Mark II smart speaker no match for Google’s, Amazon’s

It takes a lot of gumption for a small company to put their smart speaker up against Google’s and Amazon’s. But the $349 “Mark II” from Mycroft.ai is a big disappointment.

It looks like a retro TV, roughly five-by-five-by-five inches. On its cheery display, it shows the temperature, date and time, plus the answers to your questions, often with a small picture. I love the look. But its voice assistant, Mycroft, is a dud compared to Google and Alexa. When I said “play music” I got nothing. When I asked for a bread recipe, I got a picture of an album by the group “Bread.” When I asked for a definition of “optometry,” it didn’t know. When I asked for Google’s stock price, it gave me the definition of a stock split. The radio function works well, and it can answer quirky questions, like the day of the week for any date going back to the year 1000. But $349 is a lot to pay. It’s just not ready for prime time.

“Yes, we’re in this to fight evil corporate monopolies,” said a user on Reddit.com. “But this is unreasonable. It doesn’t even do the most rudimentary functions.” The Mark II is supposed to have stellar privacy protection, but I saw the typical verbiage about selling data to third-party vendors anonymously. It’s also supposed to be radically customizable, but I had trouble even with setup.

In comparison, Amazon’s Echo devices are amazingly cheap and easy to use. A week before Black Friday, they were offering the 2021 Echo Show 5 for $35. It can answer questions, play music and movies, read audiobooks, display recipes, handle video calls and even let you see from afar what a loved one is up to in the room where they keep their device — if they agree. The Echo Dot, which is like the Show but doesn’t have a screen, starts

at $15 for the 2018 model and goes up to $200 for the ultimate Echo Studio.

FREE TIME MACHINE

I took 10 pictures of a friend and uploaded them into the free time machine from MyHeritage, a genealogy site. He was transformed into a Roman legionary, a Roman aristocrat, a nobleman, and an aviator. On the same page, I clicked to generate 20 more instant transformations, including “prehistoric hunter” and Viking. To try it yourself, search on “MyHeritage AI time machine.”

ROBOT VACUUMS VERSUS STICK

“Do you have any input for me on a robotic vac and mop?” asked a reader. “I’m 85 and it’s getting more difficult to vac/ mop.”

She considered the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro, which lists for $495 but now sells for $315 on Amazon. It gets good reviews from my favorite tech site, TheVerge, but its one-star ratings on Amazon are dismal, reminding me of my own experience.

A couple of years ago, a cousin sent me a $100 robot vacuum as a Christmas present.

Immediately, I got tired of babysitting it, so I left the room. It soon got tangled up in the drapery cords and burnt itself out. But even before it conked out, it took forever to do an area rug. After completing one short journey from top to bottom, it moved about an inch sideways, redoing most of what it had already finished.

To use the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro, you need to set up a map of the home first, so the robot learns the obstacles. Even with a map, however, one guy said his Yeedi avoided the kitchen completely, then took three hours to vacuum the rest of his 2,800-square-foot house.

By contrast, people who own Roomba robot vacuums seem satisfied. The Roomba i3 EVO 3550, with automatic dirt disposal, is now selling for $349 (down from $549) on Amazon or $173 with the Capitol One Shopping extension. The reviews are great, but most customers say they’re on their third or fourth model, as if still trying to find the perfect version.

A lightweight alternative to robots as well as traditional vacuums is the cordless stick vac, such as the $130 “Fabuletta Cordless Vacuum Cleaner, 6 in 1 Stick Vacuum with 8-Cell Large Battery with 50 min Runtime,” which gets great reviews. For easy mopping, there’s the Swiffer. But I prefer a bucket and a sponge.

GETTING GOOD TECH SUPPORT

A reader said his Link II flip phone from Consumer Cellular came with a bum battery.

Instead of 16 days on standby, it only lasted a day and a half. “A call to the company,” he said, “got me a stammering airhead who obviously didn’t want to say whether or not the company uses cheap products for low-paying customers.”

Three months later, he called Consumer Cellular again and they agreed to ship him a replacement phone. But they told him the one-year warranty had run out, and charged him $52.67, since they had no record of his previous call. Though annoyed, he decided it was worth it.

The lesson is, if you get an unhelpful tech support person, hang up and call again. The next time will bring someone new.

INTERNUT

Electrogenic.co.uk sells conversion kits to turn classic cars, such as Porsches, Rolls Royces, Morgans and Jaguars, into 100% electric vehicles. Sounds neat to me, but a mechanic friend says most people would need an expert’s help.