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Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

bloomberg.com

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Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

#71

Post by roberto »

hijohnnylin wrote: post #26

what are people actually using these for? i'm legitimately curious about the use cases for this. if you have an android phone or iphone or smartwatch, you already can "Hey Siri/Google" whatever you want, including playing music. is it for light switches? Hey Siri/Google already does this, no? also, how many people have 50$ wifi connected bulbs? and isn't the most convenient way to turn on a light switch still just ph…

I can say "Alexa, turn off all lights" before going to bed, eg. I can turn the backyard lights without leaving my bedroom if I hear a noise.

Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

#72

Post by throwaway40483 »

CaptSpify wrote: post #47
philip1209 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely not. They can't gain sales from this because they're sold out. High opportunity cost - flatline zero revenue for the next week, which is (at least one of) the highest demand weeks of the year.

They can't gain sales now from this, but why not in a few weeks when they have more supply?

The article touches on this. There is an equivalent product available from Google. People, in the US apparently, are more inclined to shift to a another vendor if they have the item in stock.

Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

#73

Post by jsz0 »

microcolonel wrote: post #21
new299 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of technology is pretty flaky. I think you have a couple of issues however: 1. You have sucky Internet. Bad Internet is going to cause numerous issues. From what I've heard it's hard to get a really good Internet connection in the US. But in many places in the world, great Internet connections are available at low cost. Bad Internet means devices are going to have issues with firmware updates. Things will be mo…

I've had considerable problems between MacBook Pros and Airport Extremes in both noisy and extremely radio-quiet locations. I'm not shocked if somebody drops $3,000+ on a MBP, and can't reliably connect to an AP from the same vendor, let alone any other vendor.

That's quite unusual in my experience. Even most low end / lost cost routers are pretty damn reliable these days. In an office complex with more than a dozen competing networks I use wifi 8 hours a day and rarely have a blip. Have you by any chance being moving one of the same wifi devices between all the different places you've had problems? Another thing, which wouldn't explain all the different locations, is a problem with your electrical wiring / loading. For example I used to have a Dell ethernet switch that would reliably reboot itself whenever other devices it shared a power strip with were under a heavy load. I could actually force reboot it by starting a dd between the right combination of disks in a server. I guess that does technically qualify as out of band management.

Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

#74

Post by mahyarm »

GuiA wrote: post #7

Clearly, people love these things. I have a few friends who own it and say it's an amazing product; and commenters on HN have expressed their enthusiasm for it as well. There is a question that's been bothering me for years now, to which I still don't have an answer, which is: does modern technology suck just for me, or am I just less tolerant of defects than most people are? I am currently typing this from a 2016 ma…

I try to ethernet connect every stationary thing I can. It reduces wifi congestion significantly and the wired items are rock solid.

The only things I have that aren't wired are iDevices, my laptop, a petnet feeder, a harmony hub and the echo. I hope amazon comes out out with an ethernet adapter like chromecast has. I don't have much hope for the other two.

Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

#75

Post by throwaway40483 »

MatthaeusHarris wrote: post #31
jcoder wrote: post #2

Considering the ambiguity of "Sold Out", maybe the original headline, "Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush", would be better?

I got what you meant, and that was my first thought too. The main reason I haven't bought an Echo (and am looking into self-hosted solutions instead) is the privacy concern.

Well, according to Amazon nothing is sent to their server unless Alexa is awake (after saying the magic 'Alexa' keyword).

Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

#76

Post by sumbry »

fragsworth wrote: post #54

I was given one as a gift, but I can't bring myself to plug it in. The device sends sound to their servers to process what you are saying. They probably aren't sending all the sound, but if they aren't, I can't be bothered to keep up to date on if they change that policy. Is it unreasonable to assume that the NSA is logging (or will eventually be logging) everything sent over the Internet with this device around?

If you're seriously worried about the NSA logging things - I'd be more concerned with the device you carry on your person every day, with a microphone, two cameras, a GPS device, 24 hour battery, and probably 10x the processing power of the Alexa.

It seriously is no worse than OK Google or Siri and you should seriously be more worried about your cell phone.

Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

#77

Post by MagnumOpus »

realstuff wrote: post #56
microcolonel wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had considerable problems between MacBook Pros and Airport Extremes in both noisy and extremely radio-quiet locations. I'm not shocked if somebody drops $3,000+ on a MBP, and can't reliably connect to an AP from the same vendor, let alone any other vendor.

Why you're not shocked?

Because he had "considerable problems" with his Apple products? Basically Apple release unfinished product and let users test it - and it shows in the software quality.

(Don't even ask about the quality of any of their "1.0" products - full of bugs every time, newest example is the touch bar.)

Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

#78

Post by Zombieball »

hijohnnylin wrote: post #26

what are people actually using these for? i'm legitimately curious about the use cases for this. if you have an android phone or iphone or smartwatch, you already can "Hey Siri/Google" whatever you want, including playing music. is it for light switches? Hey Siri/Google already does this, no? also, how many people have 50$ wifi connected bulbs? and isn't the most convenient way to turn on a light switch still just ph…

> isn't the most convenient way to turn on a light switch still just physically flipping the switch?

The answer to this is: No.

The Echo and Google Smarthome don't require you to take it out of your pocket to interact with it. Walk in the door and it's listening. It sounds like a small difference but it is huge.

I think voice interfaces are very easily dismissed as for the lazy people, or a gimmick. Until you start using it on a daily basis. Then you start to realize how stupid it is to not be able to turn on your lights while both hands are overloaded with grocery bags (because two trips to the car is just never done!)

Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

#79

Post by bryanrasmussen »

GuiA wrote: post #7

Clearly, people love these things. I have a few friends who own it and say it's an amazing product; and commenters on HN have expressed their enthusiasm for it as well. There is a question that's been bothering me for years now, to which I still don't have an answer, which is: does modern technology suck just for me, or am I just less tolerant of defects than most people are? I am currently typing this from a 2016 ma…

Well some of it is everything is amazing, nobody is happy syndrome, but I suspect another thing is the same thing that happens with me.

I am cranky when I know someone could have fixed a bug or UI defect and since I know what the problem is, have some good clues as to their thinking on the issue it makes me more cranky.

Also I'm getting older.

Re: Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush

#80

Post by ekarulf »

hijohnnylin wrote: post #26

what are people actually using these for? i'm legitimately curious about the use cases for this. if you have an android phone or iphone or smartwatch, you already can "Hey Siri/Google" whatever you want, including playing music. is it for light switches? Hey Siri/Google already does this, no? also, how many people have 50$ wifi connected bulbs? and isn't the most convenient way to turn on a light switch still just ph…

I'm a new parent and I need to track when my son eats/poops/pees etc. There are times when my hands aren't available. I built a tiny "app" that just records these things to a google spreadsheet for me.

I also like the idea of "authenticating" via being present in my home. If my in laws are watching my son while I step out for a few minutes - they can talk to Alexa as easily as I can.

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