Alexa poll update

[oneill225]

Music +

I have several echo (Alexa) devices throughout the house because they are so inexpensive.

Used daily for streaming music (similar to spotify) or to listen to our local sports radio station. "Alexa, play the Beatles station" The echos can be connected directly to your stereo or wireless through Bluetooth.

Shopping lists are also a very convenient use. "Alexa, add _____to the shopping list" results in a shopping list that is displayed on your smart phone when in the store. Weather is probably the next most used. Asking general questions is pretty rare.

Well worth having considering the capability is available for around $30. One caveat, you must have Amazon Prime to get full capability.

 

[unclemick]

Google it is now part of my life. I suspect I am hooked and need to go to meetings or something.



heh heh heh - don't know how how it happened. Even have bird ID and plant/tree ID apps for use out on the Farm. No Alexa so far.

 

[Cobra9777]

I was an early and enthusiastic user of "OK Google." So, early on, I never quite understood why people would buy a standalone device to do what they can already do with their smartphone. Later, we got Fire TV boxes for all the TVs and we had access to Alexa via the microphone button on the remote. Even more reason to not need a standalone Alexa or Google device.

But then we started observing DS and DD use theirs and I had a few discussions with DS about it. He must have thought I was interested because he got us an Echo for Christmas last year. Long story short, we love Alexa. I think what converted me was the sheer convenience and abundance of practical uses. We now have a Fire TV Cube in the living room (integrated Fire TV + Alexa + universal voice remote) and the original Echo in the kitchen. I'd like to get another Echo for the master bedroom.

We use it to control the Fire TV and surround sound system. We rarely pick up any remote control. I've posted before that one of the most common things you'll hear around our house is, "Alexa, fast forward three minutes." Mostly what we watch is recorded content from PS Vue. There's a Nest thermostat in our near future and maybe some other home automation hardware. And of course we use it for all the normal stuff like timers, news, weather, lists, music, and lots of random questions. I like to use it while watching baseball to ask about a player's stats or a team's record, etc. With the Cube, it shows the results of your question on the TV screen.

 

[jjquantz]

We bought ours early because it looked like fun, but after playing with it for a few months, we now use ours almost exclusively on the patio for music streaming. I've not been impressed with very many of the so-called "skills" and, as far as the eavesdropping concern goes, ours is never plugged in until we take it out to the patio. So Amazon probably thinks that we have a house full of cardinals, doves, woodpeckers and sparrows.

 

[W2R]

Not I. I'm in the group that just isn't certain that someone would be always able to listen.

Rich

+1

No. It is a level of convenience and security risk I don't need.

+1

Time, weather, and music are easily available from my laptop computer which is on the internet and right in front of me at my fingertips. I am perfectly capable of keeping records of appointments and to-do lists all by my itty-bitty self.

I don't use Siri or Cortana, either. I don't need fictional women listening and poking into my private information and frankly, their potential presence on my computer, in my house, or in my life at all gives me the creeps. I treasure my solitude and also they don't impress me one bit; to me they represent an extreme lack of privacy, whether real or not.

 

[Walt34]

We don't have one, I doubt that either one would use it much if at all. BIL does but all I've ever seen him do with it is say naughty words just to see what the response will be. And yes, he is "half a bubble off center".

 

[Another Reader]

No. Not in this lifetime. It amazes me how gullible people are with these devices. Still trying to figure out how to outfox Cortana and her damn microphone in this new Windows 10 computer. Apparently killing her is not an option. Nor is it possible to disable the microphone.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

No. I watched a Ted talk the other day about how humans are losing basic skills because we depend so much on technology- we no longer have to remember phone numbers, appointments or do basic math or anything else. It makes me think of a movie my kids liked when they were little- Wall-E. The people in the movie lost the ability to walk because they rode around on personal hover-craft type vehicles and never had to exercise their own muscles/abilities. The computer captain was able to take advantage of them because they weren't used to thinking for themselves. Scary.

Also I'm kind of private. I don't know who is looking at what is on my Alexa shopping list or anything else. I'm not on Facebook mostly because it feels like bragging to me. My real friends know where I go on vacation because I tell them. If I haven't seen them since high school, what possible difference does it make if I know that their children are graduating from high school or that I just went to Poland. But I realize I am weird.

 

[tb001]

We have several and use them all the time. We have most of the house automated and controllable through alexa. Also love it for music--despite having a much higher end sound system, we almost always use alexa.

 

[MarieIG]

No, although my cell phone was recently terrorized by Google Assistant.

 

[imoldernu]

No. I watched a Ted talk the other day about how humans are losing basic skills because we depend so much on technology- we no longer have to remember phone numbers, appointments or do basic math or anything else. It makes me think of a movie my kids liked when they were little- Wall-E. The people in the movie lost the ability to walk because they rode around on personal hover-craft type vehicles and never had to exercise their own muscles/abilities. The computer captain was able to take advantage of them because they weren't used to thinking for themselves. Scary.

Also I'm kind of private. I don't know who is looking at what is on my Alexa shopping list or anything else. I'm not on Facebook mostly because it feels like bragging to me. My real friends know where I go on vacation because I tell them. If I haven't seen them since high school, what possible difference does it make if I know that their children are graduating from high school or that I just went to Poland. But I realize I am weird.

Very interesting.
No... absolutely not weird.

I too struggle with the good and the bad of tech.

Try to look forward... ten, twenty, maybe 30 years. Consider the speed-of-light advance of artificial intelligence. Where will we be, when whatever we need to know, will be THERE? What will happen to HISTORY as a guide to learning, understanding and structuring law, politics, governance, and morality? Will thinking and reasoning still be there?... Or, will there be a new unseen replacement that doesn't even rely on words... a flash connection to the brain, that doesn't rely on the spoken word.

Think back to "Hal 9000"... Believe it or not, "2001" was written in 1968... fifty years ago. Imagination run wild in those days. For a review of Wiki, has a well written synopsis of the story.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(novel)

One far out comment:

The novel acknowledges that evolutionary theory entails that humanity is not the end, but only a step in the process. One way this process might continue, the book imagines, is that humans will learn to move to robot bodies and eventually rid themselves of a physical form altogether.

Crazy?... probably... I won't be around to see this, but enjoy tweaking my own imagination to look ahead. Many who post here will very likely be around to experience the new world, and like me, will be able to look back at the "good old days".

This is what some of us who are experiencing the drift into senility, do, to pass the time.

 

[sengsational]

Great thread. I liked listening to the reactions to the technology. My story, similar to some: gift/played/rare use/unplugged.


For me, if I want to know something, it's worth getting a more detailed understanding than these devices convey. I've got the time to read more than the first sentence on Wikipedia. I'd like to pull up the Doppler map, I'd like to play the music through big speakers.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We have a echo dot but the only thing we use it for is to get the temperature.

 

[Cobra9777]

...For me, if I want to know something, it's worth getting a more detailed understanding than these devices convey. I've got the time to read more than the first sentence on Wikipedia...

These devices aren't really intended for researching a topic in depth. Usually around our house, it gets used to quickly answer those random questions that pop up in casual conversations with friends, like... "How old is Keith Richards"? If you want to know about Keith Richards' early life and musical influences, then yes, go to the web.

That said, you can get slightly more detailed answers as follows:

"Alexa, who is Keith Richards?" ...you get the first sentence from Wikipedia.

"Alexa, give me more information about Keith Richards." ...you get the first two paragraphs from Wikipedia.

...I'd like to pull up the Doppler map...

This is possible on the Echo Show and Cube. There is no native skill currently, although I'm sure it's coming. Many local TV stations around the country have developed their own custom skill to show local radar and other local news. So for example, you can enable WRAL News and then say, "Alexa, ask WRAL for the radar."

I use an app on Fire TV Cube called Bookmarker 1. It simply stores any URL that launches on the Fire TV browser. So if we're sitting on the couch watching TV and I hear some rumbling outside, I just say, "Alexa, launch Bookmarker 1," and it immediately opens the browser and displays my favorite interactive local doppler radar site on the TV.

...I'd like to play the music through big speakers...

This is a built-in feature of the Fire TV Cube, which I enjoy everyday. It also displays album art and lyrics on the TV while playing through my AVR and big speakers. It can also be done with an Echo by linking to your receiver or AVR with Bluetooth, or by just running a cable from the audio out.

As with many new tech devices, there is a bit of a learning curve. It takes some effort to get beyond, "Alexa, what's the temperature?" For me, it's fun and challenging to keep up with the ever-expanding list of skills.

 

[bw5972]

Received an Echo Dot as a door prize. We had it set up for about a year, but after the initial novelty, we'd get frustrated when it would not provide an adequate response to our queries and force us to go to Google on a phone for an appropriate answer. After realizing that no one in the house even bothered to ask Alexa for over two month period......everyone would just grab their phone for an answer, I boxed it up and it is sitting on my desk until I get around to trying to sell it on Ebay. Good idea, half assed implementation and added security concerns.

I don’t ask my Echos much other than latest news or game scores. Did not get them to be an information resource. I do however use them to voice control my lighting for 4 rooms, my thermostats upstairs and down, several electrical outlets (fans, TV, Stereos). Better suited for home automation.

 

[Alan]

Am in the process of preparing an elementary course in the simple use of Alexa, to offer to residents in our CCRC.
Those who are familiar with the male/female/couple relationships in a retirement living situation will know that there are many widows and widowers who spend much of their time alone in their rooms. While not a perfect solution to loneliness, I believe this technology offers a path to a happier, more social and interactive life in the waning years.
One has only to spend time with an elderly person who is living a solitary life to understand the sadness and fragility of who we might call a "loner".

Still a ground floor part of the future, but the possibilities are endless. An educational breakthrough already, with interactive courses in many disciplines. a possible world changer for all levels of education. Assistance and new vistas for the blind. Amelioration for long term incarceration, to reduce costs and maintenance. Psychological assistance and interaction for the mentally disturbed. Hope and training for the indigent.

Limits only by the imagination. Tens of thousand "skills" already and growing exponentially. Imagine... a financial advisor... steeped in the combined knowledge of experienced brilliance.

An open doorway to artificial intelligence and an everywhere exposure to the worst problems that plague the world... war, the environment, disease, poverty... and the limitations of posed by the inaccessibility of knowledge.

And... for most here, to happen in our lifetime.

Cost $39.95

I think preparing a course is a great idea. Over a year ago my sister’s recently widowed MIL stayed with them for a few months before moving into a CCRC and she got to love their Alexa. When she moved into the CCRC her son bought her an Alexa Dot and set it up for her.

 

[Katsmeow]

isn't the answer 42

Only to the meaning of life....

 

[Bestwifeever]

Alexa’s going to college: https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/19/a...iving-spaces-with-thousands-of-echo-dots/amp/ Saint Louis University will have a couple thousand Echos for its students to use to get info about the school

 

[Mmm Rrr]

Today when I asked Alexa for the weather she told me "the weather today in Spokane is 63 degrees with dreary skies". With an air quality index of 372 (hazardous) she got that right from both a quantitative and qualitative point of view!

 

[Walt34]

Those with small children (or perhaps bigger ones too) should be aware of what can happen when you're not looking. A 6-year-old ordered $400 worth of stuff from Amazon without her parents permission. Be cautious of enabling one-click ordering:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entr...-face-says-it-all_us_5b746915e4b02b415d74c281

 

[SumDay]

We have 5 Amazon Echos, and can tell her to play one playlist "everywhere" and we have stereo music all over the house, including a bathroom and the mancave. I love her for timers, she reminds me to shut the garage door before I go to bed (we leave it cracked to let the heat out), but I especially love the LISTS feature. I used to think I had written something on a grocery list, then had a hissy fit when I realized I hadn't. Now, as I realize I'm almost out of mustard (or whatever) I just yell at her to add it to the grocery list.


When we go on vacation, we both miss her terribly. Seriously.


If someone wants to listen to our conversations, I'm quite certain they died of boredom a long time ago.

 

[Katiek]

I love my Alexa for playing Sirius/XM - much better sound than the home "boom box" I had before. Also love that I can ask the time without having to put on my glasses to see the clock. I also use the timer/alarm clock feature as well.

 

[imoldernu]

If someone wants to listen to our conversations, I'm quite certain they died of boredom a long time ago.

 

[TEO]

I use my Alexa every day along with a media server running on an old computer. Its connected to the stereo and using the skill "House Band" I can ask her to play any of my music. Its 95% accurate... I love it. The one down side is that once I tell her to turn up the volume past 5 or 6, she no longer hears me.

 

[NoMoreJob]

I'm a Google guy to the core (Chromebooks, Android phones on Google Fi, Google Wifi, etc.). But I use Alexa because I find it to be more functional...especially for creating multiple shopping lists by voice and synching them to my wife's and my phones. Also use Alexa to operate 'smart plugs' for water heater circulator and lamps as well as general information purposes. It seems like we're using more 'skills' all the time.