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Amazon Echo Look

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Re: Amazon Echo Look

#271

Post by ashark »

JackC wrote: post #174

Crystal ball: this is the Tesla self-driving car strategy. First deploy the hardware, then figure out the software. In this case the real point of the depth-sensing camera hardware and machine-learning image analysis isn't hands-free selfies and robo-fashion advice. It's building a 3d model of your body to show what you would look like in different clothing, creating a clothes shopping experience that is competitive…

Don't forget collecting a huge number of really well-framed, massively-metadata-tagged photos of peoples' otherwise-relatively-private bedrooms and closets.

I look forward to being denied a loan because people in my neighborhood have displayed increasingly-messy closets, indicating growing stress and probable imminent economic trouble among my neighbors, and they couldn't find any spy-photos of my closet so they're very sorry, but they can't make an exception because they can't second-guess the machine, only feed it more data.

Or, you know, all kinds of other horrible dark-future stuff that's increasingly part of our reality. Aside from the usual of making their constant psychological warfare (targeted advertising and marketing) more effective, which is bad enough.

Re: Amazon Echo Look

#272

Post by amiga-workbench »

drochetti wrote: post #267

What I see here is a bunch of smart tech-savvy people that never took a #lookoftheday pic and posted on Instagram and will never gonna buy the product anyway talking about privacy. How do you know you are completely safe with your phone, with your laptop? Fact is that there are millions of people posting "look of the day" on Instagram, Snapchat every day. Taking selfies in front of the mirror in their bedroom and the…

My phone can only do EDGE and I don't pay for data. My laptop has the microphone and webcam disconnected internally.

Re: Amazon Echo Look

#273

Post by devy »

J-dawg wrote: post #93
devy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. On the flip side, there is a bra-fitting app called "ThirdLove"[1] are doing this kind of computer vision/machine learning AI to help women for years. So Amazon Echo Look is not completely out of the line here. [1]: https://www.thirlove.com

I couldn't help but think of this, from Viz (a puerile but hilarious adult comic book from the UK). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bm5j-56CYAAZ5GT.jpg Also, perhaps appropriately, you missed a 'd' from your link.

Oops, yep, I missed a 'd' by accident :)

Re: Amazon Echo Look

#274

Post by cookiecaper »

jerf wrote: post #170
toddmorey wrote: post #35

The HN reaction to this device is what I expected: we're somewhere between suspicious and terrified. I'll be really fascinated to know how the wider market reacts. I was one of those who believed consumers would look at the always-on living room microphone with suspicion. But I think the lesson was pretty clear that people will trade privacy for convenience. (Likely an overabundance of trust or a lack of understandin…

"(Likely an overabundance of trust or a lack of understanding of all the real implications and potential for exploit.)" I think that's a lot of it. People aren't trading privacy for convenience... people are taking convenience. It makes a lot more sense when you think of it that way. You can do an experiment yourself to show this; take 5 non-techie/non-HN people and explain to them exactly what this thing does and ho…

The leaks coming out from Wikileaks over the last couple of months has been amazing. All this stuff that security people have theorized about is not only real, but in wide application, often with vendor complacence if not out and out cooperation.

Do you have a Samsung TV built in the last 5 years or so? The USG has turned _that_ into a permanent listening device, even in "off" mode.

Much better target than the Echo, which people already know is a microphone that streams out a live feed of audio from their room, and may unplug if they're feeling paranoid.

I wonder if something like Sense [0] could help ensure that an "off" device is really off.

[0] https://sense.com/

Re: Amazon Echo Look

#275

Post by cookiecaper »

cthalupa wrote: post #181
toddmorey wrote: post #35

The HN reaction to this device is what I expected: we're somewhere between suspicious and terrified. I'll be really fascinated to know how the wider market reacts. I was one of those who believed consumers would look at the always-on living room microphone with suspicion. But I think the lesson was pretty clear that people will trade privacy for convenience. (Likely an overabundance of trust or a lack of understandin…

> I was one of those who believed consumers would look at the always-on living room microphone with suspicion. But I think the lesson was pretty clear that people will trade privacy for convenience. I don't think it's a matter of trading privacy for convenience, as long as you believe Amazon when they say they're not sending anything when you're not using the wake word. All evidence points towards this being the case…

Yes. People don't see this as a device that's "always listening". They see it as a device that has a voice-activated "On" switch. Instead of pressing a button, you say a word.

Of course, with a little bit of thought, you can connect the dots and figure out that it has to be listening all the time to know if the wake word is said, but most people aren't thinking that deeply about it. When they do realize this, Amazon has assured them that the "voice switch" actually does function as advertised and that audio is not streamed until the device is "on".

Re: Amazon Echo Look

#276

Post by habosa »

Product utility aside, I'm willing to bet a lot that this results in at least one PR nightmare.

Can't wait till it decides a turban is a bad addition to an outfit.

Re: Amazon Echo Look

#277

Post by sdflkd »

DanBC wrote: post #255
mdpopescu wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> building up a GoodThink/BadThink database Yep. I'm going to London on Friday. The Mayor of London just decided that anybody who posts stuff against muslims on social networks is guilty of a hate crime. I am thinking I won't get arrested when I arrive... but it's a possibility, and I definitely won't access twitter while I'm there.

No he didn't. How did you come to such a ridiculous conclusion?

GP likes posting anti-Muslim sentiment on social media. The overreaction follows logically from being that type of person.

Re: Amazon Echo Look

#278

Post by petra »

slackstation wrote: post #141
petra wrote: post #87

There's a lot of negativity here. And maybe all of you are right. But it would be interesting to think of the most positive , imaginary scenario: 1. Amazon builds the service such that brands loose their power. All the negative psych/social phenomena of brand culture are gone, and with it, btw , all the ads. 2. High security + physical on and off switch make for an improved privacy situation , especially if you consi…

The reason why Amazon and more people don't do these things is because they are hard and success breeds expectations that can only hurt you. It's much cheaper and safer to build a politically neutral brand without expectations of some kind feminist message / worldview. If you go that route, it isn't going to sell more clothes but, it will invite people's hyper-sensitivity about every aspect of the product. You can on…

Great comment! And I agree with a lot of it.

As for the question if political branding, maybe Amazon doesn't brand it this way, just says "data indicates our customers will love this service"? And customers ,coming with zero political expectations get all this benefit and are happy ?

Re: Amazon Echo Look

#279

Post by beachbum8029 »

drusepth wrote: post #188
goshx wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same thought when they announced those push buttons for products. Unfortunately, the truth is that pretty soon you will be able to send nudes just using your voice.

Having the button to refresh my cat food/litter every month was absolutely awesome. I already bought the same kind every month on Amazon (they didn't have a subscription offer) so it was always awkward to remember to get back to a computer later to get on Amazon to buy more cat food when I noticed I was low -- being able to push a button to order more right then is surprisingly convenient.

My first and only use for the button is cat food. :3 Toothpaste is probably next on the list.

Re: Amazon Echo Look

#280

Post by mdpopescu »

DanBC wrote: post #255
mdpopescu wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> building up a GoodThink/BadThink database Yep. I'm going to London on Friday. The Mayor of London just decided that anybody who posts stuff against muslims on social networks is guilty of a hate crime. I am thinking I won't get arrested when I arrive... but it's a possibility, and I definitely won't access twitter while I'm there.

No he didn't. How did you come to such a ridiculous conclusion?

For example, [1]

[1] http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/15242729.Online_hate_crim...

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