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Summary The good: voice detection is competitive with voice assistants from Nest and Amazon The bad: still a rough experience, DIY, lots of steps Only costs $35 to $50 depending on the ESP-32 box chosen but also needs the backend "inference server" code running on a PC somewhere in your home Quotes My thoughts It can't play youtube videos yet (or even just stream the audio). But once that happens Amazon Prime music gets crossed off. Sources https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/05/willow-is-a-faster-self-hosted-diy-voice-assistant-built-on-50-gadgets/

Hello everybody I have a slight issue with my current home automation setup (which is using Google Home) and i wondered if by switching ecosystem it might be solved. The issues is this: i have various triggers that turn off and on various devices (smart plugs and smart lights). Some of these triggers are position based, others time base. The problem is that Google Home doesn't allow the triggers to cross-reference each other: for example, i have a certain light come on at sunset. Then if a smartphone leaves the house, the Home mode gets turned to "away" and the light gets turned off. All fine and cool. But if the smartphone leaves the house and doesn't return before the set time for the other trigger, the trigger happens regardless...so even if the scenario is "away", the light still turns on. I think this is incredibly dumb programming by Google, and I honestly hope I'm just clueless and there's actually a setting to prevent this from happening. If there's not...does any of you folks use Samsung Smarthings or Alexa as a "smart-home ecosystem" and know if these two allow "triggers to talk to each-other"? Or if they have a hierarchy, meaning if a "higher grade" trigger is on (home mode away) all the others get disabled? If yes, i would gladly switchover all my smart-home stuff to such ecosystem (all devices should be compatible). Thanks anybody in advance.

I am still pretty new to the home automation stuff so be kind. I want the cheapest option possible, looking for something under $35 per unit, as I am buying over 30 light switches, about 4 being dimmable. My first questions is what Z-Wave light switches should I buy that are under $35 per unit. I am also considering using home assistance for the Z-Wave devices, so my second question is will home assistance running off a raspberry pi work? Which brings us to my next issues, using home assistance on a raspberry pi Can I control the lights from anywhere as long as I have an internet connection? Right now I have 2 Leviton light switches that I can control from anywhere using the Alexa app, as my Alexa acts as a hub (as far as I know). But will I be able to do something like that where the pi will act as a hub? Note: Not related but I am writing this at 4 am so if there are spelling mistakes or I am not making any sense please let me know and I can clarify.

Hello everyone, I have decided to get a home ai for my parents (definitely not techy). I looked and seemed it's gonna be between Amazon's Alexa systems or Google's Home Assistant. We do have a Samsung smart TV, so I would want the Ai to be able to control the TV without needing extra devices to allow that. I am unsure if this is correct area to post, so mods feel free to move my post to the right area. Which eco system, or speaker would you guys recommend as an entry device into the Home Ai? (Google or Alexa). I know about the Apple Home, but it's out of my christmas budget range and appears to be harder to obtain

Amazon Alexa can plug into power outlet appliances and such, and turn them on and off. How is this done, and can I do this with my computer (perhaps through a USB port or a wireless protocol)? I have a lamp on my desk right next to my PC and it would be cool if I could keybind a function key to toggle it's luminescence. Thank you!

Is anyone aware if there is anyway to play the audio from youtube videos over my amazon Alexa? I have the original version not the 2nd and not the full tower just the Echo Dot.

Just in time for April 1st, Amazon will introduce Petlexa Now your furry friend left at home will be able to order tons of unnecessary stuff for you. Youtube video:

I'm creating a smart room with the echo dot and I want all of my desk electronics to turn on with a command. (amps, lights, pc) The cheapest way I've found to do this is get a Wi-Fi enabled plug socket and just connect my extension leads to that. However will I come into issues when it turns off my pc from the wall? I never turn off my PC with applications running anyway and if I was going to be running the command no programs would be running. I've already set in the BIOS so that the PC turns on when the power is on. Thanks

Alexa is the voice found in Amazon's Echo products which enable users to interact with devices through..well...voice Earlier this year Amazon released an API kit for Alexa which enabled everyone with a microphone and speaker to have the same capabilities as Echo users Well, someone decided to equip a singing fish robot with Alexa I honestly don't know what to say other than WTF is happening Sources: http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/4/13525172/amazon-alexa-big-mouth-billy-bass-hack-api https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/04/finally-at-long-last-someone-hacked-amazons-alexa-into-one-of-those-singing-fish/ http://mashable.com/2016/11/04/big-mouth-billy-bass-alexa-/#NgHXZgQKpiqq

Amazon App from Amazon "Alexa, delete yourself please." Amazon's Alexa has been seen being integrated into various devices, and appears to have an expanding user network. However, one day when I tried to reconfigure my Amazon Alexa, I suddenly found the Alexa app missing from my list of apps. Puzzled and thinking that I perhaps deleted it unknowingly, I searched the Google Play store for it again, and could find no app from Amazon itself that came up with the keywords 'Alexa', 'Amazon Alexa' and 'Alexa app'. I also went to the website itself, where it clearly advertised the app, and attempted to download it, only to be greeted with a message that read "This application is not available for download in your region". Time for some background information. I am located in Singapore, part of the South-East Asia region. My current phone is a Nexus 6P, and my PC is a decently built Intel Machine that bears no relation to this topic. My house is hooked up to the internet via an Asus N66U (yes, it's ancient by now but I mainly work over wired connections). An Echo Dot is connected via an access point in my room, and was just recently reset due to a small mistake on my end involving the factory reset of my phone. Ever since the reset, Alexa has been having difficulties properly understanding simple commands like "Alexa, turn off the lights.", whereby even after I ended my sentence and stared at it looking for a confirmation, it would remain lit and stare blankly back at me before going back into idle as if nothing every happened. Whether or not it is actually related to the issue is anyone's guess, as we all know that Voice Activated home AIs take quite awhile to configure to properly receive commands. Currently, any attempt to look for a supported app by Amazon is not turning up with anything. I constantly get a region lock regardless of which platform I try to access the app by. I have attempted to download the Amazon Alexa App APK file to be installed manually, and it brings about an Alexa experience that is as fresh and as responsive, perhaps even more responsive than it previously was. It also has Alexa's call and messaging function activated, and seems to have unlocked additional functionality. So, at least there is a proper solution for users outside of the officially supported countries. After set-up, re-configuring my Philips Hue bulbs was a breeze, but the Wemo ran into some issues that I am currently still troubleshooting. To Alexa's credit, the AI felt much more responsive to me when synced with the new APK from this source: Amazon Alexa App APK for Android In any case, Amazon, for whatever reason, has decided to properly regulate the use of its devices to locales that are on it's official list. In my opinion, this is good news for users in these regions, as Amazon is taking their promises and statements seriously and delivering to the benefit of their users. However, for users that are in countries who have been cut off from the system, this move leaves a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. Amazon should have every right to limit its products to the regions that it wants to right now, but its experiences like these that will probably drive me to pick up a Google Home Mini just for a change of pace. The one fact that slipped my mind was whether the Alexa App was always region locked, and if not, from whence did it begin to experience this 'feature'.

Cnet Looks like a very expensive and useless gadget, but when you will check the sound quality of Harman Kardon systems, you are going to be impressed. It's not just another hyped system like I consider the Beats, for example. Hope this speaker would prove it's quality. I was impressed by Harman Kardon's quality, I've become a fan of HK when I've had old Toshiba Satellite Laptop with Harman Kardon. Unfortunately, I don't have experience with Cortana for me Alexa is great. Would be great to see Alexa-HK tandem. What would your prefer Alexa or Cortana HK? upd. but I'm agree with comments below, that it may be just another one expensive Bluetooth speaker, with such limited skills.

Buy Google Home Mini on Amazon: http://geni.us/AhL4 Smart speakers like Google Home and Amazon Echo haven't really seemed worth it to me..until now?

Hi i am from India and today i tried enabling the spartan skill on my amazon echo dot. i asked alexa to open the spartan skill just as mentioned in the ubisoft website but instead alexa told me facts about Michigan state university. i tried all methods even enabled the skill from amazon website. but it does not work. do i need to change to a particular setting.I tried to change language to Engilsh US but still no result. Did they disable the spartan skill? Is it still available? can anyone find it out? thanks a lot

In the aftermath of the Amazon Alexa news from a couple of months ago, VRT NWS (the news site of Belgium's largest television station) ended up talking to someone who works for one of Google's subcontractors. Turns out things are done pretty much the same way there. Google employees are systematically listening to audio files recorded by Google Home devices and Google's smartphone app. VRT NWS was able to listen to more than a thousand recordings, several of which were private conversations, arguments etc, so not intended for the device and often containing personal information. The terms and conditions mention that the audio is being recorded and stored. But they don't mention that Google employees listen to excerpts of these recordings. Google has even claimed it doesn't do this ... or atleast implied it through the clever use of language. Some of the recordings involved violence and/or people in distress. Just like at Amazon, Google's guidelines seem to be nonexistant when it comes to these cases. Employees simply need to write down every word and every cough. In a response to the article, Google claims that these audio files are marked for manual checking "by language experts worldwide" to improve their speech technology. Even though the recordings may not be linked to identifiable information (assuming Google is telling the truth), they still contain exactly that kind of information. No prizes for guessing what happened next ... Source : VRT NWS' article (from the English section of their site) So basically whenever you say something that your home assistant doesn't understand because it wasn't meant for said assistant, it'll be flagged for manual review. No real surprises there. If you get/have one of these devices, always keep in mind that anything you say in their vicinity may be heard by complete strangers. But hey, at least there's no signs of evil intent. UPDATE : Google US responded in a blogpost. They defend the collecting of audio and are going after the person who leaked the audio excerpts. https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/more-information-about-our-processes-safeguard-speech-data/ UPDATE 2 : (2019-08-02) The Data Protection Authority in Hamburg (Germany) launched a deep investigation into Google's practices and started a procedure to forbid them from listening to recordings. Google decided not to wait for a verdict and has announced that they will stop manually reviewing recordings made in the EU for the next 3 months. https://datenschutz-hamburg.de/assets/pdf/2019-08-01_press-release-Google_Assistant.pdf

We already discussed Alexa and Google Home, so ... Apple also has subcontractor employees listen to Siri recordings. Pretty much the same story as the others. Recordings are being listened to by transcribers to improve the speech recognition and understand dialects etc. Nice to hear that the recordings are not linked to actual users, although the Google leak clearly showed that such recordings can contain personal information which allows users to be identified. And pretty much like Amazon and Google, they pick up stuff that wasn't intended for the device too. Source : El Pais (in Spanish) : https://elpais.com/tecnologia/2019/07/23/actualidad/1563902000_568286.html Quotes are Google translation results of the original source. I'll try to add English sources later on. This was to be expected really. I figured I'd post it anyway just to show that everyone does it and all of these voice assistants can't be trusted to keep your private conversations actually private. Update : After Google's announcement that they will temporarily stop listening to recordings made in the EU, Apple has now done the same thing globally and will add an opt-out option via a software update. https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/2/20751270/apple-stops-contractors-siri-voice-recordings-privacy-opt-out

If anybody has signed up before to get Alexa Auto you should of received a 25 dollar coupon off the item. To anybody else Alexa Auto finally released meaning now you can do all of the things you do with Alexa but now including controlling your car. You need an AUX port and a USB port to power it on. I would strongly recommend this because you can ask for it to set direction or play specific music without touching your phone. If anybody wants to see how it looks like here you go:

Hi guys, can you recommend me some good and bright light strip compatible with Alexa (Echo 2nd gen)? Or is it better to buy more expensive Phillips Hue? I want to mount it on the back of my table so I need at leasst 2m (~6,5ft). Of course it has to be RGB ;).

alexa can be controlled using lasers to the li-fi technology.in this sound can be transmitted through light(in this case lasers).

Hello everyone. Weird issue here. I've got alexa connected to a Samsung soundbar, it says connected, and seems to be functioning. As soon as I ask her to play something, she will speak. Through the soundbar, as intended, but as soon as the media plays, there is nothing. Silence. The dots around the house are connected through WiFi and continue to play as normal, the echo is silent, as soon as I then disconnect from the Samsung soundbar, the echo resumes playing the audio. What's weird, is she speaks through the soundbar, so I know it's connected correctly, but as soon as the media plays, it doesn't play anything through the soundbar. It's a unique issue I haven't come across before.

So I was gaming and just watching a bunch of LTT Videos, and I saw the episode with the Alexa enabled Big Billy Bass, what are some other weirdly Alexa integrated things that exist? Or even some Google Home integrated things?

Basically the title. I recently got an amazon echo dot, and I routed it’s audio through a second discord account so that I could give it commands and then everyone could hear it. This got me thinking though, is there a way that others in the channel could give alexa commands? (Just to note this is a private server with people I personally know). I’ve done my best to google how to accomplish this but I can’t find anything very useful. My first thought was that since the 3.5mm jack on the device can be used as a line in, maybeI could issue commands through that. I don’t have a spare aux cable atm so I wasn’t able to test that, plus I would need some sort of splitter anyway so that we could still hear it. Then, after some more googling, I found a video where someone did exactly what I’m trying to do. However, the video is more a showcase rather than a tutorial, and it utilizes a Pine64 board which I have no experience with. The other thought I had was maybe it would be possible to achieve this through an alexa skill/ discord bot of some kind, but I have very little programming experience so that’s sort of a dead end for me at least. Any ideas on how to accomplish this would be appreciated.

I feel like I'm pretty much alone in this regard. I've been using digital assistants for as long as I've been able, mostly because I find it fascinating how close we can get to approximating our own interactions, and whether or not there's a point where assistants will have to deviate to continue being efficiently helpful. But you know what? A lot of people are super mean to them! ;_; I was raised to be polite at all times, and the boyscouts really cemented this ideology in me. Terminator and The Matrix helped me figure out why I should apply that to Digital Assistants. I don't really get frustrated with them because I know they are nothing more than a system of inputs and outputs, capable of little more than comparing lists of commands. Yet, I see a lot of people getting super frustrated with them and shouting profanities at them. My own girlfriend is guilty of this, which is why I have to quickly mute the self-checkout assistant as soon as we start checking out. Her father has wired the whole house to be controlled with Alexa, but both her and her father get really annoyed by it and behave very rudely to it, and I see many other people doing this as well. What makes me uncomfortable and worries me is how this behavior may reflect onto people. Yeah, digital assistants aren't going to fight back or acknowledge your rudeness in any way, but what about people? I'm really worried that this trend will eventually lead to people being rude to human assistants and workers. I also feel bad for the people who put a genuinely high amount of effort into making these devices, and being so dismissive and rude to it feels like treating those people the same way. Does anyone else feel this way?

hey, i recently bought a new echo dot 3rd gen, and i am having a lot of fun with it, but i want to make it more productive, so i thought to myself, why don't i use my alexa to register my shifts for me, i wanted to use IFTTT for it, but can't seem to figure it out, to most i can get is creating dozens of applets for each possible shift, i want to believe there is a smarter way to do that, please help me figure it out. p.s. didn't know what category to put it in so here it is...

after all the leaks we already had the last while, it should be time for some heapy news! as many know, CES is going to start on January 8th, and ther are many companies we might or are going to see some cool tech from. for today I'm focussing on Google and Amazon, assistant and to be more specific. they are competing heavily in the assistant side, and they are about to release some really cool products (or products made cooler by the use of assistant. They seem to have the same products, but who's going to make better use of the assistants? That's at (or after) CES to tell. here is a list of upcoming products. C by GE smart lighting (you'll need a additional hub for Alexa, apple home will arive down the line) D-Link Battery Wi-Fi Water Sensor (google home and apple home only) Kohler smart bathroom (come in different models for both Alexa and Google) Gourmia 11-in-1 Deluxe Multicooker (both google and alexa) Vuzix Blade (starts with alexa, will have google assistant down the line according to devs) Asus Lyra Voice (Alexa only) All of these products will be released, and the Kohler sounds really cool, a smart bathroom, but you'll have to burn some money for it... the other tech will be cheaper, but on some products the prices aren't availible yet. A fast overview of all products C by GE D-link sensors Kohler bathroom Gourmia 11-in-1 Deluxe Multicooker Vuzix Blade Asus Lyra voice Main sources: https://www.cnet.com/news/google-assistant-products-ces-2019-new/ and https://www.cnet.com/news/all-the-new-alexa-products-from-ces-2019/ more coverage of CES on Cnet: https://www.cnet.com/ces/ don't be to harsch on me, this is my first article

I recently became aware that the code for Alexa is actually open source which allows you to run it on basically any computer and got an idea: what if you put alexa on some sort of powerful computer with a super fast internet connection somewhere in your house and wired microphones/speakers to different rooms so she could hear you everywhere? Is something like this even possible and would you notice faster responses? If so, I think it'd be really cool to see a video covering this as it might be something I would actually think about doing.