Amazon Echo Dot • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#251

Post by Fluid_Mechanics » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 5:53 PM UTC

portmanteaufu wrote: post #203

Fluid_Mechanics wrote: post #34

Amazon was the only Big Four company silent on the data privacy lawsuit with Apple. Why would I place one of their always-listening products in my living room?

They also stood with Apple. http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/26/technology/apple-microsoft-g...

Thanks for the update.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#252

Post by BatFastard » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 5:56 PM UTC

I love my echo! I probably use it 15-25 times a day. 1) Acts as my alarm 2) Turn on my favorite radio station while I make breakfast. 3) Timers for cooking breakfast. 4) Listen to flash news 5) Alarm again if I need a nap. 6) Timers for lunch meal 7) Add item to shopping list. 8) Add todo items. 9) Plays spotify while I work on my computer from across the room. 10) More flash news (its really quite extensive) 11) more naps 12) dinner timer 13) news 14) word definitions 15) Tell it to stop when it starts talking in the middle of a conversation (a bit annoying). 16) more todos 17) Order more dogs treats 18) Play bedtime music Worth every penny. Where did the strange sense of "everyone is spying on you" come from? A bloated sense of self importance?

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#253

Post by bishnu » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 5:56 PM UTC

xd1936 wrote: post #13

My problem with Alexa is, I don't want to invest in a new ecosystem. I'm fine with Amazon being the hub that connects all of my services, but I don't want to use Amazon To-Do List, Amazon Prime Radio, Amazon Traffic, Amazon Sports, Amazon Calendar, Amazon Weather. That being said, they announce partnerships with more and more services every month. Things are looking up.

I use my Echo exclusively with non-Amazon services: Google Calendar, Spotify, Philips Hue.

So the product is quite open. That being said, the third-party experience could be smoother - it is a minor pain to have to specify "with Spotify" every time I want the Echo to play music.

Overall I'm happy with my purchase, though.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#254

Post by donpdonp » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 5:59 PM UTC

Are there any open source projects trying to emulate the cloud-based voice recognition that Amazon/Google/etc are doing for Alexa/OK Google?

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#255

Post by kamaal » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 6:02 PM UTC

BatFastard wrote: post #252

I love my echo! I probably use it 15-25 times a day. 1) Acts as my alarm 2) Turn on my favorite radio station while I make breakfast. 3) Timers for cooking breakfast. 4) Listen to flash news 5) Alarm again if I need a nap. 6) Timers for lunch meal 7) Add item to shopping list. 8) Add todo items. 9) Plays spotify while I work on my computer from across the room. 10) More flash news (its really quite extensive) 11) mor…

>>Where did the strange sense of "everyone is spying on you" come from? A bloated sense of self importance?

You under estimate how far this can go!

Essentially, this could work against you in a million ways not even imaginable now.

Come to think of it, what if you are denied health insurance on grounds that this gadget was eavesdropping on your health conditions. Or some marketing company spamming you with ads on topics you talk about frequently at home. Or listening to the intimate moments between you and your partner. One could list a gazillion conditions in which a evil mind could use this to their advantage.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#256

Post by ziszis » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 6:03 PM UTC

donpdonp wrote: post #254

Are there any open source projects trying to emulate the cloud-based voice recognition that Amazon/Google/etc are doing for Alexa/OK Google?

Kaldi. "Kaldi is a toolkit for speech recognition written in C++ and licensed under the Apache License v2.0."

http://kaldi.sourceforge.net

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#257

Post by abawany » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 6:03 PM UTC

tnorthcutt wrote: post #137

Echo Dot ($89.99) is available exclusively for Prime Members through Alexa Voice Shopping. To order your Echo Dot, use your Echo or Fire TV and just ask: “Alexa, order Echo Dot.”

I nearly renewed my Prime membership on reading the first part but then stopped when I read the second part. Holy market segmentation, batman - why actively repel new customers and only make this available to those mini-me-philes who already have an Echo?

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#258

Post by donpdonp » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 6:07 PM UTC

The dot sounds great but I cringed when I read about the tap. Its increasingly common for people to play cell phone audio in enclosed places without consideration of others. The tap seems to be designed to make it even easier to do so.

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#259

Post by hayksaakian » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 6:09 PM UTC

Note: this refers to the "Alexa" voice assistant, not Alexa the domain ranking company (also owned by amazon)

http://i.imgur.com/B6dsMNm.png

Re: Amazon Echo Dot

#260

Post by h0w412d » Thu, Mar 03, 2016, 6:14 PM UTC

kamaal wrote: post #255

BatFastard wrote: post #252

I love my echo! I probably use it 15-25 times a day. 1) Acts as my alarm 2) Turn on my favorite radio station while I make breakfast. 3) Timers for cooking breakfast. 4) Listen to flash news 5) Alarm again if I need a nap. 6) Timers for lunch meal 7) Add item to shopping list. 8) Add todo items. 9) Plays spotify while I work on my computer from across the room. 10) More flash news (its really quite extensive) 11) mor…

>>Where did the strange sense of "everyone is spying on you" come from? A bloated sense of self importance? You under estimate how far this can go! Essentially, this could work against you in a million ways not even imaginable now. Come to think of it, what if you are denied health insurance on grounds that this gadget was eavesdropping on your health conditions. Or some marketing company spamming you with ads on top…

Exactly. And this is why surveillance is so difficult to fight. The actions are far removed from the consequences, and the public just isn't very good at long-term planning. But we can't wait for the negative effects to show, because by then it'll be too late.