Re: Who Has Alexa Living With Them?

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

I bought one of the first ones that came out and would hate to be without it. It is wonderful and wew use it all the time to answer questions.

It tells us what time it is, the temperature, the forecase, sets timers for cooking or reminders for chores. It remembers things, reads books to us, plays music, and easily sets alarms for morning wakeup or a nap.

We bought a second one for upstairs, and have the dots in our bedroom and in the guest room because people never know how to set those alarm clock/radios. Now they just say "Alexa set an alarm for 7:30 a.m." and they are good to go! They get up, ask her what the weather forecase is, and know what to wear!

We love ours.

mima · ‎03-14-2010

I have both the Echo and the Dot. The Echo has awesome speakers and the Dot has speakers like you would find on a clock radio. You can hook the Dot up through blutooth speakers and make the Dot sound awesome. I "think" you can hook it to speakers throught a cord, but not totally sure about that.

I have my Echo in the kitchen and my Dot is plenty loud enough in the bedroom without extra speakers.

I am not one bit worried about the Echo/Dot recording us in our home. It is pretty boring at our house. If I worked for the CIA or I was in the Mafia I'd be worried probably.

I love them both!

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

It is NOT true that Echo and Dot are "always on." The ONLY time they "listen" is when you have *deliberately said their name* to ASK them something. If you ask "Alexa, what time is it?" the device will give you the time and that's it. All it "heard" was your question. It keeps all your questions, but *you can go in and delete them if you want to* so there are NO recordings on file.

People's paranoia runs deep. 👹

It's true that the Dot sounds brilliant with a good Bluetooth speaker (love mine), and you can Also use a corded connection to a speaker as there is a 3.5 mm jack on the Dot. But you need to leave the corded speaker on all the time, so they say. I don't know what the diff is, I leave my BT speaker on all the time too.

For me it's a fun toy at $50 for the Dot. Time, weather, jokes, music, news, statistics, grocery list, etc. If you already have a decent BT speaker it's a no-brainer. If you *don't* already have a good speaker and intend to play a lot of music, Echo would be better.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

toria · ‎08-28-2010

Agreed. I love Alexa. It does not record everthing you say but its programs to detect the name Alexa which wakes it up so it cn do things for you. Also there is nothing in my house that is so important anyone would ever be interested in it.

Marp · ‎03-09-2010

@Moonchilde wrote:
It is NOT true that Echo and Dot are "always on." The ONLY time they "listen" is when you have *deliberately said their name* to ASK them something. If you ask "Alexa, what time is it?" the device will give you the time and that's it. All it "heard" was your question. It keeps all your questions, but *you can go in and delete them if you want to* so there are NO recordings on file.

People's paranoia runs deep. 👹

It's true that the Dot sounds brilliant with a good Bluetooth speaker (love mine), and you can Also use a corded connection to a speaker as there is a 3.5 mm jack on the Dot. But you need to leave the corded speaker on all the time, so they say. I don't know what the diff is, I leave my BT speaker on all the time too.

For me it's a fun toy at $50 for the Dot. Time, weather, jokes, music, news, statistics, grocery list, etc. If you already have a decent BT speaker it's a no-brainer. If you *don't* already have a good speaker and intend to play a lot of music, Echo would be better.

That is not exactly accurate. Alexa is always listening so it can respond to the wake word.

Excerpt: No, according to Amazon. Although Alexa is always listening, Amazon says Alexa ignores what's said until you trigger it with the "wake word" Alexa (you can change the wake word to Amazon or Echo). Only then does the Echo pass on the command or question to Amazon's servers for processing. A blue light on the Echo comes on to let you know that's happening. ( https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ap-explains-amazon-echo-listens-stores-211445939--finance.html )

The eyes through which you see others may be the same as how they see you.

milly1 · ‎03-09-2010

We have the Dot and used it to listen to our favorite NFL team. We live in another State and knew the local radio station that carries the game. Were thrilled we could listen to our team.

RainCityWoman · ‎06-16-2015

LOL. My neighbor girl's name is Alexa. She's very flattered they chose her name.

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@Marp wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
It is NOT true that Echo and Dot are "always on." The ONLY time they "listen" is when you have *deliberately said their name* to ASK them something. If you ask "Alexa, what time is it?" the device will give you the time and that's it. All it "heard" was your question. It keeps all your questions, but *you can go in and delete them if you want to* so there are NO recordings on file.

People's paranoia runs deep. 👹

It's true that the Dot sounds brilliant with a good Bluetooth speaker (love mine), and you can Also use a corded connection to a speaker as there is a 3.5 mm jack on the Dot. But you need to leave the corded speaker on all the time, so they say. I don't know what the diff is, I leave my BT speaker on all the time too.

For me it's a fun toy at $50 for the Dot. Time, weather, jokes, music, news, statistics, grocery list, etc. If you already have a decent BT speaker it's a no-brainer. If you *don't* already have a good speaker and intend to play a lot of music, Echo would be better.
That is not exactly accurate. Alexa is always listening so it can respond to the wake word.

Excerpt: No, according to Amazon. Although Alexa is always listening, Amazon says Alexa ignores what's said until you trigger it with the "wake word" Alexa (you can change the wake word to Amazon or Echo). Only then does the Echo pass on the command or question to Amazon's servers for processing. A blue light on the Echo comes on to let you know that's happening. ( https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ap-explains-amazon-echo-listens-stores-211445939--finance.html )

I think reading the *entire* content of the article is more illuminating. If it "ignores" (i.e. doesn't record and doesn't send to Amazon servers) what it "hears" until it hears a wake word, it isn't kept anywhere for anyone to listen to.

See above "only then does the Echo pass on (info) for processing (i.e. recording)." So, if "background noise" isn't stored anywhere OR passed on, does it even exist in actuality? I think that the murder investigators don't know and are grasping at straws, and a lot of what is claimed as fact about Echo is theoretical.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all