crimguy

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crimguy
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  • With Apple rumored to launch Siri home speaker, Amazon preps flagship touchscreen Echo

    crimguycrimguy
    mattinoz said:
    So from this are we to conclude Siri speaker rumor is more about making buzz for Amazon product than making sense?
    It really does make sense.  I have a certain level of automation in my house using either siri/homekit or alexa/smartthings.  Once you get the instant-reaction of the Echo in a room where it's needed, instead of fishing for a phone or iPad, you can see where it makes sense to have a dedicated unit.


    The problems after using Echo for a while are, in my opinion, not so easy to cure.  It has no inkling what room it's in, can be hopelessly dumb in taking commands ("turn on stereo lamp" turn on a light i have above the stereo, but if I accidentally say "turn on stereo light" it will turn on my AV receiver), and makes no attempt to learn your speech patterns.

    It's also a security problem, as evidenced by my 10 year old son running into the room yelling, "Alexa, play Ariana Grande!!"  Voice recognition is needed for Amazon, Siri, etc. asap.
    watto_cobra

  • With Apple rumored to launch Siri home speaker, Amazon preps flagship touchscreen Echo

    crimguycrimguy
    Having used a Fire TV for a while, Amazon is perfectly capable of making a limited-use UI.  Further, the current Echoes have a very responsive voice control interface, with an excellent microphone array.

    I think at this time it's Apple who better make damn sure their system is responsive, and works well.
    blastdoor

  • Amazon allowing Alexa software, far-field microphone technology use by other companies

    crimguycrimguy
    Yeah it can't be completely dormant.  There is just more lag in the Apple system.  I'm sure that's more due to the fact that the echo is a single-purpose device, and is only there to listen.  the iPhone is doing dozens of things at any given time.

    watto_cobra

  • Amazon allowing Alexa software, far-field microphone technology use by other companies

    crimguycrimguy
    I've done a bit of home automation recently and the low price of the Echo Dot made it irresistible, if not to just try.  I found both siri/homekit and alexa to be very competitive with one another.  Alexa is decidedly less intelligent, but what it knows it does rather well.

    I do agree with Amazon's approach about having dedicated devices in each room though.  What makes it work is how fast the Echo dot activates and responds to commands.  Siri has a long pause on my iPhone 6S+ that requires a "Hey Siri," followed by a pause of about a half second.  With Echo, it's immediate.  "Hey Siri, turn on the office lights" will not work, whereas "Alexa, turn on the office lights will."  That instant reaction is wonderful and makes it work better.  Possibly giving it the edge.

    On the other hand, I think the security of HomeKit/Siri is a huge bonus, and I hope other companies can take security and privacy as seriously as Apple going forward.
    luckydog23

  • Rumor: Apple preparing Thunderbolt Retina 5K display with integrated graphics card

    crimguycrimguy
    spliff monkey said:
    crimguy said:
    And a little video card called the GTX 1080 was just released.  Dare to dream . . .

    In all seriousness, for a single card solution at an affordable price (meaning less than $700 for a single card), the new 1070 and 1080 are about the only game in town.  If Apple were serious (and I really doubt this rumor as they've never had decent GPU's in their computers) this would coincide nicely with their release.  I can see them bull**)thing about how "there has never been the power to do what we wanted to do in the graphics and gaming space . . . until now."
    Ass per example however... The only problem with the 10 and the 900 and the 800 Nvidia series is that on macs they are not compatible with adobe products. If you're using adobe CC (at least when i last looked a few weeks ago) the best card they support (that isn't more than a grand) is the 700 series (still a pricey option for a mac at around $350-$400) which is now 3 gens behind. The stock card options in the new mac pro are not officially supported by Adobe and that is just one example, I'm not sure how this will settle the specific complaints for gamers etc as what they really need are wider card options not a better card that you can't customize. That's just more of the same problem. I'd hate to see this be this way for this monitor if you can somehow add a standard PCI type card in there that would be cool, but how does a video card that another company may not support fix any inconvenience? In terms of specific compatibility we are probably better off just using external TB boxes with the card of your choice mounted in it. 
    That is just sad news.  Did not know about the compatibility problems with CC.  But wouldn't create more compatibility issues if there were multiple options for gpu's?  
    spliff monkey