The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

1. Always on and ready to go. Don't have to pull out a phone or other device

2. In my experience, understands me and responds way better and quicker than Siri on my iPhone

3. My wife and I love the Spotify integration and other little useful things like timers, alarms, etc.

Overall, it's the simply ease-of-use that keeps us using the Dot everyday.

Problem is now the outrageous cost to own a lighthouse.

Sounds sort of like the lack of Youtube on Windows Phone.

A level of trust from past actions and comparing each, the branching out of Amazon and Bezoz with media, grocery stores, tech with AWS, and more is scary as well as how many industries they have killed / absorbed. I realize Google is doing this a bit as well, but it feels much less sinister. A friend of mine walked past a brick and mortar Amazon bookstore, which is really surreal to me. Amazon's work culture philosophy also doesn't inspire confidence. Amazon Key seems far more invasive too, and the way they attempt to integrate into your life doesn't inspire trust.

Google already owns my browser, my mail, Google Drive / Sheets, the best single sign-in, etc.

I understand the arguments for distributing your data - this is coming from someone who's given up on that privacy front sadly. If that doesn't apply to you, I can see why Amazon could make more sense for some products. For me, I more ascribe to giving my entire life to 1-2 that I trust and attempting to hold them accountable / influence their policies.

Google is faaaaaaar from perfect, but in sum it seems like the much better option for giving my life to.

It's about increasing productivity, which saves time (hassle, etc). Time is among our scarcest of resources.

Imagine not having to chop wood for your fireplace. Wouldn't that be amazing, to save such time? The natural gas and or electricity company is going to learn something about your lifestyle.

Imagine if you could tap your smartphone and easily get a taxi. That seems like it could be extremely useful. But then the company is going to learn something about you.

Imagine ordering a pizza or other takeout and giving them a form of payment other than cash. That'd be super convenient, not having to only carry cash all the time and being able to order online. But then the company knows something about you, such as what food you like to order and when.

Imagine buying a car from Tesla or a dealer and getting it routinely serviced. Of course now they're going to know how many miles you put on it and they'll learn something about you from how you treat your vehicle, the condition of its interior, etc. The gas station and charging station too, is going to know how often you fill up. But geez it'd be amazing if we had automobiles.

Imagine if we had trains, airplanes and buses that could haul large numbers of people very efficiently. That'd be pretty cool, what a hassle it would save not having to walk or ride a horse for 1,000 km. Of course, then lots of companies and government agencies are probably going to learn something about you every time you purchase a bus ticket, every time you get on a plane.

Imagine going to the blacksmith, the store, or Amazon.com, and ordering cookware and not having to craft your own. What a staggering savings of time that would be. But then the blacksmith might learn something about your lifestyle.

I don't see much creepy about what the parent said. It's a concentrated form of the types of technological productivity gains you're using on a constant basis in modern life and throughout your day, and humans have been using since the beginning.

Nearly every single thing you touch on a daily basis that is made by people is conceptually similar to what the parent is doing in terms of boosting automation / productivity. From using a pencil you bought at Target to the drink you buy at the convenience store, you're doing the same thing, and they all involve some trade-off (most of which are entirely meaningless).