101–110 of 153 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or you could just throw away those listening devices.
Do you think unrequested snarky comments like this will actually convince anyone?
This also related to the practice that if you meet someone, and you think of a joke or quip based on your first impression, don't say it: It might be novel to you, but they've heard it before and are likely very tired of that being everyone's first interaction with them. True for names, physical characteristics, professions, etc.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps the upside of having a biblical name that is shared by 10 million other Americans is that it probably isn't too easy to twist it into an insult. Edit: that may be an overestimate. Still one of the most popular names in the US, but a more official source (SS) suggests there are no single names which are shared by more than about 5M people.
> a more official source (SS) suggests there are no single names which are shared by more than about 5M people. You're telling me there are fewer than 5 million Michaels or Johns? I would have thought more.
Using standard US mortality data, Wolfram Alpha reports estimates of 3.853M and 3.26M for Michael and John respectively, currently alive in the US.[2][3]
[1]: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/century.html
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Allowing Alexa devices to respond to the more generic "computer" is a not-insignificant win for Amazon IMO. Though it can get a little confused when I'm watching Star Trek variants on a nearby TV...
Try setting it to "amazon" and then watch a video about AWS or something similar. "Echo" is the 'safest' one for me.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I asked, but somehow she didn’t feel like changing her name. That's nuts. It's just a bit of paperwork!
It's rather offensive that it has become paperwork. It's your own name after all -- if you want to change it that shouldn't be anybody else's business. It used to work that way in California until the 9/11 hysteria swept the country.
If you want to change what people in everyday life call you, then yes, that's not paperwork, that's just a polite request/conversation with various people (and, hopefully, they respect it).
If you want to change the name by which organizations, including the government, refer to you, then that is _by definition_ paperwork. I simply don't believe that you could have done that without submitting forms or other types of paperwork, at any point in recent history - pre- or post-9/11.
What am I misunderstanding?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you think unrequested snarky comments like this will actually convince anyone?
It's not snark, surely. It's a legitimate option. Ditch the surveillance boxes, they can't possibly augment your life in a meaningful way.
Claims like this one seriously undermine the (worthwhile) privacy movement. Convenience and entertainment _are_ worthwhile uses of technology. Those of us with an understanding of privacy and surveillance technology might well make the judgement that certain forms of convenience and entertainment are not justified by the intrusion that they present - but to claim that there is _zero_ benefit to those technologies just makes you look out-of-touch or cranky to the very people who would benefit from more awareness.
Would I give up all my credit card details in order to have a marginally better music playback experience? No. Would I tell a company my birthday if they paid me $1,000,000 for it? Yes. There is a continuum of "privacy/payback evaluation", and different people lie at different points along it.
Funny coincidence I was just wondering this a few weeks ago when reading a Tinder bio of a girl named Alexa who had something to the effect of 'heard all the Alexa jokes for a lifetime thanks' Made me wonder if there is a class action lawsuit where all of the Alexa's could sue Amazon for psychological distress or something.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know an Alexa and she says the same. I'll admit I hadn't thought about it before but it does sound like an incredibly annoying thing to have dropped on you from on high: constant jokes, if anyone addresses you in an Amazon-enabled home all kind of crap gets triggered... I can see why people are infuriated by it.
People are like that. Ask a tall person if he's tired of people asking, "What's the weather like up there?" My first name is associated with a catch phrase of a particular era, and I can judge how old someone is by their reaction to it. You live with it. You move on with your life.
Hehe ;)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I asked, but somehow she didn’t feel like changing her name. That's nuts. It's just a bit of paperwork!
It can also be a matter of pride, I think. People can like their name enough to not change it simply because some company chose to use it for their product.