DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

Posted on
Fri Sep 29, 2017 10:05 am
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

Rumor has it that Google is working on a competitor to the Echo Show that will run Android... http://bgr.com/2017/09/29/google-home-smart-screen-device-leak-details/. If THAT comes to pass then it should be able to run Domotics Pad no problem (maybe a little UI tweaking to better use landscape options would be in order, but control pages should be perfect).

Domotics Pad can already stream security cameras with RTSP feeds, so it would be cool to have that auto-switch to a security camera view for doorbells and such. Right now you can only request a Control Page be shown, but switching to a security camera feed might be a good feature too.

Posted on
Fri Sep 29, 2017 10:45 am
spiv offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

In the meantime, Amazon has just introduced a slew of new products including a small, circular Echo Spot that has video just like the Amazon show and supports all the video skills the same way.

Time to swim with the leaders and not upstream?

Posted on
Fri Sep 29, 2017 11:24 am
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

In the meantime, Amazon has just introduced a slew of new products including a small, circular Echo Spot that has video just like the Amazon show and supports all the video skills the same way.

I was somewhat intrigued by that at first, but there are reports that it includes a camera and I damn sure ain't having that in the bedroom! Also, I can't stand Alexa so I wouldn't actually use it for anything more than a "smart" alarm clock.

Time to swim with the leaders and not upstream?

I'm not really sure how to take this comment - you realize that companies copy sh!t from others ALL the damn time, right? Apple copies Android features, Android copies Apple features, Windows/OS X, Nest/Honeywell, etc. Each has their own take on it and often the 2nd to market is the better product (Apple has proven that time and time again). Alexa has a MUCH, MUCH lower useful answer rate in our tests here (as opposed to Google Assistant and surprisingly Siri). SO I don't want an Echo Show -- I would much rather a product running Android so I can put an Indigo client on it and make it work as I want.

You find what works for you and your own household.

Posted on
Sun Oct 01, 2017 7:04 am
johnpolasek offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

spiv wrote:
In the meantime, Amazon has just introduced a slew of new products including a small, circular Echo Spot that has video just like the Amazon show and supports all the video skills the same way.

Time to swim with the leaders and not upstream?


The thing is that leaders change... How many more (or more spectacularly destructive) "Alexia (or google), tell me where to get a Whataburger" commercials/answering machine hacks is it going to take to make the herd stick all the dots and spots and googles somewhere in a dark closet where they can't cause them any MORE problems? At least Apple was smart enough to force you to push he button to talk to Siri... And I'm with Bert; Any voice recognition and video recording that doesn't require deliberate activation better be local to my network and securely gatewayed from all external sources and the cloud.

Posted on
Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:41 am
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

The thing is that leaders change... How many more (or more spectacularly destructive) "Alexia (or google), tell me where to get a Whataburger" commercials/answering machine hacks is it going to take to make the herd stick all the dots and spots and googles somewhere in a dark closet where they can't cause them any MORE problems? At least Apple was smart enough to force you to push he button to talk to Siri..

I had some commercial on CNN (on the web) shown before every video of some company advertising their Alexa integration; and of course it activated Alexa every time. When the Burger King commercial came out activating Google Home they were able to disabled that exact voice (not the phrase) from activating the device -- but of course that won't scale in the least. I think ideally ALL of them would let you set your own activation word/name to at least partially solve that issue... but alas, none seem concerned with that (though Alexa can be turned to activate on "Echo" I believe).

Posted on
Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:55 am
spiv offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

Amazon devices can easily be set to use "Alexa", "Echo", "Amazon" or "Computer" as the wake word.

The choice of "Computer" is allowed because the designers claim they were inspired by Star Trek voice input computers.

However, most consumers don't know they have a choice and very few fiddle with any of the settings.


On a related note, some people complain about the sound quality but don't know that the Amazon Dot (and I think the new Amazon Spot) have an "aux out" cable that can be connected directly to any standard AV Receiver.

There is even a high-end custom equipment manufacturer that has made a ceiling mount for Amazon Dots to power them and connect them back to any AVR.

Posted on
Sun Oct 01, 2017 12:56 pm
johnpolasek offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

spiv wrote:
Amazon devices can easily be set to use "Alexa", "Echo", "Amazon" or "Computer" as the wake word.

The choice of "Computer" is allowed because the designers claim they were inspired by Star Trek voice input computers.

However, most consumers don't know they have a choice and very few fiddle with any of the settings.


IMHO Given the fact that the potential for abuse is not only foreseeable but has been demonstrated publicly in multiple trivial instances, I am amazed that Amazon and google haven't not just ALLOWED the choice of a user chosen random wake word (ie Sarah from Eureka, Hal from 2001, Kit from knightrider, K9 from Dr who, or any other word that strikes someone's fancy, but REQUIRED them to choose one, much as Windows requires the administrator to choose a new password on first login. Requiring a potential hacker to guess one of 3 or 4 choices is nowhere near secure enough for any system that handles critical information or devices.

Posted on
Sun Oct 01, 2017 3:45 pm
spiv offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

Apple does not allow any choice of wake word.

I'm not really sure where you are going with this - Let me just clear the decks and say that if you think "security by obscurity" is still valid, then you have a lot more to worry about then activating voice assistants by guessing the wake word.

It is worth remembering that we live in a real world - with real world possibilities and time-tested solutions:

A thief doesn't care one iota about your voice assistant hidden wake word or the hash algorithms or encryption keys used in your smart door look. They simply put a rock through the window and go on with their thievery as they have done for thousands of years.

Posted on
Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:48 am
johnpolasek offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

spiv wrote:
A thief doesn't care one iota about your voice assistant hidden wake word or the hash algorithms or encryption keys used in your smart door look. They simply put a rock through the window and go on with their thievery as they have done for thousands of years.


As you say, we're getting off the subject... But no security is totally effective; honest folks have and always will count on layers of protection, each of which makes it more difficult for the dishonest to take our stuff until the reward their thievery gets them isn't worth the effort to get it. Open voice commands without voiceprint and or obscure keyword verification is a very weak layer. The fact that Apple requires a physical button press to activate the system before you use they keyword is a pretty effective second layer of protection that's hard for even a savvy thief to defeat, much as a large and grumpy dog has been for thousands of years. And technology keeps giving us more layers that we did not formerly have prior to the cloud; the guy who heaves a rock through my window after dealing with the dogs while I am away will very likely be greeted by some (possibly not so) friendly gentlemen with badges upon leaving unless he DOES care enough about my security system details to first somehow disable the cell phone push alert I get on the acoustic glass break and or interior motion sensors going off when the system has been told nobody should be there.

Posted on
Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:27 pm
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

I'm not really sure where you are going with this - Let me just clear the decks and say that if you think "security by obscurity" is still valid, then you have a lot more to worry about then activating voice assistants by guessing the wake word.

For what it is worth, for my part the desire for a custom wake word is based on avoiding the annoyance of advertisements and the like, not security. I'm not worried about someone trying to activate it without my permission - if they are that close well, I have more to worry about!

At least Apple was smart enough to force you to push he button to talk to Siri...

I thought you could just say "Hey Siri" and it was listening? No? (I don't use Siri, this is a serious question)

Posted on
Mon Oct 02, 2017 10:19 pm
spiv offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

"Hey Siri" originally required the iPhone to be plugged into a charger. With later versions that restriction was lifted as the iPhone included a low-power motion chip that could detect "Hey Siri" without the entire phone being awake.

An update to iOS (I think it was v 10?) allows training "Hey Siri" to only recognize your own voice rather than being speaker independent. I think it has been updated now so you can't enable "Hey Siri" button-less activation without locking it to your own voice first?

Posted on
Tue Oct 03, 2017 7:20 am
mclass offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

At the risk of high jacking this thread back to its original topic (!!), I wonder if others spotted the Clazio device that was run on Indigogo recently? Running Android, it features Google AND Amazon voice control (kind of), provides music streaming, with audio and HDMI out. See

http://clazio.ai/

and

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/clazio-alexa-android-touchscreen-smart-speaker#/

I've got Domopad demo running OK with my Indigo control page operating . Only downside is that there's limited (no?) support from the developers, and a really clunky start page - although I've managed to circumvent this (mostly!)
They've just started a new Indiegogo campaign for the Clazio speaker that also has a screen

Note tha this is NOT a recommendation for either device, but was prompted by the enquiry at the start of this thread!
mclass

Posted on
Tue Oct 03, 2017 7:56 am
roussell offline
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Re: DomoPad + new Amazon Echo Show -- awesome potential

I just feel bad for the Chumby guys that started this craze a decade too early! I STILL have a few of the Insigna versions of the 8" chubby new-in-the-box down in the basement. Never got around to using them and now they're all mostly useless. I have one still in the guest bedroom that has Linux on it and functions as a web interface to a few simple Indigo control pages.

Terry

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