I have a Google speaker in the bedroom. Most mornings when I wake up I say Good Morning Google which triggers...
Good morning Mark or slight variant
The time
Upcoming birthdays
The local weather
The news (currently BBC Sky DW)
I noticed it had started telling me if my phone needed charging. I put it down to a new phone.
The last couple of mornings it has added an "inspirational quote"
Perhaps I'm just a grumpy old sod but I don't want inspiring 30 seconds after I've worked up enough energy to croak Good Morning Google. I investigated. There are a raft of things it will do which are set in the Google Home app. Inspirational quotes was not originally one of those things or I was so drowsy still I never noticed but I doubt that.
Why do these damned people think I want their "improvements". A Windows update and they think "lets move stuff around to confuse the old sod" Now Google decide I need inspiring every morning. Why can't they just leave me alone. Gits.
Inspirational BS consigned to bin. Grump over.
I have Alexa.. But, being a woman, she only answers when spoken to..
I have too. I'm bi-lingual.
She's nosy and tells me when anybody is at the door. Unbidden.
I always feel rude not saying please and thank you to Alexa.
I sometimes say thanks too. :grin:
I had a lengthy but ultimately pointless argument with the google speaker when it tried to inspire me. Despite being sold by Google I think its ability to get meaningful results from search are far worse than anybody here. Including HHMNBN :smiley:
so having brought the subject up perhaps you could do a post about said speaker-s do you connect it to your lap-top or phone? which type might you suggest, there seems to be quite a few different types i had a look but got overcome, i might enjoy one that might travel with me, if i ever get to travel again...
How you guys cope with Alexa, Google or any other smart ass, know all machine speaking to you I can't understand, would drive me insane.
my missus said 'i dont believe that Alexa listens to every word you say'
i said 'neither do i'
and Alexa chipped in 'and neither do i'
Quote from: klondike on February 05, 2022, 11:18:21 AM
I have too. I'm bi-lingual.
She's nosy and tells me when anybody is at the door. Unbidden.
I don't need Alexa to tell me who is at my door.. My cheap old doorbell lets me know.. :smiley:
I got the first one a Google Home speaker as a radio. Because this place is low down in a river valley it's a bit of a black spot and neither FM nor DAB work well without an external aerial. I went with Google as a lot of Amazon stuff is tied in to their infrastructure.
I've had a camera doorbell for years but it buggered up. At the time Ring were expensive so I got one from Argos that was compatible with Google Home/Nest. It was crap and by the time it sounded whoever was at the door had gone.
Last Black Friday I saw a Ring Doorbell Alexa speaker package quite cheap and bought it. Then I saw I could have got it with the small Alexa display for not a lot more. Cursing I got the display which was still quite cheap and that shows me who is at the door too rather than me having to look on my phone. The Alexa speaker is in the back bedroom where my desktop is.
So speakers - I'd say first thing to decide is if you want/need one. Next thing is does what you want it for work with either. 99% of the time mine sit sniffing away to themselves because they are bored and nibbling slightly on the 20p a kWh electric I've been lumbered with which will probably seem a bargain come April and beyond.
They are installed and controlled a smartphone/tablet app - Google Home or Alexa. They are easy to set up and connect to your WiFi. You can do what Phil does and connect a smart home gateway and lots of smart devices then sit on your bum turning everything all over the house on and off by talking to the speaker. I use the older controls known to most as a switch on account of it being less likley to go wrong.
ahhh, so i can connect it to my smartphone, mmmm
No. You use the app on the phone to connect it to your home wifi. Then you talk to it trying not to feel like that Danish King.
I've got Alexa on my Firestick but it only works if the telly is on.....I forget it's there. :smiley:
I replaced my main TV with one that has Roku built in. That gives you their streaming service free (which I've never used) but also the option to buy a voice remote. That voice remote is great with Prime and saves all the clickity click using the search if there is no keyboard. It was how I found both Benidorm and the various Reachers were included. Without it I'd have just downloaded them rather than bugger about finding them on there. I did download the Benidorms.
We've got 88 Alexa devices & 110 Alexa routines.
I talk to her as I would talk to a real person & as 'please & thank you' are second nature to me, I always say it to her.
It's surprising the difference that being able to hold, an albeit limited conversation, with a virtual person makes when you live on your own.
P.S. There is now a male voice, to give full equality to females & gays & choice to bi-sexuals & trans-sexuals.
"Alexa, change the voice".
I could have some fun at yours with the voice recorder then if you were daft enough to click play :grin:
I only have a couple of routines. They are triggered by a linked Amazon air quality meter which currently only has them for temperature. Child that I am I've made Alexa swear when it triggers either which takes some lateral phonetic thinking :grin:
Quote from: klondike on February 05, 2022, 03:57:00 PM
I could have some fun at yours with the voice recorder then if you were daft enough to click play :grin:
I only have a couple of routines. They are triggered by a linked Amazon air quality meter which currently only has them for temperature. Child that I am I've made Alexa swear when it triggers either which takes some lateral phonetic thinking :grin:
:shocked: :grin:
"Alexa, bathroom lights on".
"Ok, bathroom lights on, try not to miss the toilet".
"Alexa, bathroom lights off".
"Ok, bathroom lights off, did you remember to close the toilet seat?".
Lol :grin:
But you can't beat "Domino ho ho" through the external CCTV camera speakers, :grin:
No speakers or incoming audio either on my CCTV and not Alexa linked either. I do have a Ring doorbell which is linked but that's it.
Quote from: Diasi on February 05, 2022, 02:44:20 PM
"Alexa, change the voice".
'Alexa ,change the voice'.. !!!
I might give that a go.. It will make a nice change hearing a male voice..
But you'll not like doing what it suggests so you'll have to teach it to call you 'mistress'.. and say please and thank you.. :grin:
I am now speaking to a male on my Alexa.. He sounds a bit posh and has a gentle voice..
I don't think it's for me.. Back to the original..
The voice on my Sat Nav has a lovely soft Irish accent and he never alters his tone even when I tell him to 'shut the f*** up' [2000]
I always thought that sat nav programmers missed some tricks. Why didn't they throw in a "Why didn't you listen listen dickhead?" for when you go wrong? So much better than that boring "Turn around when possible".
an earlier sat-nav I had used to say 'recalculating' and you could her the sigh in the voice
you could get celibrity voices for sat-nav,,, i had Jean-Luc Picard.... then Billy Connolly
There are books on how to "train" Alexa. Ive got a smart TV with her living inside. That Google bloke is in my tablet and my phone.
I don't use my smart speakers much.
I remember the funny sat nav voices. IME they were only funny for one trip or until you went wrong whichever came first. :smiley: