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Amazon Echo Dot

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Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#111

Post by jallmann »

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #92
jallmann wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The transition from primarily visual UX towards an auditorial UX is really powerful. It's also less accessible. I'm sure auditory UI is useful in many cases, but it also seems to be more cumbersome in others. In any case, I hope that pervasive auditory UI doesn't become any sort of standard without an accompanying visual/physical interface. > Try watching a scary movie with the sound turned off, it turns into a com…

> Allow me to be pedantic and say it is that being fully immersed in the context of the movie that really matters. I hope to not be a super pedantic ass for pointing out that the 'immersive' media in films is the audio, not the visual components.

> the 'immersive' media in films is the audio, not the visual components

That's a non-falsifiable opinion, really (even if it does apply to the majority of the population). I'm living proof you can enjoy movies without the audio.

It's the sum of our experience that colors our perception -- almost irrevocably in this case, since I imagine it would be difficult for the typical person to really be able to enjoy something in complete and utter silence.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#112

Post by ghaff »

PKop wrote: post #97
ghaff wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sorta agree. I got the original Echo for $100 when they had a special deal for Prime members. The timer is handy. The shopping list is handy. It's occasionally vaguely useful to ask it questions about the weather or other things--though it's not like my phone is that far away. I do use it for Amazon Music when I can't be bothered finding something to play on my stereo. Potentially, the ability to interface with hom…

The single greatest feature of Echo that I use, (and too few others use) is turning on my Phillips Hue lights. You can give each individual light a name, as well as groups of lights their own name. Very convenient to turn on / off lights from anywhere in range of the mic. I use it everyday multiple times a day. If anyone finds network connected lights useful, then they'll find controlling them through Echo doubly use…

Not to pick on you :-), but I have these things called light switches in my house that work pretty well for turning on and off lights. I confess to not seeing much attraction to smart lightbulbs with names.

(To be fair, if I had a lot of lights not connected to switches as was the case when I moved into my current house, I'd probably have put in smart lightbulbs rather than doing as much rewiring as I did.)

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#113

Post by GBond »

mikeash wrote: post #59
danesparza wrote: post #6

There is something delightfully ballsy about making this only available to users of Alexa Voice shopping: "Echo Dot is available in limited quantities and exclusively for Prime members through Alexa Voice Shopping. To order your Echo Dot, use your Amazon Echo or Amazon Fire TV and just ask: "Alexa, order an Echo dot" Also, this makes me sad. I'd kind of like to try this out, but I have no Alexa voice service currentl…

I don't imagine it will be like that forever. It's just a clever way to limit demand until they can ramp up manufacturing, or work out the bugs, or whatever their motivation is for keeping it in a limited release for now.

... and also a way to introduce the concept of shopping via Alexa (I would imagine one of AMZN's primary long term goals for the project)

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#114

Post by eclipxe »

adventured wrote: post #104
rogerb wrote: post #38

I would not be surprised if it turns out that Alexa is the biggest thing they've ever done, including AWS.

Zero chance of that. AWS will likely be a $100-$150 billion market value business in five years, with $6-$8 billion in operating income. They're tracking to $3.x billion in operating income in the next four quarters. It'll be valued as highly as Intel and Oracle. A device that tells you the weather, orders an Uber, or orders more low margin merchandise off of Amazon, is not going to generate that kind of massive fina…

No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#115

Post by binarymax »

Be forewarned - if I am invited into your home for any reason, and I see an Alexa device, I will vocally add a large shopping list of nonsense to your Amazon cart :)

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#116

Post by [deleted] »

officemonkey wrote: post #82
caractacus wrote: post #63

When did I turn from the enthusiastic kid who dreamed of audio-controlled personal assistants like this to a cranky old man who doesn't want anything remotely spy-possible in his house?

Don't forget the harried parent of a child with low impulse control. These things would be a lot less "Big Brother" for me if I had a mic key in my pocket that would only turn the mic on when I squeezed it.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#117

Post by eclipxe »

matthewbauer wrote: post #21
danesparza wrote: post #6

There is something delightfully ballsy about making this only available to users of Alexa Voice shopping: "Echo Dot is available in limited quantities and exclusively for Prime members through Alexa Voice Shopping. To order your Echo Dot, use your Amazon Echo or Amazon Fire TV and just ask: "Alexa, order an Echo dot" Also, this makes me sad. I'd kind of like to try this out, but I have no Alexa voice service currentl…

I think it needs a base Amazon echo to work if I understand correctly.

No it doesn't

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#118

Post by e40 »

sschueller wrote: post #93
caractacus wrote: post #63

When did I turn from the enthusiastic kid who dreamed of audio-controlled personal assistants like this to a cranky old man who doesn't want anything remotely spy-possible in his house?

Couldn't legally the FBI get a court oder to be able to listen in on conversions in a room that has one of these? They already do that with car assistance services. [1] [1] http://www.cnet.com/news/court-to-fbi-no-spying-on-in-car-co...

The answer is obviously 'yes'. If there is a way for Amazon to listen to conversations then a court can compel them to give the FBI access.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#119

Post by monkmartinez »

ghaff wrote: post #50
monkmartinez wrote: post #31

Still too expensive, imo. I've read a lot about "Alexa" and Echo... and beside the privacy issues, in many cases the Echo quickly becomes an expensive speaker (after the kids and everyone else gets tired of asking "Alexa" questions). $89 is not in my compulsion buy price range. I may be in the minority on that though...

I sorta agree. I got the original Echo for $100 when they had a special deal for Prime members. The timer is handy. The shopping list is handy. It's occasionally vaguely useful to ask it questions about the weather or other things--though it's not like my phone is that far away. I do use it for Amazon Music when I can't be bothered finding something to play on my stereo. Potentially, the ability to interface with hom…

I have a $4 dollar multi-function timer that we use in the kitchen and for "turns" on the trampoline in the backyard. I still don't use all the different features available on that silly thing. My GE gas range also has a timer, same with the microwave that sits above it. I bet my fridge has a timer too... lol. I have a literal crap-ton of devices that I barely use to their full extent. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

I still use pen and paper to keep notes/lists. I actually have a Bullet Journal... so maybe I am not the target demo.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#120

Post by mk4p »

pierrebeaucamp wrote: post #64

I would love to have something similar as open source software. How can I trust this device if I can't examine the code used for hotword recognition? Also, it would be great to be able to put the software on different hardware - something with digital audio output for example. The concept of Alexa is amazing, but distributing it as properitary software limits its potential.

There's:

- https://jasperproject.github.io/

and

- https://mycroft.ai/projects/

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