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Is Google Home Fit For Elderly and Disabled Users? (vortex.com)
Chances are either you or someone you know received a Google Home over the holidays. Not only are they being marketed heavily by Google but they seem to have appeared in almost every "Holiday Gift Guide" on the internet. Slashdot reader Lauren Weinstein brings up an interesting dilemma: is Google Home fit for the elderly? Weinstein writes: You cannot install or routinely maintain Google Home units without a smartphone and the Google Home smartphone app. There are no practical desktop based and/or remotely accessible means for someone to even do this for you. A smartphone on the same local Wi-Fi network as the device is always required for these purposes. This means that many elderly persons and individuals with physical or visual disabilities -- exactly the people whose lives could be greatly enhanced by Home's advanced voice query, response, and control capabilities -- are up the creek unless they have someone available in their physical presence to set up the device and make any ongoing configuration changes. Additionally, all of the "get more info" links related to Google Home responses are also restricted to the smartphone Home app.
I don't know. Can it pick stuff up around the house? Can it actually help a person with physical needs?
Quit buying crap that doesn't do stuff. "Tells you things" is not doing things.
So, you can't use a tablet?
How about using an Android emulator?
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Old and disabled people need more appy apps
Until they make 911 calling available on it, it's greatest potential benefit will be missing.
Instead of just flicking a switch.
And that's assuming it works and everything magically configures itself, which never happens.
People are so fucking stupid. Bad enough they inflict this on themselves, but their elderly relatives? Dear god. These devices deserve to go the way of the dodo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvT_gqs5ETk
As far as I can tell it's a novel gift marketed to young, technically adept people that want a new, but unnecesary, toy. So why complain it's hard for the elderly to use when it was never designed to work in that market?
Google Home is totally fit for the elderly.
On a related note, I have cancelled all my old email addresses and phones and gone to a different one, and removed all my elderly relatives from my contact lists.
You guys have fun doing the tech support calls. My mom couldn't even use a Mac without needing tech support ... most of which was "plug it in, does it say found device, click on Ok, you're done, stop phoning me at 3 am".
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Thank you Betteridge for giving me an excuse not to RTFA!
love is just extroverted narcissism
Google Home: calling 0118 999 881 999 119 7253, please stand by.
#DeleteFacebook
Yes! A /. story I'm at the bleeding edge of.
My upper 80s grandmother lives in an assisted living facility. After trying a Google Home myself, I immediately bought one for her about a year ago. She absolutely loves the thing. She only uses it for the weather, to turn her TV on and off (I set up IFFTT), and occasionally stock prices and other facts, not anywhere near what it is able to do. Nevertheless, she loves how simple it is for her to have access to stuff she previously found confusing (TV remotes), precise weather info isn't easy to get if you don't have a smartphone, etc. I also don't get calls anymore about how to use the TV.
I haven't yet had a circumstance yet where I needed to make configuration changes that couldn't wait till the next time I visited and the one time it stopped working Grandma knew enough to unplug it, wait a bit, and hope it would work and it did. And there's lots of things I can set up remotely if I need to.
I previously tried giving her an Amazon Echo and while she occasionally used it, it was very frustrating to her because Alexa seems to require you to speak things in a certain way. However, the Google Assistant is much more flexible in the phrasing and order of words. She's had mini-strokes in the past and doesn't always use the exact words you'd expect for what she's trying to say but you do understand what she's getting at. Google seems to get her meaning better. (That's not to say it's perfect. There are times it doesn't understand her, but its success rate is way higher than Alexa). Additionally she's a very devout woman and the Google Home (which plays sound from YouTube) has a much better selection of religious stuff than Amazon's offerings, because YouTube has a large collection of such material.
If she weren't living in a single room in a assisted living facility (with staff to help her), I'd start installing smart devices like the Nest and anything else you could control with the Google Assistant in her home, because she really seems to get it in a way she doesn't with other things.
Also, on my end, Google (and Alexa) store audio recordings in the cloud of what was asked. I like being able to check her Google account to see if how she's doing (i.e. if she's following her usual patterns) without having to bother her. Yes, she knows that I can do that and approves.
I could go on and on about this but besides moving her into assisted living, the Google Home has really been the next best help for us. I always joke with her that if someone had told her, even five years ago, that she would be talking to an air freshener when she's in her upper 80s, she would think she got dementia in her old age. But instead she's the most with it person there! What a change in her lifetime! I want to get her into a self driving car next.
I personally think the OP missed the point of asking this question. A better question would be "Is the google home fit for the technically challenged?" Personally I am currently 74 years old and slightly disabled (back problems and arthritis). I bought myself one and love it and have added a mini. My biggest challenge with it is getting my two granddaughters who live with me (26 and 19 years old) to learn to use them and to quit turning off the damn switches which kills the Phillips Hue bulbs. It doesn't matter how old you are, it matters if you have a desire to learn anything about technology and keep up with it. Yes, I own and use a smartphone (Nexus 6P and it is rooted and fitted with a custom rom by me)
I'm not trying to brag but to make the point that some things are useful for some people regardless of age and some things are not..
john
Agree -- No. I'm nearly 80 and find myself without a smart phone, tablet, facebook account and other necessities of modern life. I dislike small screens, lack of a real keyboard, and the fact that you can't even pick up many devices without inadvertantly changing their current settings. I pay Trakfone $7 a month to maintain service for a cell phone that I use maybe six times a year.
My car is 12 years old and thankfully missing most of the bizarre "features" of newer models. I've added an aftermarket GPS, rear view camera, and a radio with MP3 capability. I'll probably add an aftermarket collision avoidance system when the aftermarket devices get a bit better and cheaper. I find the UI on my wife's 2013 car to be Kafkaesk.
We have an Amazon Echo around the house somewhere. It works really well. I was impressed. But we never use it and it isn't currently plugged in.
Many of our kitchen appliances have digital interfaces. Most are usable. But the older mechanical equivalents worked just as well, sometimes better, and were repairable.
We have TV streaming -- Amazon, Hulu,, Netflix. Works pretty well. And it means we no longer have to deal with Comcast. But the User Interface is mediocre and the need to use multiple remotes (one for the TV a different one for the rokus) in annoying. Sometimes, I find myself opting for OTA TV just because it's easy to use -- turn it on and change the channel. My kid is a network engineering major and I let him run things. I COULD run them myself if I had to, but only because I've dealt with networking for decades. Most of my fellow octogenarians probably couldn't. Not because they are stupid. Because they don't care. My wife, who is in no way shape or form a stupid lady, is totally baffled by any computer problem.
User interfaces are hard to begin with and UIs designed by millenials to satisfy mangers who are only a bit older leave a lot to be desired for the elderly. What's this white on light-blue crap? The desirability of CONTRASTING colors in UIs was recognized about 12 hours after the first color displays were introduced. And while I'm ranting, a large percentage of North American users are familiar with the menu bar. Quit trying to replace it with things that are even worse. (Wrap it on small screens). And icons. They suck. Always have. Always will. Pick a widely used language -- English, Spanish, or Chinese -- and use it in your UI. Everywhere. And be consistent. Don't use four different words for quit/exit/finished/end
So yes, I have doubts about Google Home's appropriateness for many of the elderly.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
logitech's harmony line of remotes are pretty nifty for clearing up the remote clutter (though they can be a bit tedious to setup)
so you're telling me.. a company that makes its money by being creepy and intrusive would never, ever do something like send audio upstream for 'testing and improving the user experience' right? Or change the TOS/EULA unilaterally with an 'opt-in' for a default?
Pardon my cynicism.
Normally, you don't put "Not only" at the beginning of a sentence that goes [generality] -> [specific]. I would have written the sentence "they being marketed heavily by Google, for instance, they seem to have appeared in almost every \"Holiday Gift Guide\" on the internet."
People know that those guides are paid for content, right?
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Linked from Three Quarters of Android Apps Track Users With Third Party Tools https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... A printed list of sites to add to Google Homes router https://slashdot.org/journal/2...
"OK Google, my house is on fire"
"Playing This house is on fire by AC/DC on Google Play music"
2nd and subsequent attempts:
"OK Google, my house is on fire"
"OK, I'll remember that"
Google home has little genuine usefulness in general beyond novelty, and it is not suitable for people if they do not already have a ability to already use technology and a comprehension of it's many current limitations in consumer grade products.
Way too much of "Sorry", and it's lack of understanding of even the simplest ability to have a conversation to learn the context of a command really makes it only a small step forwards from talking dolls for children. Even if someone does have a control device, the propensity of the system to answer on the wrong device (which lacks the functionality of the other) means if the control device is in ear-shot, it makes life even worse. Here are some examples:
"OK Google, help I've fallen over"
"Sorry, I don't understand"
"OK Google, call care line"
"Sorry I can't make calls yet"
"OK Google, call the ambulance"
"Sorry, I can't help with that yet"
"OK Google, switch on the kitchen lights"
"My apologies, I don't understand"
Like much consumer technology, I suspect most are are destined for land fill, perhaps having provided a few moments of novelty.
Now his contract has been terminated and he seems to have become an anti-Google shill. I'm not sure if he's being paid for this or if it's pro bono.
The
Why would anyone allow their family to be spied on by an advertizing company?
Words spoken, search terms, comments been sent to some advertizing company?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
So sorry you're a senior disabled person who lives alone with no friends and no neighbors and no one to help you.
Those of us like me -- healthy, young-ish, homeowners -- depend on at least a hundred people every year for the very basics of living.
I can't fix a serious plumbing issue, and you can't plunge a toilet remotely either, by the way.
I can't diagnose why my car keeps blowing a fuse, and since it's the anti-theft system fuse, you'd need to be a dealer to reprogram the keys anyway.
I might be able to clean my furnace and my fire place and my air conditioner twice a year, but I wouldn't be able to fix what might need fixing, nor be certain that I didn't break it trying to clean it.
I don't repair porcelain tiles.
I can paint, and I can even make small drywall repairs, but I can't do large drywall repairs.
Electrician, I am not, so anything beyond a simple outlet or basic switch, and I'm S.O.o.L..
I don't walk on rooves.
I don't pave driveways, although sealing is easy.
I cut grass, but not trees.
I cook, but don't repair kitchen appliances.
This concept of needing to be able to control every device with ease is a naive attitude of the I.T. industry. It's ridiculous. Do you hem your own pants? Most people buy pre-washed lettuce.
"Chances are either you or someone you know received a Google Home over the holidays."
Wrong on both counts.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
http://www.wired.com/story/dig... that I read yesterdah in the hardcopy magazine.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
We have TV streaming -- Amazon, Hulu,, Netflix. Works pretty well. And it means we no longer have to deal with Comcast. But the User Interface is mediocre and the need to use multiple remotes
So why not get an AppleTV? Then you have all those services, with a relatively similar UI that has usually been better thought out than other platforms and has Apple backing the notion that older users need to be able to use these devices. It would mean one remote for all those services that would also control volume.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
We have some Universal remotes around here and about a decade ago, I figured out how to use a JP1 cable to program them. But 'tedious' is way too mild a term for the programming. And you end up with a device with more than 50 buttons -- 30 or so of them active. In our case they have different programs in every room where they are needed because the device mix in each room is different. So they need labels. And a few of the buttons are a bit quirky. Not sure if that's non-optimal program parameters or mechanical issues with the remotes. Haven't tried to update them to interface with Rokus.
Harmony is probably easier to program. If it weren't, I can't imagine anyone other than a few fanatics using one. But easier to program might not be good enough.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
More important, what happens when Google "upgrades" your home control system on a 10F(-12C) evening and you lose all capability to turn your furnace on?
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
I bought Google Home for my blind friend. He is thrilled about it. However he woudn't be able to set it up without my help. He doesn't have a smartphone, I had to bring in my tablet set up another account with his Google creds in order to activate Google Home. Despite the usefulness, Google Home still lacks simple features important to the blind. For example, it can't read Gmail emails or contacts.
I always get a kick out of reading the comments when Slashdot posts something like this. The majority of the comments on stories like these can be summed up in two sentences..."I don't have a use for this type of item nor have I ever owned one or any of its competitors, so I have no actual experience or knowledge to base my comment on. But because I don't like them nobody else should use them either, and anyone who does is a fucking idiot".
But at the same time, these comments also show how far Slashdot has degenerated over the years. Now every fourth comment is something like "This device is spying on you!!!!!!!!!!!1111111oneoneoneone". Back in the day, the average Slashdot reader was smart enough to have already fired up packet sniffing software and checked it out for themselves.
Now, to get back on topic. My 80 year old mother does not use Google Home. But she does have a couple of Amazon Echo Dots that I bought and set up for her. Their primary use is for daily news, weather information, music, and clocks and timers. She thinks its wonderful. That's good enough for me.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.