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Amazon Echo

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Re: Amazon Echo

#411

Post by lsseckman »

anigbrowl wrote: post #312
asafira wrote: post #159

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 interest…

It seems to me that the main innovation here is the quality of the microphone array. As a professional sound recordist, the #1 challenge of recording from a fixed point is that the ambient noise and reflections within the room rapidly swamp the original signal when you record from a point source. You can hear someone talk from the far side of a room in person very easily, because your brain constantly compensates for…

This is cool - I didn't see any detail of the mic array on the site, where did you find it?

Also, do you think it's feasible for Amazon to keep a voice profile on the speakers? I'm thinking if they are going to tout perfect voice recognition they'll have to make it person-specific at some point.

Re: Amazon Echo

#412

Post by wfn »

LLWM wrote: post #305
ljk wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People carry around a GPS tracking device with a mic and camera built-in. They use it to post their entire lives on social networks. And they're worried about privacy. i think people who are worried about privacy are not the people who are broadcasting their entire lives on social networks

By that argument, those people won't buy the Amazon Echo either, so what's the problem?

> so what's the problem?

I think that's a fairly naive point of view. Consider the simple fact that these devices are not to be used in isolation - e.g. you come to someone's home, etc. If you think this is too alarmist a mindset, maybe you'll remember how quite a few folk were outraged about facebook's new app which was to actively listen via your mobile's mic (so it can e.g. recognize music and add "while listening/watching" etc. info to status updates and so on.)

The problem in that case was not (just) the actively-listening part ("don't use it if you don't like it"), but rather that people (in)voluntarily become the dreaded dragnet surveillance infrastructure.

"Such future hope for decentralization." Ha! :)

Re: Amazon Echo

#413

Post by delecti »

ars wrote: post #355
delecti wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's exactly why they all have trigger words, "Ok Google", "Xbox", "Alexa". Makes it at least a little less likely.

Unless you happen to have a child named Alexa.....

In which case you can pick a different wake word, which they mention in the video. I don't know what those specific alternatives are, but I'm betting just about everybody will be able to find one that doesn't match a housemate.

Re: Amazon Echo

#414

Post by greedo »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #302

Why I might buy an Echo: - it's a speaker with extra features. At about the same price as a bluetooth speaker, and I need a better one of those, the extra features are basically free as long as the audio quality is good. - it can answer questions at the dinner table. My wife and I both have the annoying habit of pulling out our phones to answer questions that come up during conversation. Asking "Alexa" instead would…

The idea of this sitting on my dining room table while eating with my family is horrifying.

Re: Amazon Echo

#415

Post by Shivetya »

IgorPartola wrote: post #377
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…

Hah. After reading this, I really kind of want Amazon to release a version of this that looks like HAL. They should embrace their dark side.

well that or Interstellar's TARS - sarcastic robots might be what mankind needs so as not to go bat shit crazy or running scared from them

Re: Amazon Echo

#416

Post by orbifold »

discipline wrote: post #352
readerrrr wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be joking. Why don't you "prove" that all the metadata is not used for commercial purposes, and that metadata isn't available to government agencies.

No, you must be joking. The burden of proof in an argument has to be borne by the one making the claim. If you claim you saw a UFO, the burden of proof is on you. The burden of proof does not fall on everyone else to prove that what you saw could NOT, in any way, shape, or form, possibly be a UFO.

It is established by now that various government agencies all over the world routinely monitor web traffic, tap phones and install trojans on computers. There is no doubt in my mind that an internet connected listening device would be exploited.

Re: Amazon Echo

#417

Post by mrb »

anigbrowl wrote: post #312
asafira wrote: post #159

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 interest…

It seems to me that the main innovation here is the quality of the microphone array. As a professional sound recordist, the #1 challenge of recording from a fixed point is that the ambient noise and reflections within the room rapidly swamp the original signal when you record from a point source. You can hear someone talk from the far side of a room in person very easily, because your brain constantly compensates for…

You make it sound like nobody has a "leg up" semantic voice commands. But we do and it is perfectly usable, at least on Android devices where you can ask these questions to Google Now:

Q: How tall is the Empire State Building?

Q: When was it built?

Q: Show me Italian restaurants nearby.

...

(I am not familiar with how Siri or Cortana handle similar queries.)

Re: Amazon Echo

#418

Post by Shamanmuni »

irishcoffee wrote: post #281
pwnna wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone is like that. I personally have a build of Android with most of Google stripped out and the rest semi-disabled and it should have a minimum amount of tracking. I also don't install social networking apps, or at least deny them access to my personal data on Android. Yes, people carry smartphones, use social networks. However that doesn't automatically disallow them from worrying about privacy, as they sim…

Maybe my point was unclear. Anyone who elects to put their personal information in a public forum or any kind has willingly surrendered that information. They made a choice to make private information public. How then, can they be concerned about privacy?

So, for you this is an all or nothing thing. If I made some things public through Facebook then I'm automatically OK with Echo possibly sending data to Amazon about the things I didn't want to make public?

Perhaps I want to be in charge of what can and can't be known about my personal life. I know, a radical thought... Maybe I want other people to know some things and not others. Why so many people seem OK with notion of corporations doing whatever they want with the data they collect without accountability?

They even blame the victims: "You bought a device with the things that 99% of devices in that category bring and can be used to collect information about you. So it's your fault, you could have bought that very difficult to get (or obsolete) device that doesn't have them, or none at all. Of course, neither corporations nor security agencies can be blamed for their sociopathic behaviour. It surely has something to do with business or security that's entirely reasonable even though they kept it in secret."

Re: Amazon Echo

#419

Post by anigbrowl »

wehadfun wrote: post #321
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…

the economic benefits that technology like this brings to its users What economical benefit is this thing bringing its users

Whatever utility they find in it. Economic benefit doesn't necessarily mean you find cash in your mailbox, it could be something that saves you a few minutes every day or improves your productivity by simply making you feel good.
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