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Amazon Echo

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Re: Amazon Echo

#131

Post by sfennell »

nwndarkness wrote: post #85
Someone1234 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grow tired of this pathetic baseless fear mongering every single time anything is posted with voice control. You people completely ignore the mode of operation and start making idiotic claims about "well NSA!" In this case, as the website makes clear, you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening. If you had been paying attention to the mobile scene even a little bit you'd know that this is on-chip lis…

"you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening" That means that it is ALWAYS listening. It needs to listen for that trigger word at all times.

It is always listening just like your dog is always listening. If you are not talking to it and you are not saying its name you are being (mostly) ignored.

Most of the time, it is not paying attention - the chip that is processing the sound is looking for the ONE word that will activate it. That passive audio processing is happening locally on a chip that is dedicated to the task. Once activated - the expensive processing happens and the sound gets processed, converted to text, sent to the cloud.

Re: Amazon Echo

#133

Post by sehugg »

Someone1234 wrote: post #59
andrewstuart2 wrote: post #4

> With enhanced noise cancellation, Echo can hear you ask a question even while it's playing music. I read: "Our cloud servers can hear you, no matter what." It's a killer idea. It's too bad privacy concerns might lead it to an early grave.

I grow tired of this pathetic baseless fear mongering every single time anything is posted with voice control. You people completely ignore the mode of operation and start making idiotic claims about "well NSA!" In this case, as the website makes clear, you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening. If you had been paying attention to the mobile scene even a little bit you'd know that this is on-chip lis…

With a tiny little tweak to the firmware, it could be always-on. With the seven far-field microphones it would be a very nice audio surveillance device indeed. No thanks.

Re: Amazon Echo

#134

Post by kolev »

andrewstuart2 wrote: post #4

> With enhanced noise cancellation, Echo can hear you ask a question even while it's playing music. I read: "Our cloud servers can hear you, no matter what." It's a killer idea. It's too bad privacy concerns might lead it to an early grave.

Well, until Amazon starts understanding Bulgarian (the language we speak at home), I'll be fine. Just imagine an Amazon Prime members' freebie next year: unlimited recording of everything you've ever said at home for free and accessible on the web or via our companion app.

Re: Amazon Echo

#135

Post by gallamine »

nwndarkness wrote: post #85
Someone1234 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grow tired of this pathetic baseless fear mongering every single time anything is posted with voice control. You people completely ignore the mode of operation and start making idiotic claims about "well NSA!" In this case, as the website makes clear, you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening. If you had been paying attention to the mobile scene even a little bit you'd know that this is on-chip lis…

"you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening" That means that it is ALWAYS listening. It needs to listen for that trigger word at all times.

The question is "what" is listening. For it to be responsive it's probably hardware-on-device that's doing the keyword processing. It would be simple to check though - look at network traffic.

Re: Amazon Echo

#136

Post by deet »

ctdonath wrote: post #43

Well that's an out-of-the-blue introduction. I'm increasingly unconvinced of the market for voice-driven devices (innate reluctance to talk when not to a person), but at a glance looks like this is as laudable an effort as can be attempted. At $199 it's too pricy for most, given the untested/unfamiliar niche. At $99 (select Prime members), some of is might give it a chance. I'm reminded that Apple started its move in…

This device is probably not meant to sell, but to be an experiment and research project. I'd guess they're more interested in what questions people are asking rather than what content people are consuming.

Amazon's prime interest is probably in getting their foot in the door to the virtual assistant space. They can't do it in the phone market yet, because they lack the market share of Google, Apple, and MS. So they try the living room instead.

Re: Amazon Echo

#138

Post by edderly »

r0h1n wrote: post #105
Someone1234 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grow tired of this pathetic baseless fear mongering every single time anything is posted with voice control. You people completely ignore the mode of operation and start making idiotic claims about "well NSA!" In this case, as the website makes clear, you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening. If you had been paying attention to the mobile scene even a little bit you'd know that this is on-chip lis…

> you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening Incorrect. The device is always listening, waiting for you to say "Alexa" so that it can start acting upon your commands. I'd take Amazon's claim that no data is transmitted or stored without the wake word "Alexa" purely at face value. There have been enough examples of devices and corporations collecting/sending data they weren't meant to in the past few y…

Do you mean like 'Ok Google'? on a typical Android device? Ok, that only works on the Launcher but I'm also familiar with tech on Qualcomm devices which does the voice keyword recognition in hardware. So this isn't anything new.

Re: Amazon Echo

#139

Post by __david__ »

Igglyboo wrote: post #101
colinramsay wrote: post #7

Well hang on - doesn't my iPhone already do all this? And presumably so does the Android equivalent? I appreciate this will have much better microphone technology but it still seems a little redundant.

This is going to have better microphones and a better speaker, suitable for listening to music in a medium sized room it seems. Also your phone can't hear you from across the room.

Unless I'm missing something, it appears to be mono so, no, not suitable for music in any sized room.

Re: Amazon Echo

#140

Post by Crito »

Someone1234 wrote: post #125
r0h1n wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you have to say the word "Alexa" for it to start listening Incorrect. The device is always listening, waiting for you to say "Alexa" so that it can start acting upon your commands. I'd take Amazon's claim that no data is transmitted or stored without the wake word "Alexa" purely at face value. There have been enough examples of devices and corporations collecting/sending data they weren't meant to in the past few y…

> Incorrect. The device is always listening, waiting for you to say "Alexa" so that it can start acting upon your commands. You say "incorrect" then re-phase exactly what I said in a different way but retain exactly the same meaning. The detection of the key word is on-chip. That's all that matters. Until the chip signals that it was spoken nothing is transmitted. > So no, this isn't "pathetic baseless fear mongering…

Can I, as a consumer that hypothetically owns one of these, control the software that is running on it?
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