I bought a 3rd generation Echo over the holidays because it was on sale. Though, I thought it would help me learn how to build an Alexa skill. I do not, however, feel comfortable about how it's listening all the time (when plugged in) and that it is not really a smart speaker at all. Nor how you can't connect Alexa units that belong to separate households of the same family.
It's sad to say that most of the 85,000 skills that Alexa now knows how to do, thanks to Amazon's holiday contest push for new skill submission, are one trick ponies.. that is to say, you ask Alexa to open <whatever> skill and it performs a single task (e.g., reads you news headlines, perform basic math but not compound algebra calculations, tells you what a single stock price is and not how your portfolio is performing). Boring.
From where we were with voice activated desktop computer commands to this incarnation of Alexa skills, we have gone backwards into the Dark Ages of technology potential. Thirty years ago we could already tell a computer to do one task skills (open a program, play music, open a website, play a game). Now Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have unleashed what used to be in the domain of a software developer to anyone with the time and patience to read, write, and experiment.
Smart device? No, not really. My Alexa is still dumb as a brick.
Showing posts with label alexa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alexa. Show all posts
Hello Alexa, part 2
It's been a while since I last posted about Amazon's Alexa being accessible through the Amazon retail shopping app. And while Amazon's generic web search is fine and comes nowhere near the voice-to-search recognition that Google search offers, Amazon is missing the point about monetizing the index system that they have for the millions of products listed on their shopping exchange.
Wouldn't it be better if instead of matching to keywords (mostly nouns) in a user's speech search, that Amazon served up relevant recommendations instead.
Say for example, you ask Alexa (in the Amazon app):
"recommended wines for dinner" or
"recommended red wines" or
"recommended fruity wines"
Alexa currently offers no recommended product searches for any of the wines or wineries that sell on Amazon. Well, it certainly can't recommend wines that's for sure. But it could if Amazon incorporated product label text, certified wine reviews, or wine manufacturer descriptions in what can be searched. The words "recommend" and "recommended" are not in Alexa's lexicon of search knowledge. Perhaps this is too advanced a concept for Amazon's AI.
You can still just say "red wine" or "white wine" and those options will show up with valid results in the Amazon app.
Voice searching the Amazon product engine should be no different than typing in the search query.
The results are mixed, however.
You can say "services for window washing near me" and Amazon's app will show for "Hire a Window Cleaner" (Amazon Home Services) as the top result. That's spot on. The third result (same screen on a smartphone) shows "Window Cleaning" (Amazon Home Services), also a valid result to what I was voice searching for.
Maybe this is a phased rollout for voice search queries.
Wouldn't it be better if instead of matching to keywords (mostly nouns) in a user's speech search, that Amazon served up relevant recommendations instead.
Say for example, you ask Alexa (in the Amazon app):
"recommended wines for dinner" or
"recommended red wines" or
"recommended fruity wines"
Alexa currently offers no recommended product searches for any of the wines or wineries that sell on Amazon. Well, it certainly can't recommend wines that's for sure. But it could if Amazon incorporated product label text, certified wine reviews, or wine manufacturer descriptions in what can be searched. The words "recommend" and "recommended" are not in Alexa's lexicon of search knowledge. Perhaps this is too advanced a concept for Amazon's AI.
You can still just say "red wine" or "white wine" and those options will show up with valid results in the Amazon app.
Voice searching the Amazon product engine should be no different than typing in the search query.
The results are mixed, however.
You can say "services for window washing near me" and Amazon's app will show for "Hire a Window Cleaner" (Amazon Home Services) as the top result. That's spot on. The third result (same screen on a smartphone) shows "Window Cleaning" (Amazon Home Services), also a valid result to what I was voice searching for.
Maybe this is a phased rollout for voice search queries.
Hello Alexa
Not sure how long ago this feature was added, but it looks like someone just replaced the default microphone app with Alexa's voice and mannerisms on the Amazon app. You'd think that if you were accessing Alexa from within Amazon's shopping app, that the default search would be for items listed in Amazon's eCommerce ecosystem. Sadly, this is not the case.
My first query: "weather tracking for the home", followed by "weather tracking apps"
I don't like Alexa's color bar acknowledgement followed by its electronic beep. For the few seconds it takes to execute these robotic response commands, it is an unnecessary feature. Alexa responds by verbally giving me the weather forecast for Salem Oregon.
The response is puzzling because I was just adding/removing items from my wish lists in the app which one could assume that I am already logged into my account which has my mailing address in it (and I don't live in Oregon). Even if location services were turned on for this app, surely the developers would have programmed that into Alexa -- to be able to give regional information based on already known criteria.
My next query: "search Amazon for home weather tracking"
That brought up a relevant search list on Amazon's store.
Artificial Intelligence is only as good as the team that builds it.
I can just visualize the disconnect between the business user story and what got implemented by the development team. Maybe I'm just disappointed because I'm so used to Google search providing accurate, relevant results from text or voice queries.
At least Alexa can tell jokes (Siri cannot):
"Tell me a funny cat joke"
Alexa: What does a cat say when it gets hurt? Me-ow.
 |
| Screenshot of Alexa's Intro Screen on Amazon App |
My first query: "weather tracking for the home", followed by "weather tracking apps"
I don't like Alexa's color bar acknowledgement followed by its electronic beep. For the few seconds it takes to execute these robotic response commands, it is an unnecessary feature. Alexa responds by verbally giving me the weather forecast for Salem Oregon.
The response is puzzling because I was just adding/removing items from my wish lists in the app which one could assume that I am already logged into my account which has my mailing address in it (and I don't live in Oregon). Even if location services were turned on for this app, surely the developers would have programmed that into Alexa -- to be able to give regional information based on already known criteria.
My next query: "search Amazon for home weather tracking"
That brought up a relevant search list on Amazon's store.
Artificial Intelligence is only as good as the team that builds it.
I can just visualize the disconnect between the business user story and what got implemented by the development team. Maybe I'm just disappointed because I'm so used to Google search providing accurate, relevant results from text or voice queries.
At least Alexa can tell jokes (Siri cannot):
"Tell me a funny cat joke"
Alexa: What does a cat say when it gets hurt? Me-ow.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)