Live data from Hacker News

Amazon Dash Button

amazon.com

81–90 of 703 posts

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#81
post #4

This looks a little too elaborate for an April 1st joke, but they can't possibly serious? I mean, who will scatter these "buttons" all over their house, which will inevitably need new batteries at ever shorter and diverging intervals...

I know a gent working on e-ink tags for grocery store shelves. They have a similar energy usage, lots of sitting idle punctuated by doing something. He's gotten 5 years on a single coin cell. I can't imagine that this would be much different.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#82
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'…

Great, so now when I buy a Whirlpool washing machine it'll be hardcoded to use products with its reorder button. Gross, gross, gross.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#83
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 wonder how open they are (they do say open to hobbyists). I'd really like to whip up a RaspberryPi box with buttons for things I actually reorder (instead of depending on particular brand partnerships).

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#84
post #4

This looks a little too elaborate for an April 1st joke, but they can't possibly serious? I mean, who will scatter these "buttons" all over their house, which will inevitably need new batteries at ever shorter and diverging intervals...

I can see it being a very clever PR April Fools stunt. I wouldn't launch a real product like this around April 1st. However, launching a plausible but fake one will grab a lot of attention, genius.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#85
I hope this is real.

It feels like a joke, but I could use this. I already have Amazon Subscribe-and-Save set up to deliver products on a regular basis, but the available schedules don't always meet my usage patterns. Having a button for "I took the last box of diapers out of the closet" would be perfect.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#86
post #39

It's a intermediate step towards absolute frictionless purchasing. We went from physical in-store cash payments to online 1-click delivery. The purchasing experience has continuously been quickened, to close the gap between the intent and the action. Nowadays, running out of coffee capsules (for example) still requires some interaction, via your phone or your laptop. There's at least a dozen of seconds between the in…

This just seems like a stop-gap solution before the true solution which is wearables (or Amazon Echo/Glass).

Saying the name of what you want to buy into your smartwatch/glass/echo is going to be a lot more frictionless and scalable than putting these buttons all over your house.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#87

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).

You don't remember Google's April 1st announcement of Gmail, then. With gigabytes of storage, it was the perfect joke for the day and naturally carried by news outlets everywhere. And the joke continued on the next day, people realized that it wasn't actually a joke and, naturally, another media frenzy happened. Perfect example of guerrilla marketing IMO.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#88

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.

Except this is literally FOR consumables. Like, detergent and toilet paper and things that get used up quickly. If the physical button was free, I wouldn't mind having a few of these to just press when I need some more of something like that. Remembering to write it on a list and bring it with you to the store and pick it up is a bit of a hassle. This could be pretty handy to have.

It also makes sure you don't question your consumption habits, shop around for better deals or look at the competition.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#89
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, looks amazing to me. Yea the branded button isn't great, but let's face it, it's going to be sitting next to the branded box/bottle anyway. If your toddler presses it, the worst they can do is order once. It's configured to only allow one order until the item is delivered. That isn't to say your toddler still cannot do damage...

If I have to approve orders on my phone as the video suggests, I may as well create the order then and there. Something about that video (and much of my opinion is based on the video and look of the product) makes me uneasy. It's suggesting my life is a series of purchases and top-ups, and I will be happier when I can click my branded button. Like a junkie or something. When the woman runs out of coffee it looks like…

This a case of you seeing in the video what you want to see. Practically every advertisement ever created has happy people using a product. This is just a device meant to make life easier - stop overthinking it.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#90

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.

> It must be an April fools joke

Maybe considering their history of product announcements (Amazon Echo), they're being cautious about it this time. If it gets mocked, they'll just say "Oh it was an April Fool's joke"

Post reply on HN