http://www.amazon.com/oc/echo

It looks like Siri built in to a bluetooth speaker. It's invitation-only for Prime members. Normal price will be $199, but Prime members get it for $99. I got an invitation yesterday so I went ahead and bit since they go for $300+ on eBay.

Any experience or hearsay about these?
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this would be great to set in a corner and never have to worry about it again.

a bit creepy that it's always listening tho.

--sig--
n/a

>this would be great to set in a corner and never have to
>worry about it again.
>
>a bit creepy that it's always listening tho.


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http://i.imgur.com/81XSukd.jpg

And I think it's only listening when you address it.
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http://i.imgur.com/81XSukd.jpg <-- Happy trails

Just implant these things in my body already.

http://soundcloud.com/djshinobishaw
http://www.rareformnyc.com
http://twitter.com/DJShinobiShaw
https://twitter.com/RareFormNYC
PSN: ShinobiShaw

"Arm Leg Leg Arm How you doin?" (c)T510

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Stoicism and chill.
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Stay +.
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http://instagram.com/mrellsberry

May need to put this Prime to work...

<-- Dave Thomas knows what's up...
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Jay: Look here homie, any nigga can get a hit record. This here is about respect.
Game: Like Gladys Knight.
Jay: Aretha Franklin.
Game: Word, I like her too.
Jay: Nigga...

Might have to flip one of these.

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Stoicism and chill.
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Stay +.
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it also gives a good weather report. Also, the voice recognition is pretty good.

It also seems good for straight-forward questions like "Who is the lead singer of the Roots" (which took 2 tries -- at first it thought I said something like replace instead of roots)

Maybe not so strong for more complex questions. I stumped it with "Where does Roman Polanski live?"

Also, anything you tell/ask comes up in text form on the phone/tablet app so you can see if it understood you correctly.

I'm at a crossroads with it because it's apparent that for the music to be fully maximized, I need Amazon's cloud music importing service which holds 250k songs for $25 per year. So it's sort of a money suck to Amazon things, which was anticipated. I would never have before considered paying the $25 per year, but now it's sounding more worth it to be able to import all of my digital music to the cloud.

Also, I should mention sound quality. I think it's good. Both bassy kicks as well as bass lines come through quite well, and the trebles are clear. I have read criticism of the quality at high volumes. Yes, it doesn't sound great when you crank it, but the volume doesn't need to be cranked to fill a room with sound. I had it playing from another room and it was clear and sounded good.

Let me know if you have any questions...I'll post more impressions later as I use it more.

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http://i.imgur.com/81XSukd.jpg

>Also, I should mention sound quality. I think it's good.
>Both bassy kicks as well as bass lines come through quite
>well, and the trebles are clear. I have read criticism of the
>quality at high volumes. Yes, it doesn't sound great when you
>crank it, but the volume doesn't need to be cranked to fill a
>room with sound. I had it playing from another room and it
>was clear and sounded good.
>
I just bought one and set it up in preparation to give it to my mother for Christmas.

I think the things sounds bad - like really bad - especially with voices. Very muddy.

I have a $30 DKnight MagicBox II speaker that I think sounds much better.

I A/B'd it with a friend and his sounds the same, my unit is not defective -- or both of ours are. I've looked up reviews and no one else has mention poor sound quality.

Question: Have you changed your opinion on the sound quality - or am I being too over critical?

------------


Gone: My Discogs collection for The Roots:
http://www.discogs.com/user/tomhayes-roots/collection

I had mine in my kitchen which is all echoey surfaces, both at my old place and where I live now. In a bedroom with carpet and stuff, maybe it wouldn't sound as good. I'm not a complete audiophile, but I can tell when things sound crisp or muddy, and mine definitely isn't muddy.
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It's so very convenient to be able to say "Alexa, timer, 10 minutes" while doing other stuff rather than put down what I'm doing, wash my hands, and use the microwave/oven timer. It sounds small, but I love this functionality.

It's also handy for notes. "Alexa, add eggs to shopping list." Etc. Then when I'm at the store, I look at the Echo app on my phone, and the list is right there.

I'd use it for music more if I had more music on Amazon. I have a decent amount of stuff on there, but it's only a fraction compared to my computer's MP3 collection.

Also, I used a "Kill A Watt" energy draw meter to test the power draw, and it's hardly anything. I calculated by my kWh cost here where I live, it costs about $3 a year to run assuming it's idle 99.99999% of the time. It draws almost no power when idle, and very little when it's doing something.
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http://i.imgur.com/81XSukd.jpg <-- Happy trails

It's nothing more than a bluetooth speaker with a half baked Siri built in....

It's supposed to have gotten SMARTER the more you use it.....mine's gotten DUMBER....

She just starts talking at random....telling me "Sorry, I don't know the answer to that" I be like...."YATCH, I ain't even ASK you shit"

Out of curiosity, what are a couple of examples of questions it couldn't answer?

>It's nothing more than a bluetooth speaker with a half baked
>Siri built in....
>
>It's supposed to have gotten SMARTER the more you use
>it.....mine's gotten DUMBER....
>
>She just starts talking at random....telling me "Sorry, I
>don't know the answer to that" I be like...."YATCH, I ain't
>even ASK you shit"
>
>


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http://i.imgur.com/81XSukd.jpg <-- Happy trails

like a google with a voice...but that's not how it works at all...
Things like converting units and simple stuff it does ok with. But there have been a lot of general questions we'll throw at it and her response is "Sorry, I do not know the answer to that."

A huge beef is also the lack of music on Amazon Prime. It pretty much sucks....that would be ok if they'd allow me to upload more than 250 of my own personal music to the Amazon cloud.

Another key feature they dropped the ball on is being able to use it as a speaker phone. No CLUE why they didn't implement that capability. It's got all these nifty mics on it and a decent volume output...it'd be the perfect bluetooth speaker extension for your phone. OUrs is in the kitchen, and i'd love to be able to multitask by talking on it while cooking.


"Seasons may come and your luck just may run out, and all that you'll have is some memories..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N1Q8oFpX1Y&feature=share

And I am sure Jibo doesn't work as well as it does in the video.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson


"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're

"Seasons may come and your luck just may run out, and all that you'll have is some memories..."

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http://i.imgur.com/81XSukd.jpg <-- Happy trails

Here's a copy-and-paste from my email this morning:

WeMo and Philips Hue products now work with Amazon Echo.

You can now use Echo to switch on the lamp before getting out of bed, turn on the fan or heater while reading in your favorite chair, or dim the lights from the couch to watch a movie—all without lifting a finger...or even raising your voice.

To get started, connect your WeMo and Hue devices to your home Wi-Fi and name them in their respective app. Then say, "Alexa, discover my appliances." After Echo's confirmation, you can control your devices by voice.

Things to try:

"Alexa, turn on the hallway light"
"Alexa, turn on the coffee maker"
"Alexa, dim the living room lights to 20%"
"Alexa, turn on the electric blanket"
"Alexa, turn on the outdoor decorations"
Supported products:

WeMo: Switch, Insight Switch, and Light Switch
Hue: A19, Lux, BR30, Bloom, and LightStrip lights
As always, the Amazon Echo team looks forward to your feedback via the Amazon Echo App and on social media (#AmazonEcho).
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http://i.imgur.com/81XSukd.jpg <-- Happy trails

so I never understood the appeal of talking to control your home lighting.....

"Seasons may come and your luck just may run out, and all that you'll have is some memories..."

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VXS8E8S/

They are also coming out with something called the Dot, which seems to be a smaller version of the regular Echo. Although it's only $90 compared to $180 for an Echo, so there must be some limitations.

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=14047587011&ref_=pe_1840220_171119930_ods_em_ha_pe_an_cta

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and makes it an echo.

it has voice speaker/mic but if you want music and stuff you plug in the audio out.

it's kinda odd

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

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the technology works well, and putting it in a speaker has given me enough reason to use it, even when I'm only using it as a bluetooth speaker.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I would be cool to just talk and have the music que up and play through my good speakers....

Of course, i'd still have to turn the receiver on or leave it on all the time.

"Get ready..for your blessing..."

You could hook up the speakers to the home automation feature of the Echo...so in theory you could tell the Dot to turn on the speakers for you. I don't have any experience in home automation, but in theory, that should be doable.
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And it's cool tech for the house. Especially the kitchen. I have yet to get any smart home gear due to the lax security on IOT devices.

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Stoicism and chill.
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Stay +.
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got some phillips hue lights and i'm looking at a few smart plugs so i figured i should grab one of these.

someone recommended a bitdefender device, they supposedly for non-sysadmin type users (i'm sysadmin) but i hear they're really more middle of the road... too complicated for regular folks and not robust enough for people with experience with firewalls/routers etc... I might go that route or i might build a small open source firewall out of an old pc.

--sig--
n/a

when DNS got crushed due to unpatched IoT devices it gave me pause to not get some "smart" bulbs. Security needs to be part of it getting everywhere...I know they make IoT devices easy to use but that ease is making things so inherently insecure.

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Stoicism and chill.
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Stay +.
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dot.

These things are greatness.


"Get ready....for your blessing....."