Nothing wrong with Google integration. But for those of us who don’t care to get involved with Google and it’s ubiquitous assistant, not a solution at all. That would be true if it were only working with Alexa or with homekit. Although for people on this list, I suppose nobody would complain if it was homekit only. Smile. Mary
Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 8, 2019, at 9:27 AM, Sieghard Weitzel <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello, > > I just read the article and while I agree that Instant Pot hopefully should > make accessibility improvements to the app, the Google integration I think is > a very good thing and certainly would be a work-around for now. I know for > example how often I use, for example, the Honeywell Home app to control my > thermostat which is not often even though it's fully accessible. But it's > much easier and quicker to just tell Alexa to set the temperature to a > certain level. > > As for Alexa integration I guess we'll have to wait and see, it is not > mentioned in the article and I think while many of us have Alexa households > simply because they were first, more and more people will have both Alexa and > Google simply because I find that the Google Assistant is so much better at > things than Alexa is. I just only got a single Google Home Mini which came as > a free bonus with the Nest Hello video doorbell I bought and I am very > impressed how easy it is to get it to do things without installing all these > skills you have to set up with an Alexa. Phone calls also are of way better > quality and I look forward to the Google Assistant to be available on my > Sonos speakers which will be at some point this year, most likely in the > first half. I can totally see myself using the Google Assistant a lot more > than Alexa for common tasks and after all, currently the Google Home Mini is > on sale at Best Buy Canada or Walmart Canada (and probably other places) for > $39 Canadian which means when you find a deal you can probably pick it up for > $29.99 US from Best Buy, Walmart, Target or other places in the US so not > such a big investment to add one or two of them to your tech arsenal. > > Finally, in the article there was a name and email for a press contact from > Instant Pot and I wrote the following letter to them. All of those who > contributed tot his thread and who seem to care about Instant Pot > accessibility hopefully take a few minutes to do the same so Instant Pot can > see that this is important not just to a single person. Here is what I wrote: > > Hello, > > I just saw the article about Google Assistant integration for the new Instant > Pot WiFi. My name is Sieghard Weitzel and I live in Smithers, British > Columbia. I am blind and use an iPhone with Voiceover, Apple's built-in > screenreader which allows visually impaired users full access of the iPhone. > > When Instant Pot first came out with the Bluetooth Smart Cooker and the > corresponding app many blind people praised them for offering the product > and, what was more, a fully accessible app which works with Voiceover. I am > on a Google list of over 2,000 blind and visually impaired people where the > discussion focus is the iPhone, iOS, apps and accessories. When Instant Pot > finally released the new WiFi cooker quite a few people jumped on it > especially since this happened just a few weeks before Black Friday and > apparently in the US the Instant Pot WiFi was available at a very good price. > I should mention that as a Canadian I was extremely disappointed that this > Canadian company did not find it necessary to offer a special for the Instant > Pot WiFi here in Canada. I check Amazon Canada all the time and at best saw > the Instant Pot WiFi for $189 and it seems to move between that and > $199. In the US the product was on sale for $119 US, had Amazon Canada > offered a Black Friday or Boxing Day special for $149.99 or even $159.99 I > would already be the owner of the device as well. I really dislike the > discrimination that seems to go on between prices for the same product on > Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. > > In any case, those who did buy it soon posted disappointed messages saying > that the new app to control the Instant Pot WiFi had serious accessibility > challenges. Parts of the app could be used with Voiceover, but I believe it > is not possible to check on the status of whatever is cooking, the recipes > section of the app apparently is completely inaccessible and I know many have > written to Instant Pot to provide their feedback. I called Instant Pot > support/sales a few times when I was looking to buy a connected cooker and > around Black Fridayin 2017 one of the reps actually told me that he advised > against buying the Bluetooth model since it would be replaced by a new > connected cooker in the first quarter of 2019. It obviously took longer for > the new WiFi pot to come out, but the rep also mentioned that Instant Pot was > committed to accessible products, has that changed? > > I just read a discussion thread on the Viphone list (that is the name of the > Google group) after somebody posted the article about Google integration > where people are worried that Instant Pot Brands may consider this > integration as the solution to the accessibility issue and that since a blind > person could use voice commands it would be no longer considered important > for the accessibility of the app to be improved. Is there any way you could > start a dialogue with myself and those at Instant Pot Brands who are in > charge about the app development to see if accessibility improvements are > going to be implemented? > > Best regards, > Sieghard Weitzel > > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of > [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2019 7:41 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: RE: Instant Pot makes Google Assistant your new sous chef > > Hi, Mary. I agree completely. I want to control my cooking pots, tvs, stereo > receivers, washers and driers, etc. on the device with accessible controls. > > > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Mary > Otten > Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2019 9:31 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Instant Pot makes Google Assistant your new sous chef > > I hope they are not seeing this as the Accessibility solution. It isn’t. > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Jan 7, 2019, at 8:16 PM, Cristóbal Muñoz <[email protected]> wrote: > > Perhaps something of interest for owners of the wifi model or those who may > be considering one. The ideal thing would be for the Instant Pot folks to > simply address the accessibility issues in the app, but anyway. > > > > Instant Pot makes Google Assistant your new sous chef > > > > It was only a matter of time, really. Instant Brands has announced that its > Instant Pot Smart WiFi pressure cooker now supports Google Assistant, making > it possible to start cooking or check on the status without pulling out your > phone or peeking at the tiny display. It's the height of culinary luxury, but > it could be incredibly helpful if you'd rather not drop what you're doing to > start your rice or check on your brisket. > > https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/07/instant-pot-google-assistant-support/ > > The cooker officially sells for $150 with a 6-quart capacity. You probably > won't go out of your way to get an Instant Pot for Google Assistant support, > but it could make the ultra-trendy device feel more at home with the rest of > your connected kitchen devices. > > Follow all the latest news from CES 2019 here! > > In this article: ces2019, cooking, food and drink, food-and-drink, > foodanddrink, gear, google, googleassistant, home, instantbrands, instantpot, > pressurecooker, voiceassistant > 105 Shares > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. 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Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
