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Amazon Echo

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judow

judow

Darth Vader - R.I.P
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Just got the Echo and companion Dot for upstairs. Also have added the light feature. Next will be switches. I'm impressed even realizing that the communication station is just the beginning. Feeling like I own HAL.
 
Careful there Judy ... HAL might own *you*.

View attachment 46108

With your home devices connected to the 'net ...
 
With all due respect - I hate those things.
Most people/kids want instant answers to everything.
And don't get me started on cell phone users!
If it works for you - great,but I'll never have
something like that in our house.
 
AngliaGT said:
With all due respect - I hate those things.
Most people/kids want instant answers to everything.
And don't get me started on cell phone users!
If it works for you - great,but I'll never have
something like that in our house.
Click to expand...

Never say never. My first reaction was simply that it would make a great companion to someone living alone. Of course I realize it isn't like a real person but a good morning and a few queries would be welcomed when brewing that first cup of coffee. When getting up in the middle of the night to switch on a light is better than tripping or having to endure a nightlight. There never seems to be a convenient place for a motion sensor night light and we have pets. When Doug is on duty and it's just me, there is no doubt that my morning feline conversation will include Alexa. I respect your stance but... I guess that is why we have motor vehicles that come in all sizes, shapes and colors.
 
Our son got one "for his wife" last Christmas. They use it for all sorts of things. Thus far we haven't taken the plunge, but probably only a matter of time before I get one "for Janet".
 
Yea Alexa that's just not happing in my house.
siri turn off the living room lights set an alarm for 5 AM
don't even echo her name around here alexia indeed !
shhhhh....
 
Seems to me that technology is gonna happen - like it or not. What I struggle with is how to respond and adapt, without my inner curmudgeon taking the driver's seat.

I'd love to be around when the next couple of generations have to deal with their own progeny and the challenges they present; I've a feeling they'll be at least as, or much more than, at odds than we are!

Now, about that it's vs its thing... :rolleyes: :wall:
 
I've got two Amazon Dots (the smaller version of Echo) under the Christmas tree right now. I can hardly wait! I hate the idea of self-driving cars, but I'm not a technophobe. The idea of having something like the Echo is very exciting.
 
I agree technology is going to happen, is happening, going to get smarter, more widespread and more useful. I suppose when the assembly line originally went in at Ford the talk was "there goes all the personalty in the car, never be as good, humpf." Me I like it all, what isn't useful will disappear or evolve. My wife goes nuts against social media, but she sure likes the telephone. Personally I don't buy much stuff and when I do it's way behind the curve (had to look up Amazon Echo) when it becomes more affordable, just picked up this new Clapper thing but now my hands are sore.
 
I have a z-wave controller. You can get all sorts of modules to sense motion, turn lights off/on etc. Currently it's only being used for one purpose.
The "open mic" on these voices activate devices concerns me.
 
sail said:
I agree technology is going to happen, is happening, going to get smarter, more widespread and more useful. I suppose when the assembly line originally went in at Ford the talk was "there goes all the personalty in the car, never be as good, humpf." Me I like it all, what isn't useful will disappear or evolve. My wife goes nuts against social media, but she sure likes the telephone. Personally I don't buy much stuff and when I do it's way behind the curve (had to look up Amazon Echo) when it becomes more affordable, just picked up this new Clapper thing but now my hands are sore.
Click to expand...

clapper.jpg
 
Gliderman8 said:
I have a z-wave controller. You can get all sorts of modules to sense motion, turn lights off/on etc. Currently it's only being used for one purpose.
The "open mic" on these voices activate devices concerns me.
Click to expand...

How bout the Win 10 Cortana thing?
the guy that built my computer says it's always listening & feeds the mothership what it hears.......
....i asked him to remove the mic.

(BTW: I'm wearing a tinfoil hat right now )
 
GTP1960 said:
How bout the Win 10 Cortana thing?
the guy that built my computer says it's always listening & feeds the mothership what it hears.......
....i asked him to remove the mic.

(BTW: I'm wearing a tinfoil hat right now )
Click to expand...

 
I think it's my curiosity that keeps in the know with technology. I don't always understand how it works but I sure do know how to make it work and take advantage of it. My theory is if it's not working, unplug it and it will righten itself. Most of the time that works and when it doesn't I go back to the let your finders do the walking thing and someone arrives at my home and takes care of it. That has only happened a few times.

You guys are funny. I had no idea there would be such diverse opinions. It's interesting. I have a very good friend and he has several LBC's but has no concept of the internet, doesn't even own a flip phone. He retired from the local lab where he used his degree in engineering and was very involved in lazers. He is an extremely bright guy. None of us know why he is so resistant to modern technology. We all refer to him as Mr. Luddite. He's okay with that. P.S. He has been known to 'borrow' our cell phone to call his wife on occasion. She does know social media and has a flip phone.

:peaceful:
 
I can see it now -

Dispatcher - "911,what is your emergency?"


Caller - "I can't turn my lights on"

Dispatcher - "Have you tried the light switch?"

Caller - "How does that work?"
 
Interesting discussion. I know that our daughter wants one, and also a friend who is moving into a new home wants one as well. I find I seldom use Siri either on the iPhone or on the iMac, but I am not opposed to the idea. Once the subscription cost for the Echo after the first year plummets, maybe I will take the plunge. After all, I did give all my 45rpm records to a museum a few years back, but my only gaming system is a Wii, and I still play with slot cars, although I did have a DOS computer running the timing on my old track before we moved. But I will seldom be the first with new technology (BTW, I love my Olympus mirrorless digital SLR camera)
 
GTP1960 said:
How bout the Win 10 Cortana thing?
the guy that built my computer says it's always listening & feeds the mothership what it hears.......
....i asked him to remove the mic.

(BTW: I'm wearing a tinfoil hat right now )
Click to expand...

Worse than that. Once you "enable" Cortana, it automatically downloads your entire hard drive to "the cloud", where it can inspect the contents to offer "advice" on your queries.
NEVER enable Cortana.
Stop it from starting.
Remember anything on "the cloud" can be hacked, or viewed by MS or fishing law enforcement, even with a warrant, and MS so far is not allowed to tell you law enforcement has accessed your cloud files and hard drive.

Look it up.
Remove the microphone, tape over the camera, figure out if you can delete your cloud based content (no idea how, since I REFUSE to use the cloud).

Have fun.

Oh...and figure out all 13 pages of stuff in 10 you need to turn "off" to keep your computer from phoning home to Redmond every 15 minutes or so and telling them what you are doing....look that up, too...and updates automatically turn some, many, a lot of those back on.

Wilder Security did a test, turned off all thirteen pages of stuff, did NOT enable Cortana, and tested a new install...and several place, your data was stored, and every 15 minutes or so transmitted via telemetry everything you were doing to Redmond.

There are hosts files you can download of all the IP addresses MS uses for this "phone home" BS, but there is a warning associated with it, that MS keeps adding and changing those, so you spend a LOT of time "keeping up".

You starting to understand why I insist on XP?
 
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