3 ms·

Glorified kitchen timer reminds me a little of my use case(s). When uncorrected I have severe vision impairment (-10 + astigmatism). Without exaggeration I hav

Glorified kitchen timer reminds me a little of my use case(s). When uncorrected I have severe vision impairment (-10 + astigmatism). Without exaggeration I have trouble finding my glasses unless the room is well lit, and even then I have some panic if they aren't exactly where I think they are. I have backup glasses in a known place because if my glasses slide off the nightstand or something else I'm essentially completely blind. At night, in a dark (or even dim) room, it's much worse. So, for me, the Echo does it's job just because I can tell it to turn on the lights. I imagine for other people with more significant accessibility issues it can be very useful - even though it drives all of us crazy with "Oh, by the way, did you know I can...". It's also nice for a few other bedtime/dark room related things like lying down to go to sleep and get that panic "OH WAIT! Is that 7am meeting tomorrow? Better check the calendar and set my alarm accordingly." Or when I wake up at some point in the dark and need to decide if I should start my day I can ask Echo what time it is without struggling to find my phone and be blinded (even more so) by the backlight as I hold it (literally) 1-2" from my eye. It can be really annoying but for me these (admittedly minor) use cases keeps Echo in my house (bedroom).

paxys 4y ago
Motion and sound activated lights have been a thing forever. The only new innovation is that your request has to hit 3 AWS data centers and a server in China and Google Analytics before your bedside lamp can turn on. And if Wi-Fi goes out for some reason then you’re sitting in the dark.
- kkielhofner 4y ago
  You don't like Amazon/Echo and that's fine. I'm not coming to your house and forcing you to install one. No one is. Server in China? I use Home Assistant with total local control of all of my smart home devices. On a separate VLAN and SSID. With no internet access. Echo is on a different VLAN and uses the (excellent) Home Assistant integration. AWS data center of course, but see my other comments[0] about the near-total uselessness of any local devices and implementations for wake word detection, ASR, and NLP. Speaking of Home Assistant, see my other comment about the graphing and notification system I built for Echo/Alexa[1]. Yes, I remember commercials for "The Clapper". I've been in bathrooms with motion activated lights that turn off while you're on the toilet (you know, the move where everyone starts frantically waving their arms). Not only are these solutions also imperfect, you conveniently ignored my other use cases about checking the time in the dark, checking my calendar, setting alarms, etc. I like my Echo. I like my "smart home" configuration and I've minimized the security issues and blast radius. I understand your concern and it's not without merit but you have the choice of whether or not to use internet connected devices in your environment. So do I. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35041435#35051644 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35041435#35051644 [1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35041435#35051766 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35041435#35051766

paxys 4y ago

Motion and sound activated lights have been a thing forever. The only new innovation is that your request has to hit 3 AWS data centers and a server in China and Google Analytics before your bedside lamp can turn on. And if Wi-Fi goes out for some reason then you’re sitting in the dark.

kkielhofner 4y ago
You don't like Amazon/Echo and that's fine. I'm not coming to your house and forcing you to install one. No one is. Server in China? I use Home Assistant with total local control of all of my smart home devices. On a separate VLAN and SSID. With no internet access. Echo is on a different VLAN and uses the (excellent) Home Assistant integration. AWS data center of course, but see my other comments[0] about the near-total uselessness of any local devices and implementations for wake word detection, ASR, and NLP. Speaking of Home Assistant, see my other comment about the graphing and notification system I built for Echo/Alexa[1]. Yes, I remember commercials for "The Clapper". I've been in bathrooms with motion activated lights that turn off while you're on the toilet (you know, the move where everyone starts frantically waving their arms). Not only are these solutions also imperfect, you conveniently ignored my other use cases about checking the time in the dark, checking my calendar, setting alarms, etc. I like my Echo. I like my "smart home" configuration and I've minimized the security issues and blast radius. I understand your concern and it's not without merit but you have the choice of whether or not to use internet connected devices in your environment. So do I. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35041435#35051644 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35041435#35051644 [1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35041435#35051766 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35041435#35051766