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Smart Speakers in the Kitchen

blue_dolphin

By blue_dolphin
in Kitchen Consumer

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted (edited)

There are several games available for one's next dinner party. :D

You can also play trivia, etc. via Google Home. :)

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)
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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

I've tried the alexa timer function a couple of times recently.  There occasions your hands are covered in bread dough or worse you know.  But I still don't have one actually in the kitchen.

 

By the way The Economist refers to these devices as "Smart Microphones".

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

By the way The Economist refers to these devices as "Smart Microphones".

 

Smart microphone and speaker would be more accurate.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

 

Smart microphone and speaker would be more accurate.

 

To call it a smart microphone and speaker is like calling the whole business of sending men to the moon, rover to Mars nothing more than smart fireworks.

Alexa is the most dangerous invention ever developed by human kind.

Do you know that Alexa, not only that it cannot die, it gets stronger and smarter every second? For a device that is supported by millions of ultra technical computer programmers, it only cost you a few dollars to buy? 

If you think that is is only a smart timer for your kitchen, wait another few years and see what this monster can do to civilization..

 

dcarch

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted (edited)

1984

It won't be limited to smart microphones and speakers—and, of course, smartphones/tablets.

It will be EVERYWHERE there's 'civilization'!!!

Edited to add: Let's not forget the most obvious—COMPUTERS!

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)
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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

I finally found a place for an Echo in the kitchen!  Much better than shouting across to the bathroom for my timers.  Warning, night before last I had an Alexa dream:  sometimes it is difficult to get her to understand me at best.  In the dream she called in an airstrike, with scores of bombers flying in at treetop level.  These were not drones with groceries.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted (edited)

My Alexa (Eufy Genie) is now in the kitchen, along with a new Google Home Mini.

So, now, that's  a full sized Google Home and two minis, along with two Chromecast audios, all playing music, ebooks, or podcasts simultaneously when commanded.

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)
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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
46 minutes ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

My Alexa (Eufy Genie) is now in the kitchen, along with a new Google Home Mini.

So, now, that's  a full sized Google Home and two minis, along with two Chromecast audios, all playing music, ebooks, or podcasts simultaneously when commanded.

 

 

No HomePod??

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted
34 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

No HomePod??

 

 

No, I definitely don't do Apple. 

I've had too much bad luck with expensive Apple products in the past.

But, I do remember lusting for an Apple Mac Plus way back in 1986—the public library in Corning, NY had a couple or so.

Apple's brilliant marketing strategy, early on, was to give away, or sharply discount computers to schools, libraries and like to get the young hooked on them.

The Apple Mac Plus cost $2,600!!! O.o

I now run 'free' Linux and open-source software as much as possible.

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted
On 1/8/2018 at 6:58 AM, weinoo said:

I think the whole world has basically turned into an episode of The Twilight Zone.

 

I have this weird fetish for these things called pen and paper. Funny for someone whose first job was in Silicon Valley, at Advanced Micro Devices, no less.

 

May I recommend that you binge-watch both seasons of Black Mirror? 

Twilight Zone will seem quaint and optimistic in comparison.

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Notes from the underbelly

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paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted (edited)

Major Disclaimers: I haven't used this product, and it doesn't exist yet, but I wrote some advertising copy for it and so know a bit about it.

 

JBL is introducing a smart speaker later this summer that's covered in splash-proof, easy to clean materials, specifically with the idea that people will use it in the kitchen. It also has a color touch screen, so you can interact with it that way. It uses Google Assistant.

 

Unrelatedly, many reviews suggest that the Apple Home Pod, while currently the dumbest of the smart speakers (Hey Siri: get with it!) is by far the best sounding of all of them. So if you want more speaker and less smart, and you're already in the Apple ecosystem, it's the easy choice.

Edited by paulraphael (log)

Notes from the underbelly

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

I have run into a problem with Alexa and timers:  it seems timers are specific to one Echo device.  I can't set a timer in the kitchen and then come sit down by the computer and check the status of my timer.  After spending just short of an hour and a half on the phone with tech support the timers are working as intended.  I am shaking with frustration.

 

The particular issue was this afternoon.  I set a timer and left the apartment to go to the store.  My watch is broken so as soon as I got home I asked Alexa the status of my timer.  The Echo closest to the door informed me that I had no active timers.  Naturally I assumed that the timer had expired while I was out and I acted accordingly.  Only to have the first echo faithfully notify me sometime later.

 

Who writes the code for these things?  I hope not the same people as program Jeff Bezos' rockets.  Does anyone have a workaround?

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted
On 2/11/2018 at 1:10 PM, paulraphael said:

Unrelatedly, many reviews suggest that the Apple Home Pod, while currently the dumbest of the smart speakers (Hey Siri: get with it!) is by far the best sounding of all of them.

 

FWIW, Google Home Max tops Apple HomePod for audio, says Consumer Reports.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I have run into a problem with Alexa and timers:  it seems timers are specific to one Echo device.

 

Yeah, that sucks!

Same with Google Home.

I put in a feature request a couple weeks ago, asking the Google Home team to add the alarm feature to Home Group when requested.

I also asked that the pronunciation of Elmira, NY be corrected—it's EXTREMELY irritating. Alexa gets it right.

 

FWIW, this is one of the best Google Home articles I've found.

The ultimate guide to Google Home: Tips and tricks for understanding and making the most out of your assistant speaker.

The comments are worth a read too.

 

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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lindag

lindag

Posted
Posted

I've wondered about the length of time the timer will go off.  Do they have a built-in end time.  Mine seems to go on forever.

I often yell bad words at Alexa when she doesn't respond to my requests.

 

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, lindag said:

I've wondered about the length of time the timer will go off.  Do they have a built-in end time.  Mine seems to go on forever.

I often yell bad words at Alexa when she doesn't respond to my requests.

 

 

I believe there are settings for this in the app but I have not played with them.  I just ask her to stop.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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paulraphael

paulraphael

Posted
Posted
On 2/13/2018 at 6:30 AM, DiggingDogFarm said:

 

FWIW, Google Home Max tops Apple HomePod for audio, says Consumer Reports.

 

Consumer reports has long been a black sheep, and rather bizarre player in audio equipment reviews. I've learned to ignore them in this sector. Other sources, like Tom's guide, and What Hi Fi, and some other audio-specific sites have called the the homepod the champion when it comes to audio.

 

Nevertheless, if I wanted a smart speaker in the kitchen, or anywhere, I'd think of good sound quality as just a bonus. We've got more serious ways to listen to music when that's the point. I'd be interested in the smart features, which on the home pod are currently—weirdly, disappointingly—dumb.

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

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Posted

 

18 minutes ago, paulraphael said:

Nevertheless, if I wanted a smart speaker in the kitchen, or anywhere, I'd think of good sound quality as just a bonus. We've got more serious ways to listen to music when that's the point.

 

My house was already immersed in the Sonos system so that's what I use for listening.  By adding an Alexa Dot (two of them actually), I gain basic voice control over my Sonos system plus the limited smart features that I use - mostly timers at this point. 

 

Alexa has been relatively well behaved but the other night she got into a rather involved conversation with my TV involving the Australian woman who's providing the "enhanced" Olympic ice skating commentary on the NBC app. Not sure how it got started but it went on for some time.  I had a hard time getting Alexa to shut up. xD

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted (edited)

"It's Apple's HomePod vs. the Google Home Max."

"Who's got the sound and smarts to reign supreme? It's a Prizefight punch-out for smart speaker supremacy."

 

Another vote for the Google Home Max in terms of sound quality.

Google also wins as an assistant and smart-home controller, but there's definitely plenty of room for improvement!!!

 

BTW, I think they''re both ugly. LOL

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)
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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

I've added another 2.1 speaker system to Google Home group.

This is a small house but true whole-house sound coverage required it.

So, playing on Home group are the full-size Google Home, two Google Home Minis, and three 2.1 speaker systems playing via two Chromecast audios.

A 3.5mm "Y" splitter attached to one of the Chromecast audios.

 

 

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, weinoo said:

I think the best idea is to just have a kitchen in every room.

Due to storage limitations, I have at least a bit of kitchen in most of my rooms. On the ground floor and basement, anyway. 

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Due to storage limitations, I have at least a bit of kitchen in most of my rooms. On the ground floor and basement, anyway. 

Me too. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, Anna N said:

Me too. 

Yep - that's why I brought it up.

 

And when we have a dinner party (or something similar), I really utilize our one bedroom to stash stuff away.

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

With regard to Alexa setting a timer:  is there any way to control how long she makes the timer completion sound (without having to ask her explicitly to stop)?

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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