Windows 10 'Home Hub' Is Microsoft's Response To Amazon Echo and Google Home (mashable.com) 101
Microsoft's response to the Amazon Echo and Google Home is Home Hub, a software update for Windows 10's Cortana personal assistant that turns any Windows PC into a smart speaker of sorts. Mashable reports: Microsoft's smart digital assistant Cortana can already answer your queries, even if the PC's screen is locked. The Home Hub is tied to Cortana and takes this a few steps further. It would add a special app with features such as calendar appointments, sticky notes and shopping lists. A Home Hub-enabled PC might have a Welcome Screen, a full-screen app that displays all these, like a virtual fridge door. Multiple users (i.e. family members) could use the Home Hub, either by authenticating through Windows Hello or by working in a family-shared account. Cortana would get more powerful on Home Hub; it could, for example, control smart home devices, such as lights and locks. And even though all of this will work on any Windows 10 device -- potentially making the PC the center of your smart home experience -- third-party manufacturers will be able to build devices that work with Home Hub. You can read Windows Central's massive report here. Do note that Home Hub is not official and individual features could change over time. The update is slated for 2017.
And it will be indtalled and enabled automatically (Score:1)
Whether you like it or not!
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I can always tape over the microphone.
Oh, wait...
your privacy for some magic beans (Score:5, Insightful)
Those old ways were completely exhausting.
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Not exhausting, expensive, and sometimes bad.
I replaced my sprinkler system with a smart automated one after the second time I flooded the neighbour's yard due to forgetting to turn it off. It also paid for itself in not wasting water or killing plants that shouldn't have been submerged. Something doesn't need to be exhausting to be replaced. How about smart thermostats that turn the heating off when they know you're not home? How about lights that you can turn on anywhere preventing you from either rolling
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I thought the Echo Dot would be a fun thing to play with so I got them whilst they were cheap during Black Friday fortnight or however long they've managed to drag it out for now. I read that you can even order food through apps like Just Eat, but when I first used it I didn't really know you had to ask specific Just Eat commands.
So imagine how disturbed I was when I said "Alexa, I'd like to order some food", and she replied "From your order history, I can see that you have ordered 12kg Dog Food. Is this wh
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Black Friday fortnight
Right! And since they're clearly going to drag it out with Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Trade Tuesday, and Black Friday fortnight, could the stores just stay closed on Thanksgiving so retail employees could relax one final day with their families?
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Is there any statutory legal obligation to credit public holidays like Thanksgiving as leave for those who are made to work it in the US?
My wife works in retail and runs a few stores, and the only day they don't open now is Christmas day, however all 7 other UK public holidays are added to their leave so in some ways it works out for her as she can combine them all for an extra full week. Means she has something like 34 days leave a year now.
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Is there any statutory legal obligation to credit public holidays like Thanksgiving as leave for those who are made to work it in the US?
No. In fact, though employers may grant some number of holidays as paid each year, it is not required by US federal law.
My wife works in retail and runs a few stores, and the only day they don't open now is Christmas day, however all 7 other UK public holidays are added to their leave so in some ways it works out for her as she can combine them all for an extra full week. Means she has something like 34 days leave a year now.
American retail employees [bls.gov] typically receive minimal benefits and low pay, unless they are skilled commissioned salesmen or managers.
Personal example: I worked at a jewelry store years ago. The low hourly wage was augmented by a small commission (1-2%), although I received decent wages from Black Friday through the end of December (35-45% of our annual sales were in those 5 weeks).
First question ... (Score:5, Funny)
Microsoft's smart digital assistant Cortana can already answer your queries, even if the PC's screen is locked.
Cortana. How do I break into this locked PC?
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With poisontap [samy.pl]. You would know if you read /. more regularly, it was featured here two weeks ago.
(Yes, I fully expect Cortana to eventually berate you for forgetting stuff. At least in its Jewish Mom setting)
Honestly (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Honestly (Score:5, Interesting)
Amazon and Google have put a bit of thought it, even if the idea is totally creepy if you really think about it, but Microsoft have just panicked (as they do) and announced a thing which won't work properly and no-one wants.
Actually, as I wrote that the thought came to me that maybe it's someone at Microsoft who remembers the days when if Microsoft announced their version of something that another company had already produced, the other companies' product died completely.
I mean those days are long gone, but it's a thought.
Re:Honestly (Score:5, Insightful)
And do you know why MS is so successful? It's because users do not run OS's they run applications.
The vast majority of people have no problem with MS automatically pushing bug and security related fixes to their machine.
Interesting contradiction. The OS isn't important. Then comes assertion people have no problem being constantly harassed to update and then reboot their operating systems when all they care about is their applications? How does this even make sense?
Updates are widely seen as an annoyance or even harmful hence Microsoft's misguided attempt to strong arm people into having no choice. Especially as they turn the screws on transforming their customers into products we can't have people making their own decisions.
They have no problem with the anonymous telemetry being sent to MS.
In the same way people have no problem when criminals covertly case their homes without their knowledge.
I still don't see why people are upset with anonymous telemetry being communicated back to MS. Maybe they don't know what "anonymous" means.
Here is a little thought experiment for those who don't "get it". Would you accept someone sitting in a parked car in the morning waiting for you to leave your house then following you to work. When you walk across the street they are right behind you following your every move and recording everything you do? I have a feeling the response from most people would be either to call the police or get into a fist fight. The only difference between that and what tech companies are doing to users enmasse is stealth.
The top search engines use your online presence in order to feed you customized adds and links. To do this they need to capture and store enough information on me in order to target my user Id. Every corporation and telecommunication firm are in possession of quite a bit of your personal information of one type or another and to me that is a worse than anything MS might be doing.
"They do it too" isn't a justification it is an excuse. No more coherent an argument than attempting to justify a speeding ticket before a judge by pointing out the guy in front of you was going much faster asserting you shouldn't have to pay because he got away scott free.
What is even worse about this argument is that it is 100% backwards. People can chose to visit a website or not. They can elect to run software to mask their activities, encipher their communications and take other measures to protect themselves. If your own computer is always actively working against you even when you are not doing anything "online" then your fucked no matter what. It is a much more serious matter than any big content/advertising company or telecom.
There are some very intelligent people who work for MS and underestimating them is nonsense. In the beginning IBM grossly underestimated MS and ended losing control of an OS that earned MS billions in sales.
It doesn't matter how intelligent you are. The only thing that matters is what you accomplish. Technology is driven by hard work way more than it is driven by intellect.
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In the same way people have no problem when criminals covertly case their homes without their knowledge.
Horseshit. People happily sell their information for nothing at all. comparing it to criminals covertly casing their homes is absurd. Unless you live in a small country town in which case you're actually likely to invite said criminals in for tea and coffee.
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"Here is a little thought experiment for those who don't "get it". Would you accept someone sitting in a parked car in the morning waiting for you to leave your house then following you to work. When you walk across the street they are right behind you following your every move and recording everything you do?"
I actually rather think you've missed his point, his point is that Microsoft is sending anonymous data back - i.e. data that can't be tracked to you. Someone following you to work by very definition c
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Out of interest, by what mechanism is the data sent? Is there a service that dispatches it over a proprietary protocol running over TCP or similar? When is it sent and so forth? I'd be interested in snooping on it myself to have a look at exactly what does leave my PC, if what you're saying is true then that for us in the EU, puts Microsoft in breach of the European Data Protect Directive, and if I can evidence that happening from my machine then I can lodge a formal complaint with our Information Commissio
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Relax. This is MS. It won't work anyway.
Wow are people this transparent? (Score:4, Insightful)
Do people have no concept of privacy anymore? It's bad enough my DVD player wants my wifi password and my TV wants to be "smart" e.g. piping my conversations out ot the internet, but now people are actually BUYING devices solely for the purpose of eavesdropping?
Years back the government withdrew the concept of Total Information Awareness. Really, all they did was figure out a surreptitious way to accomplish the same thing.
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It's bad enough my DVD player wants my wifi password and my TV wants to be
What sort of slashdotter doesn't have multiple VLANs and SSIDs? Route that through a VPN.
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What sort of slashdotter doesn't have multiple VLANs and SSIDs? Route that through a VPN.
I own a VLAN-capable switch, but its power budget is greater than that of my entire home networking equipment stack including a NAS and now an emby server, since it's all ARM-based and the disks spin down when not in use, which is usually.
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The thing is, people may feel a little invaded at the beginning, but then, when they see that giving up their information eases their lives to some extent, they're willing to do it without remorse forever. Apparently receiving alerts about the flights you have to take or traffic jams ahead or turning you lights off from your bed are worth your most personal information.
As for the government, I'd say they're satisfied with that. Now others are collecting that information for them.
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BUYING devices solely for the purpose of eavesdropping?
No. People are buying devices to make their life better. People are requesting perfect knowledge of their working lives by their digital assistant. People expect a huge amount of accuracy to their digital assistants that can only be met with huge databases in the background.
People have been wanting this for 20 years and have been fetishising it in sci-fi for 30 years on top of that. Now it's here a few Slashdot users freak out that the technology is driven by a company and requires data to be sent offsite,
Clippy + Roomba (Score:3)
...what could possibly go wrong?
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Now you can have something that annoys you while freaking out your cat at the same time.
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I am a cat, you insensitive clod!
Clippy 2.0 (Score:1)
Hi, it appears you are having trouble sleeping. Would you like me to play calming thunderstorm sounds to help you sleep?
Hi, it appears you are trying to find something to watch on television. Would you like me to make suggestions based on your browsing history?
Hi, it appears you have ran out of shampoo. Would you like me to place an order while you are drying off?
Hi, it appears you are trying to disconnect me. Would you like to discuss your problems while waiting for a Certified Microsoft Reeducation En
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...
Please, someone help me out... I'm Canadian, I must not be getting the American humour here.
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Get a lobotomy and buy a gun.
All will become clear.
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Amazon Echo (Score:1)
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Such a money pit that they released 2 more versions.
And Amazon Stock seems to be doing just fine (Echo released Nov 14) [yahoo.com]
It's not quite Majel Barrett but it's a half decent beta.
no one really uses one
That means you'd have to show data that shows how many have been purchased and the number actually in use. We'll be waiting.
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You guys should really get more easily distinguishable UIDs. 110010001000 does nothing but troll, while 0100010001010011 seems innocuous enough.
I'll stick with 1001001 myself (possibly the most clever Rush lyric).
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I don't understand your position here. You seem to troll every thread on the subject of voice activated assistants in order to slag off the Echo, but you're spouting nonsense.
You frequently claim that 'no one really uses one', but that simply isn't the case. Or perhaps it is, if you mean that 'anyone who uses one often goes on to buy a second'. I have 2 in the house, and they're great. My wife uses them more than I do, but they are a fantastic convenience factor. Not necessary for anything, but handy for do
Voice commands (Score:2)
So does anyone use Siri on a regular basis? I have yet to see anyone use it for anything besides seeing if it works.
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My 12 year old loves it and if given the opportunity with mine or my wife's phone, he will use it relentlessly.
I never use it except in the car to make it dial telephone numbers. When I've tried using it even for basic tasks, it gives me not-quite-useful information or just returns some web search.
Blue Voice of Death? (Score:1)
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Microsoft Bob - Virtual reality version (Score:1)
Cortana? Cortana? CORTANA!?!? (Score:1)
Great... (Score:5, Funny)
how do I permanently disable it?
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Don't buy it?
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Starting to make me want to switch over to Linux for development, might just do that with Visual Studio on Linux
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Ah, Windows...the RC Cola in the Pepsi-Coke wars of the mobile computing space.
Yeah, but unlike Windows, I like RC Cola.
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While almost true, there are actually people that actually genuinely like RC Cola and don't just accept it because there's no real alternative.
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RC Cola is awesome.
Windows 10 * is Microsoft's * (Score:1)
It doesn't matter what * expands to, Microsoft's price inevitably ends up being too high Microsoft can fill in the blanks with hard AI or FTL and I'd still give it back to them unopened. Or, rather, since they prefer to shove everything down your throat now, regurgitated back up as soon as I can rest control back and left in a burning paper bag on their front doorstep.
No thank-you.
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What I recommend? Get off your lazy ass and turn on the fucking light the old fashioned way, dammit!
Missing the point (Score:2)
Users want a voice assistant when they are in living room, far away from the PC. Just like when iPhone was released, Microsoft has no clue that users might want to do something other than editing documents for printing on a desktop.
home hub is updating place try your request at a l (Score:2)
home hub is updating place try your request at a later time
Cortana is a wothless piece of shit. (Score:1)
I asked Cortana "What's the weather" yesterday just to try it out. It proceeds to give me the definition of the word "weather." Honestly, it's the most useless horseshit response I have ever had from a search.
Microsoft see, Microsoft do (Score:2)
"Microsoft's response to the Amazon Echo and Google Home is Home Hub, a software update for Windows 10's Cortana personal assistant that turns any Windows PC into a smart speaker of sorts."
No it's not. Based on Microsoft's track record it will be a poorly-designed, late-to-market, barely functional piece of shit that will garner no market share except for that of the die-hard Windows fanbois. After a year or two of disappointing reviews and craptastic software updates they'll discontinue it.
Once again the w
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"Microsoft's response to the Amazon Echo and Google Home is Home Hub, a software update for Windows 10's Cortana personal assistant that turns any Windows PC into a smart speaker of sorts."
No it's not. Based on Microsoft's track record it will be a poorly-designed, late-to-market, barely functional piece of shit that will garner no market share except for that of the die-hard Windows fanbois. After a year or two of disappointing reviews and craptastic software updates they'll discontinue it.
That may well be true...but there's a one-in-a-billion chance that Microsoft will be able to make it stick if they can successfully court the XDA community. If a device is mod-friendly, and it becomes "the Echo you can mod", it's possible that it'll carve out a niche for itself...because both Google and Amazon have taken steps to ensure that the modding community isn't welcome.
Microsoft clearly has no recent evidence of this path, which is why I'm perfectly aware that it's such a remote possibility. However
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That may well be true...but there's a one-in-a-billion chance
Sure, but the odds of winning the Powerball are 1 in 292 million, so I'm not going to hold my breath.
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If a device is mod-friendly, and it becomes "the Echo you can mod", it's possible that it'll carve out a niche for itself..
Yes, I forgot how "mod-friendly" Microsoft has always been to the hacking/modding community. :)
Won't happen (Score:2)
Microsoft has shown over and over that they propose things and then deliver less than 5% of what they propose.
If you know the politics within Microsoft you would know that a feature like this would never be allowed.
Home Hub? That name will change (Score:4, Informative)
BT (British Telecom) in the UK already make a Home Hub [wikipedia.org].
Also "Home Hub" is allegedly already trademarked by Apple [appleinsider.com].
More surveillance (Score:2)
Here, have a microphone connected to the Internet and Microsoft servers enabled in your house 24/7/365, listening to every sound and voice in your house! What could POSSIBLY be wrong with that!?
No, NO, NO, just NO!