An entirely unexpected top comment about the AI pin that's supposed to replace smartphones.

Only thing most people use "voice assistants" for is setting timers. Doing the "hey Siri/Google/Alexa, set a 40 minute timer" is the only voice interaction most people are willing to do outside of using the feature to initiate phone calls while driving. Anything else makes you feel like a weirdo or is less convenient than just using a physical interface with your hands and eyeballs.

Honestly, voice isn't the best interface for most things. Voice is extremely low bandwidth, the only reason it is so effective for a lot of person to person communication is because there is a layer of subconscious meta-communication (facial expression, body language, eye pupils, hands, etc) happening at the same time. You can do a lot more and do it faster with a keyboard, mouse, or touch interface. Just think about how frustrating it is using only voice to instruct another human being on completing an unfamiliar task, think about what IT help desks have to deal with all day. It's easier to just "do it yourself" than tell someone else what to do with your voice.

Even if natural language recognition systems were 100% accurate all the time, it just takes too many words to describe exactly what you want done compared to just using an interface with your hands. What someone can do with a split second flick of their fingers takes at least a 3 to 10 second long sentence to order done through voice. Furthermore voice isn't good for a device communicating back most information, the idiom "a picture is worth a thousand words" stands true. Someone can scan an article, list, or image with their eyes and find whatever relevant info they need a lot faster than a voice assistant can speak it too them.

6 comments

Zero creativity. Atleast go with universal healthcare. 'Insurance' is so profit brained.
no one's ever going to use this thing because talking to a piece of technology in public is incredibly embarrassing. i have literally never seen someone even use Siri, so who's going to buy something where that's the only way to use it?
- Talking to a piece of technology in private is also incredibly embarrassing. There's almost no way to do it without looking like a total dork. Even Patrick Stewart looks like a dork doing it on Star Trek TNG.
  
  Only thing most people use "voice assistants" for is setting timers. Doing the "hey Siri/Google/Alexa, set a 40 minute timer" is the only voice interaction most people are willing to do outside of using the feature to initiate phone calls while driving. Anything else makes you feel like a weirdo or is less convenient than just using a physical interface with your hands and eyeballs.
  Honestly, voice isn't the best interface for most things. Voice is extremely low bandwidth, the only reason it is so effective for a lot of person to person communication is because there is a layer of subconscious meta-communication (facial expression, body language, eye pupils, hands, etc) happening at the same time. You can do a lot more and do it faster with a keyboard, mouse, or touch interface. Just think about how frustrating it is using only voice to instruct another human being on completing an unfamiliar task, think about what IT help desks have to deal with all day. It's easier to just "do it yourself" than tell someone else what to do with your voice.
  Even if natural language recognition systems were 100% accurate all the time, it just takes too many words to describe exactly what you want done compared to just using an interface with your hands. What someone can do with a split second flick of their fingers takes at least a 3 to 10 second long sentence to order done through voice. Furthermore voice isn't good for a device communicating back most information, the idiom "a picture is worth a thousand words" stands true. Someone can scan an article, list, or image with their eyes and find whatever relevant info they need a lot faster than a voice assistant can speak it too them.