Filed under: Hardware, Software
Intel stumbles while stepping to Apple's 6 button remote
Honestly: I'm always down for some competition; it keeps (some) companies innovating and (hopefully) on their toes.
But wow... if you're going to openly take on a device like Apple's beautiful and simple 6-button Remote, it might be a good
idea to make sure you're firing on all cylinders.Check out this video at CNET of Don McDonald, Intel's VP and general manager of their digital home group, demoing a voice-activated remote for Windows Media Center. Mr. McDonald brags that the remote has absolutely no buttons, but forgets to mention it has almost no functionality either. Watch, as he tries not once, not twice, not thrice - but a whopping four times (with some serious lag on his last attempt) to ask the remote "what time is Family Guy on TV." Also, note how much they trust the abilities of their 'zero button remote'... with all the buttons it actually contains.
I'd say you and your team earned an A for effort Don, but you might have to whip out those tablet PCs and get back to the drawing board on the voice-activation bit. Just be careful the next time you try using it to dictate your product design notes.
[via digg]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
icruise said 10:50AM on 4-17-2006
Even if it worked, the very concept of a "voice activated remote" seems rather ludicrous to me. Until we get artificial intelligence to the Star Trek level, I think using buttons is always going to be faster and less error-prone than any kind of voice recognition.
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Brendan said 10:51AM on 4-17-2006
If it's connected to the interent you could always ask the remote: "Where can I get a Mac"??
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Wheels said 10:56AM on 4-17-2006
And doesn't he have to press a button to talk to the bloody thing?
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Stefan Constantinescu said 11:02AM on 4-17-2006
Having had a chance to play with this remote at an Intel conference I can tell you right now that I see little to no use for it.
In the amount of time it takes for you to say something you could have pushed a series of buttons. Now for the more difficult commands, yes it is a nice feature, but seriously why on earth would I want to talk to my remote control?
Now I know that what I say now may be invalid in 5 years so Im going to bite my tongue on this conclusion, but I think the solution isnt fewer buttons, but easier menus. This whole concept of a channel is going down the tubes anyway. It isnt about channel 4, 5,7,11 anymore. Consumers want things based on content. They want Family Guy, they want the Weather, and they want Lost, whatever channel its on isnt important.
This is where the IPTV revolution is already starting to take place; I dont think well see it in the consumer space for at least 5 years because of the lack of broadband infrastructure in America.
I do hope Im proved wrong by all this :) and that it happens sooner!
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Graham said 11:03AM on 4-17-2006
To his defense, the sound system and the reverb from his mic was interferring with the remote's capabilities. I felt bad for him. But I agree, if intel is going to throw down a remote control shaped guantlet, they had better try harder than that.
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James said 11:11AM on 4-17-2006
In high school, my friends and I always talked about how our remotes should have a dedicated "Record Family Guy" button....
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Kenny said 11:16AM on 4-17-2006
Of course, the remote he uses for his "no button remote" demo contains at least 20 buttons.
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Austin Claffey said 11:26AM on 4-17-2006
Oh how painful!
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kai said 11:37AM on 4-17-2006
not to mention the 20$ 6-button gets it done, while this intel technology miracle costs surely 400$. what about universality? are they coming preprogramed with 200 languages? and what if i just say: when runs family guy this week? is it going to get that? or do i need to learn the exact commands?
I bet that if you hear that wrong-command-beep a couple of minutes long, trying to switch the channel to get your family guy, after trying 100 different commands if you forgot the right one, you'll be craving for a micro$oft 120-button mouse...
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LD said 11:56AM on 4-17-2006
If you're going to talk smack about someone like Apple you better have the goods to back it up.
When it finally did work it was pretty lame. It's just using a phone-style keypad interface to macro through screens. Why not just go directly to the info you request?
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GmanMac said 12:45PM on 4-17-2006
I owned a voice activated remote for TV my 10 years ago. Worked about as well as his does.
Still not ready for prime time.
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Adrian vG said 12:46PM on 4-17-2006
A zero-button remote? Why use a remote at all? And I totally agree with Stefan about the time it takes to talk to the system, and also, it's tiring to talk to your computer. And good comment LD! Nuf' said
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Douglas F Shearer said 1:49PM on 4-17-2006
Surely a voice activated remote on a system that is already playing music or some other audio output is a bit of a flaw?
I mean, do you think it's going to pick up "Record Lost for this week and the next 7 weeks" while you play AC DC at level 11??
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Josh said 2:25PM on 4-17-2006
This was really lame. I'm not giving the guy any slack for echos or mic problems (thats why you rehearse your demo BEFORE you do it live!). The remote clearly has 30-40 buttons on it. And as mentioned before, the guy definitely clicks a button for voice command input. I will give them some slack for the interface, the sloppy multi-windows to get to the thing you wanted is Windows fault. The same device for a different OS would probably work much smoother. Lastly, and most importantly - they made the same silly mistake so many people make when dealing with Apple, they didn't do there homework. Apple has been there and done that, voice recognition was in the Mac OS well before OS X. Any 3rd party developer (or average person will a hour to kill) could make some macros or a software app using what is already in the Mac OS and turn any Bluetooth mic/headset into a true no-button remote.
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Brandon A said 2:09AM on 4-18-2006
If it is a "no button remote", isn't it really just a wireless microphone?
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icerabbit said 3:32PM on 4-18-2006
... the zero button remote with 20 buttons also has a PTT (pust to talk) button on the side?!
Leaving the remote for what it is, they must have some pretty good technology behind it, if the computer can understand short sentences and a plethora of TV show titles from any user who requests it without training ... which I'm assuming is what they were trying to showcase.
Still, I think talking to your computer (other than dictation) is a novelty. Short of 15 years ago I had some voice commands programmed with my then state of the art "multimedia computer" which meant it had a 2x CD-ROM & 16 bit sound card. Through the soundblaster software you could record your voice command and attach actions to those. It was fun for a while, but grew old really quick.
And, even with current technology you'll need a button or the batteries will drain constantly, relaying that audio signal to the pc ... and then what about all those "command not found" errors?
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