Couldn't you also install google Assistant on your iPhone or other smart
phone and use it to control things like the InstaPot?
On 1/8/19 11:27 AM, Sieghard Weitzel 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]
<mailto:[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
<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>
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