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Amazon Dash

fresh.amazon.com

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Re: Amazon Dash

#131

Post by simcop2387 »

dalek2point3 wrote: post #91
nandhp wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was expanded last year from just Seattle to also include San Francisco and LA.

how popular is it in places where it is open? any numbers? when is it coming to Boston?

In Santa Monica and Culver City in Los Angeles market I usually see 2-3 amazon fresh trucks on my daily commute to and from work. It's rare anymore that I don't see one. I've also seen several companies that are using them to stock the company fridge with things like milk. It looks like it's taking off fairly well anecdotally. I don't know if there's been any numbers published though. The biggest hurdle I've seen with it is that the site for it is woefully underpolished. It's not buggy but it tends to be slow, and a little obtuse to browse on at times. If you have something specific in mind it's really easy to find it, but if you wanted to say just look at the different types of potato chips they have, it can get a little unwieldy at times.

Re: Amazon Dash

#132

Post by DiabloD3 »

FireBeyond wrote: post #124
tormeh wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but she doesn't want all the buttons from all the remotes moved to a single monstermote, she wants the TV remote to do everything as if the only thing connected was a TV. "Why do I have to choose channels on my TV AND cable/satellite box?" and "why are there multiple sound levels for the HiFi, TV, cable and DVD boxes?" are questions no one has adequately answered and they're questions everyone except geeks and…

What of Logitech's Harmony system? It works around the concept of activities. "Watch TV" - it asks initially, "What input is the TV set to?" "What remote do you use to control the volume?" "What remote to change the channel?" And from then on, it works. It doesn't cover all on your list, but it has the potential.

I agree with the Harmony suggestion. I bought one to replace all my remotes purely because I don't need 900 different settings that all do the same thing.

For example, I have a TV, a Bluray player, and an AV receiver. I choose the "watch a movie" task, it turns all three on, sets the TV input to the input the AV receiver is plugged into, the AV receiver to the input the Bluray player is plugged into, and then maps the play/stop/ff/rev/etc buttons to the Bluray player and the volume buttons to the AV receiver.

Every button is configurable, all the on screen menu options on the remote are configurable.

Re: Amazon Dash

#133

Post by johnlbevan2 »

mrxd wrote: post #69
dotBen wrote: post #32

HN'ers asking why this isn't a cell phone app take note - this exemplifies why we (geeks) don't make good use cases for consumer tech and we should always be careful looking to our own habits and values when in a Product Development role. We're rarely the target customer and rarely behave like "average Joe". We're naturally resistant to superfluous redundancy ("My phone can already snap a barcode, I don't need a sepa…

Agreed. Other advantages: A dedicated device means everyone in the household can use it without the friction of having to help everyone find the app and register with the same account. People without phones (like kids) can use it. It's designed to sit on the kitchen counter or hooked on to something. That physical presence reminds you to use it when you're in the kitchen, where an app buried on the last page of the h…

>"without the friction of having to help everyone find the app and register with the same account"

Sounds like a gap - Ninite for mobile.

(A quick Google suggests the idea's out there, but not yet implemented - http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/mvgh7/is_there_some...)

Re: Amazon Dash

#134

Post by tormeh »

FireBeyond wrote: post #124
tormeh wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but she doesn't want all the buttons from all the remotes moved to a single monstermote, she wants the TV remote to do everything as if the only thing connected was a TV. "Why do I have to choose channels on my TV AND cable/satellite box?" and "why are there multiple sound levels for the HiFi, TV, cable and DVD boxes?" are questions no one has adequately answered and they're questions everyone except geeks and…

What of Logitech's Harmony system? It works around the concept of activities. "Watch TV" - it asks initially, "What input is the TV set to?" "What remote do you use to control the volume?" "What remote to change the channel?" And from then on, it works. It doesn't cover all on your list, but it has the potential.

I don't doubt that the remote is great. Good on Logitech. But the old remotes don't go away. They linger around like naval mines waiting for a tech-illiterate person to at best get horribly confused or at worst fuck something up. It ends up being another thing with too many features and buttons that the geek-in-residence has to teach and help everyone with.

Logitech isn't really the company to do this. Apple would be great. Their brand is perfect for this. Apple's brand is, as far as I've gathered, "open your wallet and we'll make your tech easy to use, trouble-free, beautiful and sure to impress your friends". Logitech is "that keyboard/mice company". Would you buy a TV and HiFi from Logitech?

Re: Amazon Dash

#135

Post by gregcohn »

lovemenot wrote: post #116
mrxd wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Other advantages: A dedicated device means everyone in the household can use it without the friction of having to help everyone find the app and register with the same account. People without phones (like kids) can use it. It's designed to sit on the kitchen counter or hooked on to something. That physical presence reminds you to use it when you're in the kitchen, where an app buried on the last page of the h…

And here's a few more. Dash device is an exemplar of a service in the same way that a Kindle device is. Amazon retains the option to later go the other way too, but while the constraint is still on the supply side (limited markets) this device serves to fix the service as a thing and generate publicity. Also, the platform is controlled by Amazon. Free from interference by Apple, Google, OEM or carrier. Wifi and inter…

noting that a $299/year Amazon fresh subscription is required to play, this thing probably amortizes itself and then some pretty quickly. (Increases frequency of orders, increases number of things ordered, likely to increase retention of users ie length of subscription.)

Re: Amazon Dash

#136

Post by maxerickson »

dotBen wrote: post #32

HN'ers asking why this isn't a cell phone app take note - this exemplifies why we (geeks) don't make good use cases for consumer tech and we should always be careful looking to our own habits and values when in a Product Development role. We're rarely the target customer and rarely behave like "average Joe". We're naturally resistant to superfluous redundancy ("My phone can already snap a barcode, I don't need a sepa…

I would argue that things that introduce complexity are just bad forms of integration.

It's easy to conceive of device boxes just adding channels to the TV, or having a protocol for using the TV remote to navigate their menu (this is a great opportunity to create a bad experience, but it wouldn't have to).

Re: Amazon Dash

#137

Post by tormeh »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #132
FireBeyond wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What of Logitech's Harmony system? It works around the concept of activities. "Watch TV" - it asks initially, "What input is the TV set to?" "What remote do you use to control the volume?" "What remote to change the channel?" And from then on, it works. It doesn't cover all on your list, but it has the potential.

I agree with the Harmony suggestion. I bought one to replace all my remotes purely because I don't need 900 different settings that all do the same thing. For example, I have a TV, a Bluray player, and an AV receiver. I choose the "watch a movie" task, it turns all three on, sets the TV input to the input the AV receiver is plugged into, the AV receiver to the input the Bluray player is plugged into, and then maps th…

That the buttons are configurable is a bug, not a feature. It doesn't come with your TV, you have to know that you should buy it and you have to set it up. It works for you, but does it work for your SO/parents or whatever? Or did you have to teach them how to use it? If yes then it doesn't really work.

An example of something similar: Ubuntu can become as simple as a stone. It would still be too complicated because it doesn't come pre-installed on officially supported PCs. Not third-party-brand-no-ones-heard-about with tentative OS support. I'm talking about an official Ubuntu PC where everything is made to fit with each other. Me and you are OK with patchworks of software and hardware, bugs and weird command line wizardy. Normal people want appliances. Windows PCs are something people treat as horrible appliances, which they've sort of learned to tolerate and work with over a decade or more of training. It's like a fridge with a control panel. Normal people need iOS. Options and customizability are bugs, not features to most people. Sometimes some (but not most) people want more than just an appliance, but they still want the minimal complexity possible given their requirements. Buying extra remotes or installing another OS is really not what they want.

Downvoters: I dragged desktop Linux into this because I'm excited about Linux and because it's hopeless as a consumer product.

Re: Amazon Dash

#139

Post by suyash »

binarysolo wrote: post #8

How does this differ from people using the mobile app? Mainly for Amazon Fresh integration?

Agree, they should have implemented this functionality on the app itself vs creating yet another new proprietary device.

Re: Amazon Dash

#140

Post by suyash »

If someone has an invite, can you please send me one as well. I don't have the Invite Code needed to participate.
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