Echo & Alexa Forums
General Category => Amazon Echo Discussion => Topic started by: Jerrym74 on April 23, 2017, 09:52:37 am
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I asked "Alexa what time does Dillons pharmacy open", she says "sorry I don't have the business hours for Dillons". When I go look to see what she heard, I discovered she had queried Yelp. What's the deal with that?? If she would have queried Bing I think she would have got the answer, but she didn't.
FWIW, Google Home got it right the first time.
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I did not know we could see what was quiryed. Interesting. Anyway, none of these things are perfect; even Google Home.
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This is what I'm basing my statement on.
(http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x460/hogrider04/IMG_1111_1.png)
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OK, so i just asked Dot what time Costco stores open and it told me the time of the closest store. Alexa app showed Yelp info, I touched the screen and was asked if I want to download the Yelp app (which I don't). Apparently, this is an ad for Yelp. Who cares if it is Yelp, Bing (a lesser search app IMO) or whatever is searched, as long as we get a a good answer.
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I asked about Costco and got the correct answer also. I repeated my original question about Dillons and got the same crappy answer. Guess it just depends on what you ask. I went to Bing on the pc and got the correct hours for Dillons. All I'm saying is if Bing has the answer, why didn't Alexa pick it up instead of giving me a crap answer that involves Yelp.
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If you are that curious, ask Amazon, I would suppose.
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who gives a hoot!!! I never heard of dillons either. It is a well known fact the echo does not answer questions that well. but then if I got the echo just to ask questions, it would be gathering dust doing absolutely nothing.
There is absolutely nothing anyone here can do for you or answer your question as to why. or are you here for other reasons???
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Yea, we got this settled! Next "important" question!
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Yea, we got this settled! Next "important" question!
I am getting sick and tired of so called users griping and complaining about the echo not being able to answer specific questions. If they done any type of homework before purchasing, they would have known. Just about every single article about the echo mentions this weakness. Google has their own search engine. Anyone with any common sense would know Google can fix things making it easier for their home assistant to get answers.
It makes me wonder if those griping are shills for google.
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Amen.
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You both need to lighten up. If "so called users" are causing you so much grief then perhaps you should consider finding another forum where your social skills might be more appropriate.
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Thanks Alan. I was just curious as to why Alexa didn't search Bing like I've heard she does. However I can see that I'm not worthy of a decent response. I've known for months that Alexa can't respond to questions like GH, and I also know she can control my home automation stuff much better than Google Home. From now on I'll make sure my questions are worthy of posting before I hit the keyboard.
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There are a few guys on here with "holier than thou" attitudes. These two and a couple others. One reason I don't post much, just lurk mostly.
Heads-up to Larry.... there is a way to get google search on the amazon devices but it takes a bit of work and you have to be slightly tech savvy.
http://www.echotalk.org/index.php/topic,1676.0.html
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You both need to lighten up. If "so called users" are causing you so much grief then perhaps you should consider finding another forum where your social skills might be more appropriate.
Now that deserves an AMEN!!
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OK guys, go easy on Renegade and me. We are basically "charter members" here who showed up here at the beginning of this forum and have hung in here, because we like to help people but also realize when a topic has run it's course to a dead end so no need beating on a dead horse. We are like Farmers insurance who say, "we know a thing or two, because we have seen a thing or two," meaning our reading and replying to most of the posts that have passed through here the past few years.
If you guys want to quibble over what search engine powers Alexa, go right ahead. As for me, I could care less what the search engine is, because if I want to know about something, I don.t ask Alexa something that's better answered by Google or Siri. If Alexa's reply is BS, I just check elsewhere. There are questions Alexa can handle well, and other's it can't. There are other tasks it does extremely well, and those are the more important features of the product.
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If you guys want to quibble over what search engine powers Alexa, go right ahead. As for me, I could care less what the search engine is, because if I want to know about something, I don.t ask Alexa something that's better answered by Google or Siri. If Alexa's reply is BS, I just check elsewhere. There are questions Alexa can handle well, and other's it can't. There are other tasks it does extremely well, and those are the more important features of the product.
This is the reason Forums are the devil's work in so many cases... folks who have already had the discussion think that everyone else is already done with it... and can't just click the "next" button or move on to a thread they wish to help in instead of bashing the current one...
I had not seen this discussion come up before due to my time on the forums... so it was something to learn from. Then it went to hell pretty quickly due to some folks who can't remember how not to reply when they have nothing to offer...
So I offer this... and it continues the original discussion... I have actually done google searches on some lesser known businesses and could not find their hours of operation... so sometimes I know any search will fall flat. It has as much to do with the company as the search engine most times. Nowadays, most businesses try and get their most basic information on the web, such as their business hours and a contact phone number and address... some still live in a more "Classical" age and haven't stepped into the technology age. Some have stepped in and not followed up... some have stepped in, followed up and still have issues conveying their message...
With everyone's experiences with the web being different so far (I don't know what's being taught through schools today) It is easy to have a new technology seem to fall short of it's perceived capabilities... Hell, it takes me sometimes days to find the right command to get the Echos to do what I want... but I stick with it and find some way of accomplishing the goals...
To this end, It is just my suggestion that everyone needs the input to help this rather new technology grow and each will learn with different questions. I had no idea what search engine if any, The Echo products used... Could have been "Ask Jeeves" as far as I knew. But I generally have learned to deal with unanswered questions in my life, and find another way to get my answers... I inquire on a ton of things no one else seems to have interest in, quite often. and of course being Attention Deficit helps with all that... Oh Look! A Squirrel!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bkv-7f3IYAAH1Eq.jpg)
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I only asked the question because I was curious. But as they say, curiosity killed the cat. Let's let this cat die in peace. Nuff said, close the thread.
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There are no charter members here. Just members who were early adopters and found this tiny forum when it was first put together.
There are tons of new people who are experiencing Amazon Echo for the first time every single day. Some of them will find their way here. While many questions and topics have been answered and discussed to great extents, sometimes it's easier just to ask again. This forum has become quite large and it can be difficult to find an old thread out of thousands of threads.
As Amazon states in its sales literature, "Always getting smarter and adding new features..." Thus a question that was already answered previously might not be relevant or even true today.
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@jwlv
Thanks for clarifying. I was not implying some of us here are actually charter members (and is why I put that phrase in quotes). When I first found this forum, there were so few posts in the different forums, I was able to read all of them!