Had to visit my daughter today to fix a problem in her apartment but knowing she recently purchased an Alexa dad wanted to have a play. I was impressed by the sound quality from such a small item & also the speed it responded to voice commands. Requested various pieces of music to start & so it went on
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 6:53 pm
by jagwheels
Lloyd I agree with you & despite being impressed with the device it is not on my wish list
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 7:31 am
by PW in Polemi
There is a joke currently doing the rounds ...
A man told a joke to his family during dinner.
The wife laughed.
The son laughed.
The daughter laughed.
The kids' friends laughed.
Alexa laughed.
And of course, the best jokes all have a grain of truth to them ...
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 6:26 pm
by jagwheels
Nice one PW but the current price from Currys in the UK is £22 inc delivery so on Christmas day the family will be getting off their smart phones & talking to some bit of technology & someone might ask the question "why are we celebrating today"
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 6:45 pm
by trevnhil
I have brought myself into the 21st century by buying a smartphone.. I can use my voice to ask Google various questions. But are they listening in to what I talk about all the time???
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 7:11 pm
by jagwheels
They probably can Trev but in my case people tell me I talk rubbish most of the time so rubbish in means rubbish out but my original point was does technology stop you looking into peoples eyes
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 8:17 pm
by PhotoLady
"Walls have ears" - just remember that
As posted on the Independent in April 2019 - unless you're subscribed or don't have an Ad-Blocker, you may not be able to read the article so I've copied and pasted below the link:
Amazon has admitted that employees listen to customer voice recordings from Echo and other Alexa-enabled smart speakers.
The online retail giant said its staff “reviewed” a sample of Alexa voice assistant conversations in order to improve speech recognition.
“This information helps us train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems, so Alexa can better understand your requests, and ensure the service works well for everyone,” Amazon said in a statement.
“We have strict technical and operational safeguards, and have a zero tolerance policy for the abuse of our system. Employees do not have direct access to information that can identify the person or account as part of this workflow.”
Amazon does not explicitly state in its terms and conditions that humans review customer recordings, though its Alexa privacy settings offer users the chance to opt out of helping the firm “develop new features”.
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:43 am
by JimX
Probably with one of the other search engines that cannot get a look in.. Personally I love UTube, you usually can find the answer you need plus they show you how to do it.
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 1:04 pm
by PhotoLady
Lloyd, I just use the maps.me free app, works offline and you don't have to stand there looking like a prat while you talk to yourself.
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 7:58 pm
by jagwheels
If Alexa Was Cornish
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:22 pm
by Jim B
We have an Alexa and it comes in handy occasionally and I don't worry about big brother either as I'm sure in this day and age everything anyone in authority wants to know about me knows it already.
When our niece flew in from Kazakhstan, Immigration at Larnaca told her where she was staying, my and my wife's names, our address, our ages, how long we had been living in Cyprus and also told her all the information about her plus the number of times she had visited. It's next to impossible to keep your head below the parapet so why bother trying.
Jim
Re: Anyone have an Amazon Alexa?
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 6:43 pm
by jagwheels
I received one on Christmas day so have had time to play around. Verdict so far
Response very quick. Pretty good at spelling & very capable of interpreting unfamiliar words that occasionally crop up on Pathos Life
We have had an echo dot for a couple of years. We do not use it an awful lot but it was cheap. It’s handy for when you are watching something and you quickly want to find out how old someone is or who they are married to or what year the film came out. It just saves getting the phone out. Also you can just say “play mellow magic” and the sound quality through the small speaker is acceptable. I think I paid about £25 and think it’s a bargain. Sometimes the daughter might ask it to play say horror movie soundtracks and we’ll guess what film it was from and if we don’t know Alexa will tell us.
but my original point was does technology stop you looking into peoples eyes 
Personally I love UTube, you usually can find the answer you need plus they show you how to do it.