Meet The Next Major Operating System: Amazon's Alexa (zdnet.com) 168
ZDNet's editor-in-chief warns that Amazon has ambitious plans for its new Echo Plus:
Amazon is making an explicit play to be the home hub because it can automatically discover and set up lights, locks, plugs, and switches without the need for additional hubs or apps. And the Alexa 'routines' feature will be able to tie all of this together by allowing you to automate a series of actions with a single voice command: saying "Alexa, good night," and having it turn off the lights, lock the door, and turn off the TV, for example. A platform that other apps and devices can connect into? This starts to sound a lot like an operating system for the home to me.
It's not just the home, either; Amazon announced a deal to make Alexa available in BMW and Mini vehicles from the middle of next year, allowing drivers to use the digital assistant to get directions, play music or control smart home devices while travelling, without having to use a separate app. Travellers will also have access to Alexa skills from third-party developers like Starbucks, allowing them to order their coffee while driving and thus skip the line. Back in January, Amazon and Ford said they were working together to allow voice commands to turn on the engine, lock or unlock the doors as well as play music and use other skills...
It's still early days but I think Alexa has a good shot at becoming one of the standard interfaces, certainly for consumers -- an operating system for the home, if not more, if the automotive tie-ups take off too. All of this will make Amazon a serious force to be reckoned with. Windows has the desktop, and Android and iOS can fight it out for the smartphone, but right now Alexa has a lock on the smart home.
It's not just the home, either; Amazon announced a deal to make Alexa available in BMW and Mini vehicles from the middle of next year, allowing drivers to use the digital assistant to get directions, play music or control smart home devices while travelling, without having to use a separate app. Travellers will also have access to Alexa skills from third-party developers like Starbucks, allowing them to order their coffee while driving and thus skip the line. Back in January, Amazon and Ford said they were working together to allow voice commands to turn on the engine, lock or unlock the doors as well as play music and use other skills...
It's still early days but I think Alexa has a good shot at becoming one of the standard interfaces, certainly for consumers -- an operating system for the home, if not more, if the automotive tie-ups take off too. All of this will make Amazon a serious force to be reckoned with. Windows has the desktop, and Android and iOS can fight it out for the smartphone, but right now Alexa has a lock on the smart home.
AMZN had *better* emphasize security (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Add the ability to recognize a specific voice that is authorized to issue commands. (No more South Park incidents. Period.)
2. Make sure that things like lights, door locks, etc. ALL have manual overrides. This capability will need to be certified, which will give Amazon a lot of control over which companies/devices will work with the system. OTOH, from a security standpoint, if you don't want your home broken into, you'd better have that sort of reassurance built-in.
Unless the OS security, both internal and external isn't a LOT better than what we're getting from the Internet of Crap, this will be another disaster.
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Unless the OS security, both internal and external isn't a LOT better than what we're getting from the Internet of Crap, this will be another disaster.
Maybe that's exactly what needs to happen. Thankfully it won't affect anyone with a clue. The rest get to (re)learn a valuable lesson about blind trust and their addiction to convenience.
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All great points. Thanks. I hadn't thought it through that far. I will now.
You seriously didn't think that this would be a very tempting target for hackers? Most of them will do it just to be asshats. But some will be much worse. Just wait until the home-invasion types turn into script kiddies. They can download an easy exploit and do things like remotely figure out when you're not home, unlock the doors to avoid all the noise/mess of breaking and entering, all sorts of things like that.
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Get those toy parrots you see in the supermarket and get them to issue Alexa commands. Though it would be fun if you could give them Alexa commands.
Re:AMZN had *better* emphasize security (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless the OS security, both internal and external isn't a LOT better than what we're getting from the Internet of Crap, this will be another disaster.
The Internet of Crap consumer has purchased an always-on listening device buried deep inside the most personal spaces of their life. What in the FUCK makes you think that kind of consumer gives a shit about emphasizing security when privacy was dismissed long ago?
Oh, and "manual override"? That would assume the consumer A) knows how, or B) wants to learn. The entire point of automating the shit out of every little thing is so they don't have to bother with manual anything anymore.
Re:AMZN had *better* emphasize security (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, I think they "give a shit." But, the typical consumer doesn't understand either the privacy or the security implications. They can't "dismiss" something they don't understan. They just naively assume that nothing happens other than it listens and reacts to the single sentence beginning with "Alexa" (or Siri, or Hey Google, or
That there's more is buried deep in legal terms no one reads.
The recognition of that naivete in your second point should be reflected in the first.
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What in the FUCK makes you think that kind of consumer gives a shit about emphasizing security when privacy was dismissed long ago?
Because security and privacy are two very different things.
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What in the FUCK makes you think that kind of consumer gives a shit about emphasizing security when privacy was dismissed long ago?
Because security and privacy are two very different things.
In the online space, the ignorant masses blur the line. They use the same shitty password they had in high school, and share their entire lives on social media. Privacy is dead, and security has always been considered an annoying inconvenience.
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You apply an arbitrary black and white label to something with various shades of grey.
Ask a teen tweeting their lives away on social media if you can watch them having sex in their bedroom. Expect them to say no, because privacy isn't a black and white matter.
Ask a person who used their same password on their facebook page since primary school why they also have a concealed carry permit. Expect them to take a defensive stance because security isn't a black and white matter either.
Privacy isn't dismissed. Yo
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You apply an arbitrary black and white label to something with various shades of grey.
Ask a teen tweeting their lives away on social media if you can watch them having sex in their bedroom. Expect them to say no, because privacy isn't a black and white matter. Ask a person who used their same password on their facebook page since primary school why they also have a concealed carry permit. Expect them to take a defensive stance because security isn't a black and white matter either.
I applied an online label to the problem I was describing. You brought the physical world into your examples, which I was not addressing at all. Yes, people naturally value privacy and security in the physical world. My point was people ignorantly dismiss it on the online space, and there is an endless amount of evidence that shows the risk and damage when you dismiss that, which tends to make it rather black and white.
As far as how you manage your online space and authentication, I have no comment. Yo
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I applied an online label to the problem I was describing.
Oooh the "but on a computer" patent claim. Your online world is identical to the physical world. I share and reuse passwords, I already told you that. Now try and get in my bank account. Online off course.
You place a different level of value on privacy than someone else and then unfairly make some assumptions based on that persons's value of security. It's an asinine conclusion to make. They are different, regardless of how you misconstrue what I said.
Proprietary software means insecurity. (Score:5, Insightful)
So long as any part of this depends on non-free (proprietary, user subjugating) software, insecurity is to be assumed because untrustworthiness is guaranteed. Manual overrides on proprietary software are an illusion built to placate those who don't think through the process thoroughly.
It's also worth recognizing that this is entirely unnecessary. People have been quite fine to turn on/off their own house lights, lock/unlock their own door locks (without handing out keys to others such as an unknowable and indeterminably large set of people who want free access without making it look like they broke in), and so on without automation. Principled technologists know when it's a better option to say no to automation and remote control, this is most obviously the correct reaction in the face of a system the user has no permission to fully and exclusively control.
There's no way of "securing" door locks, for instance, with software one doesn't control and fully have the freedom to own. When dealing with a system a proprietor can augment or replace at any time, manual overrides mean nothing.
Re:Proprietary software means insecurity. (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes. cf. Cory Doctorow: Demon-Haunted World [locusmag.com]
I think the above article should be mandatory reading.
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1. Add the ability to recognize a specific voice that is authorized to issue commands. (No more South Park incidents. Period.)
I don't own one. So I don't know if this is just marketing...
But Amazon seems to have a new(?) series of TV Ads that I saw this morning that proclaims that Alexa can recognize different voices. So the idea is that if I say, "Alexa, call Mom" it will call my mother and not, say, my roommate's mother.
So I assume there's another check-box somewhere that says, "Only listen to known voices."
Of course, I'd also assume that such things are turned off by default.
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But Amazon seems to have a new(?) series of TV Ads that I saw this morning that proclaims that Alexa can recognize different voices.
I have an Echo. If I say "Alexa play some music", she will select something I like, such as Waylon Jennings. If my daughter says the same thing, it will play something she likes, like Bruno Mars. So there is clearly some individual voice recognition.
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If I say "Alexa play some music", she will select something I like
There's no 'she'. It's an 'it'.
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There's no 'she'. It's an 'it'.
"Alexa, are you a girl?"
"I am female in character."
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Don't say that! You'll upset her.
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What I'm curious about is whether if I come visit you and I say, "Alexa, play some music", will Alexa just ignore me?
Or even scarier, it'll start playing some MCR because it knows it's me...and I don't even have an Alexa!
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2. Make sure that things like lights, door locks, etc. ALL have manual overrides.
Whether an IoT device has a manual override should be up to the device manufacturer, not mandated by Amazon.
I have an Amazon Echo, along with many IoT devices. The door locks, light switches, and even the built-in speaker all have manual overrides. The security cameras do not, but that doesn't matter because there is no reason to ever manually operate a security camera. If you want it off, just unplug it. All of these devices can be operated directly from my cellphone in addition to voice control throug
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Amazon is making an explicit play to be the home hub because it can automatically discover and set up lights, locks, plugs, and switches without the need for additional hubs or apps.
This is so exciting!
The editor-in-chief at ZDNET just discovered Network Service Discovery (NDS) [android.com]
Please no one tell him that non-Amazon devices can also do the same thing, he will surely have a stroke once he finds this out.
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Currently you can only use Alexa to lock doors.
I've been slashvertized (Score:1, Insightful)
time to stop following this RSS feed.. too many ads
Need Faraday brand condoms. (Score:1)
Amazon is making an explicit play to be the home hub because it can automatically discover and set up lights, locks, plugs, and switches without the need for additional hubs or apps.
Better shield your Bluetooth and WiFi enabled vibrators people.
I'll buy in (Score:5, Insightful)
When and only when this shit is completely autonomous with no need for internet access. I won't have my shit spying on me and I won't ask an external entity to control shit in my own home. I'll drill my own hole in my own firewall and control my devices directly with no 3rd party intervention.
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I agree! Amazon is already the 3rd marketing powerhouse on web, right after Google and Facebook (probably 1st in 5 years). It seems like a pretty obvious play.
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Problem is, most of the stuff Amazon sells isn't Alexa stuff. I see the hierarchy this way:
1. Apple: makes physical products, things like Siri are features of those products. Apple could probably make a bit of extra money spying on you, but it could easily hurt their primary business.
2. Amazon: sells physical products, but only a few that they could use to spy on you. Amazon can use your information to sell you lots of other stuff. If you don't buy Alexa devices because you don't want to be spied on, it'
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When and only when this shit is completely autonomous with no need for internet access. I won't have my shit spying on me and I won't ask an external entity to control shit in my own home.
But then how would your data be sold and re-sold?
Nowdays we can't even get single player games to stop requiring constant internet access. Your "home OS" will absolutely be fully online -- and automatically updating itself every day at the most inopportune moment.
We can also look forward to discovering that the refrigerator and the toilet are incompatible with AlexaOS and must be replaced before they can be used.
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Not a chance. This garbage is subsidized by invading your privacy.
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When and only when this shit is completely autonomous with no need for internet access. I won't have my shit spying on me and I won't ask an external entity to control shit in my own home. I'll drill my own hole in my own firewall and control my devices directly with no 3rd party intervention.
Looks like you better get busy then. DIY is clearly the answer here, especially when the other 99.999% of solutions will continue to be made for the masses who don't give a shit about security, and will sell their privacy for peanuts.
So use Mycroft (Score:3)
Mycroft.ai [mycroft.ai] lets you host your own speech-to-text [github.com] server and do everything locally if you want.
Interesting story (Score:5, Interesting)
This is quite the story. But I actually have an Amazon Echo. It turns off my lights ok, but I can’t find much else for it to do.
I’m not super interested in hearing poorly-curated music played out of a small speaker. News is occasionally semi-interesting at best.
And Alexa doesn’t do much of anything unless you use the app and go find “skills” for it. The capabilities of the skills are disappointing.
Does anyone have any stories about Alexa doing useful things? True stories only, not made up stuff about what it might do someday.
Re:Interesting story (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a story about Alexa doing something useful.
The other day I was comparing items on Amazon and I saw a link to Alexa. I clicked on it, decided that even if Amazon were to pay me to send me one for free I wouldn't want a spy in my house. So really, Alexa saved me from wasting USD$99 on a spying device.
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My understanding is that it doesn't upload ANYTHING unless you say the keyword "Alexa" first. Then it just uploads what it needs to understand the commands. You could probably verify this with any network monitoring tool...
So it is not a "spying" device; it's a "respond to the commands you give it" device.
People were afraid of barcodes when they first came out. You're the latest wave of that mindset.
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GM's OnStar was supposed to work the same way, but that didn't stop the FBI.
And the only problem the judge had with it was that it prevented the occupants from calling 911 in case of an emergency, which is OnStar's primary purpose. In fact, this is what triggered the original lawsuit. The wife of a Mafia member got into a serious car accident and the OnStar button wouldn't work because the FBI was using the line already.
https://www.cnet.com/news/cour... [cnet.com]
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What's even more strange is that some people found that comment more interesting than funny:
Moderation +3
70% Interesting
30% Funny
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Obviously yes. Mine is an actual testimonial from someone who tried it. Most people consider those to be useful.
Re: Interesting story (Score:2)
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It’s easy to think of things I’d like Alexa to do for me. But it doesn't do those things.
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I can't find value in your question or post.
That’s ok with me.
You make a point that you seemed to have wasted your money.
I spent it so I could find out if I could make Alexa do something useful. I found out.
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Try plugging it into external speakers via the line-out. Makes all the difference.
I have my Alexa plugged to a nice pair of speakers (Yamaha HS80M in this case). Also, have it linked with Spotify so I can play it out to them and be controlled from the phone.
Another nice touch is being able to pair it as a Bluetooth speaker itself, so now I can stream a movie from any device and have it play out on the speakers as well.
Other things I found useful -
Shopping lists (i.e when I run out of milk, "Alexa, add milk
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Try plugging it into external speakers
I already have less kludgy ways to experience music.
Other things I found useful -
Shopping lists (i.e when I run out of milk, "Alexa, add milk to shopping list"), never forget anything when I got to the grocery store.
"Alexa, play bedtime lullaby" - if you have an infant
"Alexa, set a timer for 45 minutes" - when cooking.
"Alexa, what's the price of bitcoin/gold/stock" - if you're casually trading
Haven't tried any IoT stuff yet though.
Sounds like a marketting feature list rather than actual stories about how people happily use their Amazon Echo.
I tried getting stock info: it does a poor job. The info you get Is only good enough for people who don’t care about trading stocks.
Re: Interesting story (Score:2)
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I'm waiting for the inevitable 'phone sex' skill that lets you talk dirty to Alexa. The responses could be randomized and almost noone would notice.
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I don't have an Echo. But I do have a Logitech Harmony Hub which I hear can be controlled by an Echo or Google Home. I can program the Harmony to turn on my AV system and tune it to a specific radio station. Have it turn on the TV, AV system, and Blu-ray player and start playing the loaded BD movie. Supposedly you can have it control Plex to play stuff on your home media server if you get some sort of USB do
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Amazon's idea is pretty much the same ...
Yes, but I’d like someone to post what they actually do with it, not talk about someone’s “idea” of what they might do.
Re:Interestin (Score:3)
Does anyone have any stories about Alexa doing useful things? True stories only, not made up stuff about what it might do someday.
Well let's see, I use the shopping list, to-do list, reminders, alarm clock, etc. daily and they are all very useful. But by far the most useful thing for me (as somebody who orders A LOT from Amazon) is the ability to say, "Alexa, order more _______" and it will check my order history for the item, tell me the current price, and ask if I want to order it again. I say "yes" and it's on its way.
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My dot is very useful in conjunction with Alexa Harmony remote skills for my home theater.
"Alexa, turn on Fire": Starts TV,receiver,Fire TV & Kodi.
"Alexa, "Turn on Shield": Starts TV,receiver, Nvidia Shield & Kodi.
"Alexa, turn off Fire/Alexa turn off Shield": reverse the above.
"Alexa, Connect phone": Starts the receiver, toggles bluetooth and links to phone for streaming.
"Alexa, drop in on...": The Echo Show makes an excellent home intercom system and link my home office and my wife's sewing room.
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"Alexa, turn on Fire"
Not a good command to give if you keep your Bluetooth-enabled Zippo lighter in your desk drawer.
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Or your pants pocket.
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Also good for telling you the weather. "Alexa what's the weather" when wandering around the house getting dressed in the morning.
That being said this "Alexa has won" bullshit is just that, total bullshit. Alexa has decent Harmony and Hue integrations but for native answers and knowledge she's a far distant fourth to GoogleNow, Cortana and Siri.
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One of my problems with Alexa is:
"What's the weather today?" "What's the high today?" and "What's the temperature at 8pm tonight?"
All give the same summary answer.
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I use Alexa as an alarm clock, but something funny happened this morning. When it went off, I mumbled "Alexa, snooze". She must have thought I said "news", because she gave me a Flash Briefing.
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This story paid for by Amazon.
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I got an Echo Dot because I wanted to see if it would be at all useful or interesting, as that hit a price point where I didn't mind experimenting. I thought I might also like to develop software for it as well someday.
Generally speaking, I use it for two things: the world's most hilariously over-engineered timer and an interface for adding things to my shopping list. So how does that work out? I can't even remove items from my list using Alexa. WTF? And I can't give it a list of items by saying "Alexa
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This is quite the story. But I actually have an Amazon Echo. It turns off my lights ok, but I can’t find much else for it to do.
You should have bought yourself a clapper. A clapper can turn lights off and turn lights on.
The clapper can't be connected to the NSA/FBI 24 hours a day/seven days a week, but unfortunately, no device is perfect. As much as this saddens me to say this, the government will have to find a different way to get into your home.
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Not Alexa but Google's equivalent.
I don't have one personally but a friend of mine was showing me what he uses it for. Basically: Anything for which he'd normally get his phone.
"What's the weather like?"
"What are my appointments today?"
"What is the traffic like to work?"
"Set an alarm for 2minutes" - more useful than it sounds considering the device is sitting in the kitchen area, followed by a lot of other useful kitchen related ones:
"What's 2 cups in millilieters"
but the more neat thing come in interfacing
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The shopping list (which I do on the google version because it's easier to use on my phone) is probably the most useful feature (and worth it by itself). I also use it as my alarm clock. I have it interfaced to my solar panels (how much power was made yesterday?) and weather station (current temperature, rain today, etc), and with my eyes, it's often easier to ask alexa what time it is that try to read a clock in the distance. I explicitly *disabled* being able to order things, and will leave it that way
Automated "Intelligence" (Score:1)
Alexa was fun to play with at a party, but it got about 15-25% of the things we yelled at it wrong or just didn't understand. That is way, way , way too high a failure rate. We stopped barking commands at it at one point because it was confused with three things in a row.
If I were to say goodnight but my partner was coming home, would I say "Goodnight, but leave the front door unlocked just for Sally?" And it would reliably be able to know which Sally? Or what if it picked a different Sally but confirme
That is a really great point (Score:2)
Alexa's attempt at voice commands is commendable but flawed in many ways. It reminds me of the smartwatch trends: Fun in theory
That seems like a really good analogy, I hadn't thought about it but Alexa kind of seems like the Pebble of voice assistants... very popular at the moment, but with some serious flaws that make you wonder if other competitors will not overtake them...
On the other hand, Amazon has so many resources behind Alexa it seems improbable it would ever really "fail" because no matter what, I
Re: That is a really great point (Score:1)
Fire phone?
Windows Mobile?
Apple Car?
Being big is Zero guarantee of product implementation with success.
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Yes I had even thought about the Fire Phone... but this is nothing like any of those, especially the Fire Phone. The Fire Phone had zero traction ever so it was obvious it was not going to work. Alexa not only has traction but momentum, so even if it never works all that well Amazon can simply keep pushing it forward indefinitely with a tidal wave of money and people.
Windows mobile is a little better example, but I would argue it too never really got traction and even Microsoft was more ambivalent about i
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I was going to say that if it's any good they'll discontinue it - but this is Amazon, not Google.
I see two possibilities: it'll be shite, but on the "build one to throw away" principle it'll teach the lessons for something better, or it'll be shite and first mover advantage plus the network effect mean we'll be stuck with it.
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Why won't you let Sally have a key?
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but it got about 15-25% of the things we yelled at it wrong or just didn't understand
Because it is Bing based. Bing is Alexa's biggest problem.
This is why Apple recently switched Siri to Google. They do not want to release their new $300-class Alexa and Home competitor on Bing after seeing the degree of its impact on Alexa's ratings in most head-to-head comparisons of Alexa and Google Home.
no thanks (Score:2)
Do not want.
Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Really? (Score:5, Funny)
No, it really should only apply to Emacs.
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Or Perl.
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Or systemd.
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No, it really should only apply to Emacs.
Yeah too bad it comes with a shitty text editor though
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I wrote an operating system once. It said "hello world."
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Apparently. The headline makes no sense at all.
YeahNO! (Score:4, Interesting)
I like my tech gadgets and everything.
But I'll be damned if I'm going to wire my home up to spy on me and send all the data back to Amazon, Google or WHOEVER.
I don't give a shit HOW useful it is. It's simply TOO intrusive for my liking.
And if I ever move into a place with this crap pre-installed, I'll have an electrician out first to disconnect it all.
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And if I ever move into a place with this crap pre-installed, I'll have an electrician out first to disconnect it all.
Disconnection is easy. Just turn power off at the main breaker.
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Yes but that leave the rest of my house without power as well.
Not an optimal solution.
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You use text!
Text bad!
Text no show humor!
Text bad!
BAAAAAD!
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I like my tech gadgets and everything.
But I'll be damned if I'm going to wire my home up to spy on me and send all the data back to Amazon, Google or WHOEVER.
I don't give a shit HOW useful it is. It's simply TOO intrusive for my liking.
And if I ever move into a place with this crap pre-installed, I'll have an electrician out first to disconnect it all.
Something in your comment triggered my realization that ;)
10 years down the road, that cable box we all have will be accompanied by a no-choice spying box given by our ISP... and we'll *like* it
"Simply too intrusive for my liking" applies to many things that are already a reality where we cannot "vote with our wallets" today.
For instance, if you're posting this from a mobile device. the US governments' claws are already in them. We cannot just assume Windows 10 is the only bad guy --Snowden's revelations pr
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I don't have cable TV.
My webcam has a shutter and I disconnect it when not in use.
My headset's resting place is right next to a system fan and I've done testing, Even sitting 2 feet away talking in a normal tone of voice is incomprehensible.
What my OS reports about me, I try to control as much as possible. But without the equipment to basically listen in on me and PHYSICALLY track me around my home, the info they get is of low quality.
Take away the voice command (Score:3)
People don't get it (Score:2)
Alexa - unlock the door for the pizza delivery (Score:4, Funny)
I'm sorry Dave, I cannot do that; the pizza was not ordered from Amazon.
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If you pay an extra $99 you can join Amazon Prime and have the pizza delivered in 24 hours or less!
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Bezos: "Alexa, buy me something from Whole Foods"
Alexa: "Buying Whole Foods"
Bezos: "Shit"
I don't own a Nest (Score:2, Insightful)
And I won't buy Alexa (or similar) where everything I say or do is broadcast to the world
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Perfect. Only this morning I woke up and was thinking, if only I knew what some random person on the internet didn't want, then my life would be complete.
You have completed my life. It gave me such a warm feeling inside that I said "Okay Google, please turn my nest down to 20 degrees. It's getting too warm in here."
And then the Four Horsemen began their ride (Score:4, Insightful)
Now placing bets on how long before this deploys that
1 there will be a MASSIVE hack of the system due to folks being framed for multiple felonies driven by voice commands
2 Amazon Employees are found to have a stash of "exciting" media grabbed via different devices
3 somebody gets arrested due to something that was saved by one of these devices
4 a few people get KILLED using one of these devices (example an Amazon controlled car decides to shut the engine down while the car is cruising down the Highway at 20 above the posted speed limit)
Re: And then the Four Horsemen began their ride (Score:2)
Re : "Alexa, Stop spying on me !" (Score:2)
Ummm... No, that is just another hub (Score:2)
Seriously, this is just a wifi enabled hub. Everything wants to be a hub for your smart home now from Alex/Google Now to your TV remote.
Take some tips from someone who has a substantial smart home investment.
1. If you need perfect, turn-key, ready-to-go, solutions a smart home isn't for you yet there is nothing out there you can simply drop more money on to completely idiot-proof
Getting in? (Score:2)
And when I come home drunk from a party?
ME: Alllixxxxooaa, lemme in!
Alexa: Voice unrecognised.
ME: Allexxx oh, sod it where's the hammer.
Insurance (Score:4, Interesting)
It's going to be great once insurance providers decline payments after break-ins and other mishaps that can be directly related to "smart" devices. And I am afraid that this is the only way, this kind of stupidity can be stopped. Consumers won't realise the madness they're engaging with until it hits their wallets and vendors will never understand the customer's security requirements until they are forced to pay for it, either directly or through lost sales.
Do you really want to cede control to that extent? (Score:2)
In-car Alexa (Score:2)
I really hope the 'in car Alexa' is better than the utter shit most cars have in them:
Me: (presses button) "Call home"
Car: (pause) "Airconditioning on"
I'm not sure how it's gonna cope with "Alexa, tell Starbucks on the A3, but the one north of Guildford going towards the M25, not the one you chose last time to make me a soya-milk latte, extra hot with a double shot and one and a half sugars please" is going to work out. Unless it's really, really good, and gets a signal when my phone can't, and preferably w
I like SPST switches just fine, thanks anyway (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently, this distinction is too difficult for people writing about technology these days.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe. Or maybe the cloud craze will come to a screeching halt when people realize the ex-CEO of Equifax is correct: "all companies get breached."
There's no reason you can't run an Alexa or Google type assistant on a computer of your own. When Alexa's collection of sex tapes gets released on The Pirate Bay the first one to market with such a thing will make a killing.