By default Siri is always listening as well. I turned that feature off after it randomly responded to conversations. Creepy....

A step closer to IoT (Internet of things)...AI, etc. Watson, are you listening?

Indeed...hell, I wouldn't even want one of those clapon/clapoff things listening :)

Here you go guys, was only a question of time:

Police Requests Amazon Echo Data To Help Solve A Murder: Alexa, Who Did It? : TECH : Tech Times

G

Timely,just watched a movie on Netflix last night called I.T. stars Pierce Brosnan.
Drama /thriller worth watching !! Deals with this theme. High tech and the dangers
running amok. Check it out.

We've had ours for about a week and so far it's getting used quite a bit. We have it hooked up to our nest home thermometer so you can ask it to adjust the heat without getting up or finding a phone. I'm a compulsive google user so I ask it a lot of questions about definitions of words, or meanings of phrases...it's a fun toy and something I imagine will continue to be useful.

We got three of them at Christmas, one for each kid and one for me. They have been fun to play with so far for sure. The kids love asking Alexa questions and some of her responses are pretty funny.

[QUOTE=onewhippedpuppy;9281581]By default Siri is always listening as well. I turned that feature off after it randomly responded to conversations. Creepy....[/QUOTE

Mine responds to the tv when her name is mentioned!

I don't care if voice commands are "the wave of the future", I will not be talking to one in my home. It would just seem to add to the noise clutter of a busy house, have the threat of being hacked/spyed on, and enabling lazy people to become more lazy.

+1 SmileWavy

But can you place an order for PP car parts on it? Is Wayne listening in now?

I'll get one when the user can pick the name. I'd like to say "Computer: look up Earth's ancient pop culture for..." in my best James Kirk voice.

That, or I'd want to call it Shenana (she-nay-nay). "Shenana, play Rhapsody in Blue, please."

I am looking at this and the Google Home. I think Googles responsiveness to layers of questions is better....but still not where I would pull the trigger. I would like to use it for selecting music from my 50,000 song NAS, but so far neither will do it. Music is from Google or Amazon cloud service. No thanks. Interesting though.

Seriously agree... have we become so lazy we can't pick up our phone and ask google a question?

There is a great possibility for a comedy skit here...

Couple getting busy in the bedroom:

"OH GOD! OH GOD!"
Siri: "In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith"
"FASTER!FASTER!"
Siri: "The final line-up for Faster Faster was formed in July 2007 by five musicians. Kyle (vocals), Randall (vocals/guitar), Ryan (guitar), Steuart (drums), and Joey (bass) were all previously members of other local bands in and around Brunswick"
"OH BABY!"
Siri: "Oh Baby is an American sitcom series that ran on Lifetime from August 26, 1998 to March 4, 2000"

Got an ECHO Dot for xmas, still figuring it out, but pretty cool, will adjust my NEST and my HUE lights.

You can change the "wake" word to anything. I imagine there is a reason for Alexa. Something to do with the syllable combination?

I got one for my Dad for Christmas. They don't have any smart home stuff, so looking for suggestions on what would be cool for a 75 year old, besides questions, weather, etc.

Alexa...start Jeopardy

Got 2... Mostly for my kids! Paired with smart sockets and light switches, they allow the 5 y old to shout "Alexa lights on" before heading downstairs (not get scared) or "nightlight on" at night if he wakes up. Very good at that... It will occasionally tell good jokes too...
Make sure to turn off the amazon purchase option, way too easy to buy things !!!
All in all it suffers from lack of a manual, I'm sure it can do so much more but like every smart device it comes "as is". Alexa is also not as smart as Siri, or OK google... from experience. But for home automation, news, music, it's cheap as hell... $39 for echo dots over xmas, get a couple plus some smart sockets and you have some serious home automation <$150 !