AmazonThe Alexa Skills set has a wide array of practical uses through voice command tech
The news about the Amazon Alexa being able to control GE appliances that are connected to Wi-Fi may impress most people, but the inventor of Siri has other opinions.
In an interview with Business Insider, Babak Hodjat said that people shouldn’t buy into the hype created by the recent news.
“It has to be augmented with all sorts of other visual cues, interactions, and maybe show some icons to allow the user to be able to click,” he said. “A solely speech recognition based system with no other user interface or contextual elements is complete.”
To quell his doubts about the Amazon Alexa software enabling GE appliances, he said there should also be news about a camera installed on the washing machine or microwave in order to capture the nuances in the conversation.
He said that this is another constraint of the Amazon Echo which relies solely on voice commands, unlike Siri which uses the phone’s screen to capture the user’s face when he or she makes a request.
Talking about the Amazon Echo and Amazon Alexa, Hodjat said that “Right now, it’s just this little side niche that’s cool and you play around with it.”
Nevertheless, while the news might have disappointed him, Amazon managed to deliver what it promised for the Alexa and Echo, as a result of its partnership with GE which has been dubbed the Geneva.
CNET said that Geneva can now be downloaded via the Alexa Skills Store. Those who own Wi-Fi appliances like refrigerators, dishwashers, dryers, water heaters, washing machines and ovens may just enable the Alexa Skill.
