I developed this same thing 6 months ago. Setup and commands are a bit cumbersome due to being 3rd party but all you need is an Echo device and Android device with the Echo Sidekick app. Does everything the Show does except voice calls but you can send messages through Echo devices to other devices with the SideKick app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.renovotech...
Amazon Echo Show
281–290 of 467 posts
Re: Amazon Echo Show
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
There isn't a need; it's more of a want. I have a few Echos and use them to control my whole home audio system. "Alexa, play Kendrick Lamar on Spotify." Just like that, I have music throughout the house and in the front and back yards. You can also get more specific with commands in order to limit where the music plays, what music service is polled, etc. It is much easier than pulling out a device, navigating to the…
Presumably you only listen to chart-topping american pop and music made by people with common english names? Because so far I've never had any luck whatsoever with anything else.
"Hey Siri, play some Sun Oh Right Parentheses Right Parentheses Right Parentheses"
Re: Amazon Echo Show
#283People are missing this: "With the Alexa App, conversations and contacts go where you go. When you’re away from home, use the app to make a quick call or send a message to your family’s Echo. Alexa calling and messaging is free—to get started download the Alexa App." Alexa is now in the messaging and communication game. https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/09/amazon-enables-free-calls-...
But... why? Presumably everyone who would even consider buying this already has a computer at home, which does that better anyway.
HN isn't really a kid friendly community, but this would work pretty well for kids age maybe 3 to 10 who just want to listen to music, maybe video call grandma.
Sort of a post-iPad reaction to the failure of tablets.
Re: Amazon Echo Show
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now introducing Amazon Stock Photos! (I had to search to make sure this didn't already exist, and I'm surprised it doesn't.)
Can I use the Amazon Echo to lead an imaginary life? "Show me pictures of my family" (stock photos) "Show me my vacation photos" (synthesizes a photo of me at the grand canyon with my waifu)
"Alexa, show me reasons why fenwick67's waifu is shit and my waifu is best girl."
4chan by voice. What could go wrong?
Re: Amazon Echo Show
#285Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't that complicated or sad. You can still call anyone in the world and still text anyone in the world. Its that the remaining spaces to compete in are feature based, and features don't move forward quickly on open standards. There are plenty of working open standards to do the basics, its if you want to do anything beyond the basics that you end up in a walled garden.
Video calling and instant messaging have both been around for ages at this point, and remain stubbornly walled off. Both should qualify as "basics" by now. Sure, you can still SMS worldwide, as long as they have a cell phone. But non-phone devices are becoming very common. What if you want to send or receive messages on your tablet or computer. (This works OK in the Apple world, but only because they hack it by routi…
> This works OK in the Apple world, but only because they hack it by routing SMS through your phone.
Actually, not necessarily. At least with my provider (AT&T), I can set up my Mac as a validated device for WiFi calling, so I can do SMS and actual phone calls without using the iPhone as a relay.
Re: Amazon Echo Show
#286The Amazon Echo Show seems very much like a telescreen, straight out of Orwell's 1984: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescreen
Agreed. I can't possibly see the value in these integrated devices for anyone but Amazon. Beyond that, these things can and will be hacked immediately.
Re: Amazon Echo Show
#287Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can leave the TV always on, but muted and blacked out by the set top box. That may be a good solution to that? Not sure if anyone has designed that on a set top box.
most TVs are then still using almost full power, some still aren't "black" when a black screen is up (it provides light at night, enough to see with in my case!), and still puts off heat. It's a hack that might work for something personal, but I wouldn't be comfortable selling a product that did this.
Its annoying that a "smart" TV is defined as supporting an API Yahoo removed three years ago, but there are no "smart" TVs that understand their inputs and could go into some kind of sleep mode.
The "smart" booting up does take 20 seconds, but as you can see in a laptop going to sleep to wide awake should take less than a second.
Just because smart TVs are poorly designed doesn't imply there's a technical limitation to display technology. Its technically possible to make a useful smart TV, even if there are none today.
Re: Amazon Echo Show
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
But... why? Presumably everyone who would even consider buying this already has a computer at home, which does that better anyway.
HN isn't really a kid friendly community, but this would work pretty well for kids age maybe 3 to 10 who just want to listen to music, maybe video call grandma. Sort of a post-iPad reaction to the failure of tablets.
This looks like an iPad / tablet charging stand with speakers and better mic -- which there are plenty of in the market. You can get one of these for $20 (or $99 if Apple makes it!). Amazon is just hoping that the success of Echo will push this forward. This will be another Fire incident for Amazon.
Re: Amazon Echo Show
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are we ever going to see unity between these services, or are we doomed to have little walled-off fiefdoms forever? A phone number works anywhere in the world, to anywhere in the world, with anyone who has a phone. All e-mail providers work with each other. I don't care who you're with, and I wouldn't even have to know except it's usually part of the address. SMS works no matter which provider we both have. It feels…
I think the free nature of these services is what leads to this fragmentation. Slack is an outlier because you don't actually need to communicate with everyone in the world on Slack. But for others, it would be completely unreasonable to ask your acquaintances to pay to install Skype to talk to you. And you probably wouldn't pay for Skype if it didn't interop with whatever other people were paying for. In a world whe…
> you can ask your contacts to install an app if it's useful enough.
Sure, for personal devices, but with business devices, installing an app can be a multi-month approval process.
Re: Amazon Echo Show
#290It continues to surprise me how far ahead of them Apple is letting Amazon/Google get in this area. I've always been a big fan of Apple (despite their closed ecosystem), but have to admit that Amazon is seriously outplaying them on this front. Hopefully Apple surprises me and comes up with something even more innovative that can compete.
When I saw this, I actually had the opposite reaction. I remember when I first saw an iPod Nano with the color screen and the scroll wheel that magically scrolled up and down by just moving your finger around it without actually turning a wheel. It seemed like magic. Same thing when I first saw the iPhone/iPod Touch. Apple's products were very carefully designed and only released when they were perfect, and very rare…
I see what you did there.
"Apple's products were very carefully designed..."