51–60 of 140 posts
If I call a friend, what number shows up on their end? Does it have its own phone number or can it use your cell number?
This seems like the biggest feature these devices have been missing. Some use cases off the top of my head: * Alexa, call my phone (because I can't find it) * Alexa, call for Chinese food (okay everyone call out what you want) * Alexa, send a message to my son -- "I've fallen and I can't get up"
Once it is set up, you can say, "Alexa, tell Trackr to find my phone", which will tell you the address your phone was last seen. You can also say, "Alexa, tell Trackr to ring my phone", which will make your phone ding even if it is on silent.
The "Help! I've fallen and can't get up!" functionality can be had by installing the "Ask My Buddy" skill, which will let you designate emergency contacts which you can notify by voice.
It's not chinese food, but both Dominos and Pizza Hut now have Alexa skills available which will let you order by voice, as well.
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I think Android users would be more open to adopting a new call/message app. Apple users however are pretty well anchored to the iMessage/FaceTime combo.
Besides the hordes of Apple users that seem to use WhatsApp/FBM/Signal etc without any problems? If anything Android might be worse off, if it's like Prime Video the app won't be available on the Google Play Store and you'll have to install Amazon Underground or w/e they call their app store now manually then download Amazon Prime Video for your device.
All three of the examples you laid out have specific use cases that propelled their popularity
WhatsApp: free SMS which was a bigger deal, especially internationally when it hit the scene. The Echo Show is US only for now.
FB Messenger: access to the walled garden of people that live in FB
Signal: secure private communications.
I'm not saying that Apple users won't use other message mediums if there is a compelling reason but I am saying for Apple users that are in predominately Apple-centric family/social circles the Echo messaging/video chat app doesn't offer meaningful differentiation from iMessage/FaceTime.
This is "free" as in Amazon is free to record your calls and messages and use them either as training data for AI or targeting data for advertising.
Do you have a different level of expected privacy with Amazon's services than you do with Apple, Google, or Microsoft? Alexa Calling will compete with FaceTime, Google Duo, and Skype (amongst others). Do you feel the same way about those other services or is your concern specifically related to the Echo platform?
I was thinking about this today, and figured this is the epitome of a dystopian society. We've readily given up our freedoms and privacy in lieu of technology that is able to gather data on us and shared with entities we probably don't approve of, blinded by the "cool" things this technology can do.
Every time I see something like this I get nauseated because people are willing to hand over all their personal data for some shiny new technology that really doesn't do anything really amazing at all. I must be getting old, because it felt like not too long ago, technology was developed to help humans, not to gather data on them and subvert their privacy and treat them like dollar signs.
I wish that the product person who pushed this as an "innovative" idea lives a short, brutish, and painful life where he/she dies alone.
EDIT: That's too mean spirited.
If you want to peer in on your elderly parents, webcams are a better idea because you'll put them in a position that captures a wide angle or buy a 360 degree camera as opposed to this which only seems to pick up video in the direction it's facing.
What person would ever want this "feature"? We have webcams for people who don't mind exhibiting themselves. People overwhelmingly prefer to text others rather than talk over the phone or facetime when given the chance. Even when you visit someone in person, you don't drop in, unannounced like a peeping tom. You knock on the door to announce your appearance, exactly analogous to ringing the telephone before listening in and watching.
I don't like it because the world's largest retailer has the marketing and advertising muscle to normalize this behavior by preying upon our fears, our irrational behavior, and our cognitive biases. Look at the social stigma one faces if you don't have a facebook account and you're under 35. Not just that, but you will get harassed by border and customs agents if they ask for your social media account and you don't have one, setting off red flags.
In the near future, I can see this feature becoming a requirement for remote workers with insecure managers.
EDIT: This will definitely become a feature on sites like Upwork so that buyers can make sure developers are billing them the correct hours, even though the prices are dirt cheap already.
> Meanwhile, users of that newest Echo, the Echo Show, which has the screen and video feature, will get added services, it seems. The one that has jumped out at me first is called “Drop In” — which lets you make a call to someone without them even answering the phone first. I wonder if this is opt-in or opt-out. Honestly if it's opt-out I think Amazon could have a huge backlash on its hands. Not from privacy-minded f…
The very next paragraph: Alas, this is not being positioned as something mildly intrusive, nor as a creepy big brother-style service (which is the worst case scenario and one that Amazon has been taking pains to avoid in all of its Echo and Alexa products). Rather, Amazon emphasizes that it is opt-in, and a way to communicate with only the very closest members of your family.
> The one that has jumped out at me first is called “Drop In” — which lets you make a call to someone without them even answering the phone first. I wish that the product person who pushed this as an "innovative" idea lives a short, brutish, and painful life where he/she dies alone. EDIT: That's too mean spirited. If you want to peer in on your elderly parents, webcams are a better idea because you'll put them in a p…
Is this necessary?
This seems like the biggest feature these devices have been missing. Some use cases off the top of my head: * Alexa, call my phone (because I can't find it) * Alexa, call for Chinese food (okay everyone call out what you want) * Alexa, send a message to my son -- "I've fallen and I can't get up"
You can enable "Alexa, find my phone" by installing the skill and android/ios app called "Trackr" Once it is set up, you can say, "Alexa, tell Trackr to find my phone", which will tell you the address your phone was last seen. You can also say, "Alexa, tell Trackr to ring my phone", which will make your phone ding even if it is on silent. The "Help! I've fallen and can't get up!" functionality can be had by installin…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where does it say this?
Section 1.3 of the Alexa Terms of Use: "...to provide and improve our services...". 1.3 Alexa Interactions. You control Alexa with your voice. Alexa streams audio to the cloud when you interact with Alexa. Alexa processes and retains your Alexa Interactions, such as your voice inputs, music playlists and your Alexa to-do and shopping lists, in the cloud to provide and improve our services. Learn more about these voic…