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Amazon Dash Button

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41–50 of 703 posts

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#41
Am I alone in thinking that it's already more than easy enough to buy things? E-commerce is great the way it is and sometimes I enjoy going out into the world to shop at a real store.

All this lock-in to Amazon does is obscure that these days you can find the same deal or better elsewhere with a little bit of looking. Especially with groceries and household items Amazon has never been as competitive as they consistently are with media.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#42

The video reads like some kind of dystopian consumer hell. Everything comes in a packet from a trusted brand who is taking care of you. Consume! Consume! Consume! See you useless you are when you can't consume! Your whole day is ruined. Good job we've got your back. We'll send you some more of those precious packets.

>Everything comes in a packet from a trusted brand who is taking are of you.

And how is this different from the present ? Everything comes non-packets ? From an untrusted brand ? That dystopian future sounds better somehow.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#43

The video reads like some kind of dystopian consumer hell. Everything comes in a packet from a trusted brand who is taking care of you. Consume! Consume! Consume! See you useless you are when you can't consume! Your whole day is ruined. Good job we've got your back. We'll send you some more of those precious packets.

My thoughts exactly. This video did not make me want the dash button. It made me want to re-think my existence.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#44

This looks awful. Imagine a house full of branded buttons. Yuk. Though I'm sure my toddler would love pressing them endlessly. And all that packaging in the video, the horror. It must an April fools joke.

The timing is terrible. Even if it's not a joke, they've just set themselves up for this exact comment. Surely someone would have thought of this? Just seems like a really bad choice -- too bad for a company like Amazon to make (the timing, that is, coupled with a highly-branded product like this).

It's excellent timing, no one knows if it's a "joke". Amazon gets coverage either way.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#45
post #19

The most interesting part of this is the "Dash Replenishment Service" linked at the bottom of the page. Looks like they're building APIs to insert the service back-end into appliances - they give an example of a coffee maker that automatically orders beans when it runs low. They list several partners who are going to release products using it - Brita water filters (buys new filters), Whirlpool washer/dryer (detergent…

What you need is RFID and smart garbage cans. When you throw something out, it orders itself for you to be on the doorstep the next morning.

The cat came back, the very next day

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#46
Remember what I was saying yesterday about Amazon throwing things against the wall?

Can you see how this idea is ill considered? IT doesn't make much sense.

I predict in 5 years nobody will remember this and it will be gone from Amazon's site.

But for this press cycle it's PR that makes Amazon look "innovative" and like a "tech company".

Just like the Amazon fire phone did... for a little while. How much was wasted on that idea?

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#48

This looks awful. Imagine a house full of branded buttons. Yuk. Though I'm sure my toddler would love pressing them endlessly. And all that packaging in the video, the horror. It must an April fools joke.

No it's not. That was Goat Grazer.

Hum, wait a minute...

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#49

Works over Wi-Fi? Is there a screen on the back and a keypad to type the password and select the network? Wifi takes a lot of power. Does it use AAAs, or do you have to periodically recharge the batteries? That surely would be impractical. Especially if you have a button for multiple products in your house, as shown in the video - maintaining five or six of these things would be a pain. A separate Amazon app or a com…

The app on your phone uses wifi. I'd expect the buttons use Bluetooth's low-energy variant.

My reading of it is that the app on the phone is used to configure the button, and the button from then on operates independently (which would be good in that it would allows others to use it when the original person isn't around). It's ambiguous, though, and could go either way.

Given that it would literally only have to connect to the wifi and do the API calls when the button is pressed, the power usage would be minuscule.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#50
post #35
post #15

It's not just a physical button — it's an API. If you develop a hardware product you can apparently integrate with Dash to order supplies from the embedded controller. Information is here: https://www.amazon.com/oc/dash-replenishment-service Apparently, Whirlpool washing machines and Brita water filters will be using it. This doesn't help for basics like paper towels, but it would work for paper towel holders (if it'…

I'd worry about an appliance too quickly re-ordering. My printer refused to print because it thought the toner was all gone. A black marker to the sensor on the side of the toner and I'm back and printing. It's been almost a month now and still going strong.

Similarly, I can definitely see Brita ordering these prematurely, based on their (IMO) very aggressive refill recommendations.
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