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Alexa+

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Re: Alexa+

#311

Post by jazzyjackson »

lm28469 wrote: post #169
jazzyjackson wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found Perplexity.ai with Deepseek R1 to be very good at choosing a product or a hotel for me. I just punched in your query and it actually chose the air fryer that's already sitting in my kitchen ! "Cosori Pro LE Air Fryer" It's a good air fryer. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/air-fryers-without-bluetoot... Another example, after spending an hour on trip advisor going back and forth to maps to check for walkin…

> it actually chose the air fryer that's already sitting in my kitchen ! How do you know it's not selected because it's the one with the most paid ads? Or reddit fake reviews? Or llm generated seo articles about it?

Fair enough. I did similar searches for best air fryer and selected one based on reading a few dozen reviews on Amazon. It's just a coincidence that Perplexity landed on the same one, but I'm happy to back up it's hallucinatory opinion with a real human two thumbs up.

Re: Alexa+

#312

Post by brewdad »

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #164
daveguy wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped shopping at Amazon about a year ago. Too much overhead figuring out the good products, vs the scam products, vs the mediocre but pushed products. Been using Newegg/BestBuy for electronics, Costco/Target/Walmart for home goods, local grocery stores for food, and Barnes and Noble for books. I used to be good at picking out the gems from the cruft on Amazon, but either it's gotten more difficult or I've lost m…

I can't believe that in 2025 BestBuy is my go to for electronics. Wild times.

Now that they tend to price match Amazon and vice-versa there really is no reason to buy from Amazon. If it's in my local stores BB gets it to me faster too.

Re: Alexa+

#313

Post by brewdad »

olyjohn wrote: post #207
_DeadFred_ wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't believe that in 2025 BestBuy is my go to for electronics. Wild times.

I'm so horrifically disappointed every time I go in there. Their monitor selection is all super low-end trash, as is most of their electronics they sell (TVs, stereos, computers etc). You're lucky if they have an actual PC component in the store, there are bare shelves everywhere. They don't even offer a good selection of phones, accessories or memory cards. It's starting to feel like Fry's right before they went out…

Best Buy's web site still carries some quality. It also has some random items you might not expect. I found a sling bag on their site in a size that had been sold out on the brand's site for months. These days BB and BHPhoto tend to be where I start my searches for electronic items when I know what I want.

Re: Alexa+

#314

Post by haddonist »

stacktrust wrote: post #256

> Identify or find objects with Alexa+.. use the camera on Echo Show devices to identify objects and get help with daily tasks. For example, reorder pantry items by showing them to the new Alexa, ask Alexa to identify a type of plant and its care instructions and set reminders for when it needs to get watered, or get fashion or décor ideas. This new feature is particularly game changing for people who are blind or ha…

> In theory, Home Assistant voice hardware could be integrated with local LLMs for private voice control

Lots of people are running local LLMs with their HA Voice Previews, plenty of discussions about it in the forums

Re: Alexa+

#315

Post by jarsin »

serial_dev wrote: post #310
jhp123 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of Facebook's "M" assistant from 2017. > Today, a few hundred Bay Area Facebook users will open their Messenger apps to discover M, a new virtual assistant. Facebook will prompt them to test it with examples of what M can do: Make restaurant reservations. Find a birthday gift for your spouse. Suggest---and then book---weekend getaways. https://www.wired.com/2015/08/facebook-launches-m-new-kind-v...

Just like nuclear fusion is always 30 years away, you can find a handyman and schedule an appointment with a voice assistant / chatbot in 6 months, and everyone will use self driving cars in 5 years.

I was a little kid when a local university came out with news that they had a big breakthrough in Cold Fusion. I remember my mom telling me it was going to change everything and we would travel around the world on invisible rails.

Many years later the worlds richest man is digging short tunnels to drive electric vehicles in.

Re: Alexa+

#316

Post by qingcharles »

jarsin wrote: post #315
serial_dev wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just like nuclear fusion is always 30 years away, you can find a handyman and schedule an appointment with a voice assistant / chatbot in 6 months, and everyone will use self driving cars in 5 years.

I was a little kid when a local university came out with news that they had a big breakthrough in Cold Fusion. I remember my mom telling me it was going to change everything and we would travel around the world on invisible rails. Many years later the worlds richest man is digging short tunnels to drive electric vehicles in.

My father always joked about the statements they made when they opened the first fission power plants, "Energy that's too cheap to meter!"

Re: Alexa+

#317

Post by qingcharles »

lm28469 wrote: post #169
jazzyjackson wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found Perplexity.ai with Deepseek R1 to be very good at choosing a product or a hotel for me. I just punched in your query and it actually chose the air fryer that's already sitting in my kitchen ! "Cosori Pro LE Air Fryer" It's a good air fryer. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/air-fryers-without-bluetoot... Another example, after spending an hour on trip advisor going back and forth to maps to check for walkin…

> it actually chose the air fryer that's already sitting in my kitchen ! How do you know it's not selected because it's the one with the most paid ads? Or reddit fake reviews? Or llm generated seo articles about it?

I need an LLM with access to paid reviews like Consumer Reports.

Re: Alexa+

#318

Post by theamk »

WheatMillington wrote: post #307
Arthanos wrote: post #152

>Let’s say you need to get your oven fixed—Alexa+ will be able to navigate the web, use Thumbtack to discover the relevant service provider, authenticate, arrange the repair, and come back to tell you it’s done—there’s no need to supervise or intervene. This is a disaster waiting to happen. I don't trust an LLM to choose between two brands of dish soap for me let alone pick a contractor, schedule a repair, and make a…

>Even the "simple" task of summarizing news had so many catastrophic failures that Apple had to pull it from the market. I'm not aware of any failures that could reasonably be described as "catastrophic".

well, what's the worst thing that can happen when summarizing? The summary is grossly incorrect, opposite of the text being summarized.

This is exactly what happened, multiple times.

Re: Alexa+

#319

Post by alok-g »

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #98

Can Prime users instead get a discounted prime without this Alexa stuff? Seems like it should be $20 cheaper per month. In other words Prime shipping should be free.

I wish producers were required by law to honor such logic. Only then the true pricing of things will appear.

Re: Alexa+

#320

Post by lesostep »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #111
delichon wrote: post #5

I've been spoiled by LLMs in my daily work and now want to put the same kind of prompts into search boxes. Not "air fryers" but "air fryers without bluetooth or wifi and less than 3 cooking modes, and no negative reviews about the device failing prematurely." I'm not going to let Alexa plus or minus listen into my whole life, but I would like some that of intelligence when I actually go shopping.

I've found Perplexity.ai with Deepseek R1 to be very good at choosing a product or a hotel for me. I just punched in your query and it actually chose the air fryer that's already sitting in my kitchen ! "Cosori Pro LE Air Fryer" It's a good air fryer. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/air-fryers-without-bluetoot... Another example, after spending an hour on trip advisor going back and forth to maps to check for walkin…

Google was a great product for searching the best deal too. As was Amazon back in the day. Perplexity.ai is massively in the red, and would have to extract a profit somewhere.

Even if perplexity.ai is really great at searching for products, it's great at searching for products for now. For now SEO didn't found a way to play a game, and for now no ad deals have been (to my knowledge) made.

And that's generally true for all commercial LLMs. They are unprofitable as is. So even if they give you amazing advice, at one point the advise could get worse and it will be hard to notice.

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