Microsoft’s ‘Home Hub’ probably isn’t even hardware at all Microsoft isn’t in a rush to follow Amazon and Google by planting a pair of creepy listening ears in your living room, disguised as a robot buddy. Microsoft’s fabled “Home Hub” may not even be hardware at all. But you can see why tongues are wagging. Given the success of Amazon’s Echo speaker, and with Google launching a me- …
Microsoft was successful mostly because they weren't innovative. They ruled the business and home markets because you could sit down at any Windows-based machine and get running immediately. They would watch their competitors, learn from their mistakes, and then put out a product that addressed those problems and fit into the MS ecosystem.
They were much like a wolf hunting a rabbit, only running fast enough to keep their prey in sight and wanting for the opportune moment to strike. Now they are trying to out-run the rabbit and are getting hit with obstacles that would have been avoided if they paid attention.
The watch, although there isn't really a market for them, made sense - buy a windows phone, buy a windows watch. They gave up on windows mobile, so they gave up on the watches.
This seems like it will be built into Xboxes. I wonder if they'll rebrand that next iteration with a less games-console name.
They had some sort of Watch product in USA long ago. Did it use messages over SCA on FM Radio?
I remember they had a Tablet in maybe 2003.
Anyone remember "Plays for Sure"?
I still have a Microsoft Keyboard here, though I don't use any of the round multimedia buttons on it.
Why did the Xbox after the XBox 360 be called an Xbox One? Why was it an Xbox and 360?
The Play station "3" was out, thus "Xbox 2" would not have been a working marketing campaign. Nintendo dropped out (long ago?) from such a race, but we can assume keeping 3 and or higher in the name was to try and show consumers the level of the product.
"One" was to try and show how it was a reboot I guess, as trying to pull a 360 again and emulate the "Playstation 4" name would be too obvious a trick.
That would be the SPOT watch; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Personal_Objects_Technology. I used to have one of those, made by Fossil; useful enough, but it became redundant when smartphones showed up. I believe that's the product the Net Micro Framework was initially developed for.
In the absence of any other "smart" devices in the house, the Echo is is just a voice-controlled jukebox
The success depends on what Amazon want to achieve. As you use it, it probably encourages media consumption, and you've paid money for it, That would seem to be successful for Amazon?
"Still cant add Championship football teams to it."
It never knows the score in the cricket either.
Still I like it as a jukebox and it is brilliant as a kitchen timer too if you are a messy cook like me.
I'd like some openness between the various ecosystems too - play Google Play Music on Alexa or iTunes music on Google's toy but I guess we can forget that because it's only good for the customer.
Just tried it. Apparently it's 12388 ft.
Note I did turn the microphone on first then turn it off afterwards (hardware switch). I can't imagine why people would tolerate a live microphone like "Echo" listening to "everything" in their home. Whilst I don't have many illusions of "privacy" these days (e.g. unlike some on this forum I'm happy to use Windows 10 and Cortana) I'm not going to bug my own home 24x7.
Maybe a new "Windows Home Server" running their excellent (and likely Dragon Natural based) offline speech recognition is coming. After all MS IS producing computers now. Then link the various MS devices your WHS using household will likely have to that (They are on the AD and network already anyway at that point) and use that (And use it as a sales feature to get WHS boxes in-House, killing a Penguin or three). Spreads the processor load (The Surface/Pro will run the Software locally, the phone will use the WHS and so on) and allows for a central box at the same time.
Sounds like something I might buy as a replacement for my aging NAS.
Can't say for W10/Home (I have the Pro-Version running) and joining AD domans. But if MS builds another WHS - why not use a "hidden" AD domain (With a nice, simplified UI) for this? No need for exposing all the capabilities to the end user nor is telling them needed. If MS does a "bundle" (Let's call it Surface/Homeserver) they can add some NFC/BT/Whatever based hardware for "auto registration" of new network devices and a simple UI from the store to enter the data on the device.
Hiding complex stuff is the idea of most developments in the Win10 UI. May not be useful in more complex stuff like a company network. But to network 2-3 tablet pc and 3-5 mobiles it would be "good enough".
You can't connect to AD (including Azure AD) from Windows 10 Home (We have some Surface 3 devices that originally came with W10 Home and upgraded them to Pro once we confirmed they couldn't) - A simplified version that runs behind the scenes could obviously work, not sure how Home Group works (never used it)
"Can windows 10 Home join a domian? Isn't that for Pro and above?"
you've already "joined a domain" with that micro-shaft 'cloud' logon [and its HORRIBLE EULA] using your REAL e-mail address, visible to anyone staring over your shoulder during the login. 'Got spam' ?
oh, that's not good enough? pay more money for 'Pro and above'.
".....They are on the AD and network already....." For those that have failed to notice, M$ has a neat tool in Win10 called Microsoft Family Features that allows you to group your home PCs, phones and Xboxes into one cloud-based "organization" that the family admin can then control and configure online. It wouldn't take much for M$ to expand that into a more active form of domain control for administration of an IoT setup, and as it is cloud-based the controlling software can be expanded and developed without the need to do much to the PC OS or IoTs' OSs.
>Just keep mumbling. Imagine all this AI neural net brainstorming going on to figure you out. A brownout in Redmond is mission accomplished.
I have no idea what you are trying to say but this is why I was referring to Navajo:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker#Navajo_code_talkers
The Navajo code is the only spoken military code never to have been deciphered
"....Arabic which remember they don't understand...." Ignoring the fact that the CIA reputedly employs more Arabic (all five regional dialects, and Farsi) speakers than any other government organistaion in the Western hemisphere, if your buddy Snowden is to be believed then the NSA also has automated eavesdropping tools that can understand all forms of Arabic without the need for a fleshy translator.
"A brownout in Redmond is mission accomplished."
like what happens when you flush ALL of the toilets at once in a large building. yeah, never done THAT with a coordinated effort (in high school) with walkie talkies [or cell phones on a conference call], right?
just avoid the bottom floor [or two] unless you're wearing waterproof clothing. Sorta re-defines the term "brownout" doesn't it?
Well ah'm tellin' thi now, it down't support Yorkshire. Anythin' ah ses to it, ah allus get t'response "I'm sorry, I didn't understand that Dave. Let me get Bing for you"
Now ah've know idea who this Bing lass is, but she aint ever found me nowt neither.
"Echo itself was a spontaneous and low-key product released with almost no marketing beyond the Amazon store-front."
Almost no marketing beyond a front-and-centre splash on almost certainly *the* most visited shopping web-site on the planet? A location that, moreover, probably isn't even for sale to non-Amazon advertisers, no matter how deep your pockets are.
Exactly
Amazon are pushing it like mad or as equally as much as that TV series made by James May and pals.
TV Ads featuring Clarkson flying drones over the Channel
Email Ads for Echo
Echo appearing on the screen when going to Amazon.co.uk.
not advertising it? If this is not advertising it then I'd have to have to suffer when it is 'advertised'.
"Amazon’s Echo as just the kind of "crazy hardware experiment"
Actually just plain evil and creepy.
Also Amazon's landing page pushes THEIR locked down Fire Tablets, crippled version of Android (no wonder they have over 30% growth on those), the Amazon Echo and the button thing. No wonder they sell.
Not only that, it appears on the list of stuff you are interested in under a product page, supposedly based on your browsing.
Amazon's marketing of their own products on Amazon is getting obnoxious. Now they want Indie eBook publishers to spend money on advertising campaigns on Amazon. KDP Select is evil too, gives Amazon a monopoly on selling content.
Little need to add Bengali/Hindi support. There's very little paying customer base of MS among Bengali speakers. Most Indians MS users aren't interested in something like Cortana, those who are interested knows English very well(Cortana supports Indian English). Arabic support should come as many Asian and African countries use this. language. So as Russian.
I find Cortana pretty cruddy compared to googles voice recognition, specifically the ability to convert what you are saying into recognisable sentences, whereas Cortana likes sticking in random words that don't make sense in the overall context of the sentence.
As a Microsoft Band owner (I actually found the Band 2 to be great except for the fact I have had to send the thing back FIVE times and it is broken yet again so I have given up) I will limit my purchases of Microsoft hardware to just mice and keyboards - that they can just about manage. Anything else they seem to get a bit bored of and then leave the faithful/gullible hanging/seriously out of pocket.
Having worked at Microsoft*, I find it ironic it doesn't work with those languages since the vast majority of dev work is performed by outsourcing / body shops in India and Indonesia with a lot of the Senior Devs coming out of Russia after the fall of the USSR. Not too many Bengali folk, but they at least out-number Americans by a wide margin.
[*] I was young and stupid at the time, I didn't know any better...
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
