
Portal from Facebook: Voice Enabled Hands-Free Video Calling - uptown
https://portal.facebook.com/
======
denzil_correa
> Facebook doesn’t listen to, view or keep the contents of your Portal video
> calls. Your Portal conversations stay between you and the people you’re
> calling.

But, we do store your call history. We use this call history to "serve you
great ads". We also sell meta-information from this call history to
advertisement providers to help them know more about you. This could help them
make decisions in your life like insurance policies, flight/train tickets
amongst other things. Apart from that, Portal is completely "Private by
Design".

~~~
ilovecaching
It's crazy how much people expect of Facebook compared to Google and Amazon,
despite both of the latter companies either incorporating ads or gathering
targeting information from Hangouts, Google Home, Alexa etc, or planning on
doing so (Amazon planning on turning Alexa into an ads platform)[0].

[0]([https://www.adweek.com/digital/why-brands-should-be-ready-
fo...](https://www.adweek.com/digital/why-brands-should-be-ready-for-alexa-
ads-despite-what-amazon-says/))

~~~
braythwayt
That’s the “What about her emails” of criticism.

If there is a valid criticism of Facebook, and another of Google, the
appropriate response is, “Yes, and Google too.”

Let’s keep the focus on the bad actors, not on policing dissent.

------
ltc5505
>We collect the content, communications and other information you provide when
you use our Products, including when you sign up for an account, create or
share content, and message or communicate with others. This can include
information in or about the content you provide (like metadata), such as the
location of a photo or the date a file was created. It can also include what
you see through features we provide, such as our camera, so we can do things
like suggest masks and filters that you might like, or give you tips on using
camera formats. Our systems automatically process content and communications
you and others provide to analyze context and what's in them for the purposes
described below.

Yeah, that’s gonna be a no from me dawg.

~~~
timdorr
That's from Facebook's generalized privacy policy. According to the product
page:

> Facebook doesn’t listen to, view or keep the contents of your Portal video
> calls.

> For added security, Smart Camera uses AI technology that runs locally on
> Portal, not on Facebook servers. Portal’s camera does not use facial
> recognition and does not identify who you are.

So, that reads more private to me. However, the general policy definitely
applies to the voice commands:

> Like other voice-enabled devices, Portal only sends voice commands to
> Facebook servers after you say, “Hey Portal.”

Obviously, that can always change at any time, but the starting point seems to
be pretty much par for the course compared to other smart display products.

------
anilgulecha
> Portal was created with privacy, safety and security in mind. And it has
> clear and simple settings, so you stay in control.

It looks great -- if only this wasn't facebook! You know there's probably
going to be some double-speak going on above.

~~~
subliminalpanda
> Facebook doesn’t listen to, view or keep the contents of your Portal video
> calls. Your conversations stay between you and the people you’re calling.

It's not entirely clear from their wording if the calls are E2E encrypted or
not - "doesn't" isn't quite the same as "can't". I wish they would be more
clear about this.

------
BitterSweets
Seems like a good product from the wrong two companies. I don't want Alexa nor
Facebook in my house listening to everything, regardless of how "private" they
say my conversations are.

------
ejlangev
> "Private by design"

Lol

It's me, the company that hoards your personal data and just got hacked in a
huge way, please put a camera in your house that I control which I _swear_
won't be used to spy on you.

Sort of hilariously tone deaf that they launch this right after they just got
hacked.

~~~
nihonde
I recall hearing that they delayed the release, which was scheduled within
days of the CA incident (or one of the several others since).

------
gehsty
Any compelling reason to use this vs FaceTime or what ever android users use
for video chat?

Does anyone want anything built by Facebook in there homes?

Anything Facebook has released outside of thei core product seems to be a hot
mess. Remember that garbage android skin? I see literally no one buying this.

~~~
SippinLean
Like Android's Duo one benefit would be that you can use this on any hardware,
and talk to someone without an iPhone, unlike FaceTime.

~~~
gehsty
Still no compelling reason to use this instead of a tablet or smartphone.

------
patd
It has Alexa built-in. Does that mean that Facebook isn't going to try to
compete with Siri/Alexa/Cortana/Google ?

Or that Alexa has won the home automation already ?

~~~
stedaniels
Alexa is barely home automation... it's a voice controlled switch in 99% of
use. Home automation is events responding to triggers, as if by magic, not
"Alexa, kitchen lights on", nor too any real extent voice controlled scenes.

~~~
jon-wood
If I were a betting man I'd take a wager that by the end of Q1 2019 there'll
be basic automation support built into Alexa, in the form of "when this motion
sensor goes off turn on the lights", and a fairly robust set of functionality
by the end of 2019.

~~~
akhilcacharya
You can already do that with Routines.

[https://venturebeat.com/2018/08/28/alexa-can-now-play-
your-f...](https://venturebeat.com/2018/08/28/alexa-can-now-play-your-
favorite-song-when-you-walk-into-a-room/)

Disclaimer - work on Alexa, but not this.

------
ilovecaching
Alexa + big screen for video calls and spotify? Pre-ordered 2, sending one to
my parents who live across the country. I also love the aesthetic, very clean
looking. I also like that it isn't connecting to Facebook servers.

~~~
callumjones
> Like other voice-enabled devices, Portal only sends voice commands to
> Facebook servers after you say, “Hey Portal.” You can delete Portal's voice
> history in your Facebook Activity Log.

It’s very much connected to their servers.

------
linuxftw
Do people actually buy these video devices? Is it something people actually
want, or is television marketing so effective you can convince a large enough
section of the population to make this product viable?

I feel like we're in a decade-long fad of techno gadgets. I'm eager for it to
end.

~~~
tammer
I work in IT in a large institution. Recently we started requiring 2-factor
auth to get into payroll. The number of people who tell us “I don’t use apps
on my phone” and require a hardware token is shockingly high.

For every tech savvy hacker news minimalist there are 5+ people who find
technology easiest to work with when a device does one thing and one thing
only.

~~~
linuxftw
I also would prefer to have a hardware token vs app on phone, probably for a
different reason (I don't want lots of bloated apps on my phone).

And probably those 5+ people that want devices to have one function probably
don't want many of these gadgets in the first place. They are in the league of
ugly Christmas sweaters: Given, but not used.

------
jypepin
So Facebook's vision (according to what they communicate with their landing
page) is that people basically want to be connected, by sound and video, all
the time? "If you can’t be there, feel there".

I mean... seems like a perfect example if loosing sight of your mission and
what users really want. A typical "ok we want people to be more connected,
what could we come up with?" and the less bad idea was "a video camera! For
the home! So people can always video chat! Hands free!".

I really don't see myself video call my significant other while we are both
cooking in a different home and enjoying this. Anyone? Does anyone gets
excited about this?

~~~
jedberg
I think this will be a great way to spend more time with my parents who live
400 miles away. It will also allow my kids to talk to my parents more.

We already use Facebook messenger for this since it’s the easiest for my
parents to use. This would be an improved messenger experience in my eyes.

~~~
colejohnson66
But why use this over, say, FaceTime or Skype?

~~~
jedberg
FaceTime doesn’t work cross platform (they have android) and Skype just
doesn’t work. Also this means they don’t have to hold up a phone which can get
tiring.

~~~
jypepin
I think the question was equivalent to "why use this over facebook videos on
the phone or laptop" which you do already. How is it so much better than it
requires the spend for this extra equipement. I'm also interesting to hear
your take.

~~~
jedberg
Well to be honest I normally wouldn’t get a device like this before the first
user reviews were in. But in this case my friend was a lead on the project and
has said it’s a huge upgrade from those other options. That’s it more like
just being there. So I’m mostly getting on faith.

------
ZeroCool2u
While I'm not inclined to use this anyways, we've become a Google Home
household and use Duo to speak with international relatives, I'm frankly
disappointed that the $200 version is only 720p and not 1080p.

Definitely a bit underwhelming considering that besides the Alexa
functionality it's essentially a single purpose device.

------
thelastidiot
The mandatory grandma watching their grand children from her retirement home
is there too. Pathetic.

~~~
jedberg
That was the main use case they built it for though. In another article it
talks about their inspiration being the What but Why post about having spent
93% of the time you’ll ever spend with your parents by the time you’ve
graduated high school.

------
jbob2000
Does this actually solve a problem people have? The biggest problem with video
calling right now is that the networks are garbage, not that I can’t have a
video call while doing something else.

Just another gimmick Facebook is trying to make themselves more than just an
app.

~~~
askmike
> The biggest problem with video calling right now is that the networks are
> garbage

As in your internet is slow? That's not a problem for everyone I guess. For me
it's pretty fast.. Facebook has tried projects to speed up last mile internet
(beam it down with drones, etc), but that appears to be a hard problem to
solve.

------
stedaniels
It's annoying that it doesn't clearly specify a feature comparison with a
device like the Amazon Echo Show. I don't want yet another screen in a room
that can't be multi-functional. Recipes, TV, third party music, browsing etc.
etc.

------
EZ-E
Ironically the way they insist it's "privacy friendly" and has a physical
camera cover included might get people thinking "hold up, should I trust this
for privacy" while they wouldn't think about it otherwise.

------
trakout
I'll just leave this one here.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescreen](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescreen)

------
dimillian
My real question is who need that? We all have smartphone or computers or
tablets with video calling apps built in. What is market who need a device for
video call only?

~~~
m12k
There might be a niche for an 'always on' (more or less) video service. It
feels very awkward to 'be quiet together' on most current voice and video call
services and that causes people to end the conversation faster than they would
if they were there physically (it's one of the reasons why I like gaming with
my long-distance friends, because you can chat, then focus on the game for a
bit, then go back to chatting - it feel more like hanging out, and less like a
focused exchange of information). As another example, Snapchat is strictly
worse than normal messaging from a purely technical perspective (there's no
history!), but in reality it causes people to communicate in a different way,
and share things that might be too small or inconsequential to add to your
permanent message record - it makes it feel like you're sharing your day and
the small things in it with someone even if they're not there physically. So
in a similar vein, Portal might feel like a different medium just from being
on more often, and nudging people toward just leaving it on while cooking
dinner. It might also not - I certainly don't want more Facebook in my life,
but the point is, details in implementation and framing can make the same
technology feel like a different medium that enables different kinds of
communication.

------
bruceb
I am surprised how the portal+ with a 15.6" screen doesn't look like it has
that big of a screen. Even with the 1 picture that shows it in a livingroom it
doesn't seem like it is that big.

If you are selling a "plus" version that's main feature is a bigger screen,
you would show the screen is large?

edit: I see there are 2 more pictures, which do a little better job.

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writepub
Alexa integration is interesting. Doesn't Facebook have its own voice-AI? Why
Alexa?

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CodeSheikh
Is it going to be enabled in all countries that allow access Facebook? Some
Middle East countries have banned free VOIP services.

~~~
kozak
Most likely, it will be officially sold only in a handful or first-world
countries, like hardware from Google and Amazon is.

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seba_dos1
No, thanks.

------
CosmicShadow
Obligatory NSFW Demolition Man wrong number clip: [https://getyarn.io/yarn-
clip/500b40f9-4960-455d-afa6-71d9666...](https://getyarn.io/yarn-
clip/500b40f9-4960-455d-afa6-71d966677551)

The things that can go wrong, apart from the regular expected FB BS.

