8 ms·

Low-budget, human-enhanced Echo competitor made by Sears

26 points by jawns 10y ago

xeromal 10y ago
Color me impressed. That's pretty cool. I think there's plenty of room in the world for devices like this.
justin_vanw 10y ago
So they made a box that uploads a recording of your voice to the internet, and then someone sends you what is basically a txt msg of something you can buy at sears? That is really stupid and sad.
adzicg 10y ago
After a month of trying out things, I mostly use Echo as a voice controlled music player - kids love it for that too. so this is more a Dash competitor than an Echo competitor.
hirsin 10y ago
I've never purchased anything using my Echo, but find it invaluable as a home assistant for all the things it does besides shopping. Shopping via text interface, if we're still at the stage of "personalized to your tastes" being a laughable claim, is a terrible experience. Q- why does this Alfie device exist at all? It appears to just be a button + microphone that starts a chat session on your phone. There's no point in making that exclusive to the device. If you can't already, I'd be amazed if in a year you can't do this through the Kenmore app/website.
SwellJoe 10y ago
So often, big companies try to create better horses, when the next stage of evolution is the car. This is a (barely) better horse. Amazon does it, too (see the laughably bad Fire Phone, which had unique features designed primarily to sell you crap from Amazon). I'm not buying a device to "help me shop". Shopping is the least of my problems that need automating (and when they are usefully automated, I want a subscription like Amazon offers with Pantry). I like the idea of having an automated assistant, but we're still so far off it's more annoying than useful, I feel like.
brian-armstrong 10y ago
Do you want Sears listening in on your every conversation? How would someone justify that decision?
- fnord123 10y ago
  Based on the description, it sounds like you need to press the button to turn on the microphone. As opposed to the Echo which, as I understand it, is always listening.
  - vincentkriek 10y ago
    Amazon Echo is always looking for the keyword, something that is done locally. I think it's the same thing basically, it's a microphone constantly connected to the internet and you have to trust (or verify) it's only transmitting when asked to.
- mkoryak 10y ago
  your cell phone /might/ already be listening to your every conversation, or at least has the ability to do it. Its also nice that you probably carry one with you everywhere. I think its funny that when presented with a new tech that has a microphone people will always think "omg, its a spy device!" but they conveniently forget the "spy device" thats been in their pocket for the last 10 years.
IshKebab 10y ago
You have press a button on it though. That's just missing the point.

26 points by jawns 10y ago

Color me impressed. That's pretty cool. I think there's plenty of room in the world for devices like this.

So they made a box that uploads a recording of your voice to the internet, and then someone sends you what is basically a txt msg of something you can buy at sears? That is really stupid and sad.

adzicg 10y ago

After a month of trying out things, I mostly use Echo as a voice controlled music player - kids love it for that too. so this is more a Dash competitor than an Echo competitor.

hirsin 10y ago

I've never purchased anything using my Echo, but find it invaluable as a home assistant for all the things it does besides shopping. Shopping via text interface, if we're still at the stage of "personalized to your tastes" being a laughable claim, is a terrible experience. Q- why does this Alfie device exist at all? It appears to just be a button + microphone that starts a chat session on your phone. There's no point in making that exclusive to the device. If you can't already, I'd be amazed if in a year you can't do this through the Kenmore app/website.

SwellJoe 10y ago

So often, big companies try to create better horses, when the next stage of evolution is the car. This is a (barely) better horse. Amazon does it, too (see the laughably bad Fire Phone, which had unique features designed primarily to sell you crap from Amazon). I'm not buying a device to "help me shop". Shopping is the least of my problems that need automating (and when they are usefully automated, I want a subscription like Amazon offers with Pantry). I like the idea of having an automated assistant, but we're still so far off it's more annoying than useful, I feel like.

brian-armstrong 10y ago

Do you want Sears listening in on your every conversation? How would someone justify that decision?

fnord123 10y ago
Based on the description, it sounds like you need to press the button to turn on the microphone. As opposed to the Echo which, as I understand it, is always listening.
- vincentkriek 10y ago
  Amazon Echo is always looking for the keyword, something that is done locally. I think it's the same thing basically, it's a microphone constantly connected to the internet and you have to trust (or verify) it's only transmitting when asked to.
mkoryak 10y ago
your cell phone /might/ already be listening to your every conversation, or at least has the ability to do it. Its also nice that you probably carry one with you everywhere. I think its funny that when presented with a new tech that has a microphone people will always think "omg, its a spy device!" but they conveniently forget the "spy device" thats been in their pocket for the last 10 years.

IshKebab 10y ago

You have press a button on it though. That's just missing the point.