazy sometimes) I felt relieved and at peace. I thought about it and decided her voice lacks some human quality that grates on the mind over time. And the fact that commands have to be repeated or she doesn't understand is frustrating. Since the things asked of her are not really vital, why put up with that? I use her much less now and it is better for that. I suggest it would be the same with any computer generated voice.
E Proelio Veritas.
I especially like your model for using the Cloud without necessarily allowing the Cloud to use you.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
My friend, you might want to hop over to this Slashdot summary on Uber's latest efforts to "secure your privacy" (there's never a sarcasm emoji around when you need one).
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/08/30/220211/uber-says-itll-stop-tracking-riders-after-theyre-dropped-off
Uber has been caught more than once abusing their clients' privacy, yet they're still incredibly popular, and will probably remain so. I might have installed the app myself if I didn't already have so many friends using it. Our local cab companies are predatory and expensive, and Uber provides a viable alternative.
I realize this may be straying a bit, since we were talking about smart devices in the home, not cell phone apps in public. I think the point about the lure of gathering metadata holds, though. We've already seen how much personal information people are willing to give up for trivial reasons. As we get accustomed to the convenience of offloading our decision-making and home environment to apps and devices that generally get it right, the whole idea of what kind of data-gathering is acceptable is bound to change.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
I'm aware of that. But Apple has either been getting away with clandestine tracking for years, or they truly do quit tracking when asked to do so (beyond what's inescapable due to the very nature of cell phones). Anything beyond a dot on the map isn't going to happen without data transfer, and that very definitely is discoverable.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Well at least it's only ONE thing to think about. Imagine 25 devices arranged throughout your home.
You'd barely be able to sneeze without three or four devices offering a "bless you", a medical recommendation, and/or accidently launching a song.
IoT is bull for the consumer, a thrill for device manufacturers, and a complete goldmine for their related service providers.
Immediate data transmission is very detectable. Collection for later transmission, not so much.
With Google engaged in an all out war against wrongthink and the type of freedoms the 1st amendment was designed to protect, I don't give a shit about Google's products no matter how clever. I'm sure they'll be popular with SJW retards however.
My attitude to anything Google is now just: fuck Google.
After the YouTube shitshow, stealing domains, locking accounts by blue haired social justice loons because ... I'll never build anything on Google again, and if anyone asks about using their infrastructure I say "you can't trust them not to obliterate your entire business"
Google needs to be regulated.
My friend, you might want to hop over to this Slashdot summary on Uber's latest efforts to "secure your privacy" (there's never a sarcasm emoji around when you need one).
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/08/30/220211/uber-says-itll-stop-tracking-riders-after-theyre-dropped-off
Meh. You may (probably do) feel differently about it, but I don't care so much about location tracking. I intentionally have Google's location tracking turned on, and even regularly go into Google Maps to check my location timeline and fill in any locations it's unsure about. I find the location timeline to be quite useful on a regular basis.
Listening in my home is different. To me, at least.
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Given what those "apps" already do, the features you want aren't difficult to add, but it doesn't appear that they care what the users want. Other posters already said that, but I want to add that this is true of the Google Assistant itself. The OK Google thing used to be easier to use. For example, "OK Google, fastest way to work" and it'd say "here it is", or "so many minutes, etc. Now it silently brings up the map and directions silently, forcing you to keep looking at it.
Also, it never works from the phone app (on Nexus 5).
It used to be able to ID songs, now it can't.
You think Google has integrity? Wow.
Quite a lot of it, actually. And I have a good vantage point from which to see it, since I work for Google.
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I've often wondered what is being stored in "offline mode" for later retrieval.
metadata. if you have the battery charged, and with you whereever you go; there is a lot about you that is known
Somehow I figured that. In my limited experience, googlers tend to have an imaginatively high opinion of their employer. I suppose that must be mandatory.
The rest of us have come to realize Google is creepy, snoopy, intrusive, monopolistic, progressive, financialist, and generally not to be trusted.
It is different, no question. I have certainly made use of Google Maps. My GPS is generally better suited to my travel needs, though. And my home entertainment situation is simple and direct.
Just as an example of different solutions to similar problems, though, I'll tell you what I find preferable to location tracking (especially the history part). When I travel, I like to spend a few minutes at the end of each day writing a summary of what we did and where we went. Along with photos, I have found over the years that it makes for a really good record of our trips. I have considered allowing the EXIF data to include location, but so far have not found it necessary.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
In addition, I especially like his DR solution for beer.
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
When I travel, I like to spend a few minutes at the end of each day writing a summary of what we did and where we went.
Heh. I'm way too disorganized and inconsistent to do that. Luckily, most of my interesting travel is with my wife, and she's good about it.
I like having the location history just for day-to-day stuff.
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In my limited experience, googlers tend to have an imaginatively high opinion of their employer. I suppose that must be mandatory.
Not mandatory, but the company is very open internally and people take questions of user good and user privacy very seriously. Googlers have a high opinion because we see what really goes on.
The rest of us have come to realize Google is creepy, snoopy, intrusive, monopolistic, progressive, financialist, and generally not to be trusted.
And 95% of that opinion arises from erroneous assumptions about what Google does, and why, rather than from reality.
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Hahahaha - "very open internally" - riiiiiiight.
Hahahaha - "very open internally" - riiiiiiight.
It is. Extraordinarily so... though less than it was a few years ago, sadly. Mostly because of leaks.
Some examples: There are weekly whole-company meetings in which anyone can question the CEOs, and people can and do ask hard questions -- and get answers. There are regular meetings do discuss in depth various legal issues that Google finds itself in, and where employees can again question the attorneys. The various crucial sensitive subteams -- like the privacy teams -- regularly hold office hours in which anyone can talk to them about the privacy-related decisions and constraints on any product. Nearly all design documents, security and privacy analyses, etc. are openly accessible to any Googler, and findable with the internal search engine. The source code for the entire product base lives in a single globally-accessible and searchable code repository. I can go look at exactly how any Google product works (if you're not a software engineer, or haven't worked for a large company, you may not know how rare this is).
Yes, the company is extremely transparent to employees about its decisions on all sorts of product, business, customer and legal issues. And, actually, most decisions are made from the bottom up, anyway. You can't hide decisions from the people making them.
One of the consequences of this internal transparency is that -- unlike other large publicly-traded companies -- all Google employees are considered insiders by the SEC. When I worked for IBM I could trade IBM stock at will, because the assumption was that non-managerial employees didn't have enough inside knowledge to need restriction. At Google, I'm subject to the same SEC restrictions that the C suite is, because of the extreme amount of information available to me.
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