5 ms·

It would be pretty cool if it could update you on things you've asked for in the past that were not possible then but are now possible. "Hey, 3 months ago you

It would be pretty cool if it could update you on things you've asked for in the past that were not possible then but are now possible. "Hey, 3 months ago you asked for the forecast according to the ECMWF weather model, and I couldn't answer you. But now I can, so go ahead and try!".

slg 8y ago
I wonder if that is too far on the "creepy scale". Everyone probably knows that Amazon has a full record of everything they have asked their Alexa, but I am not sure it is smart to repeatedly remind people of this.
- oarsinsync 8y ago
  Phrasing comes into play here. Instead of: > "Hey, 3 months ago you asked for the forecast according to the ECMWF weather model, and I couldn't answer you. But now I can, so go ahead and try!". What might work more effectively is "We've been improving our weather forecasting and you can now get the forecast in your area according to a range of new models, including the often requested ECMWF weather model! Give it a try now!"
  - mikepurvis 8y ago
    This attempt to obscure the fact that it's actually super-targeted can also backfire too, though. It wouldn't take too many of them for a savvy user to be like... now wait a minute. Thinking back to this classic where Target figures out the trick to not creeping out someone they suspect may be pregnant is to shuffle the maternity coupons in with a bunch of other random stuff: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-targ...
    - robocat 8y ago
      Relevant quotes: What Target discovered fairly quickly is that it creeped people out that the company knew about their pregnancies in advance. “If we send someone a catalog and say, ‘Congratulations on your first child!’ and they’ve never told us they’re pregnant, that’s going to make some people uncomfortable,” [snip] So Target got sneakier about sending the coupons. The company can create personalized booklets; [snip] “Then we started mixing in all these ads for things we knew pregnant women would never buy, so the baby ads looked random. We’d put an ad for a lawn mower next to diapers. We’d put a coupon for wineglasses next to infant clothes. That way, it looked like all the products were chosen by chance. And we found out that as long as a pregnant woman thinks she hasn’t been spied on, she’ll use the coupons. She just assumes that everyone else on her block got the same mailer for diapers and cribs. As long as we don’t spook her, it works.”
      - noir_lord 8y ago
        > As long as we don't spoil her it works. Sounds much closer to hunting, literally targeted marketing.
- doctorpangloss 8y ago
  The problem with Alexa is that Amazon runs their R&D team like a consumer research organization. I mean, you gotta listen to every word that comes out of the customer's mouth right? Their Principles are too reductive to even guarantee that copies of other people's ideas are successful. For as much of a genius as he may be, Jeff Bezos has created an organization of automatons.
  - darkpuma 8y ago
    Lots of people working there have good ideas that they never bring up, because past experience has taught them that it's a waste of time. So it's not that the workers are automatons, but rather that the workers have learned that the organization wants and what it doesn't want, and don't waste their time with what the org doesn't want. The individuals who comprise the organization are fine, but the meta-organism that is the organization is diseased. [obligatory disclaimer: I worked there years ago, but no longer do.]
    - lugg 8y ago
      So an organisation full of automatons?
      - solarkraft 8y ago
        Effectively yes, but with a defense of the people.
darkpuma 8y ago
If it did that unprompted, it would be a privacy issue. You may have asked it something that you don't want people currently in the room with you to know about.
- portmanteaufu 8y ago
  It doesn't need to announce it verbally, just including capability updates in the (currently useless) emails that they already send their customers would do.

slg 8y ago

I wonder if that is too far on the "creepy scale". Everyone probably knows that Amazon has a full record of everything they have asked their Alexa, but I am not sure it is smart to repeatedly remind people of this.

oarsinsync 8y ago
Phrasing comes into play here. Instead of: > "Hey, 3 months ago you asked for the forecast according to the ECMWF weather model, and I couldn't answer you. But now I can, so go ahead and try!". What might work more effectively is "We've been improving our weather forecasting and you can now get the forecast in your area according to a range of new models, including the often requested ECMWF weather model! Give it a try now!"
- mikepurvis 8y ago
  This attempt to obscure the fact that it's actually super-targeted can also backfire too, though. It wouldn't take too many of them for a savvy user to be like... now wait a minute. Thinking back to this classic where Target figures out the trick to not creeping out someone they suspect may be pregnant is to shuffle the maternity coupons in with a bunch of other random stuff: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-targ...
  - robocat 8y ago
    Relevant quotes: What Target discovered fairly quickly is that it creeped people out that the company knew about their pregnancies in advance. “If we send someone a catalog and say, ‘Congratulations on your first child!’ and they’ve never told us they’re pregnant, that’s going to make some people uncomfortable,” [snip] So Target got sneakier about sending the coupons. The company can create personalized booklets; [snip] “Then we started mixing in all these ads for things we knew pregnant women would never buy, so the baby ads looked random. We’d put an ad for a lawn mower next to diapers. We’d put a coupon for wineglasses next to infant clothes. That way, it looked like all the products were chosen by chance. And we found out that as long as a pregnant woman thinks she hasn’t been spied on, she’ll use the coupons. She just assumes that everyone else on her block got the same mailer for diapers and cribs. As long as we don’t spook her, it works.”
    - noir_lord 8y ago
      > As long as we don't spoil her it works. Sounds much closer to hunting, literally targeted marketing.
doctorpangloss 8y ago
The problem with Alexa is that Amazon runs their R&D team like a consumer research organization. I mean, you gotta listen to every word that comes out of the customer's mouth right? Their Principles are too reductive to even guarantee that copies of other people's ideas are successful. For as much of a genius as he may be, Jeff Bezos has created an organization of automatons.
- darkpuma 8y ago
  Lots of people working there have good ideas that they never bring up, because past experience has taught them that it's a waste of time. So it's not that the workers are automatons, but rather that the workers have learned that the organization wants and what it doesn't want, and don't waste their time with what the org doesn't want. The individuals who comprise the organization are fine, but the meta-organism that is the organization is diseased. [obligatory disclaimer: I worked there years ago, but no longer do.]
  - lugg 8y ago
    So an organisation full of automatons?
    - solarkraft 8y ago
      Effectively yes, but with a defense of the people.

darkpuma 8y ago

If it did that unprompted, it would be a privacy issue. You may have asked it something that you don't want people currently in the room with you to know about.

portmanteaufu 8y ago
It doesn't need to announce it verbally, just including capability updates in the (currently useless) emails that they already send their customers would do.