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- Everything is too complicated: our annual list of confusing tech questions - The Verge
- Virtual Assistants Have Hit a Wall—and It’ll Be Years Before They Reach Full Potential - The Wall Street Journal
- Kohler’s smart toilet promises a ‘fully-immersive experience’ - The Verge
| Everything is too complicated: our annual list of confusing tech questions - The Verge Posted: 06 Jan 2019 07:00 AM PST  It's CES time again, with a flood of gadget news set to arrive when the industry's biggest tech show kicks off later this afternoon. As usual, it's easy to see the broad outlines of the show already: tons of new devices that support Google Assistant and Alexa, a flood of nonsense 5G news, and the TV industry trying to make people care about 8K after finally hitting mass adoption of 4K. I think gadgets are endlessly fascinating and the silly innovation at CES is extremely fun, so I love all of this. But just like last year, I'm coming to the show after spending several weeks at home for the holidays, and I kept a list of all the tech questions my family and friends asked me during the break. It's a crucial reminder of an important fact I think the entire tech industry forgets constantly: most people have no idea how anything actually works, and are already hopelessly confused by the tech they have. I wrote this last year, and it still holds true: think of the tech industry as being built on an ever-increasing number of assumptions: that you know what a computer is, that saying "enter your Wi-Fi password" means something to you, that you understand what an app is, that you have the desire to manage your Bluetooth device list, that you'll figure out what USB-C dongles you need, and on and on. Lately, the tech industry is starting to make these assumptions faster than anyone can be expected to keep up. And after waves of privacy-related scandals in tech, the misconceptions and confusion about how things works are both greater and more reasonable than ever. So let's make this a CES tradition: a list of things the tech industry assumes everyone knows, but that are actually extremely confusing if you're not in the bubble. I've got a bunch of my own here, as well as several sourced from this Twitter thread, but I want to start with the most-frequently-asked question of all: No one knows how Facebook ad targeting works and everyone assumes their phones are listening to themThis, without question, is the number one thing people talk to me about lately. Everyone has a story about how they've never searched for something, but saw an ad for it after talking about it with a friend. Everyone. At this point people hate and fear online ads for diametrically-opposed reasons: they hate the poorly-targeted ads that show them products they've already bought, and they fear the hyper-targeted ads showing them things the machine has deduced they might buy in the future. Until every ad on every platform has a button that displays exactly why it was targeted in clear detail, this is a no-win situation. No matter how many times the industry explains lookalike audiences and location signals or whatever else is going on, people will continue to assume — if not argue vehemently — that Facebook is listening to them. Ads are sick, and the only cure is extreme transparency. Okay, here's the rest of the list. As you read it, don't just answer the questions in your head. Of course you know the answers! You're a Verge reader. Instead, just ask yourself: Why doesn't everyone else know the answers? Why doesn't all this stuff work together better? Why is everything named so poorly? And most of all: why is it so hard for these companies to just explain what's going on?
CES is great for seeing a little glimpse of the future, but real lives in the present are messy and complicated. Assuming that anyone cares about downloading one more app or creating one more secure password is a huge and potentially dangerous mistake. It's fun to look at new products and check out far-fetched concept touchscreen refrigerators, but I think the most important questions we can ask when we look at new tech products are actually the simplest: how does it work? How do you set it up? What happens when people don't understand something? Do I need to create a new username and password? Will that lead to data collection? Is all of that secure? Does it work well with other things I've already bought? If you're not asking these questions, you're not only doing yourself a disservice, you're doing a disservice to everyone around you. Because if you're reading this list, you're the person the industry most needs to impress — and you're the person everyone else comes to for help. |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2019 06:00 AM PST  It has been nearly a year since Apple started selling the HomePod smart speaker, but Siri, the talking assistant that powers it and most other Apple devices, isn’t living up to its promise. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images  12 Comments Every night, just before I go to sleep, I walk the dog, put my computer to sleep, flip off the TV, run around turning off all the lights, lock the front door and finally climb into bed. (There’s teeth-brushing in there somewhere, too.) I don’t exactly dread the runaround, but I’d rather have extra sleep. And when I cozy up under the covers, only to notice the bathroom light is still on? My kingdom for a better way. My virtual assistant desperately wants to help me. Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, Apple ’s AAPL 4.27% Siri—even Samsung’s Bixby and others—have begun allowing users to set up “routines” that combine many actions into a single command. Shout “OK Google, good morning!” at your smart speaker and it can (in theory) open the blinds, turn on the lights, show you traffic and your calendar and turn on NPR. Tell Alexa to start a dance party, and watch it turn on the disco ball and fire up the “Glitter and Glowsticks” playlist. Amazon’s Alexa If you have the skills to set up Routines in the Alexa app—and have all the right smart-home accessories—you can yell a single command at your Amazon Echo speaker and accomplish a bunch of things at once. Photo: David Pierce/The Wall Street Journal These routines embody what virtual assistants are meant to do, connecting all our gadgets and services and making everything work together. All you have to do is ask. And maybe not even that—these tools aim to get to know you so well, they’ll anticipate your needs. But these multistep systems are complicated to create, and they often require buying “smart” accessories and memorizing specific phrases. At the CES tech show in Las Vegas this week, I expect to see a convention center chock-full of gadgets with Google Assistant or Alexa inside. But I don’t want a thousand commands for a thousand devices. In most cases, voice-controlled assistants have hit a wall where they perform a specific set of tasks well and not much else. They may be crazy ambitious, but they aren’t ready to take on real work. Hard RecipesIf you are willing to do some finagling, there are already ways to make your devices and services work together better. Tools like IFTTT and Zapier let you connect web services, so you can automatically save every photo you share on Instagram into a Dropbox folder, or file your sales contacts into a spreadsheet. I have one that saves every tweet I like into an Evernote folder, so I can read the linked article later. Apple’s Siri The Siri Shortcuts app gives Apple’s virtual assistant many new powers, but programming them feels like it requires an advanced degree. Photo: David Pierce/The Wall Street Journal If you use an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or HomePod, Apple’s Siri Shortcuts app allows you to create quick ways to turn a set of photos into a GIF, or dial the number for whatever’s next on your calendar (a must-do for any frequent conference caller). Alexa users can open the Alexa app on their phone, swipe to the side menu and choose Routines to get started. Google Assistant users can go to Settings, toggle to the Assistant tab and tap Routines. All these tools offer sample routines, and I recommend trying a few. If you want to create a specific routine from scratch, just know: It’s hard. It feels like putting together Ikea furniture without the instructions—most of the pieces are there, but good luck building something that stands up. Here’s a real sequence from my own action-packed life: OK, when I get home after work—oops, have to allow location access—turn on the lights. Wait, what’s the difference between “Control device,” “Control group” and “Control scene?” And why do I have two lights called “Living room?” Then turn on the TV—oh, and the soundbar too—but shoot, that isn’t connected to Alexa yet—and tune to...oh I can’t pick a channel in here. Ah, forget it. Cue the OrchestraEven in the best-case scenario, these tools assume you know your needs and which tools will satisfy them. Quick, can you tick off your whole morning routine—in the right order? Or say the exact time you go to bed every night? A sufficiently smart home should observe and adapt to your needs. That kind of proactive, thoughtful help is a long way off. It will require computers that understand far more about us than they do now. Google Assistant Google’s Assistant knows a remarkable amount about you but still requires you to manually set up all your routines. Photo: David Pierce/The Wall Street Journal The companies behind these assistants say they are confident they’ll get there eventually. “The goal with many Alexa features is that they continually learn from customer usage, and become more automated and personalized, and Routines is no different,” said Miriam Daniel, Amazon’s vice president for Alexa and Echo. But companies will need to collect even more of your activity and personal data, and have smarter machine-learning tools that can run right on your devices. You’ll also have to buy internet-connected versions of practically everything you own, and make sure everything you use works with the same assistant—because Alexa, Siri and Google aren’t on speaking terms. We, too, are an obstacle. Suppose my assistant were smart enough to turn off my lights just before I do. That might creep me out. And what’s the point in my doors automatically locking if I still have to walk around checking that they really did? Right now, Google Assistant’s routines are the simplest to set up, and Google’s existing trove of data likely gives it a lead in this kind of automation and personalization. (Nobody knows me like Google knows me.) Newsletter Sign-upApple says it has been conservative about proactively pushing out notifications so far, because unhelpful prompts would be annoying, but the company is getting confident enough in Siri’s abilities to pester helpfully. The closest thing to the future we were promised is the moment Siri pops a notification onto your lock screen asking if you want to dial in to your next meeting. These small steps in the right direction are where tech companies should focus their efforts. For years, the CES halls have been filled with gadgets that simply took a thing and gave it an internet connection. But the smart-home future is about making all those things work in harmony. And that future shouldn’t include programming them yourself. |
| Kohler’s smart toilet promises a ‘fully-immersive experience’ - The Verge Posted: 06 Jan 2019 05:24 AM PST  CES has barely begun, but 146-year-old plumbing company Kohler has already stolen the show with what will undoubtedly be 2019's hottest gadget: an "intelligent toilet" with built-in surround sound speakers, ambient mood lighting, and Amazon Alexa voice controls. Truly, we live in an age of wonders. Kohler's Numi 2.0 Intelligent Toilet is one of those strange products that draws so heavily on buzzwords and tech trends that it's indistinguishable from parody. In a press release, Kohler promises that customers will enjoy a "fully-immersive experience" thanks to the many "lighting and audio enhancements" of the Numi 2.0 Intelligent Toilet. They'll be able to set the mood, using voice commands to cue up music and customize the lighting, all while Kohler's PureWarmth toilet seat add-on toasts their behind to their preferred temperature. The only blessing is that Kohler isn't advertising the product as "artificially intelligent" or "AI-powered" — the empty epithets usually given to gadgets with tacked-on voice controls. As the "2.0" suggests, this isn't actually Kohler's first foray into connected bathroom gadgets. The company unveiled its Kohler Connect line-up at last year's CES, with a smart shower, smart mirror, and smart tub to keep their smart toilet company. Not much has changed since then. There have been some minor tweaks (the Verdera Voice Lighted Mirror now supports Google Assistant in addition to Amazon Alexa, for example, and the lighting now uses the Philips Hue API) but the basic offering remains the same. You get music, you get lights, you get Kohler's PerfectFill™ bathtub technology drawing you a bath to your "preferred preset temperature and desired depth with a simple voice command." Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution brought us to this. The main news is that Kohler has finally released pricing for these devices, as reported by CNET. Its smart mirrors start at $1,249 for the 24-inch version, going up to $1,624 for the 40-inch size; the DTV+ Shower System with voice commands and spa presets costs $3,000; the free-standing bathtub, part of the Veil Lighted Bathroom Collection, costs $4,849; and the star of the show, the Numi Intelligent Toilet, goes for $7,000 (or $9,000 in black). Anyway, if you feel like your life has been missing an app for your bathroom and a fanfare when you use the john, you can find out more about Kohler's Connect line-up on the company's website. Get ready to immerse yourself, fully. |
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