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Amazon Dash Button

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521–530 of 703 posts

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#521
I might find this more interesting when and if they connect this to brands and products I would buy. Linking this solely to major brands owned by mega-corporations is a significant turn-off.

I want to be able to modify it to buy the things I want, not just from the limited set it confines me to.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently carrying one's phone in one's pocket is less common than I thought.

Phones are annoying, and the UI of most apps is user-hostile. Here are the equivalent steps you have to do to accomplish the same thing as this button does: - Wipe your hands from moisture/whatever you had on them. - Find your phone in your pocket. - Orient it. - Unlock it. - Exit whatever app you left running in the foreground. - Open the app drawer. - Find the ordering app. - Click through several layers of UI to g…

Exactly, a cellphone app can get the job done but it is a great cognitive deviation from whatever task you had at hand at the moment you realize you ran out of something(1). So amazon's dash button is not an innovation on getting something done, but get it done faster and more conveniently, and that alone makes sense for an enterprise whose profit depends greatly from understanding consumer behavior. So I agree with TeMPOraL, it is not ridiculous at all.

And there's a bigger picture outside of comparing the convenience between using this little button as opposed to mobile apps, but that's off topic for this branch of the conversation, if you're interested IMHO & my brief reasoning, read this other brach[2] (also because DRY).

(1): Optimally you realize you are about to run out of something before it happens. [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9299505

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This button isn't about saving time, it's about preventing the instances of not having something when you need it. The moment when you realize you need more of something is typically when you're using it. If you can literally just hit a button to order more, that's a significant change from having to do something else to order more.

Apparently carrying one's phone in one's pocket is less common than I thought.

You have probably never worn women's jeans. They have ridiculously small pockets, barely big enough to squeeze my S5 into.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#524

This makes me envious of you Americans. Here in Norway online shopping involves finding an online store that sells what you need (there's no site that sells everything, like Amazon, here), going through a cumbersome sign-up/payment process, paying a lot of money for the shipping costs, waiting several days and having to go to the post office unless the package is really small (or if you're willing to pay even more fo…

> Buying essential shit isn't fun, it's a burden that needs to be done. I can't understand why removing the hassle of purchasing stuff like toilet paper and detergent is "dystopian consumer hell". Dystopian consumer hell is what we have here in Norway, where we need to physically go to the store and buy the same stuff over and over and over again.

Sure, maybe if that's your mindset. Personally I love going and doing the grocery shopping with my kids, and they love noodling around the supermarket, helping select things from the shelves, and it's generally a good time.

The drive to crush every interaction beyond a screen flow that sticks money into Bezos' pocket, glorified by misanthropes under the banner of "efficiency" seems more like a vision of hell to me.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#525

Harper's Magazine, September 1996: > From an interview with Kurt Vonnegut in the November 1995 issue of Inc. Technology. Vonnegut was asked to discuss his feelings about living in an increasingly computerized world. >> I work at home, and if I wanted to, I could have a computer right by my bed, and I'd never have to leave it. But I use a typewriter, and afterward I mark up the pages with a pencil. Then I call up this…

That's a neat quote. I read it in Harper's back in 1996 and it has really stuck with me. I feel like it describes some of my days pretty well. But another part of me thinks he's writing from a very privileged position, and doesn't (want to) recognize it.

Indeed. The implication that everyone could be 'farting around' and still have an internet-using, nuclear-war-avoiding, space-traveling society is inaccurate. That's not to say everyone always has to do difficult work. But sometimes some people do and they should be celebrated for doing that hard part.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#526

Harper's Magazine, September 1996: > From an interview with Kurt Vonnegut in the November 1995 issue of Inc. Technology. Vonnegut was asked to discuss his feelings about living in an increasingly computerized world. >> I work at home, and if I wanted to, I could have a computer right by my bed, and I'd never have to leave it. But I use a typewriter, and afterward I mark up the pages with a pencil. Then I call up this…

| and when it's my turn, I ask her if there have been any big winners lately.

So, were there any???

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#527
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IoT is here. Hardware is the easy bit in the whole IoT business model. The tricky bit will be persuading people that it's something they need. For this business model to work it has to solve a big enough problem that taking the time to sign up for something like this button, getting it delivered, setting it up, and actually remembering to press it when necessary is worth the effort. That's a challenging thing to…

This isn't a product for consumers, this is a product for CPG companies. As a result, I imagine a lot of the cost here will be covered by the companies making the products. If Amazon covers the logistics of everything (making the buttons, managing the APIs, stocking and delivering the products, managing payments) then P&G just pays to give you a "Tide" button. CPGs will pay a LOT for this because it makes their brand…

Wi-Fi is power hungry because it's always on. It seems like these little buttons would only need to connect when you press them, then shut off right after. It's a very minor power draw when you consider the wi-fi will only run for 15 seconds every month or so. Of course, that's my read on it - maybe it does connect to the Echo.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#528
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you clean your clothes in the stream out back using a washboard and lye you made from white ash? "The dream of the 1890's is alive in Portland..."

No, I'd make informed purchasing decisions and question them. Then again, I doubt my current preferred brand[0] would be available with a branded button. [0] http://uk.ecover.com/en/products/laundry/

Why wouldn't it have a branded button? Amazon carries it right now: http://www.amazon.com/Ecover-Laundry-Liquid-Fluid-Ounce/dp/B...

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#529

Harper's Magazine, September 1996: > From an interview with Kurt Vonnegut in the November 1995 issue of Inc. Technology. Vonnegut was asked to discuss his feelings about living in an increasingly computerized world. >> I work at home, and if I wanted to, I could have a computer right by my bed, and I'd never have to leave it. But I use a typewriter, and afterward I mark up the pages with a pencil. Then I call up this…

1. If we're here to fart around, the Internet can make us much more productive at that.

2. The sibling that notes Vonnegut's privileged: Probably. But something tells me so are most of the Amazon Prime members. http://www.marketingcharts.com/online/amazon-attracting-high...

3. I loved walking and commuting on the T in Boston. I got time to watch or interact with people. Being present in the world is a form of productivity for anyone creating things for people.

Re: Amazon Dash Button

#530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but ordering stuff from Amazon on my iPhone takes way more than 10 seconds. I have to: 1. Find my iPhone (I don't carry it with me around the house) 2. Enter my PIN to unlock it 3. Open Safari 4. Navigate to Amazon.com 5. Type in their search bar and browse through the results 6. Click on the product I want 7. Add it to my cart 8. Go to check out and confirm settings (e.g. delivery speed) 9. Place order It's a…

1. Find my iPhone From the description of it, I think the button wouldn't work if you don't carry a phone with you, as it depends on it.

The phone is only required for setup (configuring the button's WiFi connection to your router). Once that is complete, the button talks to your router directly via WiFi, with no phone required.
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