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Amazon Echo

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Re: Amazon Echo

#501

Post by sciguy77 »

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…

I wish I had more up votes to give. This is easily the most enjoyment I've ever gotten from a HN comment.

Re: Amazon Echo

#502

Post by IgorPartola »

elwell wrote: post #392
IgorPartola wrote: post #320

I recently bought into the Sonos ecosystem. While it is pretty limited in some ways (I can't just stream stuff playing on my phone to the Sonos speakers, for example if I am playing a random YouTube video), it has one really good thing going for it: it can sync playback between an arbitrary number of speakers. This is my new standard for this type of thing: speakers that cannot do this are inferior to Sonos. In that…

"Alexa, start my car" "Alexa, close the garage door." "Alexa, good bye."

But... But the first law of robotics?!..

Re: Amazon Echo

#503

Post by melvinmt »

pyrophane wrote: post #483

How long until Amazon.com ordering gets integrated into this? For the sake of convenience, I've been shifting more and more of my shopping for "basics" like razors and toilet paper to Amazon, so they have know what brands I use. Pretty soon I'm sure I would be able to have an exchange just like this with Echo: "Alexa, can you order me more razor blades?" "Would you like to order 10-pack Gillette Fusion ProGlide razor…

They already have a device for that: https://fresh.amazon.com/dash

But yeah, it would make sense to integrate it with Echo as well.

Re: Amazon Echo

#504

Post by samshih »

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…

> it's a speaker with extra features. This is so true! Nice speaker with add-on capabilities, definitely a plus and will probably buy!

Re: Amazon Echo

#505

Post by ddrt »

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…

Your doctor might reward your overactive imagination with some adderall.

Re: Amazon Echo

#506

Post by dorfe »

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…

Yup. Exactly. Echo's promo video has this strange feeling to it. It's almost as if it's a satire (or horror) disguised as your boilerplate technology product marketing video put out by one of the well-monied firms.

I think it's because the acting and dialogue are so unbelievable, but perhaps there really are greater forces at play...

Re: Amazon Echo

#507

Post by methehack »

pyrophane wrote: post #483

How long until Amazon.com ordering gets integrated into this? For the sake of convenience, I've been shifting more and more of my shopping for "basics" like razors and toilet paper to Amazon, so they have know what brands I use. Pretty soon I'm sure I would be able to have an exchange just like this with Echo: "Alexa, can you order me more razor blades?" "Would you like to order 10-pack Gillette Fusion ProGlide razor…

Good idea. I'm sure it's on the roadmap. Plus, I would use that. You're on the john and out of toilet paper. "Alexa, order my 10 rolls of Scott Brand toilet paper." Then, you just wait... Maybe the drone can even drop it through the window... Anyway, all kidding aside: I like the product, and would probably even use the ordering and I don't really see a problem with that at all.

Re: Amazon Echo

#508

Post by [deleted] »

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?

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Echo

#509

Post by grey-area »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #486
grey-area wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insane paranoia is hearing "cloud-based audio processing device and service" and instantly jumping to "the NSA" absent a single damned fact to support that conclusion. Cell phones are routinely used as listening devices, what makes you think this device would not be? If I were a government agency intent on omniscience (i.e. the NSA), this device, along with televisions and computers with always-on microphones control…

> Cell phones are routinely used as listening devices // Citation? I'm really interested, presumably there's a hacker convention talk or somesuch where they install a hidden service on a standard phone and upload all voice input even when the phone is off? Clearly I use burner non-smart phones for my criminal activities (that's a joke!) so they're going to have to use other means. Obviously they can still sniff the d…

It's an interesting video for other reasons, but at 1:47 here Binney mentions it:

http://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000001733041/the-pro...

Here's another article about real-world use:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3522137.stm

Re: Amazon Echo

#510

Post by n8m »

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…

Buahahahaha - Brilliant! Thank you Siri!
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