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We have I think… 5? Echo devices in my house, including an echo dot Amazon just sold me for $1 because it was my “Primeaversary". I haven’t purchased a single

We have I think… 5? Echo devices in my house, including an echo dot Amazon just sold me for $1 because it was my “Primeaversary". I haven’t purchased a single thing through them.

luckylion 4y ago
"Hey Alexa, I need a new pan, mine is old and broken" - "I have the Pan Frying Pan Cooking Pan Cooking Children Family Happy Best Pan from Fhrgwdsst for $14.99, would you like me to order it for you?"
- mcphage 4y ago
  I think my favorite notification was a few months ago—my echo speaker turned yellow because there was a notification. My kids find this incredibly exciting, and told Alexa to play it. And then Alexa announced to us, in breathless terms, that bananas are a good source of potassium. It even said "this is B A N A N A S", as only a robot can.
  - luckylion 4y ago
    Humor probably helps a lot with making people feel better around these devices. Are you using it for anything non-trivial?
    - mcphage 4y ago
      Maybe, but it wasn't funny so much as dumb and pointless. And: no, I just use it as a speaker and for setting timers.
andrepd 4y ago
Very curious why you would wiretap your home with 5 always-on internet-connected speakers running opaque software for a tech giant. I dunno, it's the sort of thing that would be fit for a robocop-like dystopia just a couple decades ago but is seemingly... "normal" now.
- tiahura 4y ago
  Because they're convenient. In my house, you'll hear - Alexa, when is the Bills game? Alexa, when is daylight savings. Alexa, play Christmas music. Alexa, what is the etymology of wanker? Alexa, is Chipotle still open? Alexa, how old is Patrick Maholmes? Alexa, what time is it in Kenya? Alexa, ad nauseum. If Amazon wants to datamine the dickens out of that to sell me more socks and USB cables, I really don't care.
  - mcphage 4y ago
    Actually Alexa gets most of those same requests in my house, too ;-) Anyway, it's at 12:30.
  - andrepd 4y ago
    Isn't this the most trivial and minor of conveniences? Wouldn't it take roughly the same amount of time to pick up your phone and type that? Don't you feel the least bit uncomfortable that the trade-off for that is that a tech giant gets a 24/7 audio feed into your and your family's home? Boggles the mind.
    - tiahura 4y ago
      The expected value of harm caused by tech giant listening to my house = 0. Trivial and minor > 0.
- kurtreed 4y ago
  Not everyone's paranoid about that kind of thing and not everyone actually values privacy that much
- mcphage 4y ago
  We leave most of them on "mute" most of the time. The one we don't, we use to play music, mostly.
  - andrepd 4y ago
    There is no such thing as mute

We have I think… 5? Echo devices in my house, including an echo dot Amazon just sold me for $1 because it was my “Primeaversary". I haven’t purchased a single thing through them.

luckylion 4y ago

"Hey Alexa, I need a new pan, mine is old and broken" - "I have the Pan Frying Pan Cooking Pan Cooking Children Family Happy Best Pan from Fhrgwdsst for $14.99, would you like me to order it for you?"

mcphage 4y ago
I think my favorite notification was a few months ago—my echo speaker turned yellow because there was a notification. My kids find this incredibly exciting, and told Alexa to play it. And then Alexa announced to us, in breathless terms, that bananas are a good source of potassium. It even said "this is B A N A N A S", as only a robot can.
- luckylion 4y ago
  Humor probably helps a lot with making people feel better around these devices. Are you using it for anything non-trivial?
  - mcphage 4y ago
    Maybe, but it wasn't funny so much as dumb and pointless. And: no, I just use it as a speaker and for setting timers.

andrepd 4y ago

Very curious why you would wiretap your home with 5 always-on internet-connected speakers running opaque software for a tech giant. I dunno, it's the sort of thing that would be fit for a robocop-like dystopia just a couple decades ago but is seemingly... "normal" now.

tiahura 4y ago
Because they're convenient. In my house, you'll hear - Alexa, when is the Bills game? Alexa, when is daylight savings. Alexa, play Christmas music. Alexa, what is the etymology of wanker? Alexa, is Chipotle still open? Alexa, how old is Patrick Maholmes? Alexa, what time is it in Kenya? Alexa, ad nauseum. If Amazon wants to datamine the dickens out of that to sell me more socks and USB cables, I really don't care.
- mcphage 4y ago
  Actually Alexa gets most of those same requests in my house, too ;-) Anyway, it's at 12:30.
- andrepd 4y ago
  Isn't this the most trivial and minor of conveniences? Wouldn't it take roughly the same amount of time to pick up your phone and type that? Don't you feel the least bit uncomfortable that the trade-off for that is that a tech giant gets a 24/7 audio feed into your and your family's home? Boggles the mind.
  - tiahura 4y ago
    The expected value of harm caused by tech giant listening to my house = 0. Trivial and minor > 0.
kurtreed 4y ago
Not everyone's paranoid about that kind of thing and not everyone actually values privacy that much
mcphage 4y ago
We leave most of them on "mute" most of the time. The one we don't, we use to play music, mostly.
- andrepd 4y ago
  There is no such thing as mute