Amazon Echo Club

[ApK]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I run a skill called Brown Noise

I have that skill! When I activate it, Alexa says things like "You sure are looking handsome today, sir. May I say it's a pleasure to serve such a distinguished and intelligent gentleman. It's an honor to be your digital assistant."

Oh, wait...I didn't see the "i" in your skill name. Never mind.

[John F]

If they are going to relax the wake word, I would hope there would be an option for it. As was mentioned above, some people don't want frequent long winded discussions when Alex gets it wrong.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by John F

If they are going to relax the wake word, I would hope there would be an option for it. As was mentioned above, some people don't want frequent long winded discussions when Alex gets it wrong.

My point was that it is already relaxed. The TV, or even conversation within my house, can easily trigger Alexa with similar word. I've tried all 4 wake words, and they are all capable of being activated from similar words. "Echo" was the worst as almost any word that ended in the Ō (long O) sound would trigger it.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by ApK

I have that skill! When I activate it, Alexa says things like "You sure are looking handsome today, sir. May I say it's a pleasure to serve such a distinguished and intelligent gentleman. It's an honor to be your digital assistant."

Oh, wait...I didn't see the "i" in your skill name. Never mind.

Yep, I need that app.

[John F]

Originally Posted by OtinG

My point was that it is already relaxed. The TV, or even conversation within my house, can easily trigger Alexa with similar word. I've tried all 4 wake words, and they are all capable of being activated from similar words. "Echo" was the worst as almost any word that ended in the Ō (long O) sound would trigger it.

I don't think it is relaxed. Your post said you said "Alexis" multiple times, and that it didn't recognize it as the activation word any of the times. To me, that isn't relaxed.

Maybe your definition of "quite often" is different then mine. I would say I get the a mis-activation once a week, and I probably watch TV 2 hours a day. I've never had it mis-activate listening to music. I don't even recall Alexa activating when there is a commercial for Alexa.

And it's interesting how Alexa reacts differently to different people. I just tried changing the wake word to Echo. It replies to Echo. It didn't reply to Jello, mellow, Evo, ...

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by John F

I don't think it is relaxed. Your post said you said "Alexis" multiple times, and that it didn't recognize it as the activation word any of the times. To me, that isn't relaxed.

Maybe your definition of "quite often" is different then mine. I would say I get the a mis-activation once a week, and I probably watch TV 2 hours a day. I've never had it mis-activate listening to music. I don't even recall Alexa activating when there is a commercial for Alexa.

And it's interesting how Alexa reacts differently to different people. I just tried changing the wake word to Echo. It replies to Echo. It didn't reply to Jello, mellow, Evo, ...

Well what else is new John. Imagine that, you disagree with someone…business as usual around here.

[John F]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Well what else is new John. Imagine that, you disagree with someone…business as usual around here.

What do you expect? You go on and on about how bad the Alexa voice recognition is, and then you post because it is so bad, it should be able to recognize Imprecise voice commands? With all your years and years of experience, and working for company after company, OtinG, you would think you would know that software doesn't work like that.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ApK

I'm not sure if this is better posted here or in Vent & Rant:
We have a new Fire HD10...well, new to us, it's the model that's just about to be replaced this month...makes me almost want to try to exchange it for the new one, though it's well over a month old now...but I digress....
Verizon just gave us a free 6-month trial of the Discovery+ streaming service. As with Disney+ (which we also got free through Verizon...but I digress again....) I'm not quite sold on the "new cable" model of niche streaming services, but Discovery does have a LOT of content we like, and, hey, free.

But to the point: It seems we can watch Discovery+ just about anywhere: Computer, phone, Roku, even a Fire Stick if we had one...but NOT the Fire tablet! There's no available app for it in the Amazon store and the sideloaded apks I've tried won't work. The reason would appear to be tied to the fact the Discovery+ is now available as a channel in Prime Video. This would appear to be ideal, since Prime video is built in to the Fire tablet....but you can only watch it if you subscribe through Amazon! There is no way to sign in with an existing account!! What a cheap, scuzzy play, Amazon!

Yeah, I guess this should have gone in V&R, sorry.

ApK

Have you tried watching Discovery+ with the web browser?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by John F

What APK said, and see post 4411. If you have a fire tablet, you can also get to routines from the lock screen.

I apologize. I went back and read the intervening posts, and I missed this option entirely.

But ... in my defense, what lunatic programmer decided that a voice command didn't need to be a voice command? It's ridiculous. And that's why my brain just skipped over the option to press the button for the routine-that-could-only-be-set-up-as-a-voice-command so that the routine didn't need to be triggered by a voice command. Seriously? This defies common sense so much, in my opinion, that even after reading the relevant posts again, I didn't get it; it took yet another reading for the light-bulb moment.

[Catlady]

Re Alexa/Alexis:

I watch a soap with a character named Alexis. My Dot, right next to the TV, used to activate all the time when the name Alexis was mentioned. At some point, though, I noticed that this had stopped happening, so Alexa must have learned to make the distinction.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I apologize. I went back and read the intervening posts, and I missed this option entirely.

But ... in my defense, what lunatic programmer decided that a voice command didn't need to be a voice command? It's ridiculous. And that's why my brain just skipped over the option to press the button for the routine-that-could-only-be-set-up-as-a-voice-command so that the routine didn't need to be triggered by a voice command. Seriously? This defies common sense so much, in my opinion, that even after reading the relevant posts again, I didn't get it; it took yet another reading for the light-bulb moment.

I think it is one of those things that you just have to know, and get over "that's stupid". To me it is very logical: it opens up a lot of possibilities. having troubles with a long verbal command, use a routine and shorten it up to " Alexa, abracadabra ". That nice new piece of hardware is "Alexa enabled", but doesn't have any UI in Alexa, use a routine.

You may not think it is logical, but somehow, it solved your problem, even though it is illogical.

What seems illogical to me is that they didn't do it sooner. And that they don't have widgets. And that they don't have parameter substitution for custom actions.

[ApK]

Yeah, the ability to use natural language to "program" like this has pretty much been the holy grail of programming. It's actually really cool. But I do understand the confusion in the way the Alexa app presents it for some one who, say, HASN'T been a programmer and technologist monitoring the advancement of this stuff for decades....

[ApK]

Originally Posted by John F

What do you expect? You go on and on about how bad the Alexa voice recognition is, and then you post because it is so bad, it should be able to recognize Imprecise voice commands?

One of these days were going to learn that OtinG speaks with a thick Scottish brogue or something.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by John F

I think it is one of those things that you just have to know, and get over "that's stupid". To me it is very logical: it opens up a lot of possibilities. having troubles with a long verbal command, use a routine and shorten it up to " Alexa, abracadabra ". That nice new piece of hardware is "Alexa enabled", but doesn't have any UI in Alexa, use a routine.

You may not think it is logical, but somehow, it solved your problem, even though it is illogical.

What seems illogical to me is that they didn't do it sooner. And that they don't have widgets. And that they don't have parameter substitution for custom actions.

But it is stupid. Since I wanted to avoid voice commands because of their being long, annoying, and open to misinterpretation, why in the world would I look under voice commands for a routine? Sorry, but that's counterintuitive and, I repeat, stupid. Why doesn't the app at least indicate at the outset on the main Routines page that any routines can ALSO be accessed by pressing a button next to them? How is a user supposed to know that without being told?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Catlady

But it is stupid. Since I wanted to avoid voice commands because of their being long, annoying, and open to misinterpretation, why in the world would I look under voice commands for a routine? Sorry, but that's counterintuitive and, I repeat, stupid. Why doesn't the app at least indicate at the outset on the main Routines page that any routines can ALSO be accessed by pressing a button next to them? How is a user supposed to know that without being told?

Ah. I got you. (It's a bit confusing even to me to keep straight when we're talking about the "voice command" that can activate the routine, versus the "voice command" that routine itself can execute as an action.)

Yes, you are right, Amazon is really down-playing the ability to manually activate a routine. Most automation tools have a clearly offered "manual activation" option, like an activation widget option as John F said, offered right at creation time along with the voice or other automatic activations.