Alexa goes Mobile

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The Dot would make a great audiobook player all by itself. No need to add speakers.

I'll wait for a price drop.

What do you think would be a good price?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

What do you think would be a good price?

$50 ~ $60; not $90.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

$50 ~ $60; not $90.

I have to agree. Having paid $99 for the Echo, I don't see this being something I'd purchase for just $10 less.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by mpeg2

" Additionally, the Tap is fatally flawed because it requires you to physically press a button to make requests."

The Tap is battery powered - how long would it last if it was always listening to audio to recognize when "Alexa" is spoken. This seems like a reasonable engineering tradeoff to me.

I think you're both right. The Tap would be less than useful without the button because it's battery would be dead so much of the time. With the button it's less than useful in most of the situations where I use my Echo.

The good news is that Amazon is trying new things with Alexa and if they keep that up I'm sure some will work out.

Barry

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by barryem

I think you're both right. The Tap would be less than useful without the button because it's battery would be dead so much of the time. With the button it's less than useful in most of the situations where I use my Echo.

Barry

The Echo is also a "tap-to-listen" device just like the Tap. To engage it on the Echo, just tap the "mic off" button on top. Then when you want the Echo to listen, tap the button once again. Amazon could've done this for the Tap, but chose not too. Because of this, I have no interest in the Tap.

[Shane R]

How useful is the Alexa, that is, the original?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Shane R

How useful is the Alexa, that is, the original?

Depends on what you want it for.
If you just want to stream audio there are cheaper products.
If you just want an information assistant, Cortana and Ask Google are still better.
If you want a home automation hub there is nothing like it.

In a lot of ways it's like a PC: not very useful without software and peripherals.
Echo/Alexa, you add in connectivity and its a gateway to wonders. And it's barely getting started.

[tubemonkey]

For me, the Echo is a $99 self-contained, stand-alone, voice controlled, streaming music and audiobook player. Nothing else on the market like it, until the Dot appeared.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

If you want a home automation hub there is nothing like it.

In a lot of ways it's like a PC: not very useful without software and peripherals.
Echo/Alexa, you add in connectivity and its a gateway to wonders. And it's barely getting started.

Tell me more about there being 'nothing like it' and it being a 'gateway to wonders', please.

[Atunah]

Yeah, I have cortana on my computer and don't use it. I have google thingie on my phone and use it occasionally. I use the Echo all the time, several times a day as its hands free. I don't have to turn anything on, its always ready.

I can have my hands in a bowl of ground beef and ask the weather, add something to my shopping list, re-order something from Amazon, do a conversion from a german cookbook to a english measure, find out what time it is in Dubai so I don't miss a Tennis match, set a timer, and another timer, continue reading the book with TTS, get some headlines news, play a german radio statio, all while I knead my beef. And lots more. Music of course.

And I don't even use it for any automation as I don't have anything like that in the house hooked up.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Atunah

Yeah, I have cortana on my computer and don't use it. I have google thingie on my phone and use it occasionally. I use the Echo all the time, several times a day as its hands free. I don't have to turn anything on, its always ready.

Hands free is one of its two key features. The other one is that it's self-contained. You don't need to hook it up to a computer or speakers.

I can have my hands in a bowl of ground beef and ask the weather, add something to my shopping list, re-order something from Amazon, do a conversion from a german cookbook to a english measure, find out what time it is in Dubai so I don't miss a Tennis match, set a timer, and another timer, continue reading the book with TTS, get some headlines news, play a german radio statio, all while I knead my beef. And lots more. Music of course.

The Dot would be perfect in the kitchen. It's much smaller, so it'll be easier to place without it getting in the way. Just wish it were cheaper.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Shane R

Tell me more about there being 'nothing like it' and it being a 'gateway to wonders', please.

Well, check these articles, for starters:

http://www.aftvnews.com/?s=Alexa&submit=Go

If you ever read SF stories about computer controlled houses (or starships), that is what the Alexa does, among other things. You speak and the Alexa service turns your orders into computer commands.

The way it works is that Alexa is a cloud-based voice recognition service and the Echo devices (as well as the Fire TV devices and compatible third party devices) use Alexa to run scripts or send commands to internet services or devices. Lots of hardware companies are busy creating proprietary hardware ecosystems for home automation. Amazon isn't. Instead, they built a front end that can talk to everybody's devices. So it doesn't matter if your smart light bulbs are from Phillips or GE or whoever, Alexa can in theory control them. And increasing, that theory is reality.

As a result, you can say:

"Alexa, turn on the basement light", "Alexa, set the thermostat to 70 degrees", "Alexa, tell me a joke" (young kids love that one), "Alexa, what are the sports scores", "Alexa, open Domino’s and place my Easy Order”, "Alexa read me GENTLEMAN JOLE AND THE RED QUEEN". Of course, Amazon being Amazon, you can say, "Alexa, order an Echo Dot". Or "Alexa, re-order cat food."

The service has well over 200 "skills" so far and more are coming every week, most independently of Amazon. Alexa is an open service: if you have some programming background you can use the online IFTTT service to create your own or if you're a good enough programmer, use the Alexa SDK to create your own software that uses Alexa as a front end.

The fun is just starting.

Here's one review:

http://www.cnet.com/products/amazon-echo-review/#!

Of note is that the Echo Dot lets you plug in your choice of speakers or feed audio to your home theater receiverso the complaint about audio quality becomes moot.

Check these two for what Amazon is up to, the sneaky devils:

http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/7/107...ver-smart-home

http://www.zdnet.com/article/ces-201...ot-even-there/

[murg]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

If you ever read SF stories about computer controlled houses (or starships), that is what the Alexa does, among other things. You speak and the Alexa service turns your orders into computer commands.

And most of them end badly for the humans.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by murg

And most of them end badly for the humans.

And engraved on a plaque in the town square is this:

All Your Home Are Belong To Us

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by murg

And most of them end badly for the humans.

Well, in the russian SF it does.
(One story had a scientist install a computer in his house and let it control everything, including the front door. Then he got a haircut... Two weeks later he rewrote the facial recognition algorithm.)