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Amazon Echo

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Re: Amazon Echo

#151

Post by baq »

falcor84 wrote: post #127
trevor-e wrote: post #50

Why does Amazon think people want these products? If I want to search stuff like that I would use my smartphone that is always with me. If I want to search with my voice, then I'll use the voice search found on my smartphone. Why would someone want a device that is always actively listening? Why would I pay 200$ for something that my smartphone already does?

These were my exact thoughts when the ipad was originally announced.

the question is still valid in both cases. i have a nexus 7 (1st gen) and it's mostly collecting dust.

Re: Amazon Echo

#152

Post by DEinspanjer »

sfennell wrote: post #131
nwndarkness wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening" That means that it is ALWAYS listening. It needs to listen for that trigger word at all times.

It is always listening just like your dog is always listening. If you are not talking to it and you are not saying its name you are being (mostly) ignored. Most of the time, it is not paying attention - the chip that is processing the sound is looking for the ONE word that will activate it. That passive audio processing is happening locally on a chip that is dedicated to the task. Once activated - the expensive proce…

I understand this, and I don't happen to agree with the people who feel this type of technology should not be embraced, but, to be fair, the chip is controlled by software that is constantly connected to the cloud and updating over the air. It would take very little to update the software to disable the on-chip keyword detection and just record everything. That update could easily be done without your knowledge and in a way that would be almost undetectable since the software stack doesn't appear to be open and the server-stack is in the cloud and out of your control.

Re: Amazon Echo

#153

Post by chaostheory »

Someone1234 wrote: post #59
andrewstuart2 wrote: post #4

> With enhanced noise cancellation, Echo can hear you ask a question even while it's playing music. I read: "Our cloud servers can hear you, no matter what." It's a killer idea. It's too bad privacy concerns might lead it to an early grave.

I grow tired of this pathetic baseless fear mongering every single time anything is posted with voice control. You people completely ignore the mode of operation and start making idiotic claims about "well NSA!" In this case, as the website makes clear, you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening. If you had been paying attention to the mobile scene even a little bit you'd know that this is on-chip lis…

It is not "pathetic baseless fear mongering" when we already have evidence that governments around the world are willing to overstep their bounds in terms of monitoring their own people.

> In this case, as the website makes clear, you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening.

In order for it to hear the key word 'Alexa', it has to be always listening. They're just saying that they promise not to process the audio any further until they hear Alexa. Of course the obvious question is 'Does this promise apply for every situation?' What happens when Amazon gets served with a request to procure data from a user? Do they state this in the terms and conditions or in their privacy policy?

Re: Amazon Echo

#154

Post by elektronjunge »

ctdonath wrote: post #43

Well that's an out-of-the-blue introduction. I'm increasingly unconvinced of the market for voice-driven devices (innate reluctance to talk when not to a person), but at a glance looks like this is as laudable an effort as can be attempted. At $199 it's too pricy for most, given the untested/unfamiliar niche. At $99 (select Prime members), some of is might give it a chance. I'm reminded that Apple started its move in…

> I'm reminded that Apple started its move into mobile devices with the iPod (established against a popular yet muddled market of MP3 players) with the brilliant low-friction addition of the iPod Touch (for a tiny bit more get the browser, email, etc), which then led to merely slapping a cell phone module on & creating a plus-sized version.

Huh? The iPod had been popular for years before the introduction of the iPod Touch. The touch also came out after the iPhone. One of the reasons for the success of the iPhone was that the iPod had proved to consumers that apple could make good consumer devices, and that many had music and movie collections locked into the apple ecosystem.

Re: Amazon Echo

#157

Post by Crito »

pkulak wrote: post #121
andrewstuart2 wrote: post #4

> With enhanced noise cancellation, Echo can hear you ask a question even while it's playing music. I read: "Our cloud servers can hear you, no matter what." It's a killer idea. It's too bad privacy concerns might lead it to an early grave.

Wow. New technology can be used for good or evil? This can be (and usually is!) the top comment on any interesting HN post.

Can be, usually is, and should be. As engineers, we should always consider the potential ramifications of technology that we create.

Now, we should not necessarily refuse to develop an idea because it could be abused, but we should always keep abuse in mind. Nearly everything can be abused, if only as a bludgeon, so obviously we need to have a certain level of tolerance for potential abuse. However it would be negligent to not consider the full range of ways something could be abused.

I strongly believe that engineers have an obligation to always consider and discuss the ethics of what they are building.

Even if you don't give a shit about ethics (I know many engineers don't), you must realize that many potential consumers will be concerned. Considering these possibilities is therefore just good business sense.

Re: Amazon Echo

#158

Post by melling »

Someone1234 wrote: post #59
andrewstuart2 wrote: post #4

> With enhanced noise cancellation, Echo can hear you ask a question even while it's playing music. I read: "Our cloud servers can hear you, no matter what." It's a killer idea. It's too bad privacy concerns might lead it to an early grave.

I grow tired of this pathetic baseless fear mongering every single time anything is posted with voice control. You people completely ignore the mode of operation and start making idiotic claims about "well NSA!" In this case, as the website makes clear, you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening. If you had been paying attention to the mobile scene even a little bit you'd know that this is on-chip lis…

Yeah, I was just having this conversation 4 days ago.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8545144

There's always a guy on HN who wants to warn everyone like we're all a bunch of idiots.

It's ok to be paranoid but we should file it under an FAQ.

Our time is probably better spent discussing the value of the product itself. Hopefully, we get to that today.

Re: Amazon Echo

#159

Post by asafira »

While most of the posts are, and probably should be, concerned with the privacy implications of this device if/when it reaches peoples' homes, I also wonder the plain-old "will this flop?" Adding voice recognition to things isn't a new idea, and the threshold for when it's "good enough" for the general populace for any use case is pretty poorly understood and/or quantified. Is this a use case people would be interested in transitioning to? Is this much better than just having a really good smartphone with voice recognition that's connected to speakers in the house? Will this get some success this holiday season? (If it won't come out of "invite-only" mode until after the holidays, will it see some success afterwards?)

Hard to say for me, but I feel like I can understand why Amazon wanted to try this out. In the worst case, it'll go the way of the fire phone and facebook phone and we'll forget in a year that this existed. At best, it finds its way to millions of homes and Amazon will have some epic access to peoples' lives.

Re: Amazon Echo

#160

Post by Eric_WVGG »

This could be amazing for blind people and those who have difficulty with physical inputs.

That reminds me of a story I heard about the Kindle. Apparently it’s earliest success was with the vision-impaired. Before mass-market e-books, readers were limited to the few books that were available in large-print editions; thanks to the Kindle, nearly everything can be read in large type.

My grandfather, whom I believe never used a computer a day in his life, would have been an early adopter of both the Kindle and the Echo.

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