[gw98]

It's useful for trivial unambiguous tasks where you have your hands full or don't want to touch your device or it's dangerous to. That's all I can muster mine for.

"Hey Siri, add more toilet paper to the shopping list" (while pooping)

"Hey Siri, shuffle my music" (while driving)

"Hey Siri, countdown 10 minutes" (while shoving a pizza in the oven)

Anything else is a shit show. Anything where trust or accuracy is involved i.e. mutating data, spending money, absolutely no way can I trust it at all and never will.

[ciaron]

Agreed, but I find for even these simple tasks it's hit-and-miss for accuracy. My Google device will randomly not know what a "shopping list" is, or the interactions go something like this:

"Hey Google, put dishwasher salt on the shopping list" "OK, I added 'put dishwasher salt'" (strangely, this particular bug only manifests for dishwasher salt).

Timers are useful, but sometimes they can't be shut off by voice command.

[gw98]

Yeah it doesn't always work well. I say "hey siri add green milk to the shopping list". I want "green milk" added to the shopping list which in the UK is semi-skimmed milk. What does it do? Adds "green" and "milk" because it thinks I'm a weed smoker...

[sanitycheck]

Trust and accuracy is involved in the first and last of your examples - I'd end up having to check that the TP was actually added to the list, and that the timer had actually begun and was set to 10 mins.

Shuffling music, turning lights on, yes fine - because confirmation that the right thing has happened is instant and effortless. Anything else, I'll use a button or a screen.

[gw98]

Definitely agree with this. You get that confirmation with siri. I mostly use my watch for it and it will show me what it did on the screen without having to touch anything.

Confirmation is required when dealing with humans as well ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11fCIGcCa9c (this reminds me of Alexa)

[eternityforest]

Google is pretty good about that. It will say "Ok, your alarm is set for 7 hours and 40 minutes from now" and similar.

[muspimerol]

Not really - adding toilet paper to a shopping list is not clicking the "buy" button. And if you set up a timer you get quick confirmation that it has been set. If the timer is accidentally set for 100 mins it's easily corrected.

[jayelbe]

Mmhmm, I never handle my phone while pooping, no siree.

[Shank]

> "Hey Siri, add more toilet paper to the shopping list" (while pooping)

This is the main reason why I have an Echo in my bathroom! The one advantage Alexa has over everything else is that you can voice shop -- "alexa buy more toilet paper" solves the problem that much faster than a reminder for later.

[gw98]

I don't want that to happen because the price variation in toilet paper is huge based on deals and offers available, and Amazon is rarely the cheapest provider these days, so it's actually worth me spending a few minutes on it to save some money.

The reason Alexa exists is to sell you Amazon's prices, not necessarily a good deal.

[sambeau]

Lights on lights off is also useful, especially when in bed or carrying a basket-full of washing.