8 ms·

I like the fact the ad managed to show the potential unwanted side affect of such device in a manner that everyone understand. I do see the appeal of smart devi

by tmd83 10y ago

I like the fact the ad managed to show the potential unwanted side affect of such device in a manner that everyone understand. I do see the appeal of smart devices and it has to start somewhere and all such start would be painful. But with the issues of IoT, the rampant ignoring of privacy by big corp and govt. alike, the lack of understanding of potential impact by even the knowledgeable, the apathy of the masses makes it a very dangerous time for some of these innovations.

dovdovdov 10y ago
PSAd :)
evanb 10y ago
"Alexa, set an alarm for three o'clock in the morning."
- geon 10y ago
  Alexa, buy me a dollhouse. http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/7/14200210/amazon-alexa-tech-news-anchor-order-dollhouse http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/7/14200210/amazon-alexa-tech-...
- dharbin 10y ago
  "O.k. Google, execute order 66"
- skolos 10y ago
  My kid wanted a fitness watch for Christmas. One morning I received bunch of emails about purchases on Amazon, but I was too busy to look and I knew that it was probably my wife Christmas shopping. In the evening I had a chance to look at the emails - 6 orders of watches $175 each. I had time to cancel all but one. So my kid got black watch for Christmas, even though he wanted blue. At least size was correct. Amazon should not have switched Alexa purchasing on by default.
  - bfuller 10y ago
    maybe your kid is more clever than you expected
WilliamDhalgren 10y ago
The device really should implement speaker identification before accepting commands, yeah. Seems like a task a machine learning focused company like Google really should be able to accomplish.
- tomw2005 10y ago
  They have Trusted Voice on Android[0]. Hopefully it is only a matter of time before it is on the Google Home. [0] https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6093922 https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6093922 - last entry.
- CPLX 10y ago
  There exists a far simpler solution to this problem. Just allow every buyer to give the device their own unique wake name.
  - adrianN 10y ago
    And require enough entropy to make it hard to guess. Maybe now is the time to start learning Khoisan to get some unusual phonemes in your pronunciation toolkit.
  - untog 10y ago
    But there is a reason they have the wake names they have - they're unique and don't sound like other phrases. I recall reading something about how Alexa was chosen because "ah-LECK-sah" is a very unique sound. I strongly suspect this is why we have "oh-kay Google" and not just "Google". So if people have to choose their own, they'll have to choose one that is also not easily mistaken. Something tells me that would be a very annoying process.
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      I have friends who have an alexia. It wakes up to unrelated words on its own all the time. How can a company like google or amazon know what words are commonly used in a household anyway? protip: they can't. It's not that they chose those keywords for uniqueness, they chose them for branding purposes.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

by tmd83 10y ago

dovdovdov 10y ago

PSAd :)

evanb 10y ago

"Alexa, set an alarm for three o'clock in the morning."

geon 10y ago
Alexa, buy me a dollhouse. http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/7/14200210/amazon-alexa-tech-news-anchor-order-dollhouse http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/7/14200210/amazon-alexa-tech-...
dharbin 10y ago
"O.k. Google, execute order 66"
skolos 10y ago
My kid wanted a fitness watch for Christmas. One morning I received bunch of emails about purchases on Amazon, but I was too busy to look and I knew that it was probably my wife Christmas shopping. In the evening I had a chance to look at the emails - 6 orders of watches $175 each. I had time to cancel all but one. So my kid got black watch for Christmas, even though he wanted blue. At least size was correct. Amazon should not have switched Alexa purchasing on by default.
- bfuller 10y ago
  maybe your kid is more clever than you expected

WilliamDhalgren 10y ago

The device really should implement speaker identification before accepting commands, yeah. Seems like a task a machine learning focused company like Google really should be able to accomplish.

tomw2005 10y ago
They have Trusted Voice on Android[0]. Hopefully it is only a matter of time before it is on the Google Home. [0] https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6093922 https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6093922 - last entry.
CPLX 10y ago
There exists a far simpler solution to this problem. Just allow every buyer to give the device their own unique wake name.
- adrianN 10y ago
  And require enough entropy to make it hard to guess. Maybe now is the time to start learning Khoisan to get some unusual phonemes in your pronunciation toolkit.
- untog 10y ago
  But there is a reason they have the wake names they have - they're unique and don't sound like other phrases. I recall reading something about how Alexa was chosen because "ah-LECK-sah" is a very unique sound. I strongly suspect this is why we have "oh-kay Google" and not just "Google". So if people have to choose their own, they'll have to choose one that is also not easily mistaken. Something tells me that would be a very annoying process.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    I have friends who have an alexia. It wakes up to unrelated words on its own all the time. How can a company like google or amazon know what words are commonly used in a household anyway? protip: they can't. It's not that they chose those keywords for uniqueness, they chose them for branding purposes.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]