Echo & Alexa Forums

General Category => Alexa Software Development & Technical Discussion => Topic started by: ericnrosesmom on August 24, 2017, 04:48:39 pm

Title: google skill
Post by: ericnrosesmom on August 24, 2017, 04:48:39 pm
Hi, I'm new to this forum and completely in love with Alexa. My brother got me my first dot for Christmas last year and my family was hooked instantly. We now have a total of 4 dots (one in the living room and one in each bedroom) and all the lights in the house have been replaced with Phillips Hue bulbs. My question today is about the Google skill. I found and tried following the instructions, but got hopelessly confused. is there anyone who would be able and willing to create the skill for me? I would be willing to pay for it via paypal or however you want. It would be a huge help and I would really appreciate it!!!!!
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: malliekm on August 24, 2017, 06:22:58 pm
I'm hopelessly confused too  :o
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: renegade600 on August 24, 2017, 06:37:55 pm
I'm hopelessly confused too  :o

thats normal for you   :-)
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: mike27oct on August 24, 2017, 06:53:50 pm
Why not buy a Google Home and have Google search, etc.built in?  Works for me!  When on sale the GH is around $99 or less.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: ericnrosesmom on August 24, 2017, 07:11:04 pm
I want to but my husband thinks it's a waste of money when we already have 4 dots
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: malliekm on August 24, 2017, 09:52:43 pm

[/quote]
thats normal for you   :-)
[/quote]
I get no respect around here :P
So the answer to her question is....?
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: mike27oct on August 25, 2017, 01:16:40 am
I want to but my husband thinks it's a waste of money when we already have 4 dots

Who made the decision to get 4 Dots?  Hubby?  Dots sound terrible when playing music, I have 4 as well, but I also have Echo and Google Home, and they both sound better for music.  Maybe you can make a decision to get a GH!   (Maybe I can start a family argument!)
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: malliekm on August 25, 2017, 01:41:17 am
Okay, after reading the OP several times I think I get it.  There must be a Google skill for Alexa. She is unable to set it up/use it correctly and wants someone to write a Google skill for her.   Did I get it right?

I have three dots and 2 Google homes.  A Google home is not a waste of money because you have  Echo dots. A Google home is going to sound better for music. If you have two Google homes they can play the same song at the same time.  A Google home can make phone calls to any phone in the United States or Canada. Goggle home's search engine/knowledge base is a million times better than Alexa, but Alexa tells better jokes.  And I haven't even touched on all of the casting abilities with Google home.   I'm not into that so really don't know much about it.  Who knows what the next generation holds for both of these devices, but as of right now they aren't created equal as far as I'm concerned. 
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: mike27oct on August 25, 2017, 02:39:50 am
Thanks for mentioning casting, my favorite feature of the GH.  I have a music app or two that allows me to cast to GH anything playing on my phone or tablet.  Casting is much better than BT; it sends the signal through the home network, not as another wireless signal like bluetooth.  I can also cast music to my Chromecast as well and shows up on TV with the album art, title, artist etc.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: renegade600 on August 25, 2017, 04:37:31 am
I want to but my husband thinks it's a waste of money when we already have 4 dots

I don't think it is a waste of money.

1.  you can call any landline or mobile phone
2.  you can have it call a business without the number being in your contact list
3.  you can get better answers to stupid questions
4.  you can use it as a backup when the echo is acting up
5.  there is casting if you stream
and more.

as far as setting up the google skill you originally wanted.  there are several posts in this forum that has links to help with it.  there are several youtube videos that can help.  just search for "google skill for alexa"
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: malliekm on August 25, 2017, 12:46:56 pm
Better answers to intelligent questions too :)  AND her rendition of "Happy Birthday" is much better ;)
GH also turns on/off the same lights and a fan that Alexa does.  I use TP-Link outlets (no hub).  I'm
sure it would work with what you're using.  Try a GH (or a Dot for that matter) in the kitchen.  Around here
that one gets the most use, followed by the office.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: mike27oct on August 25, 2017, 01:01:34 pm
Dots are used at our home mostly for convenience to ask time, temp, weather, control TP link switches, add things to shopping list, but NOT for music.  That is what the GHs and Echo are for.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: asianrocker on August 25, 2017, 08:17:45 pm
Dots are used at our home mostly for convenience to ask time, temp, weather, control TP link switches, add things to shopping list, but NOT for music.  That is what the GHs and Echo are for.

I disagree. Dot is way better actually coz you can connect it to your current speaker. Most people own a bad ass home theater speaker and the dot is PERFECT for that. No BT required. Hmmm Makes me want to google which BT adapter I can buy from our current speaker in living room.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: asianrocker on August 25, 2017, 09:30:08 pm
Hi, I'm new to this forum and completely in love with Alexa. My brother got me my first dot for Christmas last year and my family was hooked instantly. We now have a total of 4 dots (one in the living room and one in each bedroom) and all the lights in the house have been replaced with Phillips Hue bulbs. My question today is about the Google skill. I found and tried following the instructions, but got hopelessly confused. is there anyone who would be able and willing to create the skill for me? I would be willing to pay for it via paypal or however you want. It would be a huge help and I would really appreciate it!!!!!

Read your reply. You know you don't even need to buy gh. All you need is google assistant on your current android phone.

Yes for the nth time I honestly don't see the point of GH. I have google assistant on my phone and it's all I need. Google is my BFF but not GH. LOL.

Oh, you know you can connect your dot on your current speakers? All you need is aux connector.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: renegade600 on August 25, 2017, 09:39:58 pm
Dots are used at our home mostly for convenience to ask time, temp, weather, control TP link switches, add things to shopping list, but NOT for music.  That is what the GHs and Echo are for.

I disagree. Dot is way better actually coz you can connect it to your current speaker. Most people own a bad ass home theater speaker and the dot is PERFECT for that. No BT required. Hmmm Makes me want to google which BT adapter I can buy from our current speaker in living room.

I have a good home theater too and I still connect to it via bluetooth.  I keep the echo across the room.  this way it can hear commands better when playing music. 
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: renegade600 on August 25, 2017, 09:45:06 pm
Hi, I'm new to this forum and completely in love with Alexa. My brother got me my first dot for Christmas last year and my family was hooked instantly. We now have a total of 4 dots (one in the living room and one in each bedroom) and all the lights in the house have been replaced with Phillips Hue bulbs. My question today is about the Google skill. I found and tried following the instructions, but got hopelessly confused. is there anyone who would be able and willing to create the skill for me? I would be willing to pay for it via paypal or however you want. It would be a huge help and I would really appreciate it!!!!!

Read your reply. You know you don't even need to buy gh. All you need is google assistant on your current android phone.

Yes for the nth time I honestly don't see the point of GH. I have google assistant on my phone and it's all I need. Google is my BFF but not GH. LOL.

Oh, you know you can connect your dot on your current speakers? All you need is aux connector.

yes you can use google assistant over the phone but it does not work from across the room.   just like you can use individual apps to run your smart house.  It is more about convenience.    it does not mean those who have different point of views than you are wrong, as you seemed to say for the nth time. 

One of these days I may get a gh for its convenience and because of the one big difference is the calling, if you have fallen and cant get up, you can get alexa call a buddy and hope they are available or you can get gh to call the police station.  may not be 911 but you can still put their phone number in your contact list or just tell it to call the (town) police department
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: mike27oct on August 26, 2017, 02:16:21 am
BTW, our first Dot was one purchased to take audio output, not into a speaker, but into home stereo, but it actually is not used for that as much as we thought it would be.  We really do not listen to Alexa music that much.  We have so much digital music that the best (meaning quality) way to listen to music is our own music via stereo with our digital files coming directly from our NAS (or even just from a HD) to stereo. 

Both Alexa and GH devices are more for casual convenience listening. and I feel the GH has better sound than Echo for music, so I listen that way most often now since the app I use on iPad can cast the music to GH and even to Chromecast device.  Since music playing on iPad is being streamed to it by our NAS source, it is as high a quality as piping audio signal directly to stereo. If I want to bump up the music stream quality, I just direct the iPad to cast to Chromecast instead of GH and music is now coming from stereo with its video metadata content on TV

And, anyone who claims Google Assistant app is a substitute for a Google Home really doesn't know what they are talking about!  It's like comparing apples and oranges.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: asianrocker on August 26, 2017, 04:07:08 pm
I actually know what I'm talking about. Google assistant well actually my smartphone and PC  are the  reasons that I did not buy echo right away. I honestly up to now even owning it does not see what it can do that smartphone and PC can't.

I should have searched before I bought though. Had I known dot has an aux input, I would have bought it instead. Now googling more, I honestly would have bought raspberry pi instead. Oh well.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: mike27oct on August 26, 2017, 04:37:06 pm
Re: Raspberry Pi, is a reportedly cool gadget, but why is it still in the geek category of products?  Why isn't the market flooded with snazzy RP derived products from major companies?  Presumably because it is still too geeky.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: renegade600 on August 26, 2017, 04:51:04 pm
I actually know what I'm talking about. Google assistant well actually my smartphone and PC  are the  reasons that I did not buy echo right away. I honestly up to now even owning it does not see what it can do that smartphone and PC can't.

I should have searched before I bought though. Had I known dot has an aux input, I would have bought it instead. Now googling more, I honestly would have bought raspberry pi instead. Oh well.

unless you can turn on the lights when the pc and phone is in another room, then the apps are useless. 
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: asianrocker on August 26, 2017, 05:46:29 pm
LOL. you have to be a total geek first and foremost actually to buy raspberry pi. Either that or you know how to follow step by step instructions really good online.

And raspberry pi is not meant to be sold 'ready to use'. It's for hard core enthusiasts and software engineers.


raspberry pi is meant to be DIY. Like echo, when I saw the very first raspberry pi being sold mostly on barnes and nobles. I was like, what's the point? It's basically a cave man PC.

But really amazed with ALL the futuristic various forms of home automation you can do with it.  I changed my mind about it. You guys should google smart mirror that was like wow.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: jwlv on August 26, 2017, 06:35:40 pm
But really amazed with ALL the futuristic various forms of home automation you can do with it.  I changed my mind about it. You guys should google smart mirror that was like wow.

Raspberry Pi is just a miniature PC running Linux. No biggie. I can live without it... Unless I have a specific project that needs it. But the Smart Mirror, I don't see what's the big deal. It's just a 2 way mirror with a small PC and a screen behind it. So what?
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: mike27oct on August 26, 2017, 08:47:20 pm
RP3:  quite a few folks at WD Forum are using the RP3 with Kodi installed as a media player. Yea. I'd like a newer media player, and right now my FireTV running Kodi (or MrMC -- a derivation of Kodi) serves as a media player; that is much less geeky; and I did not have to build anything. 

Nonetheless, even this setup is sort of geeky for most people.  A decent media player based on RP3 should be available by some name-brand outfit.  Even WD has been fooling around with it and have made some minor products based upon it, but so far nothing that the majority of buyers would spring for.

Anyway. further discussions about RP3 should not be in one of the Echo forums, but in Potpourri. 
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: asianrocker on August 26, 2017, 10:03:55 pm
You did not see that guy that put Alexa voice skill on his mirror then. And you can build anything you want with rp. People build robots with it.

So ya I can totally say though that rp projects only interested me when ai like Google and Alexa became available for it.

Before all they do is make kodi player or old school video games with it which are point less to me.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: mike27oct on August 26, 2017, 10:54:26 pm
Video games are pointless to me, too. Mindless activity.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: asianrocker on August 27, 2017, 12:11:08 am
I love video games. I meant it's pointless coz you can play old school video games on any PC. That's why I said it's for hobbyists.

It's the AI integration that made me decide RpI is not pointless after all especially if you are handy, unfortunately, I'm not.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: aross1976 on November 01, 2017, 10:37:57 am
i don't know why anyone wants this skill it is literally the most useless skill for alexa that has ever been created
i installed it and it sucks ,  about 98.9% of the time i ask it something it does not know ,  and about 95% of those questions alexa does , it is completely worthless

i can't imagine that the  GH is this bad , if this skill is anything like  what google is like on a GH them  the GH  is complete and utter rubbish which as a nexus owner i would not doubt
 GA  even on  6p is completely worthless the most retarded AI i have ever experienced,  it never works
nine times out of ten it can't even tell you the time,  forget about activation of maps voice navigation

google is a POS company that treats it users like alpha testers  their developers   are not even toilet trained
they refuse 1world hires this is why
everything they do and  everything  they make is a complete disaster of ganges like proportions

GA is absolutely pants on head retarded but i still expected better for this google alexa skill
it is totally useless

Title: Re: google skill
Post by: asianrocker on November 01, 2017, 11:22:44 am
LOL some one has a beef with Google. I find it hard to believe that Google can't answer any question. And Alexa can? Who you fooling?

Title: Re: google skill
Post by: aross1976 on November 01, 2017, 01:31:45 pm
try installing the skill and see for yourself it sucks it does not know the answers to anything and even when it does all it does is pick out one word  it recognized then proceeds to read from  wikipedia, that is literally all it can do  is read from wikipedia, they should have called it the wikipedia skill ,

i can't imagine that it is this bad running on the home   for some reason the skill is not the same as it is ona home
one reason is it is missing location services which is a huge drawback right there but  it is more than just that
it just is not useful at all  ,like i said all it can do is sometimes if you are lucks ramble off from a wiki article but that is  about all it can do.

Yes i do have an issue with google

GA is completely worthless garbage i have it on my nexus 6p running N
 never used such a huge pile of crap in my life , it is worthless
google is a regressive  cancerous monopoly everything they touch they break or make worse

i have much fewer issues with amazon  at least they are trying to improve things all google does is break things and make them  worse and worse  with each successive "update"

GA is retarded all it knows how to do is turn everything into a google search

and it is unreliable AF , had my phone in the car  a couple weeks ago doing work outside filthy hands
windows open and i say "ok google what time is it"  i hear the phone vibrate so i know it heard me
 after asking it 50 times it finally responded them i tried another 200 times and    it would not respond at all
it activated each time , i know  because   i heard the phone vibrate

same for trying to get it to activate maps voice navigation hands free , it never works i just turn every command into a google search
their developers should all be tied to  boulders and tossed in the ganges




Title: Re: google skill
Post by: asianrocker on November 01, 2017, 02:50:59 pm
Sorry can't relate to your hatred with google assistant coz on my phone, it works flawlessly. Just tried to voice activate map and navigation. It works in a snap. And my phone is sh-itty as can be. LOL.

I find it ironic GA is not working right on your nexus. Isn't nexus owned by google? Did you root your phone? Maybe that's the reason.

I search for the google skill on my alexa app, it's not there. Also maybe that's not the right google skill? I know it's alexa that wiki everything. Not google or google assistant.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: mike27oct on November 01, 2017, 03:12:53 pm
@aross1976

Quite the rant about the google skill.  I'd say it is a poorly developed skill, so if you want Google-ability in an AI device get a Google Home.  I have a lot of Alexa devices and two GH devices.  Get yourself one as well.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: malliekm on November 01, 2017, 05:01:51 pm
It's hard to believe a little skill incited so much hatred and hostility.  Are you sure your wife didn't leave you for someone that works at Google? :o  Dump the skill, spend $49 on a GH Mini and watch the hostility melt away...unless of course your wife really did leave you for a Google employee ;) 

I have 3 Echo Dots.  I've had them since Dec of last year.  I have 2 GHs and 1 Mini (another Mini will arrive tomorrow).  It's not even a contest.  GH out performs Alexa hands down.  That wasn't the case when GH first came out but over the year, it's improved exponentially!  BTW, the Mini sounds better than and is louder than the Dot.
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: aross1976 on November 01, 2017, 05:41:52 pm
well the  coolest thing i saw it do is custom responses  which  alexa can not do buy hopefully it will get added at some point

of course you will need a home to do things that require location services like ask  business hours for stores and  locations  of stores and what not,  though  you think it would be able to at least tell you some information with the alexa skill about location  of stores but it won't at all

google refused to replace or repair my defective 6p which has a faulty battery and microphone since day 1  with it well under warranty  they are a horrible company and they treat their customers like they are lower than whale  crap and  they are a cancerous monopoly who i  would not feel at all comfortable handing even more  of my data to ,not like they  don't have it all already  but after being burned on the nexus  i really do not want to do any more business with them

and does the mini even have a 3.5mm out ?

i really do hate google and think it should die in a fire , they are always crippling their  devices and services through "updates"  ,or    their   services and products  do not work as advertised

some examples ,  you are supposed to be able to use  GA on the phone(at least the nexus 6p on N) like a GH  ,but it does not work.
 they say you can  ask it to  cast a youtube video(do not even get me started on what they have done to youtube) to a CC hands free  by voice like with a google home but it doesn't work at all

and  that brings us to CC another awful mess
i purchased  one for my elderly dad who has no internet or wifi except on  his phone
after much frustration i got it working with just his phone after using a 3rd device for the initial setup
it was working with no wifi network or router just the  phones hotspot and the CC

then he got a new phone and google changed the cast app to the google home app and now it no longer works unless you have a wifi router ,now i will have to waste time  trying to find and manually install  old google cast .apk's to both his phone and the  other 3rd  device i use to set it all up to get it working again and it probably still will not work

i really do not want to have multiple devices  laying around either or learn a new smart home platform













Title: Re: google skill
Post by: malliekm on November 01, 2017, 09:38:56 pm
OK, now we're getting somewhere.  You do have a beef with Google.  I guess you just came here to trash them.  I'm not looking at Google with rose colored glasses.  I'm sure they're out to rule the world as is Amazon.  I bet if Amazon had burned you on a product, you'd be saying these things about them.  Both companies are way too embedded and invested in our private lives.  We've been slowly conditioned for years to accept the invasion into our private lives.  These AIs are just the latest (and more obvious) devices to do so.  Both companies are trying to make life impossible without them...and they're pretty much succeeding.  I don't trust either one of them.  Having said that, I LOVE my AIs and my 2 day free shipping (that isn't really free since the price is usually higher)!  Tomorrow there will be seven of them inhabiting my home.  We're out numbered 7 to 2 :o

I can use GA on my Samsung Galaxy S7 just like I use the GHs.  It's just much easier to talk to the GH (in every room of the house) than it is to make sure I have my phone in hand and press the button.  I can use GA on my phone to ask questions, add to my shopping list, set reminders (that transfer to GH and emit a tone and a single white light as a reminder I have a reminder), etc.  Maybe you need to update your phone or GA.  More times than not when I ask Alexa a question, I get "Sorry, I'm not sure".  That rarely happens with GH.  How can my experience be so drastically different from yours?

No GH doesn't have a 3.5mm out.  That might be a problem for some.  Doesn't affect me at all. 
I don't use CC anymore because of the excessive data it uses 24/7.  I'm on satellite with a very limited data cap.  There's no such thing as unlimited on satellite.  But I have 2 CC and did use them (before I discovered what was draining my data).  I cast from my Android phone and tab all the time.  It does work.  I just asked GH "what is the past tense of cast?"  Casted didn't sound right!  It gave me a summary of how casted was a word in every century from the 14th but has given way to "cast" in modern English.  I asked Alexa.  She gave me the cast of a (I suppose movie) "Past Tense".  I reworded my question and got the "Sorry, I'm not sure" routine. 

Why don't you keep your Alexas, buy an Apple or MS phone, use a different browser on your computer and be happy? :)
You don't have a Google email address do you? :o
Title: Re: google skill
Post by: aross1976 on November 02, 2017, 11:12:26 am
i didn't come here to bash them per se
 i am  just wondering why the google skill for alexa is so bad
i bet if you install it on your echo and then ask all 3 AI's the same questions , alexa, GH ,and alexa google skill
that the google alexa skill will perform  far far worse than both alexa and the actual GH

i am fine on android and i do have several google  and  gmail accounts
they just are constantly breaking things and removing features and functionality  and mainly because they want their  stupid  crappy minimalist material design

pretty soon all google  apps and services will just be a  blank white screen
of course crapple  tries to do the same ,itunes is a good example

i am saying doing specific things  on GA does not work  on my nexus which is supposed to be the reference android device

it is updated to the latest except  not to oreo which was just pushed OTA yesterday to my phone

GA is up to date  it just never works as promised ,it is supposed to work like a GH and i am supposed to be able to activate it hands free with ok google detection and  then ask it to play a youtube video on my TV/CC and have it cast the youtube video to the TV
all hands free all by voice but it does not work

just like i am supposed to be able to be able to ask it to navigate to a specific place and have it open maps and start driving directions  voice navigation directions  by voice all hands free , which also never works , their AI is retarded it just turns everything into a google search
i still have to pick up the phone while driving  to get it to start giving navigation voice directions and also it  doesn't work at all if the phone is in landscape,which i always have it in  while driving , their developers are beyond retarded and their management is even more retarded for signing off and letting this broken  unfinished garbage get published

also their support is non existent ,  at least i can say one thing about amazon is that their support and customer service is impeccable you can actually always reach someone who speaks legible english and knows  what they are talking about

all google has is awful support forums where people ask specific direct questions and get no straightforward answers just evasive ramblings and the threads run on for literally tens of thousands of pages with no answers

amazon usually just keeps on adding new features without removing things their general trajectory is upward where as google is just a horrible regressive company that turns everything it touches into bloody  diarrhea

it's good to know that the GH min has no 3.5mm ,and  i bet it has no bluetooth either

see this is a perfect example of google's mental retardation
they had like a year to observe their competitor the  echo dot and they didn't even bother to match its capabilities to make it competitive with the dot ,plus the dot is always on sale for $40 ,you can bet the GH mini will always be priced at $50 $10 higher, and less features

Here are some more examples ,they removed SD slots from their phones ,they removed miracast from  the nexus and pixel(you have to root it get it back or buy a CC for every tv even if it already smart and had miracast built in) , they removed  front facing stereo speakers  from the pixel 1 , they removed 3.5mm from the pixel 2  ,they removed the ability to  view comment replies and reply to them from the notification bell drop down menu in youtube,  now you have to   go back to the video again and wait for it to load  and then wait for the comment section to load just to reply to a comment ,or even read a comment reply longer than one sentence , i am sure you love this   with you having a data cap , i don't have any cap and it pisses me off to  no end ,i used to be able to comment and reply to comment replies easily and respond to many comments but now it takes  500 times longer than before and has made communication nearly impossible
i could literally go on all day at how awful and retarded google is

Title: Re: google skill
Post by: mike27oct on November 02, 2017, 07:00:28 pm
>>>    i am  just wondering why the google skill for alexa is so bad

Maybe no one here uses the damn thing, or even CARES if or WHY it is bad.