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Amazon Echo

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Re: Amazon Echo

#401

Post by Fuzzwah »

melling wrote: post #196

Other than the usual HN fear discussion, does anyone have any thoughts on the product itself? Doesn't offer any functionality that would be useful to the average person?

I've requested an invite.

I see it as a replacement for the ditigal photoframe pc I built a few years back out of an old laptop and have in my kitchen. Its running XP with a heap of autoIT scripts I hacked together, controlled by an MCE remote. I use it every day to listen to news headlines and check the weather while making my morning coffee and for streaming jazz while cooking dinner.

I think I'd prefer asking Echo to play these things than going through the hassle of upgrading the photoframe pc from XP.

I'd gain some functions such as easier music streaming, shopping list stuff, etc. I'd lose a few functions; I occassionally use VNC on the photoframe pc to display a recipe or twitch stream. I can do the recipe on my phone and put the twitch stream on my TV and turn it so I can see it from the kitchen.

Re: Amazon Echo

#402

Post by opendais »

rubencodes wrote: post #224
opendais wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't care about my location information, I don't use social networks. I care about the content of my private communications w/ other people. Including in-person conversations.

So your worried Amazon will be specifically listening in to your conversations and use the content to...what? Blackmail you? Share clips of your conversation on the Internet? Inform your wife/husband you're having an affair?

Well they already go to my suppliers they know about and try to buy from them? So what do you think I'm worried about?

Re: Amazon Echo

#403

Post by mwarkentin »

jwallaceparker wrote: post #343

Watch the promo video again and pretend it's the first few minutes of a horror movie. A package arrives on the front porch. The family brings it in and opens it. It's Alexa. It's "for everyone," says Father. The next few days are blissful. Alexa integrates herself into the family. She is indispensable. How did they ever get by without her? Father rushes in from the backyard, "Alexa, how tall is Mt. Everest?" Alexa an…

Reminds me of Blinky: http://vimeo.com/21216091

"Will you be my frieeend?"

Re: Amazon Echo

#404

Post by opendais »

hackuser wrote: post #246
opendais wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't care about my location information, I don't use social networks. I care about the content of my private communications w/ other people. Including in-person conversations.

> I don't care about my location information, I don't use social networks. > I care about the content of my private communications w/ other people. Including in-person conversations. A widely accepted security fundamental is that metadata, such as where, when, and with whom you interact, is as valuable as the content of those communications. People in the surveillance business (from security agencies to businesses wh…

I'm a private citizen. Spying on me is only productive for corporations and its the content, not the list of contacts, that would be useful.

Knowing I talk to Vendor X is worthless because soooooooooo many people talk to Vendor X. Knowing I'm buying 1000Y from X is more useful, eh?

Re: Amazon Echo

#405

Post by Crito »

Igglyboo wrote: post #19

Please have an open API, I can think of a ton of things I would love to use this for.

An open API would be great. I'd love to implement "Alexa, my floor is dirty" -roomba purrs and does its thing-

Re: Amazon Echo

#406

Post by stonemetal »

jasode wrote: post #232
r0h1n wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you are saying is technologically correct, possible and prevalent but I couldn't find Amazon saying it anywhere on their page. Can you point me to the part where Amazon says nothing is ever stored/transmitted unless "Alexa" is spoken?

I noticed that your profile mentioned "recording engineer" so maybe some concrete numbers related to digital audio technology will put boundaries on plausible scenarios. We assume either of 2 engineering designs: (#1) the trigger word "Alexa" is detected within an embedded chip . The DSP (digital signal processing) intelligence for analyzing sound waveforms is inside the device. Therefore, the words spoken after "Ale…

They have advanced speech recognition but have never heard of compression? I would be surprised if the bandwidth consumed in plan #2 was even 1/3 of what you suggest especially in a non 24/7 sound environment like the typical home.

Re: Amazon Echo

#407

Post by 72deluxe »

readerrrr wrote: post #350
dandroid1 wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is no more invasive than Ok Google and Hey Siri.

Yes! And hopefully you aren't using them.

I certainly am not using OK Google, as shouting at my dashboard whilst driving makes for a frustrating driving experience. It just never hears what I say correctly.

Re: Amazon Echo

#408

Post by jamilb »

jwallaceparker wrote: post #343

Watch the promo video again and pretend it's the first few minutes of a horror movie. A package arrives on the front porch. The family brings it in and opens it. It's Alexa. It's "for everyone," says Father. The next few days are blissful. Alexa integrates herself into the family. She is indispensable. How did they ever get by without her? Father rushes in from the backyard, "Alexa, how tall is Mt. Everest?" Alexa an…

This gave me a pretty good chuckle. Thank you.

Re: Amazon Echo

#409

Post by anigbrowl »

api wrote: post #338
anigbrowl wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't care because they're not culpable enough to feel paranoid. Some percentage of people will be unjustly exploited, but probably not enough to offset the economic benefits that technology like this brings to its users. I think your focus on 'the people vs the government' is misplaced, because government is just a sort of social technology which can be used and abused like any other technology depending…

> Most people don't care because they're not culpable enough to feel paranoid. It's going to take a high-profile case to show people how wrong this is. Wait for it. Here's some potential scenarios: * An author who is researching dangerous-sounding stuff and discussing it with his friends for a book is SWAT teamed and shot dead. Later investigation reveals overzealous "parallel construction." * Someone at one of these…

Shit like this happens already and slightly less probable stuff is regularly dramatized on TV in mystery/suspense shows. Not only do many people not care as long as it happens to someone else, a sizable percentage of them derive entertainment from it (eg see news stories on people who commit suicide in response to internet bullying or similar).

It's very unlikely that there would be a single turning point case a la Pearl Harbor or 9-11. More likely it's an aggregation of small cases followed by slow adjustments in a different direction. As an example of the latter, consider how incarceration seems to have peaked in the US and we're seeing the beginnings of a fall as well as a shift away from incarceration as the default response. I would predict the fraction of the population that is incarcerated to fall by 10% in 10 years and by 50% in 25 years. Likewise we're seeing pushback against the militarization of police, but how that particular pendulum swings is going to be measured out over budgetary cycles rather than in real time. I think that if you were to plot utility vs security on a graph you'd see a random walk of incremental fluctuating changes rather than massive discontinuities.

Re: Amazon Echo

#410

Post by merrua »

chatmasta wrote: post #87

This "internet-of-things" trend coincides unfortunately with the "dragnet surveillance" trend. With every new product launch from a "cloud company," I increasingly feel as if I'm reading the tombstone of modern society. The selling point behind these devices is convenience, but at the cost of security. I don't think I need to explain to HN why an always-on, internet connected voice recording device is something to ke…

Yah to be honest it seems a bit of creepy. I doubt they need factory floor managers, I'm sure their is a backdoor so they can fulfil their legally required handing over of data to requests by the american govenment. But as a non-american, thats not really a good thing that the american govenment can do that. I dont see Angela Merkel picking one up.
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