Amazon echo dot

[winnietrey]

Perhaps this should be in ATC. And to those of you, that already have one, this is old news.

But for us. this thing is really great, kind of like the old star treks. Money well spent in my opinion. Very much enjoying it.

[John_Joey]

You guys smoking that wacky stuff or what. It's a voice activated interface to the web. That's all, you're putting it in the genre of artificial intelligence, which it is not.

It's no different then a corded mouse was 20 years ago. A means to input user requests. For those that think different ask Alexa to order a medium size Hawaiian pizza from the local Mom and Pop place (not Domino!) Not so smart now is it.

[MrWizard]

It would be really cool to be rolling down the road and ask, "Alexa, how much fresh water is in the trailer tank?", or "Alexa, what is the pressures and temperatures of my trailer tires?". I can think of lot's more.

I agree incredibly helpful
And no reason this has to go thru a internet connected data server
Why does it need to go there to read sensors in your vehicle

The intelligence to speak the sensor data needs to built into the RV or car

[WackAway]

Dot, Tap and Echo are current "Alexa enabled" devices sold by Amazon. But right now, companies are building, or planning on building "Alexa", Amazon's gateway, into almost everything. One example is Ford. Pretty soon, "Alexa" will be the voice interface to the Ford Sync systems across their entire fleet. Here's a quick teaser video:
Ford becomes the first automaker to bring Amazon Echo into their cars

It would be really cool to be rolling down the road and ask, "Alexa, how much fresh water is in the trailer tank?", or "Alexa, what is the pressures and temperatures of my trailer tires?". I can think of lot's more.

Amazon and third party developers are creating, "Alexa Skills", which are context specific tasks, at an amazing rate. In 2016 they added about 5000 new skills. Crazy! Some skills are very useful. But, a lot are simple or almost useless. Since it's so new, they were probably developers testing on how to make something within the ecosystem. There's even a "Camping How To" and a "Camping Trivia" skill..

While today it may seem like this technology is a convenience, think about someone with a disability. "Alexa, turn on the bathroom light", is a "tool" of freedom. Or, for someone with OCD like me, "Alexa, turn off the iron" while driving down the road can change a nervous day into a worry free day.

You won't be able to not use this technology soon. It is being baked into your oven (pun), car and many other things. And if you're worried about it "eaves dropping" on your life, don;t go the Wynn Las Vegas. They are adding it to their 4700 hotel rooms. See: "Wynn Las Vegas to add Amazon Alexa to all hotel rooms". Are we sure that "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"? Haha

I suggest that you try it out. If it works for you, you're going to love it. If not, give it to your kid or grand-kid.

Hope this helped.....

"Alexa, did I leave the coffee pot on?"

[CavemanCharlie]

dewey02 wrote:

qtla9111 wrote:
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.

What are those truly important things that you can spend your time doing?

As for the grandparent's comment about the kids with their cellphones:
It may be modern technology, but it is just rude behavior to be sitting in a room or at the dinner table with someone that you don't visit too often, and you have live people right there in front of you and you spend your time gazing at your phone and checking to see what the Kardashians are up to, or carrying on a conversation with your facebook "friends." Perhaps as a teacher, you should also be educating your students about respect, social grace, how to interact with actual people who are standing in front of you. It appears your students don't seem to understand that.

I don't think those grandparents are scoffing at the technology, they are commenting on the total lack of respect and social graces that their grandchildren are demonstrating.

I agree with most of this.

And,,, since we are on a RV site. It sucks to take some kid to the park and instead of fishing / swimming / biking etc they spend all the time looking at their phone. Sometimes you have to tell them to stop.

I don't mind modern technology but, there is a time and place for everything and sometimes people need to get away from the technology and back to nature.

A child that gets experience in lots of different things will grow up to be a better person.

[austinjenna]

Yes the music portion is good and the best part is NO COMMERCIALS to listen to for 10 minutes until the next song comes on

[1968mooney]

In these 6 pages of post's, I have learned everything I need to know about RVing.

[2oldman]

DutchmenSport wrote:
No idea, not the foggiest, what you are talking about!

Maybe you missed the subject.

[2oldman]

qtla9111 wrote:
As a teacher, one of the common complaints I have from students is about their grandparents. .

English teacher? 🙂

In case you haven't noticed, if you browse some product on Amazon, you'll see ads for it on other websites you visit. Your every movement is tracked.

[ktmrfs]

webslave wrote:
Not a huge stretch at all. The police are, even now, attempting to get Alexa recordings from Amazon in connection with a murder investigation in Arkansas... Alexa hears all and sends the voice data to Amazon servers where it is kept, virtually forever on backups of the server's data. You can "mute" the device, but, then you have to walk over to it to reactivate the microphone...kind of kills any advantage the device has.

It will be a really long time before I invite big brother in to live with us. We all use devices that can have their data hijacked, but, for the most part, you know when it might happen and can behave accordingly. Alexa records everything it hears and sends it to Amazon, nothing "selective" about it. If you just can't live with using the remote to turn your tv on, or, you can't be bothered to look at the weather app on your smartphone, then Alexa may be perfect for you. Just don't put it on the nightstand by your bed :B

there is a HUGE assupmtion from the law enforcement on this murder case. The ASSUMPTION is that ALL data (voice) IS store somewhere. Yes, questions you ask Echo does get stored, you can retrieve that info. But there is no reason to record all conversations it hears. ALL they need to do is store the CONTEXT of requests to build a data base of what has been asked to be able to make efficient use of the device.

And if you are worried about what data is available about you, sign into Social security for secure access to your SS history. You may be very very suprised at the questions you many be asked to verify your identity. things like what bank was your car loan at. Name the vehicle involved in the loan, where a sibling lives.

And the same thing for an account with Fedex or UPS to track packages sent to you. The details they know about you are incredible.

For DW and I, Echo or Google home is worth it for us, but decide what is important to you. Is it for everyone? well, no.

[webslave]

Not a huge stretch at all. The police are, even now, attempting to get Alexa recordings from Amazon in connection with a murder investigation in Arkansas... Alexa hears all and sends the voice data to Amazon servers where it is kept, virtually forever on backups of the server's data. You can "mute" the device, but, then you have to walk over to it to reactivate the microphone...kind of kills any advantage the device has.

It will be a really long time before I invite big brother in to live with us. We all use devices that can have their data hijacked, but, for the most part, you know when it might happen and can behave accordingly. Alexa records everything it hears and sends it to Amazon, nothing "selective" about it. If you just can't live with using the remote to turn your tv on, or, you can't be bothered to look at the weather app on your smartphone, then Alexa may be perfect for you. Just don't put it on the nightstand by your bed :B

[cjoseph]

I have two things I can add to all of the great post about this. We have the Echo.

The voice activation is the best I have encountered of all the devices I've tried equipped with it. Alexa knows every word. My iPhone gives me fits and I speak in the same voice with the same Hillbilly accent to both. My hands free in the car --forget about it.

Alexa is worth every cent just for the shopping list. We tell it to add something to the list, it goes to both phones. My wife and I both have the App on our phones. One of us buys something on the list, we check the box and it disappears on both phone's shopping list.

We are almost ready to tell it to start buying stuff for us:E

[MrWizard]

In case the point has not hit home
Alexa is the computer system, a data retrieval AI
The echo or dot is just a gateway, the interface
Alexa is always on
And the gateway is always ready , as long as the mic is on

Saying "Alexa" xx , puts the gateway in transit mode?
To send the request

[dewey02]

qtla9111 wrote:
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.

What are those truly important things that you can spend your time doing?

As for the grandparent's comment about the kids with their cellphones:
It may be modern technology, but it is just rude behavior to be sitting in a room or at the dinner table with someone that you don't visit too often, and you have live people right there in front of you and you spend your time gazing at your phone and checking to see what the Kardashians are up to, or carrying on a conversation with your facebook "friends." Perhaps as a teacher, you should also be educating your students about respect, social grace, how to interact with actual people who are standing in front of you. It appears your students don't seem to understand that.

I don't think those grandparents are scoffing at the technology, they are commenting on the total lack of respect and social graces that their grandchildren are demonstrating.

[Lantley]

STBRetired wrote:
There is currently a case in Arkansas where Amazon is being sued to release the audio that Alexa has which might be relevant to a murder case. Apparently it does send the audio back to Amazon's servers.

The questions asked of the Dot appear on my Alexa phone app.
So they are out there somewhere!