Alexa reportedly a huge failure on track to lose Amazon $10 billion in 2022

[Dolby]

all voice assistants are literally the most pointless invention ever,
either they don't work with your accent, or they are a major privacy violation with them recording everything to serve you adverts later on.

problem is Big tech has to keep coming up with stuff all the time, even stuff that there isnt much of a usage case for,
like these voice assistants, I mean sometimes its got a very limited use, but other times its completely useless.

Limited as it may be, I will never not have one in my house

- White noise auto triggered by baby crying helped us nicely when kids were under 6 months
- Ability to switch off lights around you when you're sitting or in bed
- Shopping Lists are a dream and come through to mine and gf phone
- Reminders to do certain things or take certain medication ; or even once off reminders
- Countdowns for cooking

 

[gregmcc]

Limited as it may be, I will never not have one in my house

- White noise auto triggered by baby crying helped us nicely when kids were under 6 months
- Ability to switch off lights around you when you're sitting or in bed
- Shopping Lists are a dream and come through to mine and gf phone
- Reminders to do certain things or take certain medication ; or even once off reminders
- Countdowns for cooking

Don't forget the announce feature. I don't have to shout to the other side of the house anymore

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Limited as it may be, I will never not have one in my house

- White noise auto triggered by baby crying helped us nicely when kids were under 6 months
- Ability to switch off lights around you when you're sitting or in bed
- Shopping Lists are a dream and come through to mine and gf phone
- Reminders to do certain things or take certain medication ; or even once off reminders
- Countdowns for cooking

Id imagine if you were a Paraplegic and literally couldn't move your limbs,
sure it be useful, assuming it can understand you,

but for everybody else, are people that lazy that they cant tap a few virtual buttons?

 

[Dolby]

but for everybody else, are people that lazy that they cant tap a few virtual buttons?

I guess the same could be said with any technology that makes life easier & more convenient ?

If you're anti-progress and ant-technology as you seem to be be, MyBroadband may be the wrong place for you

 

[FiestaST]

I guess the same could be said with any technology that makes life easier & more convenient ?

If you're anti-progress and ant-technology as yo seem to be be, MyBroadband may be the wrong place for you

I have to agree with you here.

I find GA invaluable & a time saver.

 

[greg0205]

Limited as it may be, I will never not have one in my house

- White noise auto triggered by baby crying helped us nicely when kids were under 6 months
- Ability to switch off lights around you when you're sitting or in bed
- Shopping Lists are a dream and come through to mine and gf phone
- Reminders to do certain things or take certain medication ; or even once off reminders
- Countdowns for cooking

^ This.

I guess the same could be said with any technology that makes life easier & more convenient ?

If you're anti-progress and ant-technology as yo seem to be be, MyBroadband may be the wrong place for you

^ And this.

I always figured folks on MyBB would embrace things like home automation and EVs, but it turns out I might have given 'em more credit than they deserved.

 

[CommonSense]

Just do like another "wunder kind" did recently and charge everyone $8 to use it per month. Problem solved.

 

[RaptorSA]

I always figured folks on MyBB would embrace things like home automation and EVs, but it turns out I might have given 'em more credit than they deserved.

I seem to constantly forget that using the assistant is an option. But that's clearly a ME problem.

One problem is though that there's a tendency for some integration features to suddenly stop working one day for no reason and when that happens I just p!sses me off and I stop using it.... an example are some services that integrate with the Google Home app for instance, they'll sometimes randomly sign out so you have to relink the account or they stop working when an update is rolled out (stuff like Mi Home integration and Ezviz for my security cameras for instance).

One thing that drove me over the edge one day was when Philips Hue suddenly decided to drop support for the old round hub, expecting you to spend R1.5K+ for something that worked perfectly. Not the assistant's fault of course but the lack of standardization in the home automation industry can be infuriating. I suspect it's been getting better though but haven't bothered recently.

It can be cool when it works though... the addition of command chaining on the google assistant was very cool.

 

[greg0205]

I seem to constantly forget that using the assistant is an option. But that's clearly a ME problem.

One problem is though that there's a tendency for some integration features to suddenly stop working one day for no reason and when that happens I just p!sses me off and I stop using it.... an example are some services that integrate with the Google Home app for instance, they'll sometimes randomly sign out so you have to relink the account or they stop working when an update is rolled out (stuff like Mi Home integration and Ezviz for my security cameras for instance).

One thing that drove me over the edge one day was when Philips Hue suddenly decided to drop support for the old round hub, expecting you to spend R1.5K+ for something that worked perfectly. Not the assistant's fault of course but the lack of standardization in the home automation industry can be infuriating. I suspect it's been getting better though but haven't bothered recently.

It can be cool when it works though... the addition of command chaining on the google assistant was very cool.

Been eyeing out some Hue lights, so it's a little concerning that Philips would drop support for one of their products... I'm a Siri and HomeKit kinda guy 'tho, and I've never experienced anything like a device just signing out, update or no. That's, I wanna say, problematic, especially with security cameras.

That said, I think companies adopting Matter will make a huge difference, especially if some of the gear already out there can be updated to the standard.

 

[RaptorSA]

Been eyeing out some Hue lights, so it's a little concerning that Philips would drop support for one of their products...

Trust me on this, stay far the hell away from Philips Hue.

They're insanely overpriced and there are way better options these days for much cheaper. They also don't respond to market competition as one would expect so some of the pricing on their products is ludicrous.
(imagine actually paying R4.5K just for the HDMI sync box that could control some lights based on the image on your TV).
LifX is just one example of a way superior brand.

I just went with Hue since a bunch of years ago they were the only good option if you took into account app and service support. Cost me an arm and a leg.

 

[_TrXtR_]

So this is a bigger f up than twitter. Do we target and attack the CEO personally?
Or has he not been successful enough for thst kinda flattery?

 

[Gudnews]

It feels ahead of it's time to me. When your fridge can order from Checkers, Alexa will shine.

 

[Sensorei]

I guess the same could be said with any technology that makes life easier & more convenient ?

If you're anti-progress and ant-technology as you seem to be be, MyBroadband may be the wrong place for you

Exactly. I have 6 Alexas in my house. It's one of the most useful gadgets I have owned. We use it for all our lights, opening/closing the garage and driveway gate, switching fans on/off, a timer for cooking or when the kids are in timeout.

Alexa even scared off an intruder in my font yard. If my cameras spots someone in my front yard late at night Alexa shouts at them that they're being recorded and that armed response is on the way. Alexa + IFTTT can be very useful.

 

[RaptorSA]

Alexa even scared off an intruder in my font yard. If my cameras spots someone in my front yard late at night Alexa shouts at them that they're being recorded and that armed response is on the way. Alexa + IFTTT can be very useful.

That's pretty badass.

 

[supersunbird]

I guess the same could be said with any technology that makes life easier & more convenient ?

If you're anti-progress and ant-technology as you seem to be be, MyBroadband may be the wrong place for you

Next you'll be saying keyless entry vehicles are lovely in SA and touch screen only controls are awesome in cars.

 

[Dolby]

Next you'll be saying keyless entry vehicles are lovely in SA and touch screen only controls are awesome in cars.

I love keyless entry vehicles !

Touch screen controls are iffy though

 

[Botha22]

So this is a bigger f up than twitter. Do we target and attack the CEO personally?
Or has he not been successful enough for thst kinda flattery?

Not many people know or care who the Amazon CEO is (and no, it is not Jeff Bezos). There are not many opportunities to tell him what a POS you may think he is. If you want to build up some sort of cult status / become a social media "star, constantly on Twitter, then you should be prepared for the rough and tumble associated with social media.