this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2024
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[โ€“] Neato@ttrpg.network 108 points 8 months ago (7 children)

There's 2 processors in there. The main one that parses everything and answers. And a small one that only listens for "hey Google" before turning the rest on to save power.

Google probably decided not to mute the other one so it could remind you it was muted and you didn't scream "HEY GOOGLE" got ten minutes before throwing it across the room.

[โ€“] euphoric_cat@lemmy.blahaj.zone 57 points 8 months ago

๐Ÿค“๐Ÿ‘†

[โ€“] einfach_orangensaft@feddit.de 26 points 8 months ago (1 children)

yeah and the tiny one sure only listens for hay google and not for potential ad keywords....

[โ€“] Prinzigor@feddit.de 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

This is unfeasible from a technical standpoint, because similar to amazons Alexa, this Chip is so low power in nature that it genuinely only understands 3-5 keywords that are hardcoded into the chip.

This is also why these devices cannot have custom names, as the "activation" chip wouldn't be able to listen to a new word

hmm not sure about the power cumsumption thing, if its special hardware, like a asic with the keywords hard coded then it would not need more power, what u said is only true if the system uses a cpu

[โ€“] EdibleFriend@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Also this is something anybody can easily check themselves. Just monitor your internet traffic when it's enabled versus when it's disabled. You can easily see the little spike.

[โ€“] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Also the home assistant api explicitly states this behavior

[โ€“] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

Get out of here with your ReAsOnAbLe ExPlAiNaTiOnS

[โ€“] LavaPlanet@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Maybe you can explain to me why my chromecast connects to my speakers and headphones when it's entirely powered off? Because I don't have as positive a view of it as you do. Maybe it's not as nefarious as I'm thinking it is?

[โ€“] Neato@ttrpg.network 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

"Powered off" means what in this context? I don't have a chromecast but I don't think you can turn off a chromecast. From my searching there is no "off" function. It stays on in standby waiting for the TV to come back on.

But even if there's a way to turn it off via software or Home app, it would need to still be accessible wirelessly in that state because otherwise there'd be no way to turn it back on. Even in a software "off" state either wifi or bluetooth would need to be on so you could turn it back on.

[โ€“] LavaPlanet@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Like how you turn off your TV, and it will still respond to the remote the next time you press the power button and turn it on. It's literally exactly the same thing. It has a power button, it's Bluetooth controlled (so is my telly and the telly remote) but when in power off, same as you would power off a playstation or computer (but that's a hard press button, not a remote) the headphones or speakers you Bluetooth connect, connect to it. I would assume it's the Bluetooth connectivity, is receptive to everything, but it's just sus because it's Google and it essentially always therefore has its ears open, because everything that connects to it has a microphone. Even its own remote.

[โ€“] Heavybell@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Are you sure that's how it works? I know from taking mine apart that there are certainly two shielded areas which could contain processors, but I was under the impression all it did locally was recognise the trigger word. That once triggered it just streamed your voice to google's servers for parsing and then streamed back the response.

[โ€“] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Sure, but it also means that you're relying solely on software for privacy, as opposed to Amazon Echo devices which literally power off the microphone in privacy mode.

[โ€“] baritone_edge@lemmy.ml 7 points 8 months ago

Disable Google. Get GraphineOS or LineageOS

[โ€“] EvilEyedPanda@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Google throwing shade like an arguing couple that are communicating through someone else in the room!