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The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

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Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#131

Post by thg »

andy_ppp wrote: post #103

Can we be absolutely certain that everything before “Ok, Google” or “Alexa” isn’t being recorded, by the companies or by back doors created by the security services? Seems too much like a telescreen for my liking. The problem is I would love one I could trust!

You could sniff the network connection and see whether it is sending anything home. Of course you'd have to do that again after every update and you wouldn't know if it doesn't activate silent recording for specific key words.

If you want a voice assistant you can trust, you have to build your own out of open hardware and software and run your own hosted service for it, but the thing being hacked would still be a possibility. In the end, the only way to be sure is not to have one in the first place.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#132

Post by xyzzyz »

ijidak wrote: post #118
dawnerd wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's what I started with and didn't even realize okay google was also valid. I wish they'd just let us designate our own, or at least give more choices.

This is what I've wondered. Why not let us designate our own??? Or provide a number of choices. It seems only natural that one day users will be able to name their assistant. We'll look back at fixed naming and wonder who ever thought that made sense. If I want my assistant to be named Jarvis, it puzzles me why I can't do that. It would also simplify the case where multiple devices are in the room (e.g. not having to…

Personalization would require training the network to recognize your hot word, which needs to work in all sound environments, and detect hot word spoken by different people. That network also needs to be optimized to be small enough to be run constantly by a low-powered CPU in standby mode.

I am not saying that it is not doable, it's just there are real engineering tradeoffs present here.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#133

Post by Gigablah »

StevePerkins wrote: post #17
neves wrote: post #4

Ok, it is cheap. It is also cool. But does the techies here find it really useful? If so, why?

When I'm grilling steaks, cooking vegetables on the stove, and baking garlic bread in the oven all at the same time... Alexa is the ultimate kitchen timer, letting me set separate reminders for handling all three or more at once. She's great for managing my To Do list and shopping list. She's a nice DJ, or podcast player when I'm getting ready in the mornings. I have two young kids, and they love peppering the Google…

Apple is making one (the HomePod), although they couldn’t ship in time for the holiday season.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#134

Post by bornonline1 »

nickelbox wrote: post #119
darklajid wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate that Google has done nothing to enable me to stream things to my Chromecast. Unless I use Chrome. Which I don't. Or Android. Which is annoying if I look at something on my laptop.

I agree it would be nice to be able to cast without Chrome on a laptop (looks like VLC had experimental cast support but removed it), but it's literally in the name... As for Android, I was fairly certain iOS at least can cast as my Apple fanboy roommate was having fun messing with the volume and pausing playback.

Use SodaPlayer.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#135

Post by edanm »

tjoff wrote: post #127
dilap wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have, and it's pretty funny. We quickly adapted to just saying "A." or "her". Probably in a few years this whole debate topic will seem quant, as devices will be much at figuring out when we're addressing them than the primitive idea of a wake-word. :-)

You're assuming that these devices have anything to offer even if they worked.

Not an unreasonable assumption, considering their popularity and the fact that people DO use them.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#136

Post by dingaling »

thg wrote: post #131
andy_ppp wrote: post #103

Can we be absolutely certain that everything before “Ok, Google” or “Alexa” isn’t being recorded, by the companies or by back doors created by the security services? Seems too much like a telescreen for my liking. The problem is I would love one I could trust!

You could sniff the network connection and see whether it is sending anything home. Of course you'd have to do that again after every update and you wouldn't know if it doesn't activate silent recording for specific key words. If you want a voice assistant you can trust, you have to build your own out of open hardware and software and run your own hosted service for it, but the thing being hacked would still be a pos…

> You could sniff the network connection and see whether it is sending anything home

Not really practical with a pinned internal CA and batched uploading.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#137

Post by dingaling »

adventured wrote: post #49
throwaway30yo wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the creepiest thing ive ever read on HN. I am 25 so maybe I am just getting jaded but that seems incredibly intrusive.

It's about increasing productivity, which saves time (hassle, etc). Time is among our scarcest of resources. Imagine not having to chop wood for your fireplace. Wouldn't that be amazing, to save such time? The natural gas and or electricity company is going to learn something about your lifestyle. Imagine if you could tap your smartphone and easily get a taxi. That seems like it could be extremely useful. But then th…

To take one non-Tesla example:

> But then the blacksmith might learn something about your lifestyle.

But once the blacksmith has sold me the pot, that's the end of the data-exchange. He doesn't receive a continual feed of data about my usage of the pot. Maybe I'll go back five years later to get the pot repaired; that'll be a surprise to him. Perhaps he'll ask how I broke it, and I can fib to him.

Home automation is a great convenience and time-saver. That's not the concern. The concern is that megacorps are in the loop and are monetizing our lives.

An Amazon Echo should in an ideal world be able to operate just fine on a LAN without an Internet connection, or with just a web-server front-end for the owner to use. Just like my wifi AP or my weather station.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#138

Post by robbiep »

Sephr wrote: post #97
dilap wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have, and it's pretty funny. We quickly adapted to just saying "A." or "her". Probably in a few years this whole debate topic will seem quant, as devices will be much at figuring out when we're addressing them than the primitive idea of a wake-word. :-)

This is not feasible with software updates alone on the Echo Dot or Google Home Mini, as it will require better hardware unless you just want your device to constantly phone home everything.

I think they’re saying they changed to referring to Alexia in conversation to A or Her

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#139

Post by darrenf »

saalweachter wrote: post #59
dilap wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having to say "OK, Google" instead of just "Google" (or "Alexa") is a deal-breaker. Google's products don't feel like they are designed by humans.

Have you ever been in a room with an Alexa unit when people are trying to talk about it? It's like a comedy routine with the device activating spuriously over and over.

I enjoy it when mine feels like expressing an opinion in response to the commentary of any Alexa Bliss WWE match.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#140

Post by pbhjpbhj »

xyzzyz wrote: post #132
ijidak wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I've wondered. Why not let us designate our own??? Or provide a number of choices. It seems only natural that one day users will be able to name their assistant. We'll look back at fixed naming and wonder who ever thought that made sense. If I want my assistant to be named Jarvis, it puzzles me why I can't do that. It would also simplify the case where multiple devices are in the room (e.g. not having to…

Personalization would require training the network to recognize your hot word, which needs to work in all sound environments, and detect hot word spoken by different people. That network also needs to be optimized to be small enough to be run constantly by a low-powered CPU in standby mode. I am not saying that it is not doable, it's just there are real engineering tradeoffs present here.

Personalisation would not give advertising of the company to any guests who witness you using the device ... that's my idea of the primary reason.
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