For example, I want to be able to say "Computer, time" and have it tell me the time out loud. Yes, I want to be be able to be under the covers, yell at my alarm clock, and have it talk back.
I'm not looking for anything overly extravagant, I'm just looking for features that I think would be nice to have in a voice activated alarm clock.
Voice activated software features
- Time
- Alarm Clock
- Pandora Music Station (start/stop)
- Today's Weather
- 5 Day Weather Forecast
- Today's schedule, taken from google calendar
- Next five items on google calendar
- Today's tasks/chores/Birthday reminders
- RSS Feed reader
- Audiobook reader
It would also be nice to be able to use it to turn on/off my lights, but while the above will take less than six hours to develop, this part might be a pain. I could always just get a clapper for that part.
The development work will be insanely easy, but I'm not too sure about the hardware to use.
Hardware requirements
- Quiet/silent
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Wifi
- Windows and .NET for ease of coding
- Minimal power consumption
- Enough processing power to fulfill the above software needs.
- Ability to process voice commands and create sound
- Cheap
My knowledge of modern hardware is shamefully lacking, but my brief research came up with the following:
Eee PC
Shuttle X27
Fit-PC2
Mini Netboox
Dell Zino HD
Dell's Mini Netbook has the best bang for the buck and I can use the screen as a clock, but it's probably the nosiest, it doesn't LOOK like an alarm clock, and it's probably the highest consumer of power. It helps me stay way below the $300 mark but it may cost more in the long run because of the electric bill.
Thoughts/suggestions/advice?
edit: Current winner - Acer Aspire (planning on using a usb wifi dongle and wiping it and installing a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate that Microsoft gave me) Ghost of Forums Past fucked around with this message on 02-06-2010 at 11:27 PM.
quote:
Azakias probably says this to all the girls:
If you manage to do this, I want one.
Sure thing. once I'm done I'll send you the finished software and make sure it runs off a config file (zipcode for weather, etc).
Just be aware that this will be built during times when I'm bored.
quote:
Azakias had this to say about Tron:
If you manage to do this, I want one.
Right now the wake up message is as follows (in a female voice):
"The time is 10:38 AM on Sunday, February 7th. [pause] Today's weather will have a low of 15 degrees with and high of 28 degrees. [pause] You are scheduled to attend A Super Bowl Party at 5:30 PM. Have a pleasant day."
The idea is that your wake up alarm will go off, you'll either say "stop" or "snooze." If you say "stop" the wakeup message will play. If you say "stop" during the wakeup message it will halt.
I'm not sure if I should just have people put their chores in with their google calendar data or have it a separate part. Thoughts?
Also, do you want an alpha copy as it's developed so you can send feeback or just the final product? Ghost of Forums Past fucked around with this message on 02-07-2010 at 10:47 AM.
Seems like it would have all the hardware you need built in.
quote:
Kermitov 2 had this to say about Duck Tales:
I wonder how many of you, like me, charge your phone on your nightstand.
Seems like it would have all the hardware you need built in.
That this point I'm pretty much settled on a windows platform. Thanks to .NET none of the features should really take more than twenty minutes to create. If I swap to something I don't know, this will not be the case.
quote:
Ghost of Forums Past spewed forth this undeniable truth:
That this point I'm pretty much settled on a windows platform. Thanks to .NET none of the features should really take more than twenty minutes to create. If I swap to something I don't know, this will not be the case.
sounds pretty cool to me 
I'd pay good money just to have one that said "pay your rent today, dummy"
quote:
When the babel fish was in place, it was apparent Kermitov 2 said:
sounds pretty cool to meI'd pay good money just to have one that said "pay your rent today, dummy"
That part's already done; just add it as a recurring event in google calendar.
It now accepts voice commands. It works fine when music in the background is playing.
I'm not entirely happy with how I implemented pandora because you can give the process it's attached to voice commands by default.
quote:
From the book of Blindy., chapter 3, verse 16:
always use existing functionality when you can get away with it. That's my motto.
Calendar isn't cutting it for tasks like "pick up groceries" or "pay bills" because that's something that really needs a "done/not done" status.
Does anyone use a service to keep track of those?
