“The first college or university in the nation is installing Alexa-enabled Amazon Echo Dots in every single dorm room across campus,” Brittany Shoot reports for Fortune.
“St. Louis University, a private four-year university in Missouri, unveiled a plan to install 2,300 intelligent assistant-enabled Echo Dots in residence halls and student apartments before classes begin later this month,” Shoot reports. “The Alexa-enabled Echo Dots will be programmed to answer over 100 specific questions about the campus and student activities, such as the hours for the library or a list of upcoming public lectures.”
“The program, the first of its kind in the nation because it will include every residence on the school’s campus, is managed by Amazon’s Alexa for Business and supported by Amazon Web Services (AWS), which means students don’t have to know how to set up Alexa or the Echo Dot,” Shoot reports. “Instead the devices will be operated by a central system not tied to any student’s individual account and won’t retain personal information. Additionally, the university says the Echo Dots are operated at no cost to students.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Exit question:
How much would Apple Inc. be worth today had a Jeff Bezos-type CEO taken over the reins instead? – MacDailyNews, November 21, 2017
SEE ALSO:
Siri is listening to you, but she’s NOT spying, says Apple – August 13, 2018
Big Brother, campus wide? Nyyyyyyce way to lower attendance 😃.
Not only that but they’re letting the Slender Man and Reptile People listen in!
St. Louis University = no more
“How much would Apple Inc. be worth today had a Jeff Bezos-type CEO taken over the reins instead?”
Probably much, much less. Bezos’ values and strategies are exactly the opposite of Apple’s.
Be clear, what “values” do you speak of?
Jeff is a megalomaniac…building rockets, one of the biggest clocks in the world, world-wide retail store, richest and growing. Lastly, he thinks selling a 3-pack of one of the most lauded products is a good idea.
Congrats to him for all, except the last listed. Any dude that sells a vaulted product in a 3-pack has no class. Clothes pins are sold in multi-packs, not tech devices. Imagine a multi-pack of AirPods and Apple would be lost.
Yes, Bezos would have driven iPhone prices in a race to the bottom with the Android phones. Apple might have a bit more marketshare, but there would be next to zero profit. Just like Amazon.
Bezos is not a good CEO. Just look at the “Bezos charts” that he uses.
I would be bloody angry if there would be Alexa listening to you every where you go.
Siri does not listen to you all the time. You have to record your way to say “Hey Siri!” and that is taken to M-series processor that listens only that phrase. When it hears it the it opens the channel to Siri. In the Mac side of things this taken care of T-series processors.
Alexa, Google and Cortana sends everything to their servers.
Walmarts revenue is twice the Amazon and Walmarts profits are round 5% of the revenue like Amazons. Still Amazons value is ridiculously high compared to Walmart. It will take 220 years get your investment back from Amazon this speed. Apple and Tim Cook just crashes the Amazon and Jeff Bezos.
As long as I can cut the power to it… What purpose does this serve? No wonder tuition keeps going up at colleges they keep spending money on stupid things – I though colleges were supposed to have smart people working there.
Good question. Maybe b/c the “kids” will think it’s cool?
A smart, economical and efficient school would have all needed info on a portal accessed by the device EVERY student already owns.
College increasingly becomes a racquet.
Alexa, why is my university spying on me?
I wouldn’t want Jeff-rocket-man-Bezos anywhere near Apple management…he would completely run over the original ethos/gestalt.
Yes, the company is ripping it up, but there are a number of things I find curious, and undesirable…it’s a farking retail operation, it sells above mentioned product in 3-packs (how tacky), Wall Street kept the skids warm and greased prior to the current rise and I find post sale Amazon purchases a matter of hoop-jumping and not customer friendly. On top of these things, I’ve read more than a few articles about the environment for employees that could be characterized with “shackled.”
MDN, please stop using Jeff as the “meter” when imagining where AAPL “could be” if…. No need to mention, hopefully, but please don’t use Elon the Nut-Case either.
Anybody is better than cook. And since Bezos is the richest man in the universe, he must be doing something right.
You can make a lot of money without doing anything “right.”