The blame for this lies squarely with my grandchildren, who really should know better how to care for their susceptible elders. There we all were, enjoying a tasty breakfast meal, when one says, "Alexa, play me some music... whereupon the Amazon Echo thingy on the windowsill burst into life. Impressed, though not wholly by the choice of music, I called out "Alexa, play 'You never can tell'" (a Ukes 'uv Azzard favourite) and in an instant Chuck Berry was rockin' away for me. Great!
"Alexa," pipes up grandchild #2, "play something else" after Chuck had scarcely sung the first verse — and so commenced the Alexa Battles. "No Alexa, play 'You never can tell'"... "Alexa, play 'White Christmas'"... "Alexa, what's the weather forecast?"... "Alexa, shut up!" There really was only one possible solution, and before the night was out my modest bank balance had been depleted by £89 and a Smart Speaker was on its way.
Mine is unashamedly a Google house. Google Calendar is my diary, Google Search directs me around the Internet and Google Play looks after all my favourite music, so it made sense to go for Google's own Smart Speaker offering — Google Home.The initial Set Up went smoothly and within minutes glorious carols from King's College were filling the room. A glutton for 'free' offers, I promptly upgraded my Google Play to a subscription service (3 months free, then £10/month), so now I can also tell Google Home to play my treasured collection of Cornish folk songs.
To get full control of this cybernetic wizz-kid I've taught it my voice. Now, not only do I get personalised greetings but only I can access my own calendar and shopping list. It can be quite good fun; "Hey Google, good morning!" I chirp as I draw the lounge curtains. "Good morning, Angela," it replies. "The weather today in Lydney will be cool and dry with a maximum of 9 degrees...." Voice control does, though, have its limitations, as you'll know if you've ever tried Google's voice feature on a smartphone. For instance, I just called out "OK Google, tell me about The Ukes 'uv Azzard" and it responded:
The Dukes of Hazzard are just some good old boys, never meaning no harm.
Grrr! Good we are, and old(ish) some of us may be, but we ain't the Dukes and Azzard doesn't start with an 'H'. All attempts to make Google Home elicit the right answer have so far failed. Perhaps that's good news; screens and keyboards aren't dead yet.
Some may say that I should turn it off when not in use, but I'm not keen. After all, it would rather spoil the fun. So instead, the last thing I do is to quietly say "Hey Google, good night."
Good night, Angela.
Enjoy your time in Club Duvet
A tiny such device arrived this week, mainly to tell me the time, voice control lights and occasionally quickly turn on a radio station. It reads the few audio books I bought for when I can't be bothered to use my eyes. Sadly the suggestion that you did not have to shout Alexa or Hey something attracted me but the choices were so limited. I just wanted to hear the reaction if I said "Hal, open the pod bay doors", silly I know.
ReplyDelete"Computer" was an acceptable offering but that word does come up on the big radio or TV occasionally and puts poor thing into a tizz because it does not hear any command in the random words broadcast. I look forward to confusing my 95 year old neighbour when she joins us for christmas lunch.
I just had to try that...
Delete"Hey Google, open the pod bay doors."
"I can't do that but there's a spare key under the flower pot. You can let yourself in."
How lovely that someone in Google has a sense of humour.
I find these things amusing, but I haven't got a use for one in my house. Partly because I don't play music using a home sound system, and partly because I prefer to look everything up for myself on a screen. I'm clearly behind the times, but unashamed.
ReplyDeleteLucy