Facebook pushes 'Hey Facebook' voice recognition to Oculus Quest, Portal displays

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited February 2021
Facebook on Thursday announced a new Oculus Quest 2 VR headset and Portal smart display feature that enables owners to wake their devices with the phrase "Hey Facebook," closely following in the footsteps of virtual assistant software marketed by Apple, Google and Amazon.

Oculus Quest 2


The wake word is new for Oculus and lets users access Voice Commands without selecting the option from the device home menu or controller. "Hey Facebook" compatibility will hit Quest 2 first before rolling out to all Quest hardware.

Oculus makes clear that "Hey Facebook" is an optional feature and notes the Quest 2 does not listen for the wake word when its microphone is turned off. This suggests the headset is monitoring audio when its microphone is enabled.

As noted by The Verge, Facebook has also updated Portal devices to use "Hey Facebook" as an alternative to the existing "Hey Portal" command.

Facebook's voice commands are rudimentary, with users limited to basic functionality like capturing screenshots, opening content and viewing friend lists. Technology developed by Apple, Google and Amazon is much more advanced and can handle anything from internet or database queries to completing complex on-device tasks.

Like other Facebook products and features, "Hey Facebook" will likely be scrutinized as the company's invasive data collection policies are infamous among tech firms. Facebook says Portal will listen for the wake word and, when detected, will start to record, transcribe and send voice interactions to its servers. Whether wake word processing is accomplished on device -- like Siri -- is unknown.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with...

     
    StrangeDaysJapheywatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 13
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    correct usage: "Hey Facebook, fork off"
    qwerty52fotoformatwilliamlondonWgkruegerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 13
    qwerty52qwerty52 Posts: 367member

    “Hey Facebook, how can I definitely unsubscribe from your services?”
    edited February 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 13
    OutdoorAppDeveloperOutdoorAppDeveloper Posts: 1,293member
    No problem. We can all just use Apple's wireless VR headset...
    williamlondon
  • Reply 5 of 13
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,767member
    Has anyone else been seeing a lot of Facebook popup ads lately? I’ve never seen them until just recently and wonder if they could be an indication that FB is getting desperate. 
    DAalsethwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 13
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    Japhey said:
    Has anyone else been seeing a lot of Facebook popup ads lately? I’ve never seen them until just recently and wonder if they could be an indication that FB is getting desperate. 
    Ads for Facebook itself? I've never seen a single one. They're not desperate, they literally have like 3 billion active users. That's a third of the entire planet.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 13
    dk49dk49 Posts: 267member
    So everyone is copying Apple here too. After "Hey Siri", we had "Hey Google" (from "Ok Google"), "Hey Cortona", and now "Hey Facebook" (sounds terrible!). 
    gregoriusmwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 13
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,767member
    Japhey said:
    Has anyone else been seeing a lot of Facebook popup ads lately? I’ve never seen them until just recently and wonder if they could be an indication that FB is getting desperate. 
    Ads for Facebook itself? I've never seen a single one. They're not desperate, they literally have like 3 billion active users. That's a third of the entire planet.
    Yes, Facebook itself. I knew they had a large user base, but not the actual number. Maybe with their ad revenue expected to drop by half they want to bring the whole planet onboard? I don’t know. But I will post a copy of one here as soon as it pops up. 

    Edit:  that didn’t take long…


    edited February 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 13
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,767member
    dk49 said:
    So everyone is copying Apple here too. After "Hey Siri", we had "Hey Google" (from "Ok Google"), "Hey Cortona", and now "Hey Facebook" (sounds terrible!). 
    Actually, “OK Google” (May, 2013) came before “ Hey Siri” (Sept, 2014). Then “Hey Cortana” (Oct, 2014), followed by “Alexa” (Nov, 2014). 

    But I agree that “Hey FB” sounds ridiculous. Thank God I’ll never utter that phrase. Ever. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 13
    EsquireCatsEsquireCats Posts: 1,268member
    Facebook really doesn’t get it - there’s a lot of people out there that like Oculus, but not Facebook. Oculus is Facebook’s Trojan horse to these consumers - ham fisting “hey Facebook”, is a sure way to turn these people to competitor products.
    Facebook is internally celebrated as being a loved product, but to the public it is constantly shown in bad light, many people keeping their account because they are indifferent to Facebook’s antics, not because they love them.

    Also “hey Facebook”, as an activation phrase is god awful. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 13
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    Japhey said:
    Japhey said:
    Has anyone else been seeing a lot of Facebook popup ads lately? I’ve never seen them until just recently and wonder if they could be an indication that FB is getting desperate. 
    Ads for Facebook itself? I've never seen a single one. They're not desperate, they literally have like 3 billion active users. That's a third of the entire planet.
    Yes, Facebook itself. I knew they had a large user base, but not the actual number. Maybe with their ad revenue expected to drop by half they want to bring the whole planet onboard? I don’t know. But I will post a copy of one here as soon as it pops up. 

    Edit:  that didn’t take long…


    Huh. Well, I wouldn't have seen one due to already being on Facebook. :) You're the target audience, not me.
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 13
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    Japhey said:
    dk49 said:
    So everyone is copying Apple here too. After "Hey Siri", we had "Hey Google" (from "Ok Google"), "Hey Cortona", and now "Hey Facebook" (sounds terrible!). 
    Actually, “OK Google” (May, 2013) came before “ Hey Siri” (Sept, 2014). Then “Hey Cortana” (Oct, 2014), followed by “Alexa” (Nov, 2014). 

    But I agree that “Hey FB” sounds ridiculous. Thank God I’ll never utter that phrase. Ever. 
    DK already noted "Ok Google", and was noting the switch-over to "Hey [dingus]" after "Hey Siri". Not that it matters much, but I think that's what he was saying.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 13
    WgkruegerWgkrueger Posts: 352member
    StrangeDays said:
    Japhey said:
    dk49 said:
    So everyone is copying Apple here too. After "Hey Siri", we had "Hey Google" (from "Ok Google"), "Hey Cortona", and now "Hey Facebook" (sounds terrible!). 
    Actually, “OK Google” (May, 2013) came before “ Hey Siri” (Sept, 2014). Then “Hey Cortana” (Oct, 2014), followed by “Alexa” (Nov, 2014). 

    But I agree that “Hey FB” sounds ridiculous. Thank God I’ll never utter that phrase. Ever. 
    DK already noted "Ok Google", and was noting the switch-over to "Hey [dingus]" after "Hey Siri". Not that it matters much, but I think that's what he was saying.
    My new AI assistant is hereby names “Dingus” :-)
    watto_cobradk49
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