Amazon echo dot

Personally I think all the security issues are a NON issue in reality. Now that we have one unit, I suspect we will add a few more for the family room and garage.

What I question is how soon (if not now) the information these devices are able to collect is shared with other commercial enterprises. Will it be that the information given back is somehow "tainted" in the response that it gives to either give information of a commercial bent or will these devices give incorrect information to appeal to commercial interest?

Will these devices eavesdrop on all voice and sounds and enable decisions to be made about credit worthiness or insurability risk? Will government step in with analyzation software and monitor data?

This may be a stretch but if I'm engaged in a conversation in my home about terrorism and the words "Taliban", "bomb", "Daesh" are said a few times, do I get a visit in the middle of the night by our guys trying to stop certain activities?

Will criminals be able to hack into the voice streams of users and be able to virtually "case a house"?

Like said, most of the above is a huge stretch but I see the potential for a lot of misuse.

MrWizard wrote:
Star Trek is/was the 25th century, not the 21st

i'm 69 and been a GEEK all my life, but that does not mean, i can't do some things for myself

like take a few seconds to check the weather, or write a do list
or play my own music, or do my own research on google or other places

X2

To me it is just one more layer of an user interface. We went from a keyboard to a GUI front end to now a voice activated one. Echo doesn't do anything that you couldn't do prior.

I do think it would be very useful for my DW that is having a hard time keeping up with technology. It's a slick interface to the web for sure.

Star Trek is/was the 25th century, not the 21st

i'm 69 and been a GEEK all my life, but that does not mean, i can't do some things for myself

like take a few seconds to check the weather, or write a do list
or play my own music, or do my own research on google or other places

We have the google home, DD bought it for me for christmas. Very similar to amazon echo. After a few weeks using it we LOVE it. amazing how many questions it answers immediately. And I now have all my music able to be played in any or all of 5 rooms via google home, DW uses it for a Kitchen timer, I've asked it how far to a location in town and how long and it comes back. Even will tell teach you how to speak in Pig Latin.

Personally I think all the security issues are a NON issue in reality. Now that we have one unit, I suspect we will add a few more for the family room and garage.

You might want to try the Amazon Tap too. We have a Dot for inside the trailer and it is blue-toothed into the trailer stereo for good music. The Tap is a better sounding unit and we use it outside for music, weather, news, etc.

We do have a hot spot with smart lights and outlets so with the tap and dot we can voice control a lot of things in the trailer. I'm now figuring out a way to install a smart thermostat so we can say "Alexa, it's too cold" and have the heater come on. The smart ones want AC voltage.

None of this is "needed" but I'm a geek and blinking little gadgets are fun to me. One word to the wise though, never rely solely on automation devices. Always make sure that you can also control manually.

If you watched the Jetsons, Star Trek and the Twilight Zone weren't you the ones who said, "wow, the 21st century will really be something". Here we are and people who are over sixty are turning down the opportunity to free themselves from trivial chores so that they can do things that are truly important.

As a teacher, one of the common complaints I have from students is about their grandparents. They won't let us use our cellphones, tablets, X Box, etc when we go to visit. Whether we like it or not, technology is here to stay and it's really in its infancy.

A family member in the military is trained to intercept and listen to cell phone conversations. In fact, a few years ago, there was a number you could dial and listen to the airwaves and mixed cellphone conversations.

As someone else stated, let them listen, what will they hear? We're all human beings and as unique as we would like to think we are, we're not. Unique in some ways but our daily habits are all pretty much the same. We all eat, sleep, have relations, and go to the bathroom pretty much like any other species.

In most cases, like the teachers I train, they are afraid of technology and that is why it isn't used. Lack of knowledge and information. Embrace it, use it, and it may just be your best friend one day.

I don't like that idea that it is listening to everything I say. But,,, these days so is everything else so I have to live with that.

The only problem I have is that it is just something more to spend money on that I don't really need. It does not really help my life get any better.

Ask Alexa the current outside temp
Ask Alexa what the weather forecast is
Tell Alexa to play ** music
Ask Alexa to ring my wifes phone so she can find it
Tell Alexa to turn on the tv (thru our logitech harmony), or dvd, or volume up/down, etc. Which actually turns on soundbar, sets the tv input, etc. also
Tell Alexa to adjust our thermostat to ** degrees
Ask Alexa for traffic info
Ask Alexa where the closest ** store or place is
Ask Alexa for the phone number of ** place
Tell Alexa to set an alarm for ** time
Tell Alexa to start a ** sec/minute timer

Yup and I use a lot of these plus more

My wife is famous for watching a movie and asking a million questions 'I wonder how old Tom Hanks is?' Now she justs ass Alexa
Alexa how old is tom hanks

I wonder how tall xxx is?
Alexa how tall is XXX

I also use it for
Alexa turn on the living room light
Alexa wake me up in xxx minutes
Alexa what are the hours for the UPS store on xxx road
Alexa put 'fix the xxx on my to do list'
Alexa put bread on my shopping list
Alexa play christmas music

etc..

I dont care if they listen, I have nothing to hide

I use the full size Echo in my MH. She uses the WiFiRanger router to connect to campground WiFi, Sprint Hot spot, T Mobile Hot spot, Verizon hot spot, Karma hot spot and my winter spot Exede.

Some of the cool things Alexa can do for you.

She can listen to all I do and I don't care. She is happy to help me with any question I have. She doesn't give me a Honey to do list. Nor want new clothes or shoes. Much cheaper then my ex wife. :)

"The Echo is NOT recording conversations."

It may not be recording conversation per se, but it is passing them along.