Smart speaker, who has/uses one? What for?

[Tenkaykev]

Quite pleased when our then 6 year old granddaughter came for a sleepover and said " Alexa, play radio 6 music " 😎. We've since got rid of our Echo and Google devices but have a couple of Apple homepod mini's for music.

 

[yello]

I had a model 1 Echo years back (because I was a sucker for tech gadgets) but lost both use for and interest in it. It's now in the loft somewhere, unplugged and not ear wigging. I tried to set it up with software to play my music library on my Sonos speakers but it was hit and miss, sometimes amusingly. Gadget fail.

 

[Gunk]

Like fixing the bike in the bedroom whilst your partner is out ? Or in the kitchen, or on the dining table !

You’d never catch me doing that!

 

[bikingdad90]

Like fixing the bike in the bedroom whilst your partner is out ? Or in the kitchen, or on the dining table !

I’d be so lucky! Usually use the garage or back garden.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

You can review everything it tells you it's heard; while presumably deleting records from the device does nothing to remove them from Amazon's records. On top of that there's plenty of metadata to be had from your usage habits..

Nothing is held on the device itself. All records sit on Amazon servers where you are free to delete them.

 

[oxoman]

My daughter has alexa and uses it all the time. However her first one she had when with her ex and she discovered he was listening in and also talking to the kids behind her back when banned by court order. He also order stuff via it linked to her bank account. Luckily caught out reasonably quickly. Personally I hate them, won't even use smart Ai functions or phone banking. Don't trust it.

 

[wafter]

Nothing is held on the device itself. All records sit on Amazon servers where you are free to delete them.

If you're happy with that supposition then crack on.

Personally I don't trust Bezos, despise what his greed is doing to the world and want absolutely no part of it.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

If you're happy with that supposition then crack on.

Personally I don't trust Bezos, despise what his greed is doing to the world and want absolutely no part of it.

No supposition about it.

 

[Drago]

I got one in the living room where I regularly try and provoke a reaction by saying stuff like "ill kill the president" etc and nothing has happened.

 

[Gunk]

I got one in the living room where I regularly try and provoke a reaction by saying stuff like "ill kill the president" etc and nothing has happened.

Siri doesn’t like it when you ask why Alexa is better!

 

[Drago]

Alexa puts on a very affronted tone when I ask her to show me her thruppenies. Apparently shes not that kind of AI.

 

[mistyoptic]

I got one in the living room where I regularly try and provoke a reaction by saying stuff like "ill kill the president" etc and nothing has happened.

Wait until you try to enter America

 

[Drago]

Wait until you try to enter America

Ooh er matron!

I wont be visiting America again, so no worries on that front.

 

[PaulSB]

Absolutely - tbh it never ceases to amaze me how willing most are to sell their privacy down the river for the sake of convenience and novelty.

Personally I won't touch "smart" devices and my home it totally devoid of them. It's terrifying to think of the level of insight they give to any third party with access to their output - phones collect geolocation data from everywhere you go, eavesdrop on whatever sound their mics can pick up and monitor your browsing history. Cars log journey specs and driving behaviour. TVs and speakers eavesdrop on audio and report viewing / listening habits.

It's not inconceivable to conclude that if you have a number of these devices pretty much every facet of your existance is being monitored by big tech / big brother - at best to allow them to better manipulate you for profit; at worst to satisfy far more sinister motives.

I understand your view though it isn't something that concerns me. I would disagree with your last point. Advertising in any form has no impact on me whatsoever.

Something which always amuses me and gives me some tiny satisfaction is online advertising. Take CC for example. Someone, somewhere is paying the site money for a banner, with an element of personalisation. Most recently my banner has shown Restrap and Cervelo both of which I've already bought.......but hey carry on suckers, nothing is going to persuade me to click through as I've already purchased. Chuck your money down the drain.......of course it's our money as the consumer pays for advertising! ☹️

 

[PaulSB]

My eldest granddaughter received a smart speaker for Christmas. I'm not sure I approve but that aside it didn't understand my accent - I presume. Granddaughter is broad Lancashire, I'm RP. Granddaughter was showing me how to use it. I tried simple topical commands like "Alexa play Jingle Bells" - every request failed. Granddaughter just said silly Granddad. 🤣

We have Alexa on our TV. Mrs P and I have avoided enabling her for fear we will never be able to change channels again.