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Integration Ideas / Ideas on how and why to intergrate with Vox for home automation

« on: April 18, 2014, 11:43:15 AM »

This may be a fairly broad post but it is all related so bear with me.

Voxcommando in itself is now a very modular software.  The addition of VoxWav, Python scripting, and Arduino integration makes Vox IMHO crucial in home/life automation.   This are some key factors that I believe that could very well enhance the quality of life for a lot of us.  Windows, Google ,and Apple have their forms of Speech softwares that are supposed to enhance peoples lives.  They all pale in comparison to VC.  Windows speech recognition didn't become useful to me till I found VC and really does not provide any automation out of the box.   Google mostly want you to use their search engine and you have to address it as Google.  Vox has had a Google search payload for quite sometime and you can name your computer what you please.  Apple's Siri is mostly funny responses people show off to their friends which are fairly lame. Siri has a lot to learn from Paul Hibbert's Alexander VC setup. VC is not just a software but is now becoming a platform.

Now let's talk about VoxWav.  The Android software that allows you to interface with VC on a Android smartphone.  VoxWav is a very cheap alternative to buying a wireless mic and can be ran in the backround while you do other useful things on your smart device.  There are tons of useful apps on Android devices as well it has a very low dev fee. That is if you want to develop your own apps.  Application like Tasker(Android automation) and SensoDuino(data gathering of on board smart phone sensors) can add value in the Voxwav/VoxCommando ecosystem for automation.  Example could be..... Using SensorDuino to collect data of your local enviroment.  Then use Tasker to send that data to your pc every hour.  Then use VoxWav to command VC to read that data or store it in a local data base for further analysis.

Now Python scripting and Arduino integration goes in hand in hand with VC.  The amount of possibilities either individually or combined are endless.  James did me a huge favor adding Python as a language to program VC with.  Python is regarded as one of the easiest languages to learn, one of the fastest to deploy, the preferred language of the scientific community, and crossplatfrom(raspberrypi, arduino,windows,ios,linux).  So this has got me to really concentrate on Python as my main programing language.  I knew I would have learn it eventually for Arduinos but now it is on the top of my to do list.  Now I am also thnking of applications I could write in python for windows or android.

There are a lot of devices for home automation and they are expensive.  There is also a risk for how long the tech will be around or supported.  There is a lot of start up companies providing these things and as I stated before we can't really depend on the big companies to deliver a quality product for automation.  This is where a dyi arduino intergration will prove to be more modular and powerful depending on the home automation needs.  James posted recently a arduino mega controlling 4 relay switches.  This could be done with a 20 to 30 dollar ardunio and  10 to 20 dollar for a 4 relay switch board.  Then to make it wireless there are a ton of shield options depending on what you need the price can range. The Flutter shields can go up to 1/2 mile in range and their cost is about 20-30 bucks.  Not to mention you would have some open slots for some sensors. 

So a good usage example would be a green house project.  You could control lights, water pumps, fans, and so forth.  You could collect data on humidity and temperature. Then send that data back to VC and have it read it to you.  Basically taking a ton of the work out of gardening making your green house automated for under 300 bucks easy.  If you where to buy something like that currently it would put you a ballpark of 2 to 3 k.  On top of that you probable could not repair if it broke. 


I am going to stop here cause I honestly could go on for days.   I am just grateful that I have options and I am super excited on the what future holds for automation.If anyone has things ask , add or point out feel free.
Cheers and be blessed!

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General Discussion / A interesting Text to speech web app

« on: December 20, 2013, 01:51:57 PM »

I found a interesting text to speech web app awhile back and I just wanted to share it.   The site has a demo for non-commercial use but it has tons of voices that sound pretty good.  The USA "Will the bad guy" is my favorite.  Though the demo seems to be unlimited on the amount of phrases you could try out.  I have probable tried over 200 phrases so far.  
EDIT::Found that a lot of the voices are license to a softwares called TextAloud 3 and natural reader.  All at individual prices at like 35  bucks a pop or more not including the price of the software.  I will have to take a look at it more in depth to see if the voices install on the system as well.

demo service
http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html

Main site
https://acapela-box.com/index.php

Cheers!

3

General Discussion / Launching shortcuts from the {Path.VC} Questions

« on: December 15, 2013, 12:06:20 PM »

Hello folks I have a questions regarding file paths, shortcuts and VC capabilities.

So to start off my purpose for asking these questions.

I have worked very hard over the last year to collect and create a list of applications that all can be ran off a usb stick.  I have replaced almost all applications that require that they be installed on the system in order to work.  The purpose is to have the freedom of being able to just bring a usb stick to any windows computer and have my entire tool set there and to eliminate clutter in the reg/hardrive.  There are way to many time saving benefits and so forth to this kind of environment.  Time is money and life is short. So.....

My question is can you launch a shortcut by it's name with VC verses the path the shortcut is taking to the file?   So if I have let's say I have Vox and Chrome for example on a Usb drive Z.   I have chrome in a portable apps folder and I have a shortcut for Chrome in the Vox folder.  It would far easier to make a shortcut and just drop it in the Vox directory rather then create a command for every new program I have acquired.

Using a command in Vox looking kinda like this
Launch| {Path.VC}{1}
So I could say Open(phrase) followed (shortcut name/payload) and vox would only have to search it's own directory for the (shortcut name/payload) letting the shortcut do the work of finding the program on the drive on drive Z.  This would make it simpler to create a launch command for new programs installed on that drive.  All that would have to be done is creating the shortcut for new programs and droping them into the Vox directory.

BTW I have tried this setup already on my own but I can't get it to work.  I even tried the select file in the command wizard with launch and it gives me the path and not the shortcut name.

So is this possible with Vox or does anyone have a suggestion/alternative solution? 
In the meantime I am creating program in AutoHotkey to create a stand alone exe fast that acts like a shortcut so I could use it with Vox.  Just in case that it is not possible.

Anyways thanks for your time.

Cheers!