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Amazon Unveils Echo, a Speaker With a Siri-Like Voice Assistant

ya, can we freak out in a few weeks.

Give any tech a mic and its imposed to snooping....


This is why spy cameras are so popular :)
 
Alenore said:
I like how a bunch of people here are scared that it'll listen to what they say all day and send the datas to amazon, while they most likely have a phone/tablet/computer turned on almost 100% of the time with a microphone and camera. :rolleyes:
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Strawman argument. The difference is that this is the entire purpose of this thing by design. That is not to say that it's not also a concern on regular devices if you have installed some kind of nefarious application.
 
I just find it interesting its "round"..... That's not like Amazon at all.. It's more like what Apple would have done.
 
Tech198 said:
I just find it interesting its "round"..... That's not like Amazon at all.. It's more like what Apple would have done.
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This would have been cooler:

earth_to_echo_02_bestmoviewalls_by_bestmoviewalls-d7k73o3.jpg
 
ssspinball said:
Why is it amazing when you could plug in your iPhone and use Hey Siri to replicate every feature and more with the exception of loudness?

Also it says "add to grocery list" but then where does that information go?
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Cause of the things that are possible later... think home automation with a device like this. Hypothetically we could have a real life JARVIS from Iron Man. Since this device is Bluetooth and Wifi, how far fetched would it be to create a hub that controls your lights, your garage door, your door locks etc that is voice controlled?

One would assume the "grocery list" would go to your app. In an ideal world this device would sync to your iPad/iPhone/Fire Phone/Kindle Fire... Since it's probably connected via Bluetooth 4.0.

Will this be as awesome as I'm imagining? Maybe not... but baby steps.
 
The alarm would have to be at least 10x louder than the one in the video to wake me up.

Edit: $199 for THAT? HAHAHAHAHA. I can buy a premium smartphone with a voice assistant for that much.
 
Cool.

On a side note, I can probably come up with a computer program that does the same thing. It'd be cheaper (for me, at least). I could allow it to listen to as many microphones as I can have it listen to. That'd be nice, because the ones that you'd likely use are less than $50.
 
subsonix said:
Strawman argument. The difference is that this is the entire purpose of this thing by design. That is not to say that it's not also a concern on regular devices if you have installed some kind of nefarious application.
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you dont need to install anything, the nsa has been doing this for years and still does. If your phone is supplied by your boss he can also do this.
 
subsonix said:
Well, that doesn't change the fact that these devices differ on intent and purpose, or make the issue any less of a concern.



Seriously doubt that.
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why on earth would you doubt that a company supplied phone would be monitored?
 
Fenez said:
why on earth would you doubt that a company supplied phone would be monitored?
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On iOS at least it would require that the device is jailbroken and that a background spyware application is installed that continuously record audio from the mic and broadcast it on the internet. That's very unlikely unless you have a really shady boss.
 
subsonix said:
On iOS at least it would require that the device is jailbroken and that a background spyware application is installed that continuously record audio from the mic and broadcast it on the internet. That's very unlikely unless you have a really shady boss.
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no it doesnt... level 3 communications supplies all iphone and monitors everything on that phone including messaging and social media. there are numerous apps that companies use to do this.
 
Fenez said:
no it doesnt... level 3 communications supplies all iphone and monitors everything on that phone including messaging and social media. there are numerous apps that companies use to do this.
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You're wrong.. But I guess it's going to be a waste of time trying to convince you about it. Never mind.
 
Fenez said:
i work for the company...they do it and they tell you they do it
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If they are open about it I suppose you can provide a link on how the technology works, and how they are able to circumvent application policies of the OS.
 
It would need good voice recognition so that cantaloupe does not come out canned envelopes.
 
subsonix said:
If they are open about it I suppose you can provide a link on how the technology works, and how they are able to circumvent application policies of the OS.
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I have no idea what the application is called but we were told that they can remotely wipe our company passwords and if we need it support from the company they can remotely access our phones to help us... needless to say everyone in the office now has a personal phone which sucks because having a company supplied phone and never having a bill was a nice benefit.
 
Don't know why so many people are trashing this. It's a really cool and common sense idea. Yes, it's SIRI in a tube, but with this, I don't have to find my phone, pick it up, and hold down the home button just to get the number of ounces in a cup when I'm cooking in the kitchen with flour all over my hands.

I would use this like crazy when watching football on Saturdays when I need to know the score of another game I'm not currently watching. Really cool device Amazon. Only question is, is how smart is it really. I myself am going to want it to be pretty smart if I buy it.

I honestly think this is a very Apple idea. But it's not Apple who built it. It's Amazon, therefore, it will have a hard time taking off.
 
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