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When the Echo started adding “by the way …” to responces without a way to turn that off, I gave up on it. I got a HomePod Mini to replace it and it’s fine. I’d

When the Echo started adding “by the way …” to responces without a way to turn that off, I gave up on it. I got a HomePod Mini to replace it and it’s fine. I’d love to know what the people in Amazon who came up with that thought they were doing. Did they not use the product themselves? Surely they knew their users mostly didn’t want that. Why not add a way to turn that off?

dpkirchner 2y ago
I'm trying to imagine billionaire Jeff Bezos being happy to be told "by the way" after every interaction. Who am I kidding though, the odds he's using Alexa is zero, eh?
- leptons 2y ago
  He probably has 10 actual people named "Alexa" just to cater to his every whim.
  - _DeadFred_ 2y ago
    You mean Amazon probably routes his Alexa to 10 people to process.
    - leptons 2y ago
      No, I mean he isn't under the same corporate surveillance the rest of "alexa" users are. He has actual humans named Alexa ready to take any order he gives them. I'm being facetious of course, but that's probably what I would do if I were a tech mogul with billions and billions of dollars.
- BoxFour 2y ago
  Isn’t the story that Echo mostly exists because of Bezos? As in, it was his baby and wasn’t immediately discontinued because he wanted voice assistants to be a thing. Whether that’s still true in 2025 I’m not sure, but the chances of him using it seems fairly high given its origins.
  - UltraSane 2y ago
    People as rich as Bezos have an army of human personal assistants to satisfy their every whim.
qwerpy 2y ago
My wtf moment was when my ecobee thermostat which somehow had integrated itself with my Amazon account started flashing lights and randomly announcing that there were notifications for me. One time it was some package delivery notification and I let it slide. The next time was an ad for some Amazon service, which was an immediate “handle the crying baby for a few minutes while I get this shit eradicated from our house” moment.

dpkirchner 2y ago

I'm trying to imagine billionaire Jeff Bezos being happy to be told "by the way" after every interaction. Who am I kidding though, the odds he's using Alexa is zero, eh?

leptons 2y ago
He probably has 10 actual people named "Alexa" just to cater to his every whim.
- _DeadFred_ 2y ago
  You mean Amazon probably routes his Alexa to 10 people to process.
  - leptons 2y ago
    No, I mean he isn't under the same corporate surveillance the rest of "alexa" users are. He has actual humans named Alexa ready to take any order he gives them. I'm being facetious of course, but that's probably what I would do if I were a tech mogul with billions and billions of dollars.
BoxFour 2y ago
Isn’t the story that Echo mostly exists because of Bezos? As in, it was his baby and wasn’t immediately discontinued because he wanted voice assistants to be a thing. Whether that’s still true in 2025 I’m not sure, but the chances of him using it seems fairly high given its origins.
- UltraSane 2y ago
  People as rich as Bezos have an army of human personal assistants to satisfy their every whim.

qwerpy 2y ago

My wtf moment was when my ecobee thermostat which somehow had integrated itself with my Amazon account started flashing lights and randomly announcing that there were notifications for me. One time it was some package delivery notification and I let it slide. The next time was an ad for some Amazon service, which was an immediate “handle the crying baby for a few minutes while I get this shit eradicated from our house” moment.