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

Post by barrkel » Wed, Dec 27, 2017, 5:10 PM UTC

bsenftner wrote: post #241

barrkel wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I trust Amazon more than Google, though; I both expect products to be less aggressively discontinued, and data collection to be less rapacious with Amazon. Amazon also have a known and reasonably moral means of making money. Advertising OTOH is mass manipulation. And Google have too much other information on me especially from search, I need to keep things distributed. I'm one of the people who bought my partner a Do…

Trusting a corporation, any corporation, is a bad idea. There is nothing there to trust; any ethical behavior by a corporation is a calculated behavior, executed purely for the maximization of profits. Hell, working for a corporation should be viewed as a calculated behavior, as one is working for an entity with a legally mandated anti-human profit incentive. Speaking as a person with a graduate degree in economics,…

Post by 659087 » Wed, Dec 27, 2017, 5:11 PM UTC

adjkant wrote: post #23

fermienrico wrote: post #7

Google is miles ahead in terms of a conversational assistant. There is a lot of friction in using voice activated services. If I have a choice of typing "Weather in XXXXX zip" in the address bar vs. asking an assistant, I choose the former. Therefore, every time I use anything else but Google, I am afraid it won't recognize my command and I immediately feel like throwing that thing out of the window. I need to be 100…

When I'm rushing out of the house and would prefer to multitask tying my shoes and checking my phone, my new Google Home makes two things incredibly easy: weather and train times. That along with a good speaker connected to Spotify has been super worth it. Bonus points for connecting to Chromecast. I'm an iPhone / Mac person and the Chromecast / Home combo has made me consider what a life in the Google ecosystem woul…

Post by 659087 » Wed, Dec 27, 2017, 5:18 PM UTC

icelancer wrote: post #14

neves wrote: post #4

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

It gets OK use I've found from people who are between 28-40 adopting new technology like voice commands. I have two kids. You should see how they use Alexa. A ton. Like we adopted technology in ways the generation before us could never imagine, so will the next. Never forget that we have decades of bias cooked into our souls; the mouse and keyboard being the primary instruments of UI and email being the main method o…

Post by consz » Wed, Dec 27, 2017, 5:22 PM UTC

Kiro wrote: post #256

JulianRaphael wrote: post #121

Very revealing discussion. Most of the participants just argue about Amazon vs. Google here, some fear surveillance, some consider the devices useless, a few want to understand if the HN crowd finds it useful. This is something I notice here on HN in product-related discussions more and more: people just say what THEY think about product X (typically a negative opinion or complaint), rather being creative, constructi…

I use HN comments as a predictor of future events, whether it be product trends or Bitcoin prices. Just take whatever is posted here and reverse it.

Post by dionidium » Wed, Dec 27, 2017, 5:29 PM UTC

daveFNbuck wrote: post #76

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.

"Google" is an extremely common word in casual conversation. Any human who tested a device that activated every time you said "Google" would quickly recommend a change to a less likely phrase.