[abram]

I find Apple's suggestion to use Siri to control the volume on the AirPods Pro [0] to be worse than some of the ideas on that page. The idea of having a spoken conversation in public in which I must request a volume change via a branded AI (and then repeat that request multiple times if necessary to reach my desired volume) just feels humiliating.

[0] "To change the volume, say 'Hey, Siri,' then say something like 'Turn down the volume.'" -- https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212203

[geenew]

I discovered you can say ‘hey Siri volume N’ where N is the volume percentage. 70 usually works out for me for normal listening.

Not that I disagree with your main point; I refuse to use Siri in public, like you say, it’s humiliating.

[totetsu]

It's like how redbull reps tell the barkeep to only pour half the can In the drink and give you the can to hold and carry around. It makes you into a billboard for the product talking to Siri in public.

[prox]

Wow, that’s on purpose?

[lxe]

"Please drink verification can" doesn't sound too far-fetched now, does it?

[gumby]

One of the teens in the house has discovered you can say “Hey Alexa shut the fuck up”.

I’m afraid the joyless Siri just ignores you when you say that.

[DaiPlusPlus]

I actually really like that feature - it works with any _strongly-worded_ “stop” command: Alexa detects user annoyance and swiftly stops whatever it’s doing with the minimum of back-and-forth.

The best part is that whereas with most commands, if Alexa has any doubt about what you said or you weren’t clear it always asks you to clarify or disambiguate, even various stop/pause/volume-down/mute commands - but when spoken with an angry tone or with an f-bomb or two then she defaults to stopping without question, even if she didn’t hear you clearly.

[geoduck14]

I would like the Alexa team to reward politeness.

Like if you say "Alexa, please mute", you could unlock a new voice or a funny joke or something.

[gumby]

Creating a better world, albeit one spy-device at a time.

[DaiPlusPlus]

We laugh, but in all seriousness, what evidence is there that Amazon is acting unethically with the Echo devices?

[gumby]

Counterevidence: some of them (perhaps all) have a hardware switch to mute the microphone, a requirement allegedly set by the CEO.

Parallel evidence: the Ring acquisition has aggressively integrated itself with police forces.

Partial evidence: some of the devices are known to retain data even after being reset to factory settings (I presume it's a bug).

It has to be listening all the time for its activation command and we have no idea what it's doing with the data that comes in and is determined not to be the activation command.

[yreg]

I believe Google assistant has some optional mode where it makes children say please.

[arthurcolle]

Hey Geo shut the duck up

[schmorptron]

Ha, I've been doing the same thing with google assistant. Try it politely once, and then if it doesn't work or understand change to "shut the fuck up" and it somehow always gets it.

[RandallBrown]

I just reach into my pocket and press the physical buttons on the phone. Works pretty well.

I do wish there was a way to do it by touching the headphones though. I held off on buying AirPods for a few years mostly for that reason.

[matsemann]

But you still ended up buying them? I didn't know it's not possible, glad I went with Jabra Elite Active instead. Cannot imagine trying to muck around with that crap while out running.

[RandallBrown]

I did end up buying them.

Apple's ear buds are the only ones that fit comfortably in my ears so it's sorta my only choice. (The pros do not, which is unfortunate.)

I don't typically run with headphones in so that's not an issue, but even if I did, it's pretty easy to hit the volume button on my phone unless it's in a backpack or something.

[chrisseaton]

Does seem odd they couldn't have squeezed another switch in there, or let you lower volume with the switch in one ear and raise it with the switch in the other ear.

[gumby]

Crying out for a slider interface like the unlamented Touch Bar. The stems are long enough for the gesture (not absolute positioning).

[cunthorpe]

Time to bring back the click wheel via earring or nipple accessory.

[gumby]

Brilliant. Address the problem by selling a dongle!

[vxNsr]

Yea, I actually thought that’s how they worked when I first got them, I remember seeing a demo where that was done, but it was probably either concept art or a different product.

[bredren]

This was the correct decision.

iPhone has squeeze your pocket to change the volume adjustments.

Apple Watch has volume control just using a crown.

AirPods Pro too small to handle a moment or twist.

AirPods Max trials on-head crown and whole better than other product physical controls, quality fine physical gradient control on even a large mounted device is tricky.

[nuker]

Powerbeats have physical rocker buttons

[bserge]

Not as humiliating as on Android, so there's that.

[deregulateMed]

What makes one better or worse?

I'm always a bit embarrassed when I'm in public and a buddy calls me over to look at something on a MacBook. Like - "No it wasn't me who fell for Apple marketing."

[bserge]

Well, at least Apple's assistant has a name. "OK Google" is just directly praying to the overlord :D

[deregulateMed]

Can't you squeeze the sides or something? I don't use voice search much because I prefer accuracy. But when I do, I don't use "ok Google"