abarbarian Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Mycroft Mark II: The Open Source Answer to Amazon Echo and Google Home That Doesn’t Spy on You Brief: If you want a smart speaker cum virtual assistant like Amazon Echo and Google Home that doesn’t spy on you, Mycroft Mark II is what you are looking for. The open source device is open for pre-order via its crowdfunding campaign. This is the era of virtual home assistants. From setting alarms to get weather information, from playing your favorite music to play Netflix for you, these virtual assistants do it all. You just need to call their name and ask them the questions. You don’t even have to be nice to them, not that it hurts. All you need is a device that uses these virtual assistants. The Kickstarter campaign, https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-mark-ii-the-open-voice-assistant?ref=7cauwu The current Indiegogo campaign, https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mycroft-mark-ii-the-open-voice-assistant#/ For those with a 3D printer, Mark II Dev Kit – DIY Are you a hacker or maker that loves to put things together? Choose this reward and get the chance to build it yourself! This reward comes with the PCBs, LCD, speakers and necessary cables, but no housing. This reward will ships with documentation, CAD files for 3D printing, and an SD card fully loaded with everything you need! https://mycroft.ai/ The Mycroft home page contains more information, Install on a Desktop, buy a Mycroft Mark 1, or build with a Raspberry Pi. See what potential open source AI has to offer! A list of current "SKILLS" that Mycroft can do. https://github.com/MycroftAI/mycroft-skills/blob/master/README.md#community-contributed-skill-list I like the sound of Mycroft. Even at this early stage it looks to have some neat and useful skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digerati Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 Not convinced it won't be spying on us. Just because they say it doesn't, doesn't mean its not. They already note it can record and share everything, they just claim it does not by default. That does not mean it cannot be hacked. These devices must, by their very nature, be listening to everything all the time. Otherwise, how would they know to wake up and respond when they hear their name? I will only consider one of these devices if they require the physical push of a button to wake. But of course that then makes them much less convenient. You can't yell at it from across the room. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted April 19, 2018 Author Share Posted April 19, 2018 Not convinced it won't be spying on us. Just because they say it doesn't, doesn't mean its not. They already note it can record and share everything, they just claim it does not by default. That does not mean it cannot be hacked. These devices must, by their very nature, be listening to everything all the time. Otherwise, how would they know to wake up and respond when they hear their name? I will only consider one of these devices if they require the physical push of a button to wake. But of course that then makes them much less convenient. You can't yell at it from across the room. Oh well. Yup the security side of it being on all the time is certainly of concern. I do not know enough about that side of things to say if it is truly secure or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digerati Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 Well, security and privacy are totally different and it is important we all understand and not confuse the difference.Security involves hacking passwords and bank accounts, and infecting systems with malware. I don't see that as a problem here. Privacy, on the other hand, is about tracking our usage so, in this case, they can target us with ads, or recommend things we might like based on our previous searches or habits. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 The name sounds like Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes' elder brother. Nice to have an open source assistant like Amazon's Echo and Google Home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Shame they chose the same name as the Mycroft Project, the repository of search engines you can add to your browser. http://mycroftproject.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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