“Amazon wants to show you how much you can rely on its Alexa voice assistant to control everything in your home, from thermostats to TVs,” Todd Haselton reports for CNBC. “The company announced Wednesday it’s partnering with homebuilder Lennar to create “Amazon Experience Centers” — model homes containing built-in Alexa-controlled appliances — in hopes of persuading homeowners and homebuyers to embed Amazon services into their houses.”
“Lennar is outfitting model homes with TVs connected to Amazon’s Fire TV system, buttons that can reorder goods from Amazon, and Alexa-enabled products that allow customers to control the lights, TV, shades and other appliances with their voices,” Haselton reports. “Customers can tour the homes in cities around the U.S. to get an idea of how they work.”
“Apple, Amazon and Google are all racing to get smart assistants into your homes,” Haselton reports. “Most households probably only have room for one of those — so getting customers into the ecosystem when they’re buying a home might keep them for the long haul.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hey Siri, why can Amazon Alexa do so much more than you even though you’re at least three years older?
Siri: “I couldn’t find the price of ping pong balls in China. Would you like to search the web for the price of ping pong balls in China?”
How much would Apple Inc. be worth today had a Jeff Bezos-type CEO taken over the reins instead? – MacDailyNews, November 21, 2017
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Nope, won’t ever allow Alexa or Gaggle into my home. The cost of being lazy and giving them access to all of my data, for free- isn’t worth the sacrifice. Get outside, experience nature and the outdoors, while you still can…
i use Amazon a lot for shopping, but i will refrain from using Alexa or any AI from anybody. Dont need a spy at home.
Letting Google or Amazon into your home is like welcoming the watchful red eye of HAL into your living space. Sooner or later you know somehow it’s going to get you compromised or killed.
This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye…
Love my Amazon Prime………..Alexa and AI in the home…………
HELLLLLLLLLLLLL NO….!!!
wHaT cOuLd gO wRonG……!!
Money is not the issue. Striving for it and it alone will give you Samsung, or Microsoft. Not how I define success.
Have a brand new (last week) Ecobee 4 controlling my HVAC. Alexa is disabled.
Use the third party (not Apple) Home app by Matthias Hochgatterer
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/home-smart-home-automation/id995994352?mt=8
Highly recommended.
Control MY home…?
Hah! The fiancée (!) would stomp Alexa’s pie hole in the mud….
this reality continues to be revealed.
I have 2 echos. I’m still alive. No identity theft. You all are paranoid freaks.
You remind me of all the Windows and Android users over the years who’ve swaggered “I’ve never been infected!” while millions of users are.
A HACKER TURNED AN AMAZON ECHO INTO A ‘WIRETAP
EVERY GOOD PARANOIAC sees an always-listening device like an Amazon Echo as a potential spy sitting in plain sight. Now one security researcher has shown exactly how fine the line is between countertop computer and surveillance tool. With just a few minutes of hands-on time, a hacker could turn an Echo into a personal eavesdropping microphone without leaving any physical trace.
👻👻👻
As with any technology, just get the amount you want. You don’t have to go with a completely automated home if you’re not comfortable. Just limit it for home audio and tv if that’s what you like. Forget locks and kitchen appliances if you feel it could be unsafe. All up to you. Being paranoid about a fully automated home when you’d never own one is just a waste of energy.
A new genre of horror films:
Haunted Automated House!
‘Alexa wants the lives of your family! Can you debug her in time?!’
‘They called it IoT, the “Internet Of Things”. But it was really the Internet Of TERROR!’
‘Open the front door Alexa. OPEN THE FRONT DOOR!’
‘I’m sorry, I can’t do that Dave.’
Good one!
Unless I can get enough funds to buy a fully alternative energy powered home I’m unlikely to make anything in my house ‘automated’. I basically try to eliminate any ‘vampire’ power devices by unplugging any device I don’t use multiple times a day. Smart speakers have to be constantly plugged in and connected to wifi so I don’t even consider owning one. Gotta keep on top of things when you live in a place with power costing ~$0.36/kwh.