Amazon Plans To Release At Least 8 New Alexa-Powered Devices, Including A Microwave, Amplifier, and In-Car Gadget (cnbc.com) 47
Amazon is planning to release at least 8 new voice-controlled hardware devices before the end of the year, according to CNBC. "The devices include, among others, a microwave oven, an amplifier, a receiver, a subwoofer, and an in-car gadget, people familiar with the matter said," reports CNBC. "All of the devices will be Alexa-enabled, meaning they can easily connect to the voice assistant. Some of the devices will also have Alexa built in." From the report: Amazon is expected to reveal some of these devices at an event later this month, according to an internal document describing the plans. The new devices reflect Amazon's ambition to make its Alexa voice technology ubiquitous by focusing on areas where people spend most of their time -- at home and in the car. Alexa was initially considered a geeky experiment at Amazon. Now it is now one of the most popular voice assistants, leading the growth of the burgeoning smart speaker market, which is expected to be worth $30 billion by 2024, according to Global Market Insights.
How about Amazon APF? (Score:2, Insightful)
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devslash0: Alexa Piss Off!
Alexa: Based on your order history I found 10 gallon drum of piss. Would you like to buy it, or do you prefer your usual 5 gallon one?
Stoopid (Score:2)
No way would I ever own a device that contained a microphone and could connect to the internet! Everybody who disagrees with me is a sheeple.
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Re:Stoopid (Score:4, Insightful)
It amazes me how few people are aware of these risks. Would they still have bought their smart devices if they knew the other side of the story?
Lastly, where does it end? However vast data sets we can provide, they are ultimately finite. What are the big corporations going to do once they penetrate our houses and strip us of the last remaining bits of our privacy and dignity?
Perhaps they'll decide to turn to the medical side of our life. I hope they would offer free rectal probes one day so that they could get a close-up of where I think is their place.
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This is so sad. (Score:1)
Alexa, this is so sad. Please cook me two burritos and play despacito.
Microwave? (Score:4, Insightful)
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You forgot to add the part where Amazon sells the data of your eating habits to health insurance companies so that they can raise your rates or deny coverage based on your unhealthy meal choices.
They might sell anonymized data but selling personal data would get them into trouble.
It's more likely that they will ask you if you want to place an order to replace the groceries that you have used (i.e. automatic re-order or place it automatically in your cart). They also might use it to send coupons or suggest other foods that others have bought with the same item. Plus, you'll see ads for it on Facebook, etc.
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There are two features I can see being useful on a smart microwave, and if Amazon is reading this I'm happy to sign over the rights to these ideas for a free microwave. 1) It should be able to open the door when I ask it to so I can put things in with my hands full. 2) It should be able to read bar codes on the top of frozen meals and be able to re-heat them better than just setting it to 2-3 minutes on high.
"Open the microwave door, Hal."
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a microwave (Score:2)
"Tea, Earl Grey, Hot"
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"Tea, Earl Grey, Hot"
"Coffee, Black"
"Make it yourself" [youtube.com]
I read that as Microwave Amplifier (Score:2)
Was wondering why anyone would want Alexa controlling a Maser and wow imagine the product liability.
Alexa crank up the beam power to 5kw.
IoT Spreading like cancer. (Score:3)
At least it's improving (Score:4, Interesting)
I own an Echo dot. I've complained previously that it couldn't really even manage a shopping list, so I thought I'd give it another try when I saw this story. Just now I tried saying "Alexa, add eggs, milk, and cheese to my shopping list", I was surprised when she didn't add "eggs, milk, and cheese" as a single item, like before, and added three separate items as you'd generally expect.
When I indicated I'd like to clear my shopping list, Alexa used to tell me to use the shopping list app to do that (wtf). Now, she asked if I'd like to check off all items on my shopping list, and I answered "yes". Pleased, I said, "Alexa, that was really good.", and she said "Thank you."
Well, I guess the point of these devices is that since they're basically dumb terminals into Amazon services, they should keep improving. I'm glad to see they're still working on improving the basics.
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At $40, it seemed like a reasonable experiment to see if it might be useful to me. I'm interested in technology like this, and I have disposable income. I'm also a game developer, so I kind of wanted to investigate it's potential for audio-only games.
And don't play holier-than-thou and tell me you've never purchased any gizmo that turned out to be less than practical, because I wouldn't believe it.
I am waiting to see.. (Score:2)
...Alexa controlled amateur radio equipment. It could be the last nail in the coffin of a dead hobby.
Obligatory xkcd quote (Score:4, Informative)
Paying to be spied on (Score:2)