STT 1: Voice Assistants in Your Ear

Episode One of TWiT’s newest show is here!

What do you think?

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Love the show. I’m a long time HA enthusiast

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I don’t use any voice assistant or smart tech other then my phone, so I hope to learn a lot. Although being an Android user the constant talk about Apple only shortcuts dis get annoying. Hopefully future shows will cover Android automation as well.

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Great idea for a show, and a great first show!

So many different standards/brands/interoperability issues in HA it’ll be good to hear how you all navigate it.

NFC tags - sounds like hours of fun! Recommendations on which to purchase?

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Great first episode! Would love to have someone come on to explain how to create/develop your own Amazon skills.

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love it, but I wish the pseudonym already established (mostly by Andy) for smart device would have been kept.

Aloysious, Shlomo and Guillermo :grin:

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Thank you for this note, @uteck! We will be paying special attention to this going forward. I want everyone’s tech represented!

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Love this idea! We will be on the lookout for a good guest for this.

My co-host @matthewcassinelli will be able to help you with this!

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@Gothelf Here’s my blog post on my recommendations – 4 types of NFC tags to buy for your Siri Shortcuts automations

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Love the show but I really am frustrated that no one on Twit talks about open source home automation platforms like Home Assistant or OpenHab, or paid solutions like Homeseer. You can do SO much more with all the HA tech out there.

I use Home Assistant and I’ve done much deeper integrations/automations via Node-Red than anything talked about on the show. I can turn my television on either on the wall via an RF wall switch or through Alexa that will lower all the lights or make them a colour I wish them to be. My smart home knows when I’m home and can adjust the heat thresholds based on if I’m home or not. I can have my home warm up before I come home from work. If someone enters my home that’s not me, my Wyze cameras send me live images via telegram. There’s so much more you can do with a home automation hub solution than you can with any one proprietary ecosystem.

As far as wake words, I would prefer you just beep them out or delete part of the wake word (as your production people did at one point). I prefer that, to having fake wake words. Because you have to remember it, and it sort of takes away from the spontaneity of the show when you have to be conscious of the words you’re using when talking about tech.

Love the show.

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Worry not, I’ve got A LOT to say about home automation platforms like the ones you’ve mentioned here. We will get to it :grin:

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I loved the first episode. Already listened to it twice. I’m looking forward to watching you on the live stream and for Leo letting you do official videos.

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How about “Shortie” as the nickname for Siri?

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I think ‘sushi’ rolls of the toung better. And Siri can be a bit raw at times.

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Is the plan to keep this podcast audio only?

Video can’t pay for itself in sponsor fees until a show has more than 30,000 subscribers. So to avoid making a loss, the idea is that new shows that aren’t purely visual are going to start as audio-only, then if the numbers take off adding video becomes an option.

Siri’s nickname being “Shortcuts” is liable to cause confusion, particularly on a show dedicated to discussing “smart” tech such as Siri Shortcuts and Automations. I think Andy Ihnatko’s are perfectly serviceable, as well as delightfully absurd and healthfully irreverent.

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I was going to suggest hey Shodan for Siri, but Shlomo is fine, too

@matthewcassinelli Thanks for the Twitch launch shortcut! I challenge you to roll out Automations for the entire TWiT network that have Siri prompt us 5 minutes before our subscribed shows go live with a tap-through to join!

I’m not good enough with Shortcuts and Automations yet to do that: all I could manage is an Automation which triggers your Shortcut 5 minutes before go-time, and what I want at the very least is for Siri to ask me if now’s a good time, rather than the Automation smacking me into Twitch no matter what I might be in the middle of (bonus points for respecting Do Not Disturb status). Pretty-please? I bet everyone who watches TWiT network shows and can run Siri Shortcut Automations will love you forever for it!