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North_South_Side t1_j2595po wrote

I just don't ee the appeal of these things at all. I've been to friends' houses where they have shown off the capabilities... and it's not very impressive at all. Sure "Play salsa music" will get it to play salsa music, but... who cares?

These things are largely solutions looking for a problem.

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retirement_savings t1_j25fk0y wrote

They're perfect hands free kitchen devices. Set a timer. Play Spotify. Turn the TV on. Turn the volume down.

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The_Troyminator t1_j25q0dj wrote

This is where they shine. When my hands are covered in batter and I need to set a timer, voice is awesome. It's also nice when a recipe has step-by-step instructions you can trigger by voice. The intercom functionality is kind of nice too. It's an easy way to get people to come down when dinner is ready.

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Not_floridaman t1_j28vcde wrote

Yes! We love it for cooking and the broadcast feature. Also, each night I have a family bell that chimes and my kids know that means it's bedtime.

The displays are also good for looking at the cameras/doorbell.

My husband thought they were wholly unnecessary but once we had one or two, he saw their usefulness and we got more. I love being able to move the music from speaker to speaker as I'm cleaning also.

Oh! And turning off lights and locking the door when I'm already in bed!

Okay, I just really love everything about it.

*^(not paid for by Google unfortunately)

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ChapterN7 t1_j25dfx1 wrote

I care. I like that I can just tell it to play whatever song I want, and it starts up a whole playlist based on that song. How's the weather tomorrow? What's the news? Turn off all the lights. Turn the TV on and go to this or that channel. Where's my stuff (amazon delivery)? Set an alarm for 5AM. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Play this or that audiobook.

List goes on and on. I know it's all the rage to hate on these things while the cellphone on your desk carries all the same vulnerabilities, but I've found them to be pretty convenient in a lot of ways.

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dreamingabout t1_j25psmd wrote

All my lights are smart lights and I generally control them through my google home devices, it’s convenient to just say “hey google turn on the hallway light”. Or my fan or air purifier, it’s nice not having to get up to shut them off or turn them or look at my phone to shut the smart plug off when I’m still half asleep in the morning. I’m having issues with my new tv, but previously I could go “hey google skip 1:30s of this show” to get through intros. It’s obviously not for everyone, but I enjoy the convenience of controlling my home with just my voice.

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North_South_Side t1_j25qqv5 wrote

I can see some upsides. But the one friend who was demonstrating it for me had similar issues like you had. He said he had everything set up really well for a while, then it stopped working perfectly. He re-adjusted it over and over. Then eventually instead of fixing it, he just started turning lights on manually like before. I think he started having troubles when they added more stuff to it, and it just plain didn't work with his new TV.

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dreamingabout t1_j267amx wrote

Yeah previously I had a chrome cast and stuff so it worked pretty seamlessly with my google voice, but now I just have a smart tv and it wants me to do voice commands using their remote and I haven’t been able to properly connect them.

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fleetmack t1_j27aj0f wrote

Alerts at 2am.when my 2 year old kids got out of their room we're handy

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beebog t1_j259pld wrote

“ok google, family room light on”

like have we really devolved to this point lol. do you think i should start saving up for my wall-e scooter now or just take out a loan when the time comes

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stripybaby t1_j25hsyf wrote

My mom has COPD and it can difficult or tiresome for her to move around her house. When she was staying with me she enjoyed being able to vocally turn off a light instead of using her energy to go do that. She did think is was creepy at times and worried about someone may be listening to her, but overall she felt it helped her. I can see the benefits in those situations for people who aren’t as able bodied as others.

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beebog t1_j25kgex wrote

i mean yeah absolutely that makes sense for accessibility or adapting a space for better independence, but i do believe that those circumstances are in the minority

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EssVeeUU t1_j26184q wrote

I disagree, I bought a hub because I have a friend who wanted to give me their old nest (eventually). It's a godsend when you have children. Turn off the light, set an alarm for bedtime every night, throw on a YouTube video when I need a quick distraction. It definitely has its benefits with little ones involved. There's a shopping list feature too I haven't gotten to play with but could be very beneficial with one person out and the other at home physically checking for items and adding to the list.

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beebog t1_j26hovx wrote

i guess that’s fair, i have littles at home too, honestly i feel like i would just probably forget to use it if i had it lol. these things have never seemed worth it to me but i’m glad there’s people who enjoy them! im definitely not much of a consumer in many ways. i have a couple friends who basically have their whole apartments fitted with these or the amazon alexa one though

are your kids able to make online orders / purchases from these? that’s a deterrent also i’ve seen with the amazon ones is kids just started ordering shit willy nilly racking up charges

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jswitzer t1_j27ixxx wrote

Voice purchasing is disabled by default. You can also set up speaker identification for it or require a verification code.

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EssVeeUU t1_j26o5ux wrote

Got a free Alexa from my grandma and wasn't a fan. Got the hub for $50 black Friday sale and the video monitor made a huge difference with our initial usage. Got the smart lights for $5 a piece for a different black Friday sale and it was a lifesaver for bed time with a chunky almost 1 year old and clingy almost 3 year old. However, they can barely talk so we have little concerns with purchases for the moment, but we also don't have any cards attached to the Google account, we just made a family one.

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Not_floridaman t1_j28xhd2 wrote

We have 3 video hubs and 4 minis and it's amazing with kids. We have the family bell for bedtime and for mornings to put shoes on and grab their jackets because I'm usually running around so Google can get them started off I lose track of time, can pull up recipes easily, set timers for when they're fighting over a toy or for cooking, can send music from room to room while I'm cleaning and being and to turn off my lights or lock my front door by voice is incredible when my lupus and RA are flaring. I also like being able to see who's at the doorbell on the hubs or seeing the cameras. The hubs also have games and stories and my son LOVES the lightning McQueen interactive stories.

10/10 recommend for people with or without kids but especially with kids.

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EssVeeUU t1_j28xrf4 wrote

.... I need to look into these lightning McQueen interactive stories. My son's going to TRIP. He keeps trying to play the fish feeding game but he can't talk good enough for Google yet 😂 Over time we are interested in the doorbell and speakers as well, and we have a second hub we haven't set up yet. How do you like the lock? Do you feel secure with it? Boyfriend is paranoid as fuckkk and that one might be the hardest sell for him.

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Not_floridaman t1_j29gw1h wrote

The lightning McQueen is really fun! My son will sit there with it for 20-30 minutes!

As for the lock, yes I do. My husband is super paranoid but what sold him is that we can give it "guest codes" do they don't get our actual code and we can delete the guest codes as often as you need to so no one who shouldn't have access can't just walk in. My husband works weird hours sometimes coming home after midnight or gone overnight and I wasn't the best at remembering to lock the door so it's really, really nice not having to go back downstairs to lock the door if I forgot to until I had gotten into bed or he'll check when he's working and lock it for me (sounds creepier than it is lol, I'm just really forgetful and grew up in a house where we never locked the front door).

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