Amazon Echo - anyone have one?

Cosimo · 29 Nov 2016 at 15:17

Diddums said:
Are none of you concerned about having a device in your home which listens to every single thing that happens behind closed doors?

Maybe I'm being paranoid but the thought of willingly handing over all my personal conversations and "other sounds" to a company just doesn't sit right with me.

I more concerned about the random muttering coming from it when the tv is on and that my wife now refers to it as she.

Bassmansam · 29 Nov 2016 at 15:57

Diddums said:
Are none of you concerned about having a device in your home which listens to every single thing that happens behind closed doors?

Maybe I'm being paranoid but the thought of willingly handing over all my personal conversations and "other sounds" to a company just doesn't sit right with me.

Do you have conversations of an illegal nature? If not, whats to be aftaid of?

The IPB · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:05

Mine will just hear screaming kids the majority of the time, good luck to whoever wants to listen to that.

Basher · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:08

Bassmansam said:
Do you have conversations of an illegal nature? If not, whats to be aftaid of?

Targeted advertising based on your conversations would be pretty freaky. As would selling that kind of data/insight to a 3rd party.

I doubt that would happen, but they are concerns for some and not entirely unreasonable.

Bassmansam · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:10

How is that freaky?

Diddums · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:11

Bassmansam said:
Do you have conversations of an illegal nature? If not, whats to be aftaid of?

This:

Basher said:
Targeted advertising based on your conversations would be pretty freaky. As would selling that kind of data/insight to a 3rd party.

I doubt that would happen, but they are concerns for some and not entirely unreasonable.

That said, I do appreciate my privacy and although I am not a crim, I don't really want some spotty teenager jacking off / laughing to the sound of me pleasuring SWMBO.

Basher · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:21

Bassmansam said:
How is that freaky?

How is it not? Would you not find it weird if an advert was pushed to you based on a private conversation you had the previous evening with your wife?

Re-targeted advertising can be weird enough, but this could be a whole new level of privacy invasion.

Jagwar · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:25

I don't worry about it because I think others in a better position than me look at it closely and they would create some noise if there was a problem.
It was my understanding that Echo only listens for the wake word. After the wake word is heard the audio that follows is sent to the servers for translation.

Bassmansam · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:26

Basher said:
How is it not? Would you not find it weird if an advert was pushed to you based on a private conversation you had the previous evening with your wife?

Re-targeted advertising can be weird enough, but this could be a whole new level of privacy invasion.

No not really, it already happens based on your google searches as it is, shock bororor!

Basher · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:27

Bassmansam said:
No not really, it already happens based on your google searches as it is, shock bororor!

Yes, we're all aware of that and IMO the re-targeting method is particularly weird.

But Google searches are an active effort, we're talking here about passive listening. Totally different.

For the record, I don't think they are listening do everything we do, but I can appreciate that for some that is a valid concern.

The IPB · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:50

Basher said:
Yes, we're all aware of that and IMO the re-targeting method is particularly weird.

But Google searches are an active effort, we're talking here about passive listening. Totally different.

For the record, I don't think they are listening do everything we do, but I can appreciate that for some that is a valid concern.

It does have a mute button, for people who are worried, if that isn't enough you could always unplug it when you don't want it listening?

Anyone really worried about it won't buy it I guess.

hyperseven · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:51

The IPB said:
You can't take the dot outside it has to be connected to power to work.

They do the Amazon tap in America, which would be what you're after. Doesn't seem to be any info on when or if this will be released in the UK.

USB power bank?

Gammawolf · 29 Nov 2016 at 18:57

The IPB said:
£15 for a family Amazon unlimited account, once it's released.

Then use profiles on the echos, different profile logged into each echo. You can swap profiles whenever you want or need to.

I assume this would work once there is a family plan, would need to be tested though. I hope to do this for my kids once they are a bit older and want music in their rooms.

Well an update, i just got my second echo and i guess it treats them as a single device as i can listen to two diffrent things concurrently and its been working fine

manic111 · 29 Nov 2016 at 19:42

hyperseven said:
USB power bank?

That's what I was thinking...is the power socket USB mini?

AndyCr15 · 29 Nov 2016 at 21:38

The IPB said:
Anyone really worried about it won't buy it I guess.

You would assume someone that paranoid probably wouldn't have a smart phone either...

I've never seen an issue with targeted ads either. Surely they're better than non-targeted? The best ad you could see would be of something that you thought 'Oh, that's cool, I could really do with one of those!'.

Em3bbs · 29 Nov 2016 at 22:47

edit: wrong thread

The IPB · 30 Nov 2016 at 09:09

hyperseven said:
USB power bank?

It's doable I guess, but it's designed to be sat at home connected to your wifi so you can do smart things with it.

Sure you could connect it to your phone I guess, but it's really designed to remain indoors.

There are better sounding portable bluetooth speakers on the market.

PinkFloyd · 30 Nov 2016 at 18:30

Dot configured and playing music in the lounge.... So far so good for what I wanted it for. Not sure how much I'll use some of the more complex features, but we'll see

lakitu · 30 Nov 2016 at 18:35

I have 4 of these dotted around the house. Love them. Connected one to my main stereo in the living room and it's suprising how much more music/radio I listen too. The kitchen is great too for measurement conversions and listening to music when cooking. £40 it's a no brainer.

Also, if it wants to listen to my boring life then go for it.

BusError · 30 Nov 2016 at 18:36

BTW guys, do you knwo it the dot is capable of playing music thru the jack while still having the voice feedback on the built in speaker?

It's just because the audio amp+kit is normally off, so it needs to be turned on (via alexa, with a 433 socket?) before I can play music, while I still need alexa feedback voice...