Amazon Sells Out of Echo Speakers in Midst of Holiday Rush • Hacker News Board

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

#241

Post by r1ch » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 5:41 PM UTC

ajford wrote: post #226

tclancy wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another kindred spirit here, another programmer who can't tell if they're just getting old or if electronic devices are getting worse. I describe each of our AppleTVs as "something that works perfectly, except when you really need it"-- when we finally have time to watch a movie we want to see, when our daughter is losing her mind about wanting to see some video, that's the only time it craps itself. >2016 macbook th…

Have you considered upgrading your Wifi setup to something like Ubiquiti Unifi hardware? I'm trying to convince the spouse that I need ~1k$ upgrade our home network to Ubiquiti... There's a blog post that was on HN a few days back about it: https://www.troyhunt.com/ubiquiti-all-the-things-how-i-final...

Consider going with Mikrotik gear instead. It's the same hardware, but you aren't locked into Ubiquiti's proprietary Java cloud management software - everything can be managed with SSH if you prefer. It isn't as user-friendly or as pretty as Ubiquiti's web interface, but you can get deep down into all kinds of internal settings and it also ends up being significantly cheaper.

For example, three dual band triple chain 802.11n/ac APs (https://routerboard.com/RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD) and a router (https://routerboard.com/RB750Gr3) have an MRSP of $330, including POE for the APs.

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

#242

Post by brilliantcode » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 6:00 PM UTC

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…

You had me at record players :)

I think there's an entire world of record albums that never saw the light. Sites like discog makes me want to start a collection.

But I very much agree with what you wrote. I'm not sold on voice interfaces, that one time where it asks you "Sorry, can you repeat it again?" is the last time I'm using Google Now.

But more importantly I just feel like I look stupid talking to the air alone. Also feel like I have to strain my voice and focus when I'm talking to a machine which adds some friction.

I do miss the days when we didn't have such bloat. Games would load instantly and ready to play without signing into facebook or being awarded without doing anything.

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

#243

Post by Eridrus » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 6:20 PM UTC

garethsprice wrote: post #209

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…

Picked up an Echo Dot on Black Friday on a whim and I'm genuinely surprised how much I use it. Last night's tasks: - Got into a dark house with my hands full of bags, "Hey Alexa turn on the living room lights. Play blues music." - Taking my shoes off, "Hey Alexa what's the news" - Cooking, "Hey Alexa what's 12 fluid ounces in cups. Add garlic to my shopping list." - On the way out the door, "Hey Alexa ask NYC Transit…

> - Going to sleep, "Hey Alexa turn off the bedroom light. Play white noise. Loop." > - Wake up in the middle of the night "Hey Alexa what time is it? What time is my first meeting tomorrow? Cancel my alarm for 7:30AM. Set an alarm for 8AM.". All without shining a screen in my face, which can disrupt sleep cycles.

I've seen a bunch of people mention use cases in their bedrooms, which is great, but they seem to fall apart when you're not single since you don't want the speaker waking your partner up, which is sad since I would like to know what time it is without shining a light in my eyes.

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

#244

Post by acchow » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 6:38 PM UTC

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…

> a 2016 macbook that for some reason won't keep disconnecting from my WiFi router

I've been using macbooks for 5+ years. Have never had a wifi issue with Airport Extreme. Not even once.

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

#245

Post by relaytheurgency » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 6:57 PM UTC

greglikescode wrote: post #214

johnsmith21006 wrote: post #186

Have had an echo since launch and the Google Home for a month. The Echo basically uses commands. There is some flexibility but not inference like the Google Home. So with the echo you sometimes have to do a quick Google search to get the name of the song so you can tell the Echo. The Google Home does not require the extra step. With the Google Home I am starting to use a condensed English. So I will say "play sting G…

I've been eyeing these and had a question about a use case like this. Is it easy to utilize multiple media sources for this, like Plex and/or Spotify? Can you tell Alexa or Google Home which to use?

If google home uses the same tech as google now, I've told my phone to specifically play songs on spotify before as opposed to play music.

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

#246

Post by hbosch » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:00 PM UTC

proaralyst wrote: post #89

sumbry wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The device I carry day-to-day needs to be specifically compromised. With voice assistants using an internet service, only that internet service needs to be compromised. For bulk surveilance, I think it's far more likely for the Echo servers to be attacked than my smartphone.

What does this mean, "specifically compromised"? You bought it compromised if we are being congruent with these sorts of accusations or precautions. If you assume the Echo is always listening, you should also assume that Apple, Google, and Facebook are also always listening... and, in fact, I recall earlier this year a quite vast conspiracy that Facebook did exactly that[0]. This was denied by Facebook, for the record – or do you not believe them?

0. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/new...

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

#247

Post by Johnny555 » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:00 PM UTC

pixard wrote: post #42

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 am not in the US, but I've also had many of the issues you describe. For me everything originated in the network equipment. I kept upgrading to more and more expensive routers until I came to the conclusion they are all just shit. I literally bought the best router you could buy from Asus for like $300 and I kept getting disconnects and issues many times a day. I tried the custom firmwares and what not as well, but…

I think the problem with consumer Wifi routers is that they pack so many features in them (that few people need or use, but hey, if you're comparing specs and one router is also a USB print server and the other is not, you may as well get the one with the extra feature even if you'll never use it... just in case). All of those features lead to code bloat, bugs, and dilutes development resources so they spend less time on core Wifi functionality and more time on features that I'll never use -- I know I'll never use my Access point as a cloud storage server.

I've been much happier with my home worker after I traded in my all in one AP + Router/Firewall with a discrete firewall (pfSense) and Ubiquiti AP that's only an AP, nothing else.

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

#248

Post by Hydraulix989 » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:04 PM UTC

dx034 wrote: post #173

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #30

I see this "artificial supply constraint" hype-mobile getting played up a lot by consumer electronics marketing. It's pretty easy to get the factories in Shenzhen to crank out a couple extra to meet demand (it USED to be a lot harder). I call BS.

The manufacturing process is likely still several days as it involves more than one factory in the process. Plus shipping to the US (1-2 days) you'll end up at probably around a week in the best case. And that only if there's enough cargo capacity to add 100k units on that route (don't know how busy they are in these weeks). I'd guess it's realistically closer to 2 weeks from decision until it's in the warehouse. It…

Even with that lead time, you know ahead-of-time when you're about to run out of supply in 2016. There's just no excuse.

That said, I just don't see too many people buying Echo. Another distracting device that tries to get you to buy more stuff on Amazon is just not something I think people want, and the speech recognition works flaky at best, even in a quiet room (my Amazon engineer buddy has one). It's just like Siri.

I had to go brick-and-mortar to get a flash drive in under an hour the other weekend. At Silicon Valley's Best Buy in SF, the in-store Echo demo had a few passersby press the Demo button, and then as soon as it started talking, they looked confused and walked away. Not a good sign.

It does make a lot of sense: When something actually isn't selling so well, running a marketing campaign saying "we've sold out" is a great psychological hack to temporarily drive up demand.

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

#249

Post by ukyrgf » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:05 PM UTC

niftich wrote: post #25

Fascinating. Don't take my comment the wrong way -- I'm not begrudging anyone on their spending habits or how they use their disposable income, but I genuinely have several items or activities that I'd rather spend that $140 current sale price on. Or, to rephrase, the idea of voice controlling music in my house appeals to me, but not at this price point? For what it's worth, the sibling products are also awkwardly pr…

I got a Dot for $40 a few months ago and liked it so much I got a second one at amazon.com/alexadeals for $20. Already had two alarm clocks with Bluetooth speakers built-in, so very quickly I gained a full-coverage voice assistant for home automation.

It's totally a utility for me... turning on lights when I'm heading up the staircase, setting timers while in the middle of cooking, checking the weather/forecast, making sure there are no surprises on my commute. I use it to play music occasionally.

I would have never started down this path if the device was over $100, though, so I agree with you there. $40 was just a good enough entry point for me.

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

#250

Post by drak0n1c » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 7:11 PM UTC

nhangen wrote: post #40

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…

The voice recognition technology is so much more reliable and flexible than I've found Siri to be. It has an API that allows developers to build apps for it, and is updated every week with new voice commands and features that make it even more interesting and useful. I resisted for a long time, then bought an Echo, and I loved that so much that I bought a dot, then another, then a 3 pack for my kids for Christmas. It…

The last startup I worked at the server dev brought in an Echo and set up a basic analytics app that queried the database so we could ask it for user activity over the last 24 hours, or the last week.