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Author Topic: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.  (Read 10532 times)

Colin Bishop

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #25 on: July 08, 2019, 10:18:47 pm »

I remember before there were TVs.  %)

I am certainly not a Luddite having spent much of my career developing computer systems but there is a difference between what is genuinely useful and what is frivolous.

In the future I imagine that many things will be voice controlled or even thought controlled but you will need the corresponding infrastructure to take full advantage of it and there will need to be alternatives to storing your ironing boards and irons in cupboards and in fact whether ironing clothes will cease to be necessary altogether.

Technology will need to move forward on a broad front and we are only just scratching the edges of that at the moment.

I have never favoured being on the leading edge of technology as that is where you hit all the obstacles. Much better to follow on behind and reap the benefits when the initial problems have been sorted out by somebody else - and a lot cheaper too.

Colin
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BrianB6

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #26 on: July 09, 2019, 12:15:58 am »

Newer is not always better!
Our daughter keeps trying to get us to use Spotify for music.   The standard of reproduction is poor ( most users seem to have lost the art of listening) and no better than musak.

I still have my valve amp, record deck, CD player and hifi speakers to listen to music.

Smart meters here are only of use to the supply company.   Who wants to continually go outside to watch it?
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Plastic - RIP

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #27 on: July 09, 2019, 07:42:33 am »

The purpose of a smart meter is for second-by-second billing rather than just quarterly.

They are the first step in variable tariff billing so if you make a cup of tea during Eastenders, it will be very expensive - but that same cup of tea at 3 am will be cheap.     This is to 'encourage' or 'educate' people into paying much more for their power under the guise of 'saving the planet'.   

.



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jaymac

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #28 on: July 09, 2019, 08:39:46 am »

I remember before there were TVs.  %)


Colin


Wow so you are around 90 Colin 
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #29 on: July 09, 2019, 09:23:43 am »

I should have said 'in my family'!
Colin
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DaveM

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #30 on: July 09, 2019, 09:31:03 am »

Liz has had a voice-controlled device for doing routine household duties for a long time - she calls it "Dave"...

DM
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #31 on: July 09, 2019, 09:44:23 am »

Yes, but I'm sure she has found that they are frequently unreliable and unresponsive and when you ask them to turn the oven on tell you the capital of Outer Mongolia instead.

Oh, and they frequently migrate to outbuildings when unobserved....

Colin
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LJ Crew

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #32 on: July 09, 2019, 09:50:27 am »

Some years ago I had a minor stroke. We were on a canal towpath between Leighton Buzzard and Tring. No mobile phone coverage at all. And the Media Manager for "&&&&&" still cannot work out why I want universal mobile phone coverage! Perhaps my priorities are not the same as the mobile phone companies. Johnh.
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malcolmfrary

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #33 on: July 09, 2019, 09:51:18 am »

The opinion that smart meters are intended for couch potates was put forward earlier.  I would say, dumb couch potatoes.
The example of the iron - if all houses were set up like the mansion on Tracey Island, ,with additional Scutters from Red Dwarf, it might be useful, but what would the extra power used be?  Information and data services use a huge amount of power, what we see at our keyboards is just the very small tip of a very large iceberg.

The people who make decisions about our use of technology are invariably those who were good at Latin and Greek at school and have spent their lives being shielded from the real world by people who, for a time, can convince them that they know what they are talking about.  They tend to be influenced by gushy glossy brochures coming from tech firms in areas where recreational drugs are far too easily available.  But thats just a passing thought.
And looking back on early TV - I used to pedal my bike to my older cousins house to watch Crackerjack, when we eventually got one of our own, if you wanted to watch the other channel, not only did you have to go over to the set, you had to reach round the back to work the large switch on the extra box screwed on the back.  Not like today where you have a choice of dozens of channels, usually with nothing on worth seeing.
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grendel

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #34 on: July 09, 2019, 12:09:09 pm »

I did notice that when I took one of my servers off line at home the power usage dropped considerably. (that said there are usually at least 6 computers online in my house 24/7
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regiment

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #35 on: July 09, 2019, 03:14:58 pm »

what happens when we get a power cut  PANIC  ALL ROUND
 {-) {-) {-) {-)
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grendel

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #36 on: July 09, 2019, 03:48:04 pm »

what happens when we get a power cut  PANIC  ALL ROUND
 {-) {-) {-) {-)
Alexa phone the electricity board and report a power cut - Alexa  ---- ALEXA------ Alexa?
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malcolmfrary

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #37 on: July 09, 2019, 05:14:53 pm »

Alexa phone the electricity board and report a power cut - Alexa  ---- ALEXA------ Alexa?
Even if Alexa had a backup/standby battery, has the router/modem got a UPS?....is that plugged into a landline?
It used to be almost a rule that in every home with a landline, somewhere there should be a regular phone that didn't need power from the mains but drew its operating current from its line.  That way, if the power failed and the lights went out, you could trip over things looking for the ringing phone when your neighbours rang to tell you the power was out.
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Umi_Ryuzuki

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #38 on: July 09, 2019, 05:32:14 pm »

And for the aging generation... Amanda?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvT_gqs5ETk

 :-))

TheLongBuild

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #39 on: July 09, 2019, 05:48:36 pm »

 {-) {-) {-) {-) {-)

dodes

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #40 on: July 09, 2019, 06:05:39 pm »

Hi Colin understand where you come with these smart meters. Most people do not realise that part of your quarterly charge is a man coming round and reading your meter. Do the energy companies a cut in the charges to cover that no, also they can cut of your energy supply when ever they like without coming to your house!!!
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #41 on: July 09, 2019, 06:50:56 pm »

Dodes, I have been reporting my readings over the Internet for the last 10 years or more. Never more than an annual check from the companies.

Colin
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malcolmfrary

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #42 on: July 10, 2019, 09:35:02 am »

When the supply companies have all this minute by minute information, and the computational power to analyse it, how amazed are they going to be when they discover "seasons"?  I have long suspected that their account office workers not only work in the office, but also sleep there.  I mean, if they go outside to travel home, surely they will have noticed that the weather changes according to a fairly regular pattern?
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #43 on: July 10, 2019, 09:36:14 am »

In the light of today's announcement:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48925345

Man: Oh God! I think I'm having a heart attack. Alexa, call the quack at once.

Alexa: I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean. Would you like me to cook your goose for you?

Colin
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malcolmfrary

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #44 on: July 10, 2019, 10:00:12 am »

In the light of today's announcement:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48925345

Man: Oh God! I think I'm having a heart attack. Alexa, call the quack at once.

Alexa: I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean. Would you like me to cook your goose for you?

Colin
"Alexa, call me a taxi"
Alexa:  "You're a Taxi".
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grendel

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #45 on: July 10, 2019, 12:14:43 pm »

When the supply companies have all this minute by minute information, and the computational power to analyse it, how amazed are they going to be when they discover "seasons"?  I have long suspected that their account office workers not only work in the office, but also sleep there.  I mean, if they go outside to travel home, surely they will have noticed that the weather changes according to a fairly regular pattern?
that would mean they had to stop setting the direct debits during the winter when usage was higher and stop them benifiting from all of the interest on our credit in our energy accounts.
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Bob K

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #46 on: July 10, 2019, 03:26:58 pm »

Forget about "smart" voice activated devices.  I got one a few months ago and quickly got bored with cracker jokes.  At least the Alexa View has video display, but the voice activated light bulb and power socket are back in their boxes after failing to find anything truly useful to do with them.

Now we come on to the truly useless silly devices:  Mobile phone.  About as inept as the Alex / Siri units.
I use mine for making telephone calls when I am out, and being able to send text messages.  A huge expensive lump of "bling" unless you are into taking selfie pictures of your foot,  Nothing much mobiles can do that a good desktop PC can't do infinitely better.   Do I need to Google model boat supplies when driving?  Absolutely not. 
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #47 on: July 10, 2019, 04:07:36 pm »

Whether a mobile phone is useful depends on what you might need it for. I can't take my desktop abroad and the mobile allows me to connect to local wi fi and phone service which can be very useful in keeping in touch with family and friends. I can use it to manage the Model Boats website forum while I am away and keep in touch with what is going on there and indeed on theis forum too.
The maps function can come in useful too, for example we found it very useful when touring Nova Scotia and were unsure exactly where we were being surrounded by trees at an unsignposted minor road crossroad, it showed us which way we should go and our progress towards the main road.

There is a transalation application whereby you can point the camera at a notice in a foregn language and get an immediate trasnlation into English - very useful in Greece for example.

I have a regular meetup with friends in an area where the on street parking is mostly residents only but with a few open max 4 hour spaces. The machines won't let me use cash but I can use the phone to pay for parking using the Ringo application which saves a lot of money over using the loacal car parks.

As mentioned earlier, my phone can aslo be used to control the direction and programme of my hearing aids which is very useful if I am in one of those noisy situations where lots of people are speaking together and I just want to hear those immediately with me.

There are other handy features as well so for me the phone is not useless but offers significant practical benefits.

Colin
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DaveM

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #48 on: July 10, 2019, 04:55:13 pm »

I have a Samsung E1100 which was made and bought in the days when a mobile phone was just that and only that i.e. 2009. It sends and receives voice calls and texts. That's all I need it for. Full stop. The last time I checked its value on one of those "we buy your old phone" websites it was £0.18.

The problem is that we have continued to refer to vastly more sophisticated modern 4G and 5G devices as 'phones' when, in truth, that's the least of what they do.

I see today that Amazon have bought into the NHS by promoting their silly cylinder as a diagostic tool. Until they invent one with either a built-in MRI scanner or a long forefinger and a rubber glove I'd rather see my oncologist about Tubby the Tumour, deep down where the sun don't shine...
DaveM
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Google Home - Utterly pointless device.
« Reply #49 on: July 10, 2019, 05:33:57 pm »

Quote
The problem is that we have continued to refer to vastly more sophisticated modern 4G and 5G devices as 'phones' when, in truth, that's the least of what they do.

Quite right Dave, smartphones are essentially now hand held multi purpose computers. Plus the camera on mine is actually better than my not very old compact camera and that sometimes comes in handy too if I'm not carrying my DSLR. Nothing is essential but some things are nice to have and come in handy on a regular basis depending on your requirements.

Colin
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