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Alexa+

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Re: Alexa+

#331

Post by sam_goody »

dangus wrote: post #209
kemitche wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a few dozen use cases based on my own use of smart home devices: - Hands are full or dirty while cooking. Voice activation is more convenient. True for not just timers, but every other aspect - music playing, controlling home devices like lights, watching something on YouTube, etc. - The above also applies to any case where my hands can't readily access my phone, such as wanting to listen/change music when sho…

Smart speakers just don't solve a problem. Period. - Don't need to control home devices or watch shit while you're cooking. If I really want to queue up a video I just do that before I start cooking. - Don't need music while showering, who cares, showering takes 5 minutes - Again just like "oh it's for music" - Yes I like controlling smart lights but I can just hold the power button on my phone and tell it what to do…

Someone on HN recently compared AI to a really buggy GPS.

People will still use it, since it mindlessly gets you on the road and looks like it knows what it is doing, which makes it the path of least resistance - and that will beat out better results for most people most of the time.

The same applies to Alexa and ilk - if you have it than it is easier to use than to do things any other way. Even if there are all sorts of mess ups on the way, it still will become the default action of anyone who tries it.

As they say - "Even a bolt of lightning will follow the path of least resistance, and it's not combating laziness or lack of focus"

Don't ever dismiss the power of inertia [or whatever this is called]. A listening AI agent that can perform tasks takes advantage of inertia.

Re: Alexa+

#332

Post by lm28469 »

kanzure wrote: post #216
lm28469 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

> 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? These questions apply to any review or recommendation, from anyone, not just LLMs. How did anyone find out about the product at all? Did they do rigorous testing before they made a recommendation? Is there shared understanding between the recommender and recommendee about de…

> These questions apply to any review or recommendation

Sure but even on HN people seem to treat them as some kind of omniscient Gods or oracle of truth. It's like we all lowered our defences and stopped being critical because the new circus monkey does cool tricks.

At the end of the day they're blackboxes built on stolen data by for profit private organizations, all the red flags are here

Re: Alexa+

#333

Post by sevensor »

qingcharles wrote: post #316
jarsin wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!"

My house, not too far from Three Mile Island, was built between its commissioning and the incident with reactor 2. As a result, its builders installed the most insane heating system known to man: resistive heating in the ceiling. Crank it all you want, your feet will still be cold. It’s a system that could only possibly be acceptable if electricity doesn’t cost anything.

Re: Alexa+

#334

Post by skydhash »

65 wrote: post #178
taeric wrote: post #123

I find it interesting that the big companies are so sure that LLMs are somehow going to make a larger market for smart speakers than they currently have. To the contrary, I expect they are going to damage the market they have for people that just want easy kitchen timers and radio like functionality. This feels like the VR plays some of the big companies have made. I'm willing to bet that the market for people that w…

I never understood how people find setting a timer on their phone so excruciatingly difficult that they need to buy a $100+ device they can speak to to do it for them. Or perhaps it's another case of shiny object syndrome.

I set time on my phone by voice (which is the only thing I use Siri for), because it's way quicker to say "5 minutes" than to try to set it through the app even with shortcut. But I have a kitchen timer (big, fat buttons and big digits) which I prefer to use in the kitchen because it's distinctly loud. My homepods are mostly for music.

Re: Alexa+

#335

Post by brookst »

dboreham wrote: post #262
brookst wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, find memories of grandpa saying exactly that about electronic music.

tbf grandpa was listening to Kraftwerk...

No, I was. But grandpa did not approve at all. Newfangled machines making pure noises, that’s not real music, the whole thing.

Re: Alexa+

#336

Post by brookst »

Exoristos wrote: post #288
brookst wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pricing for Prime is totally disconnected from costs. They will price at whatever maximizes p*q.

Which is impacted by perceived value:cost by customers.

Yep — if consumers see AI as added value they’ll pay more. But practically nobody will base their willingness to pay on guesses about Amazon’s COGS. The new AI feature could be pure excess capacity and cost Amazon nothing, or it could cost Amazon $1000/user/month, and nobody will know or care.

Re: Alexa+

#337

Post by 1oooqooq »

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…

i can picture your ancestor saying "what? i will go to one mega store and buy something made in asia instead of getting a suit made to measure by Giovanni across the street?"

or your mom complaining about "buying shoes online without trying then" (or maybe that's you if born before 2000)

AI slop will define your identity tomorrow, doesn't matter what you think

Re: Alexa+

#338

Post by otterley »

scarface_74 wrote: post #163
nashashmi wrote: post #76

I remember when law officers wanted the Alexa recording at the home of a murder. Amazon did not give it up. I always thought that data was meaningless if it takes a person hours to go through it. Now we have AI. Which means the data is not meaningless. And the always on feature actually means something. And that means all your data at home can be at someone's fingertips ... because say they are looking for ways to ma…

Until last year, Amazon gave police video from Ring without a warrant. https://www.wired.com/story/ring-police-rfa-tool-shut-down/

There’s a difference, though. Alexa’s recordings are made inside your house. Ring videos are taken outside your house. This distinction matters both as a fact and in the law.

Re: Alexa+

#339

Post by nix0n »

theultdev wrote: post #228
nix0n wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all you really need is a timer, you can just use a digital watch. I don't worry about getting mine dirty because I just wash the watch when I watch my hands.

the timer getting dirty is not the only issue. you don't always have hands free to fiddle with a watch. more often than not, both hands are doing something, and setting a timer is... timely.

You don't need both hands free to set a watch's timer.

You can still hold something in the hand that the watch is strapped to.

Re: Alexa+

#340

Post by pengaru »

seb1204 wrote: post #231
david422 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine being on the support team trying to troubleshoot when something goes wrong for a customer. Maybe that's the catch ... there is no support.

I thought that is a given. Support is limited to a website with some superficial FAQ and a link to a live chat that never is available.

> link to a live chat that never is available

In a world of widely available generative bullshitters, Live™ chat is always available.

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