Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been using a chromecast + an HDMI audio splitter as a cheap way to stream. It works really well for apps that support chromecast, such as pandora.
Can you tell me exactly which HDMI audio splutter you use? I want to try something similar.
Amazon Echo
561–570 of 746 posts
Re: Amazon Echo
#562So if I'm understanding the promotional video correctly, Alexa is listening to you while you have sex. The best part must be how they represent the capabilities( cloud, always online, third party... ), through an incompetent parent, who isn't capable of understanding the concept. I'm paraphrasing: Cloud?, I've heard that word in the advertisement and it must be good for me. And continuing by lying: Quote: So it can j…
ALEXA, WHAT'S THE SAFE-WORD?
Re: Amazon Echo
#563This "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…
Too late. You probably already have a cell phone and probably already carry it with you most of the time.
Re: Amazon Echo
#564I'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) w…
I do have control over my laptop, the NSA or Amazon would have to actively hack me in order go get to that mic and luckily I'm not worth it anyways. In order for someone (the NSA?) to track a phone and do whatever they need to do, they need to have a warrant and what-not. That's like deliberately sending all your living-room conversations (yours and your family's) online for analysis for God-knows-what purpose. You t…
Intel vPro chips have a VNC server built right into the chip, you can VNC in without the need for there to even be an OS installed. It would be very easy to hide a backdoor in one the hundreds of chips stashed in your laptop.
Re: Amazon Echo
#565To everyone worried about privacy: We all trust our e-mail to be stored in the cloud, we store sensitive files etc on services like dropbox, we trust that our operating systems aren't collecting/sending data, etc. You're already using and relying upon MANY services with the ability (if they really wanted to) to steal TONS of private information from you. It all comes down to trust. But don't pretend like this opens u…
I have one of these http://www.webcamerablocker.com/ on ALL of my devices with a camera, on my smartphones i've covered the cameras with a small square of duct-tape, on my laptops i've ripped out the microphone arrays or disconnected them and use the Mic input with a head-set if required.
I run my own mail server (although i hate having to email people @gmail.com etc) and i only store my emails locally. I don't use dropbox, i don't use cloud storage providers at all. When I have to upload things, I encrypt them first. I run almost everything through TOR, that includes all my web-browsing on my phone even.
There are a thousand ways that data can be collected about you these days given the technology we use, but I like to think i do a reasonable job at avoiding all of the bulk of them though. Nothing is perfect, but i'll be damned if i'm going to make it easy for anyone.
Re: Amazon Echo
#566Earlier 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…
Given the state of the average American internet connection, is #2 even possible?
Re: Amazon Echo
#567Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
The value of the product is undermined by what we now know the Agencies do. Before Snowden we all thought it was an idiotic idea we'd have pervasive surveillance, now we know it happens. Before Snowden we'd buy nice to have, harmless gadgets, or use easy Google speech recognition (your reference), now we shoot them down. As an investor i'd be thinking about this kind of reaction to a product. Maybe a table-stakes fea…
Yes, I got the part where there's an entire group of people on HN who have a problem with these types of products.
Did you get the part where there's an entirely different group of people who get tired of listening to you whine about it? I simply want to discuss the product itself.
Re: Amazon Echo
#568Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, it's possible the technology respects your privacy. But it's not open source. Therefore it's technically possible that Echo waits until you make a request, and then bursts a transcript of everything ELSE you've said, as well. Or maybe the device only does that if Amazon receives a valid Search Warrant, and they flag your device to enter "transcript mode." Or even "live, continuous broadcast." People have a right…
This sort of exchange is unfortunately the dominant mode of discourse--not just online either. Both sides loudly proclaim the foolishness of the other without ever having an opportunity to establish some reasonable grounds on which an actual discussion could proceed.
As an aside, I have most assuredly been guilt of this on HN and elsewhere but have been making an effort to curtail it. We'll see how that goes.
Re: Amazon Echo
#569Earlier quoted context omitted.
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...
I really thought it was satire too. It wasn't until there was like 10 seconds left in the video that I realized, "there's not enough time left to make it funny, it must be serious!"
Agree. This really seems like it could be the start of a futuristic, dystopian horror movie.
I think what makes it even more unsettling is that the people's voices are recorded naturally (the microphone several feet away) while the device sounds like it is coming from your computer directly.
Not to mention these people are in bed together while this HAL-like robotic cylinder is listening to everything they are doing with a blue ring lighting up...
Re: Amazon Echo
#570Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This is what I mean when I say most people don't feel culpable enough; there isn't anything sufficiently illegal going on in their lives that they perceive a significant government interest in intruding upon them in the first place. I hear this refutation quite often. I find it typically comes from people in a place of privilege that the system largely ignores. I've read far too many accounts from people who are no…
You're making my point for me. The system largely ignores a large majority of the people, who therefore don't care much about this issue to feel deterred from buying the relevant technology. Hence the enormous popularity of smartphones with GPS functionality and so forth: never getting lost >> government tracking everywhere you go, for most people.
The system isn't designed to watch everyone.
It's designed to watch anyone.