Amazon Echo Just Turned Your Living Room Into A Battleground

Forbes.com ^ | Jun 26, 2015 | Janakiram MSV

[Mad Dawgg]

This thing looks cool. As one guy described it. Its like having a Star Trek Computer in your house.

I don't usually get all that excited about gadgets but this seems like it has all sorts of potential.

[Vince Ferrer]

Every home needs a big brother.

[upchuck]

My home IoT consists of my desktop computer. Period. No reason to hook anything else to the Internet.

[Skooz]

I’ve had mine for about 6 months now.

It’s pretty cool. It’s useful. But, it isn’t really life changing.

[Mad Dawgg]

Yeah but now it can talk to you and tell you when you are slipping into a thoughtcrime LIVE!

You gotta admit that is awesome hahahaha

[Fester Chugabrew]

I’m beginning to wonder if this alien umbilical ought to be cut off from home and family for the good of mankind.

[Mad Dawgg]

Come on, you know the old saying...

"Once you connect to the Alien Umbilical you never go back!"

[Vince Ferrer]

[Alex Murphy]

“Help, Amazon! I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!”

[KarlInOhio]

I ordered one and forgot about it I was so far down the list. Then a couple of months ago I got notice about it shipping. More than anything I use it to listen to radio stations because it is easy to say "Alexa, play WKRC". Unfortunately to do anything much more complicated that that, setting alarm or adjusting volume just doesn't work all that well. If I want to play music I usually go through their Android app which stinks on ice. Or I just use it as a way overpriced bluetooth speaker and play though another app which can see my own file server rather than just music I have on Amazon's server.

[Finatic]

I got one during the initial launch last November for $99. You really need to have Amazon Prime to get the most usefulness out of it but once you do I found it to be a very handy gadget. Some limitations I hope will be addressed in 2.0 down the road. After a couple weeks of it I sold it on eBay for $320 and really haven’t missed it.

[867V309]

I don't usually get all that excited about gadgets but this seems like it has all sorts of potential.

Yes it does! Ever read 1984?

[Dan Cooper]

It’s an open mic that sends the audio it hears to Amazon’s computers to be recognized. I don’t think Amazon is necessarily doing anything nefarious with it, but it seems like a fat target for anyone else to try to subvert.

[Sarah Barracuda]

My brother in law has this in the bedroom..thing just looks weird, I said “Alexa, how hot is it today” and most of the time she gets the correct info, but other times she will say “Sorry, I cant access this information right now, try again later” and also what stinks is that the news reports come from NPR if I wanted to fall asleep I would just turn on MSNBC

[publius911]

...and IoT you too!

[clintonh8r]

I have a Commodore and The Clapper.....

[mass55th]

I checked it out on Amazon. It’s nothing I need or want. I only play music in my car, and that’s when I’m not listening to Rush. I have a Kindle which I read in bed, and also read regular books. I hate audio books. If I want my lights turned on and off, I’ll get up off my fat ass and do it myself. If I have any questions to ask, I’ll do a search on my computer to find the answer. And if I want to order anything from Amazon, I’ll do that from my computer too. I don’t have a smart phone or iPhone, just a regular cell phone and a landline. About the only fancy electronic gadget I have is a Roku which works just fine for my needs. I’m a simple person with simple tastes.

[upchuck]

Both are great inventions that became silly items with age.

[doorgunner69]

Lived this long without this crap, and did quite well. Certainly do not see the need to jump on the airhead bandwagon now.............

[doorgunner69]

Good thing it cannot hear him in his bathroom after a bad burrito night............