Echo, does my *** look big in this?

I think we'll be here in a few years where someone will be doing a PhD on why people really buy these virtual assistants.

The outcome is likely going to be "less loneliness" and "someone to talk to" in a sea of depression.
 
StriderX said:
I think we'll be here in a few years where someone will be doing a PhD on why people really buy these virtual assistants.

The outcome is likely going to be "less loneliness" and "someone to talk to" in a sea of depression.
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The next stage will presumably be when as well as telling you what to wear etc. the AI kicks in to make them seem like your best friend. You've just given me a horrific premonition of future arguments:

"You talk to that thing more than me"
"I knew I should have gone with what Echo recommended and not listened to you"
"At least Echo understands me"
 
Flibster said:
I like the echo (got 3 of them in the house), but this... Naaah...

God knows what it'd think of my dress sense. :D
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The key question is...how many doll houses do you have now? :)

In case anyone doesn't get the reference: A girl asked the device for a dollhouse, so it bought her one using her parents' card details (there's no option to stop Amazon adding your card details as a payment method forever, so you card is always available). The local news report on the story quoted the girl, which triggered Echo devices within range of TVs tuned to that channel to order dollhouses.
 
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Angilion said:
The key question is...how many doll houses do you have now? :)

In case anyone doesn't get the reference: A girl asked the device for a dollhouse, so it bought her one using her parents' card details (there's no option to stop Amazon adding your card details as a payment method forever, so you card is always available). The local news report on the story quoted the girl, which triggered Echo devices within range of TVs tuned to that channel to order dollhouses.
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None. You can switch of voice purchasing in the app. :D
Mine are mainly used for Audible, Amazon music and podcasts in the lounge, kitchen and my office/playroom.

That was funny as hell though.
 
Why are people willingly installing spyware into their houses?

It's almost as crazy as people who install Win10.
 
Voicon said:
It's just as crazy as the amount of tin foil you buy for hats? :)
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Tinfoil hats are for the weirdest of highly implausible conspiracy beliefs. There's no conspiracy about the spyware referred to - not only is it openly acknowledged, it's used as a selling point.

Whether deliberately arranging for yourself to be the target of spyware is crazy is debateable, but the fact that spyware is spyware is neither debateable nor a conspiracy. No tinfoil hats required.

The immense change in attitudes towards privacy and surveillance in such a short period of time is remarkable and continues to increase. It's a radical change in society. It's not surprising that some people think it's crazy. I remember mainstream UK media condemnation of a regime for installing spy cameras in towns to watch the people it ruled over. Now, less than 30 years later, the UK does that more than anywhere else in the world. I remember when every source advised people to obscure their identity when online, use a false name and not publish personal information. Now, little more than 20 years later that has completely reversed. I remember when spyware was considered a bad thing. Now, less than 10 years later, it's baked into every major operating system. I remember when only convicted criminals had tracking devices as part of their sentence. Now most people routinely carry tracking devices that are far more intrusive than the ones on convicted criminals serving a sentence. I remember when routine surveillance of people in their own homes was only part of dystopian fiction (most famously 1984). Even after routine surveillance of people outside and at work became normal, well, people's homes were different. Now it's already normal enough for it to be socially acceptable to liken people who reject it to nutjobs who think the secret conspiracy is beaming mind control rays into their heads and the surveillance is far more extreme than anything George Orwell imagined and getting ever more so (with the device mentioned in this thread being a good example).
 
Why is the word 'bum' considered to be worthy of censoring? We already have moderators being over-zealous when adding words to the forum's filter, do we really need to start self-censoring words that don't need to be?
 
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