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My Black Friday

1K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  AtomicTom 
#1 ·
In my country Thanksgiving is an unknown phenomenon and thus Black Friday must be even more unknown. But the ever present commerce opportunities don't escape even the tiniest chain store over here so the bombardment of 'Black Friday Deals' emails started some days ago. A good trigger to unsubscribe to all but a few commercial newsletters and so I did.

I wanted to buy a Google Home 'smart' speaker for some time and as I get a 50 Euro gift voucher from my company every December I was planning to order one next month. But lo and behold, Google decided to establish some presence in the Low Countries and lowered the price to 99 Euro yesterday so I picked one up. With next months voucher it'll eventually cost me 49 Euro.

I've been tinkering with it today and I must say the music quality that comes from this relatively tiny device is quite surprising! It actually emits some bass and I'm contemplating buying a second one to make a stereo pair.

As we have a Nest thermostat it was easy to link that to the Google Home and that opened a Star Trek scenario :D OK Google, make the temperature 21 degrees (Celsius). OK Google, what will be tomorrows weather?

I'm fully aware that Google is kinda listening in because there's a grand scheme behind all of this and I've declined to link my credit card data. Yes, in doing so I'll be able to order a pizza and pay for it the same time but that is a bridge too far. I have yet to discover all the possibilities but now I'm confronted with a spouse that is rolling her eyes so often that it turns me sea sick :D OK Google, what is Watch Freeks? :D
 
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#2 ·
You're officially more high-tech than I. Actually the missus usually pumps the brakes on these types of things. She returned an Amazon Alexa and an Echo gifted to us last Christmas.

I don't know what I'm missing though, so remain blissfully ignorant (with the exception of food/drink delivery apps on my iPhone). I like those. :D
 
#5 ·
Sounds like an incredible deal there Frans, and honestly think you are going
to be having so much fun throughout the holidays that it won't be funny. :clapping-hands-abov
Can't imagine how great it's going to be hooked up to that Nest thingamabob
either ! :eek: :) ..Really is starting to sound like a Star Trek episode, or movie
for you there. :alien: Hope that you really enjoy it sir. ..Congratulations !!!
Going to be pretty terrific, and fun !
 
#7 ·
The tragidy that unfolds in this thread is testament to the gap between the tech providers and the tech users. “It just works”, just doesn’t work for some. But it’s not all that complicated. Driving a car in heavy traffic is more complicated but still everybody does it. In The Netherlands we don’t need the NSA to eavesdrop on the general population, in an act of lunacy our parliament granted our own secret services extensive powers to tap all internet traffic on a 24/7 basis. I’ll spare you the hollow and naive arguments that made this possible. I’m fully aware of the risks this tech brings with it and also that some of it can be avoided by just don’t using it. The benefits are what you want them to be but usually used to ‘sell’ the products. They don’t solve any common problems and I regard them as toys for boys. The Dutch voice recognition is still in beta stage, which is most notable on the voice feedback as the (synthesised female) voice misinterprets English terms that are used in Dutch sentences. Room in English has a completely different meaning than room in Dutch which means ‘cream’. With those words the AI struggles. Live long and prosper! :D
 
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#13 ·
Frans:
So happy to be able to correspond with fellow WF's
Have had a lengthy experience with Webmaster oe'r
passwords.
Hope you remember my watch "handle"

Lou Snutt

What was your 'handle' again? :D
 
#16 ·
Frans:
I have a son who is "techy"to the max.
He manages the local Pier 1 Imports I T Dept.
I'm the complete opposite of "techy". I fell
afoul of the website manager, re: password.
They have their priorities.

Had to get my son to contrive a pw, site Mgr
would accept. What did one of our Congressmen
call the net? Information Super Highway? I guess.

Lou Snutt
 
#17 ·
After a few months of using the speaker I can report the ups and down of it. That the speaker is constantly 'listening' in is very obvious now. The bloody thing springs into action when we are watching English language TV programs. Saying in Dutch that the question wasn't understood. What question? :D

The interface between this and my home automation system and our Logitech remote control (Harmony Elite) still cannot be established. That's one of the downsides of living in a small country (but the 13th ranking economy worldwide) with an even smaller language reach. No priority. I can set the speaker to English to make it work but hell will freeze over before I'll take that step.

What has surprised me is the the way this speaker handles music. Far, far better than I expected. And yes, I can say "Hey Google, smooth jazz playlist" and after a short pause it will answer in Dutch and start playing a Spotify smooth jazz playlist. You will need at least a free account to make this work. And it does.
 
#18 ·
Sounds pretty impressive though overall Frans, and a lot like Alexa with
all of the little quirks, and bugs. Really seems like a lot of times when we
first get one of these new types of things they really blow us away, and
impress. But then over time, we start noticing all of these things that end
up annoying us. :bounce:

Can only imagine years down the road how everything will be as the
technology improves even more. :eek:

I hope things continue to work better with it, and you can enjoy it
even more during the year sir. ..Thanks so much for the report ! :thumb:
 
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