[ad_1]
Recently, a few of us at The edge People who use Google Assistant devices in our homes have started complaining about the "Hey Google / OK Google" question. We all had the same experience: you said something like, "Hey, Google, set a 12-minute timer," and the expected response from the "timer setting" would come from a device somewhere else in the house.
At home, we have this problem all the time. We have three Google Assistant devices (not counting our phones), and I can not count the number of times we would be sitting in the living room. I would say, "Hey Google, play! The great British pastry show from Netflix, "and somewhere above my head, in the second floor room, a voice would explain that she can not do that.
What is the problem here? Apparently, voice proximity technology, or arbitration, used by the devices of the Google Assistant can be polite, nasty. Although you may be in the same room as one of your devices, the algorithm for determining the device that actually responds (as explained in this article from 9to5Google) is wrong sometimes and the wrong device will respond. Usually the confusion is temporary – often, if I repeat my video request, the correct answer will follow from the appropriate device – but it takes time and is irritating. Especially if, for example, you have asked for a timer for your 2-minute egg and the timer goes off in your bathroom, where you can not hear it.
What is perhaps the most annoying is that the reason is probably marketing. In 2013, Google began selling its first branded phone, the Moto X, which offered a pure Android operating system, brightly colored boxes and speech recognition technology, known at the time under the name of Google Now. Several months after the launch of the phone, Google has added the ability to edit the launch phrase of "OK Google Now" in whatever you want. It was great. I named my phone "Mr. Pickwick "(I'm a Dickens fan), and I had a friend who would happily pitch his phone and say," Mrs. Peel, you need you.
Google Now has been replaced by Google Assistant and voice recognition is now part of everyday life. But at one point, a Google genius decided that it was necessary for everyone to say "OK Google" or "Hey Google" for the health of the business (because, I guess, otherwise we would all forget the name of the company who provided the technology). So now, instead of being able to assign a different pitch phrase to each device, we are forced to choose between two boring phrases – and we have to watch every remote listening device light up every time we use them. This is particularly ironic, because Amazon, Google's main competitor in this space, allows you to assign one of four different wake words ("Alexa", "Amazon", "Computer" or "Echo"). assign one to each of the four devices.
And all this is useless. We can currently assign a name to each Google Assistant device or name a device group. We can even change the voice of the Google Assistant into several options, including celebrities such as John Legend. So why can not we assign a different pitch phrase to each device?
Because the company that sells us technology wants us to say its name. Constantly. All the time. No matter how much this affects the actual efficiency of the technology.
Hey, Google! Play "We are not governed by our marketing department" on all speakers. Thank you.
Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence the editorial content, although Vox Media can earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.
[ad_2]
Source link