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Amazon Echo Show

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Re: Amazon Echo Show

#351

Post by aphextron »

Kiro wrote: post #348
aphextron wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So people buying Alexa products are delirious or what are you suggesting? Because saying there's no market for them is obviously incorrect.

>Because saying there's no market for them is obviously incorrect.

No I'm not saying that at all. Of course people will buy these things. It's just really creepy to me that we've gotten to this point as society where people willingly accept having a webcam and microphone connected to the biggest corporation in the world sitting in their living room, able to monitor anything at any time. People don't realize how much power they are giving to these companies. Do you really think they won't start listening in to conversations and using key phrases to modify your advertising profile? How far do we let these things go?

Re: Amazon Echo Show

#352

Post by thatwebdude »

silvanojr wrote: post #134

I was battling back and forth FOR A MONTH with their skill certification approval team for a skill update that would allow customers to call people by name, where in the first version it was only by phone number. They would fail the certification because apparently people didn't know how to test, or used fake numbers to make phone calls and complained the call would not connect, or the certificate validation (that wa…

Their skill approval system overall can use a bit more, ahem, intelligence.

Re: Amazon Echo Show

#353

Post by thinkling »

orky56 wrote: post #292
mholmes680 wrote: post #180

Its interesting to see how fast Amazon can come to market with these new hardware pieces. I guess the fallout of the Amazon Phone at least had some lessons learned in hardware suppliers, etc... I realize they're throwing hardware out there prior to seeing what the software can do with it, but I think its necessary to get people locked in. I like their approach from the business perspective. Give the people a voice co…

Amazon has been in the hardware game for awhile now with the various Kindle devices. They entered that market, deployed enough SKUs to satisfy nearly everyone out there, and started shifting outside the e-reader product to tablets, etc. Apple is the juggernaut and is likely to overthink its product offerings and how it affects the ecosystem of existing devices. Just like the Kindle, Amazon is ready to flood the marke…

> Amazon has been in the hardware game for awhile now with the various Kindle devices.

Not just the Kindle devices, but also a growing range of Amazon Basics store-brand products, including batteries, headphones, Bluetooth speakers, paper shredders, towels and sheets, yoga mats, ... the list goes on and on. While many are undoubtedly existing products with the Amazon name stamped on them, Amazon has generally been building a lot of experience working with suppliers/manufacturers.

See: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics/

Re: Amazon Echo Show

#355

Post by ansible »

amelius wrote: post #184
pwaivers wrote: post #10

A few thoughts: - This is way less creepy-looking than the Amazon Look ( https://www.amazon.com/Echo-Hands-Free-Camera-Style-Assistan... ), but it is actually very similar. - It is great to add a screen to the Echo. Just more feedback on interacting with it, and possibility to watch YouTube, Netflix, etc. casually. - It doesn't have the same cool minimalism as the Echo. The Echo sits on my counter and looks nice when…

> This is way less creepy-looking than the Amazon Look Seriously, these boxes should have a pair of eyes drawn on them as part of the design, to remind the user that they are being watched.

Better yet, they should put a stepper motor in the bottom of the unit. Then it can rotate towards the user. That would work better for hands-free use, and would make the video calling work better too, if you are up and about.

Re: Amazon Echo Show

#356

Post by thinkling »

mholmes680 wrote: post #330
anonymousthx wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They started working on this late 2014 / early 2015. Work started on Look in late 2015. Source: ;)

Awesome. Now, one more thing: Echo Car. I dunno why, i just want Alexa in my car. She's already in 4 rooms in my house (no wait, 5 including Fire Stick? 7 including the Kindles?), and in my pocket.

A bit off-topic, but: is Amazon the only company with substantial machine learning talent that doesn't seem to be working on a self-driving car? Are the people who would be doing that busy developing Amazon's drones?

Re: Amazon Echo Show

#357

Post by rcjones »

test6554 wrote: post #346
rcjones wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our use is 90% hands-and-eyes-free music control. The other 10% is me playing with skills I never use beyond t+10 of install. The whole appeal thus far has been eyes-free use.

I am really under-utilizing my echo dot. I just have it turn lamp lights off and on every couple weeks as a gimmick.

I had such a strong urge to get connected lights, but then moved on. Spotify and Tune-In are the integrations I use. It's nice to get to a certain playlist. Best of all I can ask for a specific local radio station (e.g. 104.5) for white noise for my dogs as I'm walking out the door.

It's one less thing to fiddle with every day and that's my sole appeal for home tech ... devices that reduce the amount of babysitting I have to do to achieve a desired outcome.

Re: Amazon Echo Show

#358

Post by [deleted] »

test6554 wrote: post #346
rcjones wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our use is 90% hands-and-eyes-free music control. The other 10% is me playing with skills I never use beyond t+10 of install. The whole appeal thus far has been eyes-free use.

I am really under-utilizing my echo dot. I just have it turn lamp lights off and on every couple weeks as a gimmick.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Echo Show

#359

Post by sib »

tjoff wrote: post #333
Eridrus wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

No. I won't install a privacy invasive app (which they all are) just because you have it, never. SMS or nothing if we don't already use something else we'd rather use.

Mobile operators can scan your SMS messages just as Google can scan Gmail (etc.)...

Re: Amazon Echo Show

#360

Post by ben174 »

trapperkeeper79 wrote: post #26
dkrich wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

My latest gen Apple TV wants to disagree with you. As does my wife's first gen Apple Watch ... both are magical turds IMHO.

It's amazing that the Apple TV is considered a turd. They seemingly did everything right. Support for third party apps, an awesome remote, decent power. Aside from missing 4k, what makes it such a turd?
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