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89 votes
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Amazon devices in the US will automatically join the Amazon Sidewalk mesh network and start sharing internet with neighbors on June 10th, unless opted out
30 votes -
Siri, Alexa, Google - Who's using and having good experiences with voice commands?
Hi there, Big companies are spending big money on allowing consumers to control everything from their TV, smart speakers, lights, microwaves, etc with voice commands. But do people really want...
Hi there,
Big companies are spending big money on allowing consumers to control everything from their TV, smart speakers, lights, microwaves, etc with voice commands. But do people really want that?
I'm curious because I very much do NOT want to interact with computers vocally. I find it's slow and prone to error, not unlike writing out long passages on a smartphone. It functions, but it's not a great experience and remains a novelty for me.
Bought both kids Echo Dots which is a smart speaker with Amazon's Alexa assistant. It's cool, really innovative. But after a couple weeks both remain unplugged in my kids' rooms - totally lost interest. The only person who I've seen really use a voice speaker is an elderly gentlemen for whom it was the easiest way to interact with a computer (using it specifically to play music and get news).
My friend swears that teens commonly use Siri on their phones to look up information. I can only think of one person I've seen actively use the voice controls and that was an older woman who wanted show her friends how Siri could "rap."
So I was curious how many of you find yourself frequently interacting with computers via voice commands. I personally feel very awkward and self-aware and get easily frustrated because it reminds me so much of the terrible automated attendants on 800 numbers.
Edit: You all are confirming my suspicions. Anyone under age 25 use the voice commands often? I feel like this is all just the first step in designing AI interfacing
28 votes -
A vast majority of people in the US and Canada suspect their smart speakers can eavesdrop on their conversations, and just over two-thirds think they’ve gotten ads based on that snooping
21 votes -
Amazon sends 1,700 Alexa voice recordings to a random person
17 votes -
Amazon workers are listening to what you tell Alexa
16 votes -
Amazon Alexa for Residential will let the voice assistant power apartment complexes
15 votes -
Amazon plans to release at least eight new Alexa-powered devices this year, including a microwave, an amplifier, and an in-car gadget
14 votes -
'It's time for us to watch them': App lets you spy on Alexa and the rest of your smart devices
11 votes -
Alexa, should we trust you?
10 votes -
Retiring Alexa.com on May 1, 2022
9 votes -
Connecting Amazon Echo Dot to smart TV
I'm wondering if anyone here might be able to help me with this. We've bought a Amazon Echo Dot for my Grandma who's no longer able to see very well. The idea was to connect it to her Smart TV so...
I'm wondering if anyone here might be able to help me with this.
We've bought a Amazon Echo Dot for my Grandma who's no longer able to see very well. The idea was to connect it to her Smart TV so that she would be able to navigate it using voice commands rather than the remote (which she can't see).
I've been able to add the TV as a device on the Alexa app, however I'm unable to get Alexa to carry out any commands on the TV - change the channel, open an app etc.
I believe that what I need to do is connect the TV to the Echo Dot via Bluetooth. Is this correct? Is it functionally a different thing than having something as a device in the app? Currently when I go to the TV under devices and click to manage linked Alexa devices, the Echo Dot is greyed out because it's already paired with a device (presumably the iPad where I've downloaded the app as there are no other devices connected).
If the lack of bluetooth connection is the issue, I'll need to buy a Bluetooth transmitter for the TV has it doesn't have bluetooth capability. So I just wanted to see if anyone had any advice for me before I invest in another piece of tech.
8 votes -
AI’s new frontier: Connecting grieving loved ones with the deceased
7 votes -
A hardware mute button for Alexa
6 votes -
Behind every robot is a human
6 votes -
Researchers have found methods of sending secret audio instructions undetectable to the human ear to Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant
6 votes -
Announcements from Amazon's 2019 hardware event: Echo Buds, Frames, Loop, Eero, Studio, Ring camera, and Alexa updates
5 votes -
Banking by smart speaker arrives, but security issues exist
2 votes