Recruiting for Alexa Smart Home
- Thread starter DeLicious
- Start date
politics123
Active Member
You mean you can get paid to do home automation? Does that help with WAF? ^_^
How senior are the positions? Need any development VPs?
How senior are the positions? Need any development VPs?
pete_c
Guru
@WayneDB
Unrelating to OP.
How do you like your Obi as compared to your Ooma?
Here just went to a second line on the Ooma via the Ooma Linx (thinking it is a bluetooth device?) and have issues with it.
It is noisy and not really a clean second line. Yesterday kept getting dropped calls while using it inbound and outbound which is the first time I have seen this since getting the Ooma. I have read that they are oversubscribed these days.
A CT peer just went to using an Obi with Google Voice and he is a happy camper.
Unrelating to OP.
How do you like your Obi as compared to your Ooma?
Here just went to a second line on the Ooma via the Ooma Linx (thinking it is a bluetooth device?) and have issues with it.
It is noisy and not really a clean second line. Yesterday kept getting dropped calls while using it inbound and outbound which is the first time I have seen this since getting the Ooma. I have read that they are oversubscribed these days.
A CT peer just went to using an Obi with Google Voice and he is a happy camper.
I haven't used the Obi in a long time. Ooma service is better than when I had my old land line so I am happy with it, I live in a rural area so anything that works at all is pretty good. I got tired of the big city and traffic of Orange County in California and retired out in the country.pete_c said:
upstatemike
Senior Member
It's hard to join a conversation around Alexa smarthome automation without straying into forbidden roadmap topics but this is a core focus for me because it has had such a dramatic influence in engaging people who were previously either indifferent to, or struggling with, various smarthome technologies. People who used to curse and give up when they couldn't get the result they wanted from a smarthome device will just joke about it when Alexa makes a mistake! That difference in attitude coupled with the near zero learning curve of voice interfaces has me going "all-in: to incorporate Alexa integration into everything I can.
That said, there are a number of core challenges that I hope are being looked at by the Alexa development team. I don't know if there is any way to comment on any of these but I'll mention them just in case.
1- Interaction between different Echo units. With 10 Echos so far and expanding quickly, I find more and more situations where it would be useful to tell an Echo in one location to lower the volume or change the music on an Echo in another location. In other words have my Echos show up in my list of Smart Home devices so they can be controlled from other Echos.
2- Grouping Echos together. I'm assuming if the Echos were smart home devices you could create a group of them and then give a command for the whole group to play some music or raise the volume, etc.
3- Push Notifications. If I could use Echos for automation announcements it would be a real paradigm change as it would eliminate all manner of hard wired infrastructure and be infinitely and instantly reconfigurable.
4- Higher Fidelity options. I know there is going to be some integration between Sonos and Alexa eventually but it would be nice to see some other options that would be useful in a Smart Home environment such as Russound integration or some native Echo options from Amazon with higher fidelity speakers that could be configured as stereo pairs.
5- More robust TV control options than what is currently available. It needs to get to the point where you walk into a room and say what you want to see by channel, show, network, station, movie, or whatever and you get it. The key here being zero learning curve for the user to get the desired result.
Too bad I live on the wrong coast to be able to work for Amazon but I expect i will continue working with their Alexa products in a big way from now on. I hope the momentum they have going will continue to transform the whole definition of what a smart home can be.
That said, there are a number of core challenges that I hope are being looked at by the Alexa development team. I don't know if there is any way to comment on any of these but I'll mention them just in case.
1- Interaction between different Echo units. With 10 Echos so far and expanding quickly, I find more and more situations where it would be useful to tell an Echo in one location to lower the volume or change the music on an Echo in another location. In other words have my Echos show up in my list of Smart Home devices so they can be controlled from other Echos.
2- Grouping Echos together. I'm assuming if the Echos were smart home devices you could create a group of them and then give a command for the whole group to play some music or raise the volume, etc.
3- Push Notifications. If I could use Echos for automation announcements it would be a real paradigm change as it would eliminate all manner of hard wired infrastructure and be infinitely and instantly reconfigurable.
4- Higher Fidelity options. I know there is going to be some integration between Sonos and Alexa eventually but it would be nice to see some other options that would be useful in a Smart Home environment such as Russound integration or some native Echo options from Amazon with higher fidelity speakers that could be configured as stereo pairs.
5- More robust TV control options than what is currently available. It needs to get to the point where you walk into a room and say what you want to see by channel, show, network, station, movie, or whatever and you get it. The key here being zero learning curve for the user to get the desired result.
Too bad I live on the wrong coast to be able to work for Amazon but I expect i will continue working with their Alexa products in a big way from now on. I hope the momentum they have going will continue to transform the whole definition of what a smart home can be.
wkearney99
Senior Member
I likewise have a fair number of Alexa units. I agree on your points 1-4 and don't share your perspective about 5.
Video watching is random enough that I don't see voice control being something I'd tolerate using. Sure, turning the TV on/off or selecting sources might be useful, but NOT direct program selecting, let along ffwd/rwd features. But I wouldn't argue against it being available as an option for others.
I very much dislike that I can't control timers from other devices. As in, timer in the kitchen is going off but I'm across the house and my local Echo can't cancel the other. Likewise, I can't set a timer or alarm from one unit to be heard from another (or several). For example, setting a wake up alarm for the kids. Or a go-home-before-you're-late alarm for kids down in the rec room.
Don't get me started on the disaster that is setting up devices on the App. It's just... awful. No decent sorting, no multi-select for grouping and NO BACKUP. I'd put up with some of it if they at least offered a browser interface to make it less tedious to use. Scrolling around in the app when you've got upwards of 200 devices is just terrible.
I'd sorely like to have a way to list what devices exist in a room. I can't always remember what a light it called. Master bedroom lights, for example, ceiling cans, ceiling fan light, reading lamps on left/right, table lamp, etc. "Alexa, what devices are in the Master Bedroom?" would be darned handy. It is at least somewhat smart about responding "I have multiple devices named Master Bedroom, which one?". How about "Would you like me to list them?"
As for audio, I'd love to have an option to redirect only some of the audio stream. As in, music out the Aux port but keep Alexa messages on the device itself. Or via BT. It's helpful to have the device as a focal point for requests/responses, especially if the music is cranked up loud.
Now, if they'd just figure out a way to get my Dot to pair with the radio in my Porsche...
Video watching is random enough that I don't see voice control being something I'd tolerate using. Sure, turning the TV on/off or selecting sources might be useful, but NOT direct program selecting, let along ffwd/rwd features. But I wouldn't argue against it being available as an option for others.
I very much dislike that I can't control timers from other devices. As in, timer in the kitchen is going off but I'm across the house and my local Echo can't cancel the other. Likewise, I can't set a timer or alarm from one unit to be heard from another (or several). For example, setting a wake up alarm for the kids. Or a go-home-before-you're-late alarm for kids down in the rec room.
Don't get me started on the disaster that is setting up devices on the App. It's just... awful. No decent sorting, no multi-select for grouping and NO BACKUP. I'd put up with some of it if they at least offered a browser interface to make it less tedious to use. Scrolling around in the app when you've got upwards of 200 devices is just terrible.
I'd sorely like to have a way to list what devices exist in a room. I can't always remember what a light it called. Master bedroom lights, for example, ceiling cans, ceiling fan light, reading lamps on left/right, table lamp, etc. "Alexa, what devices are in the Master Bedroom?" would be darned handy. It is at least somewhat smart about responding "I have multiple devices named Master Bedroom, which one?". How about "Would you like me to list them?"
As for audio, I'd love to have an option to redirect only some of the audio stream. As in, music out the Aux port but keep Alexa messages on the device itself. Or via BT. It's helpful to have the device as a focal point for requests/responses, especially if the music is cranked up loud.
Now, if they'd just figure out a way to get my Dot to pair with the radio in my Porsche...
wkearney99
Senior Member
drvnbysound said:
Irvine? Hmmm, what was there?
upstatemike said:
Thanks for the interest, Mike. IIRC, we've had some interesting conversations in the past
You're absolutely right, in that I can't comment on any of that As for living on the wrong coast, there are plenty of Alexa jobs (albeit, not SmartHome-specific) in our Cambridge, MA office, so those who prefer to stay on the East coast can check those out on jobs.amazon.com
wkearney99 said:
Limiting the scope of my reply to just your last sentence, as I can't comment on most of it
As for pairing a Dot with your car radio, I do exactly this in my Nissan Rogue. I have a Dot (fits perfectly in the cup holder!) that I connect to my stereo over bluetooth and use my phone as a hotspot. It gives me full access to my Amazon music library and Alexa functionality in the car with responses over the speaker system. It does have a few downsides: 1. I can't use my phone with bluetooth in the car since the bluetooth connection is used by the dot, but I try not to talk on the phone at all while I'm driving anyways, or just hand the phone to my wife, and 2. the background noise and road noise inherent in driving gives the Dot some troubles with detecting when I am done talking, so it will often continue listening even after I've finished my request. In any case, it's a work in progress!
pete_c
Guru
Yeah here the automobile(s) have built in 3G-LTE and TTS/VR. Never liked the TTS/VR so shut off. It was low on the WAF when I took apart the automobile after it was a couple of weeks old and under warranty still. There is a rack of stuff that is a standard of sorts in the rear of the automobile. Bought a Gizmo made in Germany to become a device on the bus which I could see with the head's up display. I connected said device to a mini computer that did internet et al stuff and did also install MS SAPI on it which I do not use any how. Automobile has satellite radio and a built in MP3 player that I used to use until they started to advertise on satellite radio. SO I just moved my entire replicate of my music to the drive on the mini pc. I put a network cable and USB connections to the front of the console and glove box. I do not like touchscreen / distraction of a bunch of stuff on a touchscreen for use in the car while driving and mapped the radio knobs and steering wheel buttons for navigation on the very simple basic menus (well also playing around with that joystick style navigator).
Personally the less distractions while driving the better you are. IE: saw a teenager (3-4 years ago nearby) get hit by a semi truck while she went flying through a red light while looking down texting. (all of the texts had been recorded for time syncing). The semi truck was driving at the posted speed limit of 55 MPH. She died over a period of about 30 minutes while parmedics were trying to extract her body from the vehicle. Lost cause cuz she was in pieces any how.
Personally the less distractions while driving the better you are. IE: saw a teenager (3-4 years ago nearby) get hit by a semi truck while she went flying through a red light while looking down texting. (all of the texts had been recorded for time syncing). The semi truck was driving at the posted speed limit of 55 MPH. She died over a period of about 30 minutes while parmedics were trying to extract her body from the vehicle. Lost cause cuz she was in pieces any how.
