gweempose Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 If you are a Prime member, you can purchase an Echo today for $129. Hurry up, though. It's a lightning deal, and it's already 28% claimed. Link to comment
ghaynes27 Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I got one this morning. The discounted price sucked me in. Now I need to buy the ISY portal and I can start having some fun. Link to comment
jtara92101 Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Thought about it. It's still creepy. And inconvenient, as I already have a much better sound system, so it takes up space for no good reason. If I didn't mind Amazon tracking everything I do in my home, I'd want little hidden microphones in each room. Which is even creepier. Link to comment
larryllix Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I thought it was creepy when my GPS responds anytime to it's name in the car. You get thinking about this thing listening, waiting, for the key words and then popping up. It does have an antenna on it to send out traffic reports, so who knows....? Link to comment
stusviews Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Thought about it. It's still creepy. And inconvenient, as I already have a much better sound system, so it takes up space for no good reason. If I didn't mind Amazon tracking everything I do in my home, I'd want little hidden microphones in each room. Which is even creepier. I have an upscale sound system where each component is likely more costly than most entire systems, but that had absolutely no influence on my decision to use multiple Echos and Dots. No matters how much I may yell at my stereo, it justs continues to play fantastic sounds. But, with the portal, I can tell the stereo what to do. I can also tell lights to turn on or off or even brighten or dim, open or close window coverings and even set them to a particular opening. I can also use my voice to adjust the room temperature and tell my wife that I'll do it myself. Link to comment
larryllix Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 As a learning Allexian I am finding more vocal commands to use for things. One of the hardest decisions is to decide whether to do it vocally or just get up and tap the switch. I am finding the difference and what works best, slowly. If I am watching TV the vocals are good but If I am already travelling across the room the switch is usually less thinking. Time and experience will change that, I am sure. Link to comment
Teken Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 I am more curious to know why its taking so long for Amazon to sell Echo, Dot, Tap, world wide? Worst case allow sales Canada or any English speaking nation. Its a massive gold mine that Amazon is sitting on yet leadership is squandering away. With Apple, Google, Microsoft, Sonos, and many others committed to releasing their own voice hardware what is the deal?!?! Its not like the public wouldn't understand certain features or platforms would not be ready in all markets. All I know is if it wasn't for my a good friend and partner in crime Big Bad Barry (BBB). I would still be left on the side lines looking through the window as others enjoyed the convenience and power of the Echo. Link to comment
gweempose Posted July 13, 2016 Author Share Posted July 13, 2016 Once you get used to having an Echo around, it's hard to imagine life before it. Link to comment
jtara92101 Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 The voice control at all times is appealing. An unnecessary speaker and finding a place for it is not. And sending everything unnecessarily to "the cloud" is not. Personal data should go only so far as it needs to. It is nonsense that servers are needed to process voice commands. (I've done software development in this area.) Yes, it's useful to upload commands for AI training, popularity ranking, etc. but that's something that can be done in batch mode and then should only be done with user permission. I do have a Nest. And an iPhone and Apple watch. Not at all happy that they both track my whereabouts. Oh, and a Withings scale, which has to send my weight and body fat to "the cloud" for me to see it on a chart - which is, of course, absolute nonsense. Oh, yea, and the blood pressure monitor too! While I doubt that Apple and Google and Withings are doing anything too nefarious with it (though I suspect they are using it to push annoying "contextual" ads at me - e.g. ads for stuff I've already bought, or for stores I already frequent...) that's my limit. My concern is not so much with what the collectors of the data are doing with it (though I do have some there) but simply the EXISTENCE of the data. It could be hacked. It could be compelled to be shared by a future government. I would never use Gmail, for example. I guess it's a trade-off. My generation accepted commercials in exchange for "free" TV programming. The current one will accept more intrusion, and the next one will accept more. I think eventually things will work themselves out, and more sensible use of new technology will evolve. It's widely understood that it takes about 50 years for a new technology to be fully and properly integrated into society. (Think about the time from the invention and the rapid adoption of the automobile to the development of modern freeway networks. OK, maybe I should drop the notion of "proper"! ) Unfortunately, while technology evolves more and more quickly, the full understanding of it's impact and societal adaptation is unlikely to speed-up. Any "local mostly" competition to Echo? How about open-source projects? A Raspberry Pi really should be able to do the job. Only reason for it to access the Internet is to access a search service or some "cloud" API. ISY, of course, can be completely controlled within your local network - which is as it should be. Ditto for playing my music, operating my home theatre, etc. Please, no unnecessary trips through "the cloud". Happy to opt-in to contributing anonymized commands in bulk to improve recognition/context/weighting/etc. Anyway, those that went for it, enjoy your Echo! Sure everyone got one, because I don't think they "sold out". Amazon is smarter than that! Link to comment
jtara92101 Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 http://www.forbes.com/sites/janakirammsv/2015/08/20/meet-mycroft-the-open-source-alternative-to-amazon-echo/#37799c906f7d https://mycroft.ai/ Raspberry Pi! Link to comment
larryllix Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 http://www.forbes.com/sites/janakirammsv/2015/08/20/meet-mycroft-the-open-source-alternative-to-amazon-echo/#37799c906f7d https://mycroft.ai/ Raspberry Pi! The Mycroft project should attract a few with it's stated "open source" claim. time will only tell how this pans out and "open source" is NOT just another trade mark. These companies go into these projects gung-ho and usually come out with their tails between their legs, as the task can be much bigger than they bargained for, and the job (competitive products) doesn't stand still. Many find by the time they get out a competitive product, it is now obsolete technology in the market. Very nice to see some competition for Echo. The intercom betweeen units is a nice feature. Link to comment
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