Again, it's everybody's choice as to what level they embrace these smart devices, but you only have to look at the headlines and articles coming out of Las Vegas these days where the Consumer Electronics Show kicks off today to see what tune is being played. No wonder companies like Instant Pot who already make smart/connected devices jump on the voice control bandwagon.
From: viphone@googlegroups.com <viphone@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Cristóbal Muñoz Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2019 9:52 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: Instant Pot makes Google Assistant your new sous chef Yeah, I know numbers have come out that 100 million Alexa devices have been sold. X number of Google smart this and that as well and I wouldn’t even be surprised if our phones were already spying on us, but I so far haven’t had the itch to dive into the in-home smart speaker/assistant thing quite yet. Not swearing it off completely forever and ever, but for now? I’m still going to pass. This is likely more Instant Pot responding to the market and how people are using their connected devices. It would only make sense for them to come out with similar Alexa support eventually. Cristóbal From: viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> <viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com>> On Behalf Of Mary Otten Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2019 9:37 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> Subject: Re: Instant Pot makes Google Assistant your new sous chef 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 <siegh...@live.ca<mailto:siegh...@live.ca>> 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<http://Amazon.com> and Amazon.ca<http://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: viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> <viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com>> On Behalf Of llump...@austin.rr.com<mailto:llump...@austin.rr.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2019 7:41 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> 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: viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> <viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com>> On Behalf Of Mary Otten Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2019 9:31 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> 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 <cristobalm...@gmail.com<mailto:cristobalm...@gmail.com>> 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<https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/instant-brands-announces-integration-with-the-google-assistant-and-the-instant-pot-smart-wifi-programmable-pressure-cooker-300773628.html> that its Instant Pot<https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/23/gadget-irl-instant-pot-ultra-huel-sleep-cycle/> 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<https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/06/kitchenaids-smart-display-is-a-tablet-that-fears-no-faucet/>. Follow all the latest news from CES 2019<https://www.engadget.com/tag/ces2019/> here! In this article: ces2019<https://www.engadget.com/tag/ces2019>, cooking<https://www.engadget.com/tag/cooking>, food and drink<https://www.engadget.com/tag/food%20and%20drink>, food-and-drink<https://www.engadget.com/tag/food-and-drink>, foodanddrink<https://www.engadget.com/tag/foodanddrink>, gear<https://www.engadget.com/tag/gear>, google<https://www.engadget.com/tag/google>, googleassistant<https://www.engadget.com/tag/googleassistant>, home<https://www.engadget.com/tag/home>, instantbrands<https://www.engadget.com/tag/instantbrands>, instantpot<https://www.engadget.com/tag/instantpot>, pressurecooker<https://www.engadget.com/tag/pressurecooker>, voiceassistant<https://www.engadget.com/tag/voiceassistant> 105 Shares -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. 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