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Amazon Echo

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Re: Amazon Echo

#421

Post by 72deluxe »

cowabunga wrote: post #276
irishcoffee wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a smartphone with Siri or the equiv app on it (Android, Windows) your device is already 'always listening.' I fail to see the difference. 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. Hilarious.

Exactly. I don't actually carry a phone these days and people think I'm crazy. Personally I just don't want to be available all the time but it has certain privacy advantages.

How do you possibly live?

I joke! In all seriousness, did you find your concentration improved as you didn't feel the desire to constantly check for text messages or emails?

Re: Amazon Echo

#422

Post by freshhawk »

anigbrowl wrote: post #368
hackuser wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most people don't care because they're not culpable enough to feel paranoid. Maybe you didn't mean it literally but it's a popular expression in this context. I don't think a desire for privacy is paranoid; it is normal, healthy behavior. But to address the gist of what you say, I think you assume an understanding of data security that is far beyond most end users. How many even know what "metadata" means, or how '…

I'm not saying a desire for privacy is paranoid, but the assumption that the government will engage in passive monitoring and archival of everything that can be captured through the microphone and use it as leverage later, even if it doesn't involve criminal liability, eg 'assist us without nefarious purpose or we will use something we recorded to cause you acute embarrassment with devastating social consequences.' I…

"the more blameless you are the less leverage you will have to push back against the inevitable intrusion"

That's really well put. People seem to miss the fact that in a surveillance society it's not necessarily your privacy that you will most regret losing, it's the privacy of those groups you agree with who are opposed to some powerful faction.

Re: Amazon Echo

#423

Post by 72deluxe »

Karunamon wrote: post #242
jasode wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This reminds me of the (just as insane) concerns that people had about Microsoft's Xbox One Kinect being likened to a 1984 telescreen. I crunched some numbers like you just did - back when the One came with a Kinect and had to be online to work, the numbers worked out to something like exabytes of data that would be getting streamed to Microsoft, every single day. You think the ISP's are cheesed off at Netflix? You h…

You do realise that it doesn't need to be streaming 48kHz 24 bit audio back up don't you? It could be something really low, like GSM which is 13.2 kbit/s. AMR is even lower! So to stream audio at the threshold where it is still legible, it doesn't need masses and masses of data as you presume.

Re: Amazon Echo

#424

Post by ignoramous »

Amazon Echo seems like a step in the right direction towards ubiquitous comupting (+ AI). It reminds me of "Jarvis" from the Iron Man series.

I'd also be surprised if Google isn't concerned by this. Likes of Siri, Cortana have long been touted as Google-search killer, and I think something more advanced/powerful than Amazon Echo will have the potential to do just that.

Re: Amazon Echo

#425

Post by backwardm »

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…

Excellent. Seriously, that was fun to read. Thanks.

Re: Amazon Echo

#426

Post by memnips »

I'm surprised by the privacy backlash in this thread! I understand why this product is so scary for someone who is concerned about privacy, but how is this that much worse than all the other devices you use?

You carry a smart-phone that presumably has GPS, a microphone, and a camera everywhere you go. There's a camera and microphone on your laptop too. Both are cloud connected. If the NSA (or any other super-power) wants to spy on you, they can and will. I believe we've learned that if nothing else w/ all of Snowden's revelations.

IMO if you detest this device's privacy it can only because either: A) You take your privacy VERY seriously, to the point you avoid most mainstream technology and exclusively use burner feature-phones and Tor B) You trust Amazon less than you trust Google, Apple, or others.

I am going to assume it's more the latter than the former. (If not, you really do not represent the mainstream and this audience isn't what I expected).

So assuming B, question for you: why don't you trust Amazon? I actually trust Amazon more than I trust Google or Apple. They have always delivered for me as a customer, and I believe they've always put me first.

*Edited to correct former/latter reversal.

Re: Amazon Echo

#427

Post by famousactress »

duskwuff wrote: post #358
LockeWatts wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't they? If they're being released in the west, they're optimizing for their largest target demographic.

Children generally don't enunciate as clearly as adults. Their speech is more difficult for a computer (or a human who doesn't know the language well!) to understand.

Siri literally said "You're a baby!" to my 1.5 year old daughter the other day when she tried to talk to it.

Re: Amazon Echo

#428

Post by 72deluxe »

bhhaskin wrote: post #225
krschultz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opt-in to 1984 for only $199! ($99 if you belong to Amazon Prime)

That is exactly what this reminds me of, telescreens. I love the idea of being able to have a star trek like computer interface, but with all the processing being done off site it can and will be used in ways that violate our privacy.

We clearly need the Enterprise's central computer in our homes. With microcomputers getting more and more and more powerful, this should be possible (unless Moriarty turns up and takes control from the holodeck....)

In all seriousness, with Wikipedia being 22GB in textual state, it should be possible to build an offline system (that perhaps syncs online for news).

Re: Amazon Echo

#429

Post by runeks »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #387
gisely wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't mean the NSA or Chinese equivalent won't figure out how to hack Echo to plant a little piece of stealthware on it that records all conversations of suspects in "terrorism related" investigations. Such stealthware might get detected once or twice (though not often-- it won't be ubiquitous), but such detections will easily covered up by forcing Amazon to announce a rare and obscure firmware bug backstory. Actua…

The NSA could also do the same thing to a phone.

Or a laptop, or an iPad, or anything with a microphone on, really.

Re: Amazon Echo

#430

Post by 72deluxe »

thathonkey wrote: post #100
tindrlabs wrote: post #3

I'm a little frustrated at the moment -- The future is arriving with voice controlled devices, yet I don't trust any of these companies with my words.

None of the voice controlled devices I've ever used have been a pleasant experience (Google, Siri, various others). I don't think the tech is there yet personally. They might have it down for certain english accents but even as a native speaker, their success rate is probably about 25% for me. On a related note, iPhone's dictation just took a huge step backwards with the new iOS release.

Have you tried dictation on Mac OSX? Do you find it any good, particularly offline dictation?
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