Computer General Discussion Thread

[Bezombia]

If anyone actually thinks that Windows voice control is worth anything, just watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyLqUf4cdwc

[Soldati Senza Confini]

If anyone actually thinks that Windows voice control is worth anything, just watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyLqUf4cdwc

I have been trying to use voice control for years, and the defect with all of them is that they assume you have no accent and you can speak words like someone who has had 8 years of Speech under their belt and can intonate flawlessly.

That doesn't happen in the real world. I have a noticeable accent so voice control is shit, it never gets anything right.

[Hindenburgia]

Voice control has always been kind of amusing for me. Why should you spend three seconds doing something you could do in half a second ("XBox on!" versus *press button*)? Especially when there's no guarantee that it will be interpreted correctly ("OK Google, take picture!" becoming "OK Google, open browser"). Also, good luck with the whole "public place" thing - if there's ten people in a room, then you'd better make sure you're listening to the right one, particularly if there's more than one person with the same gadget, and they're also trying to control theirs...

[Ashihara no Nakatsukuni]

http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/14/7389563/windows-10-xbox-app-cortana-features

Some news for Beno.

Absolutely disgusting.

[YellowApple]

If anyone actually thinks that Windows voice control is worth anything, just watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyLqUf4cdwc

I have been trying to use voice control for years, and the defect with all of them is that they assume you have no accent and you can speak words like someone who has had 8 years of Speech under their belt and can intonate flawlessly.

That doesn't happen in the real world. I have a noticeable accent so voice control is shit, it never gets anything right.

Actually, I've only once had a good experience with voice recognition, and that was with Google's search app on my phone. It seems like it's a bit better than the others at actually adapting to imperfect voices (like my own, which is surely riddled with remnants of speech impediments and such).

Voice control has always been kind of amusing for me. Why should you spend three seconds doing something you could do in half a second ("XBox on!" versus *press button*)? Especially when there's no guarantee that it will be interpreted correctly ("OK Google, take picture!" becoming "OK Google, open browser"). Also, good luck with the whole "public place" thing - if there's ten people in a room, then you'd better make sure you're listening to the right one, particularly if there's more than one person with the same gadget, and they're also trying to control theirs...

Voice input does have a very valid use-case among those with physical disabilities; in such cases, being able to talk to one's computer is much easier than trying to accomplish the same tasks with typing or poking or whatever. Someday I'd love to see a Kinect-like system that translated sign language into computer input; that would be badass. There's already that LeapMotion thing that does similar recognition of hand gestures, but the implementation seems to be more of a gimmick than anything, and it's pretty range-limited.

It's also very popular among doctors for dictating their notes; as a former IT employee at even a small hospital, I can attest that doctors tend to be very bad at using computers (including - and especially - the typing aspect of using computers), but very able and willing to use dictation systems (we used DragonSpeak or whatever it's called) rather effectively, especially when they integrate well with an EMR/EHR.

Plus, you have driving/biking/etc., where you can't use your hands to control the device and you can't be staring at the device's screen in order to control it. Being able to say "OK Google, get me directions to Little Caesar's" and having it automatically bring up turn-by-turn directions to cheap delicious pizza is pretty damn handy.

And then there's, of course, the cool factor of being able to yell "OK GOOGLE START PANDORA" across the house and have music playing in your living room, thus impressing your dinner guests.

[Bezombia]

I have been trying to use voice control for years, and the defect with all of them is that they assume you have no accent and you can speak words like someone who has had 8 years of Speech under their belt and can intonate flawlessly.

That doesn't happen in the real world. I have a noticeable accent so voice control is shit, it never gets anything right.

Actually, I've only once had a good experience with voice recognition, and that was with Google's search app on my phone. It seems like it's a bit better than the others at actually adapting to imperfect voices (like my own, which is surely riddled with remnants of speech impediments and such).

First time I tried using voice control to text someone it ended up looking like this:

"O K exclamation point send delete delete select all backspace send"

I was just trying to say "okay".

[YellowApple]

Actually, I've only once had a good experience with voice recognition, and that was with Google's search app on my phone. It seems like it's a bit better than the others at actually adapting to imperfect voices (like my own, which is surely riddled with remnants of speech impediments and such).

First time I tried using voice control to text someone it ended up looking like this:

"O K exclamation point send delete delete select all backspace send"

I was just trying to say "okay".

Maybe you have one of those speech impediments that causes you to blurt out ASCII control sequences whenever you speak? I know that happens to me all the time ;)

[Bezombia]

First time I tried using voice control to text someone it ended up looking like this:

"O K exclamation point send delete delete select all backspace send"

I was just trying to say "okay".

Maybe you have one of those speech impediments that causes you to blurt out ASCII control sequences whenever you speak? I know that happens to me all the time

I was under the assumption that a voice control system would at least have the basic functionality of, you know, control.

I was mistaken.

[YellowApple]

Maybe you have one of those speech impediments that causes you to blurt out ASCII control sequences whenever you speak? I know that happens to me all the time ;)

I was under the assumption that a voice control system would at least have the basic functionality of, you know, control.

I was mistaken.

Nah, it's a voice command system; you need to be speaking into an Apple keyboard for it to work correctly.

[Bezombia]

I was under the assumption that a voice control system would at least have the basic functionality of, you know, control.

I was mistaken.

Nah, it's a voice command system; you need to be speaking into an Apple keyboard for it to work correctly.

Dammit. Is there going to be a voice compose system so I have an excuse to buy a unix keyboard?

[YellowApple]

Nah, it's a voice command system; you need to be speaking into an Apple keyboard for it to work correctly.

Dammit. Is there going to be a voice compose system so I have an excuse to buy a unix keyboard?

You mean a "super-metahyper voice system"? You can already get that in Emacs with a simple 'M-x voice-command'

[Hindenburgia]

I have been trying to use voice control for years, and the defect with all of them is that they assume you have no accent and you can speak words like someone who has had 8 years of Speech under their belt and can intonate flawlessly.

That doesn't happen in the real world. I have a noticeable accent so voice control is shit, it never gets anything right.

Actually, I've only once had a good experience with voice recognition, and that was with Google's search app on my phone. It seems like it's a bit better than the others at actually adapting to imperfect voices (like my own, which is surely riddled with remnants of speech impediments and such).

Voice control has always been kind of amusing for me. Why should you spend three seconds doing something you could do in half a second ("XBox on!" versus *press button*)? Especially when there's no guarantee that it will be interpreted correctly ("OK Google, take picture!" becoming "OK Google, open browser"). Also, good luck with the whole "public place" thing - if there's ten people in a room, then you'd better make sure you're listening to the right one, particularly if there's more than one person with the same gadget, and they're also trying to control theirs...

Voice input does have a very valid use-case among those with physical disabilities; in such cases, being able to talk to one's computer is much easier than trying to accomplish the same tasks with typing or poking or whatever. Someday I'd love to see a Kinect-like system that translated sign language into computer input; that would be badass. There's already that LeapMotion thing that does similar recognition of hand gestures, but the implementation seems to be more of a gimmick than anything, and it's pretty range-limited.

It's also very popular among doctors for dictating their notes; as a former IT employee at even a small hospital, I can attest that doctors tend to be very bad at using computers (including - and especially - the typing aspect of using computers), but very able and willing to use dictation systems (we used DragonSpeak or whatever it's called) rather effectively, especially when they integrate well with an EMR/EHR.

Plus, you have driving/biking/etc., where you can't use your hands to control the device and you can't be staring at the device's screen in order to control it. Being able to say "OK Google, get me directions to Little Caesar's" and having it automatically bring up turn-by-turn directions to cheap delicious pizza is pretty damn handy.

And then there's, of course, the cool factor of being able to yell "OK GOOGLE START PANDORA" across the house and have music playing in your living room, thus impressing your dinner guests.

Oh, certainly - voice control has a number of very valid use-cases. I'm more talking about the attempts recently to make it more "mainstream" by using it where it doesn't belong - things like Microsoft's requiring of Kinect for their new XBox (since rescinded, thankfully), for instance. Even your last example is something I would hurry to disable - voice control systems tend to attempt to (and to a degree, have to attempt to) interpret the background babble present in a crowded room - for it to be sensitive enough to catch your voice across the room, even raised, it would also be sensitive enough to catch someone talking particularly loudly, or even just the combined voices of a group of people. And when it does that, suddenly you'll find that the station changed/the thing shut off/whatever, because how would it be able to tell the difference between an actually intended command and an unintended one?

I'm certainly not saying that it doesn't have valid use-cases, such as for the disabled or those with jobs that keep their hands occupied - I've also heard of DragonSpeak and from what I've heard it works reasonably well, though for a rather significant cost - but the current fad for voice control is a little bit ridiculous. Though at least we seem to be done with that mouse-gesture fad that flared up a while back - that was even worse.

[Ashihara no Nakatsukuni]

Think I might get a the Kindle Fire HD 7" since it is pretty damn cheap, then just install CyanogenMod on it.

[Slorch]

So, how do you guys calculate need PSU size in a build?

[Valica]

So, how do you guys calculate need PSU size in a build?

Usually, in my experience, the GPU will need more PSU power than any other component.
I try to go a couple hundred Watts over the GPUs need because sometimes PSUs will be sneaky about how much they actually produce.
If it's not a budget build, I'd say go for a 1,000W, 1,200W, or 1,500W PSU so you'll never need to upgrade it.

Never cut it close with PSU power and GPU consumption.

My PSU is right at the line with my PSU and my GPU has almost destroyed my PC after it crashed while playing Outerra, KSP, and SpaceEngine.
That or my GPU simply doesn't like games that render entire planets or galaxies or the universe to-scale.

[Agritum]

So, how do you guys calculate need PSU size in a build?

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psuc ... orlite.jsp

[Bezombia]

Think I might get a the Kindle Fire HD 7" since it is pretty damn cheap, then just install CyanogenMod on it.

Just get a Oneplus One, which already has CyanogenMod on it.

[Lechites]

Think I might get a the Kindle Fire HD 7" since it is pretty damn cheap, then just install CyanogenMod on it.

Just get a Oneplus One, which already has CyanogenMod on it.

Yes let's get a phone instead of a tablet for three times the price. wat

[Bezombia]

Just get a Oneplus One, which already has CyanogenMod on it.

Yes let's get a phone instead of a tablet for three times the price. wat

Get four and duct tape them together.

[Lechites]

Yes let's get a phone instead of a tablet for three times the price. wat

Get four and duct tape them together.

That sounds absolutely horrendous.

[Lechites]

Think I might get a the Kindle Fire HD 7" since it is pretty damn cheap, then just install CyanogenMod on it.

Just get a Oneplus One, which already has CyanogenMod on it.

Actually I didn't even know this phone exists, seems really cheap for the specs in it. Now I'm curious about it.. Damn you Bez.

[Bezombia]

Just get a Oneplus One, which already has CyanogenMod on it.

Actually I didn't even know this phone exists, seems really cheap for the specs in it. Now I'm curious about it.. Damn you Bez.

You're welcome. It's the most powerful phone on the market right now, and you can get it with a 64GB hard drive for only $350.

It also comes with Cyanogenmod preinstalled and I think some models come (or came?) pre-rooted.

[Agritum]

Actually I didn't even know this phone exists, seems really cheap for the specs in it. Now I'm curious about it.. Damn you Bez.

You're welcome. It's the most powerful phone on the market right now, and you can get it with a 64GB hard drive for only $350.

It also comes with Cyanogenmod preinstalled and I think some models come (or came?) pre-rooted.

Myself, I wonder what Lenovo will do with Motorola. Plenty of potential there.

[Lechites]

You're welcome. It's the most powerful phone on the market right now, and you can get it with a 64GB hard drive for only $350.

It also comes with Cyanogenmod preinstalled and I think some models come (or came?) pre-rooted.

Myself, I wonder what Lenovo will do with Motorola. Plenty of potential there.

Yeah right now I have the Moto G because it was so cheap. Yet for $150 more I get quadruple the specs... Shit, I need to save up for this.

[Bezombia]

I have a Kyocera Hydro Vibe because it was more powerful than the Galaxy S3 but I got it for $30. Waterproof, too.