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You underestimate what people will sacrifice in order to be able to say "Alexa, what's the weather like today" rather than pull out their phone and open the wea

You underestimate what people will sacrifice in order to be able to say "Alexa, what's the weather like today" rather than pull out their phone and open the weather app which is probably faster to do anyway. "But what if I have my hands full with stuff" they'll say. Well, will you really be able to remember what Alexa says about the weather if you're busy doing other stuff anyway? All everyone can ever point out as advantages of smart speakers are these tiny, minuscule, increases in convenience. Is it really worth building a gargantuan ad-serving data hoarding surveillance network to gain those small conveniences? Screw that stuff. My minor convenience is more important than the consequences of the surveillance economy!

tsimionescu 5y ago
I think this is 99% caused by advertising in itself. One of the oft-forgotten facts about ads is that they can not only influence you to choose between competitors for irrational reasons, but they can very often influence you into buying something that you didn't need at all. In fact, this is often the primary purpose, as Amazon for example profits more from you owning a Siri speaker than they do from you not owning a smart speaker at all (since part of their stock price will be influenced by the size of the overall smart speaker market, not just their slice of it).
southerntofu 5y ago
You underestimate what people will sacrifice in order to be able to ask their phone about the weather instead of taking a look through the window. Sorry, couldn't resist.
- WolfRazu 5y ago
  I really hate this argument. You can't reliably determine the exact temperature or future weather conditions by looking out of the window.
- LinuxBender 5y ago
  Serious question since I've never owned a smart phone. Do they not come with a browser? If they do, you can look up your zip code on weather.gov [1] and then expand it to show more details, then bookmark the result. The URL will remain the same for that zip code. At least for the U.S. that is quite accurate. Does the E.U. have a similar site? If you want to hear the weather, then you could bookmark ATIS [2] for your area. Can you launch an app or a bookmarked page using built-in support for voice commands on smart phones? [1] - https://www.weather.gov/ https://www.weather.gov/ [2] - https://www.liveatc.net/ https://www.liveatc.net/
briandear 5y ago
Or use HomePod and Siri and you don’t have to worry about your trading privacy for convinience. Really when people talk about nefarious smart speakers, they are really saying “Google, Amazon, Facebook.” It is possible to have a smart speaker that isn’t spying on you or trying to sell you stuff.
tomjen3 5y ago
Alternatively you could buy Apples homepod, I can't imagine they want to torpedo their brand so completely that your homepod won't be broken by then anyway.

tsimionescu 5y ago

I think this is 99% caused by advertising in itself. One of the oft-forgotten facts about ads is that they can not only influence you to choose between competitors for irrational reasons, but they can very often influence you into buying something that you didn't need at all. In fact, this is often the primary purpose, as Amazon for example profits more from you owning a Siri speaker than they do from you not owning a smart speaker at all (since part of their stock price will be influenced by the size of the overall smart speaker market, not just their slice of it).

southerntofu 5y ago

You underestimate what people will sacrifice in order to be able to ask their phone about the weather instead of taking a look through the window. Sorry, couldn't resist.

WolfRazu 5y ago
I really hate this argument. You can't reliably determine the exact temperature or future weather conditions by looking out of the window.
LinuxBender 5y ago
Serious question since I've never owned a smart phone. Do they not come with a browser? If they do, you can look up your zip code on weather.gov [1] and then expand it to show more details, then bookmark the result. The URL will remain the same for that zip code. At least for the U.S. that is quite accurate. Does the E.U. have a similar site? If you want to hear the weather, then you could bookmark ATIS [2] for your area. Can you launch an app or a bookmarked page using built-in support for voice commands on smart phones? [1] - https://www.weather.gov/ https://www.weather.gov/ [2] - https://www.liveatc.net/ https://www.liveatc.net/

briandear 5y ago

Or use HomePod and Siri and you don’t have to worry about your trading privacy for convinience. Really when people talk about nefarious smart speakers, they are really saying “Google, Amazon, Facebook.” It is possible to have a smart speaker that isn’t spying on you or trying to sell you stuff.

tomjen3 5y ago

Alternatively you could buy Apples homepod, I can't imagine they want to torpedo their brand so completely that your homepod won't be broken by then anyway.