Amazon Echo Club - Page 148

tubemonkey · 06-30-2017, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

Holy cow, now that is some very expensive cat food. See attached screen capture from Amazon.com. Wow, $2,507.50 + $4.49 shipping for a 3.4 pound bag of dry cat food.

That is about $2,000 over typical retail. Amazon really needs to better police their 3rd party sellers!

....

And they have the audacity to charge shipping? Just wow!

Quick, buy a bag and sell it on eBay for a profit

jswinden · 06-30-2017, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

And they have the audacity to charge shipping? Just wow!

Quick, buy a bag and sell it on eBay for a profit

LOL! I thought the same thing--they are actually charging for shipping too?!? Sometimes when you look carefully you will see that the order is for a truck load of whatever the item is--buying in large bulk. But this was a single 3.4 lb bag! We used to see this crap a lot more often back in the early days of one-click buying, but it is more rare to see it now. Needless to say my furry critters didn't get a $2,000+ bag of cat food. They got a $10.34, 7-lb bag instead!

Catlady · 06-30-2017, 03:29 PM

Got my Dash Wand today! It looks nice stuck to the refrigerator, and I was happy that batteries were included since I forgot to buy any.

My first issue with it was that I couldn't set it up using Amazon's own Fire tablet; oh no, I had to do it from my phone, which necessitated deleting apps to install Amazon's shopping app. Of course, it's not Amazon's fault I have no space left on my phones, but why in the world couldn't I do it from the tablet? I used a nonactivated phone, and that was OK with Amazon, but the Fire tablet was a no-go.

The second issue, of course is the lack of the timer function--I optimistically tried to set a timer/reminder/alarm, thinking maybe there'd been an update, but no. Who at Amazon thought something marketed as a kitchen device didn't need a timer?

I tried the barcode scanner but the particular product wasn't available. Still, it seems pretty nifty.

Realistically I don't expect to use it much unless it gets a timer function. I may ask for a weather report in the morning while I'm making coffee, I suppose. I thought it would do news, but that's not supported either--too bad.

Since it was free, I'm happy.

wodin · 06-30-2017, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

...
Since it was free, I'm happy.

Cinisajoy · 06-30-2017, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

Got my Dash Wand today! It looks nice stuck to the refrigerator, and I was happy that batteries were included since I forgot to buy any.

My first issue with it was that I couldn't set it up using Amazon's own Fire tablet; oh no, I had to do it from my phone, which necessitated deleting apps to install Amazon's shopping app. Of course, it's not Amazon's fault I have no space left on my phones, but why in the world couldn't I do it from the tablet? I used a nonactivated phone, and that was OK with Amazon, but the Fire tablet was a no-go.

The second issue, of course is the lack of the timer function--I optimistically tried to set a timer/reminder/alarm, thinking maybe there'd been an update, but no. Who at Amazon thought something marketed as a kitchen device didn't need a timer?

I tried the barcode scanner but the particular product wasn't available. Still, it seems pretty nifty.

Realistically I don't expect to use it much unless it gets a timer function. I may ask for a weather report in the morning while I'm making coffee, I suppose. I thought it would do news, but that's not supported either--too bad.

Since it was free, I'm happy.

Have you tried a recipe?

Catlady · 06-30-2017, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Have you tried a recipe?

Kind of, just enough to be told that there were a zillion options for the ingredients I mentioned; I didn't bother to try to specify since I wasn't actually wanting a recipe.

In any case, I don't know that I'd be able to rely on Alexa reading me a list of ingredients and amounts and directions that I'd then have to remember--I feel like I need a printed recipe, or at least a screen showing me the recipe so I can refer to it while cooking.

jswinden · 06-30-2017, 05:57 PM

One category that Amazon is not good at having in their store is groceries and pet food and such. I have a lot of trouble finding the brands I want and at a reasonable price. That was the main reason I opted to not get the Wand. It is extremely frustrating trying to shop for groceries online, whether at Amazon or any regional grocery store chain. It takes longer than driving to the store and buying off the shelf. I wish retailers would rethink their online groceries apps and get them working better. For one thing, they either don't offer the brands you want online, only offering them in store, and then they have too many restrictions on what you can and cannot buy. For example, try buying 17 lbs of kitty litter from an online grocery store. I've yet to find one that will deliver it because it weighs too much. I made several attempts to buy groceries, non-perishable items only, online with several different stores. All I accomplished was a lot of wasted time and a lot of frustration. In the end you wind up having to go to the B&M store anyway, so I no longer even try to do it online. Even the buy-online-and-pick-up-at-Walmart option is a PITA.

CRussel · 06-30-2017, 06:32 PM

I use Amazon for groceries all the time. Mostly because of the CHOICE! I can almost always find the specific brand and type I want. And I'm fussy. My King Arthur flour is even in Prime Pantry, as is the brown rice I prefer - Tamanishiki Super Premium.

I don't buy daily groceries there, obviously, since I'm in Canada and we don't have nearly the level of reasonably priced products that the US has. But for specialty items that I can't easily get in my remote location? It's where I go first.

jswinden · 07-01-2017, 10:54 AM

The good thing about grocery shopping at many grocery stores is the familiarity with the layout of the store. That is, you know the general location of all the items because you shop there a lot. Granted many grocery stores love to mess with you and re-arrange their stock periodically, but you can fairly quickly adapt to the new locations. One grocery store I've shopped at for a decade now, a Neighborhood Walmart Grocery, just remodeled the inside of the store replacing the old shelving and refrigeration units and they even re-arranged where same were located and how they were oriented. That was the first time in a decade that they had significantly changed the location of sale items. But it only took a visit or two to get acclimated to the new design and item locations. Unlike my mother who loved to shop and would go up and down every isle and pick up and examine nearly every item, even the ones she had no desire to buy, I'm more of the typical male shopper. I want to get in and out as quickly as possible, and preferably leave with everything I came to buy. I hate shopping for groceries, but I have to eat...

So back to the good thing about many grocery stores, that familiarity with their layout. When I'm familiar with the general location of their items, I can make my grocery list, then map out in my mind where all those items are located. So I can essentially build my grocery list and order all the items along the shortest pathways through the store. Instead of my mom's great two hour adventure in grocery shopping, I follow the ordered list and know which isles, and on which side of the isles, each item is located, so I'm in and out within 30 minutes or less and I'm leaving with two or three weeks worth of groceries. My mom, who passed away nearly three decades ago, would likely be appalled, but I bet my dad would high five me from the great beyond if he could. Okay that is a guy thing as far as getting in out of the store quickly and getting every item you need. We hate shopping, at least grocery shopping.

When grocery shopping online I cannot get in and out quickly. You would think so, but no that's not how it works. You have no isles to map out. You have to use the search box to find everything. You never know who you will buy the item from, and I'm talking about from which 3rd party vendor. You have to search through multiple listings for each item to find the best price, the preferred shipping method, the correct size, etc. You have to avoid accidentally buying a $2,000 bag of cat food. I never encounter any of that in a B&M grocery store, at least not on that scale. Now you have spent 2 to 5 minutes placing one item in your cart. You only have 30 to 40 more items to locate and buy, so get comfy because you are going to be sitting in front of the computer for a while. And what happens when the item you want is not available? More searching and researching, more time spent. Similar items are lumped together in the B&M store so if your preferred brand is out of stock it is easy to quickly grab a different brand. It is a more involved process online though.

I've tried grocery shopping online several times in the past year. I've tried using Amazon, HEB (a regional Texas grocery chain), Walmart, and at least two other regional chains. I'm always disappointed and I always seem to spend more time online trying to find my items than I would have if I had just got in the car and gone two miles to the local Super 1 Foods and shopped the old fashioned way. So far all of the online retail grocery shopping has been virtually the same-type in the item in the search box then move to the next item. This is grossly inefficient and time consuming and anything but user friendly. If the online grocery stores would build truly useful apps that allow you to build favorites lists, then shopping could be done much more quickly. But even then, on Amazon you would still have to muddle through all the choices for sizes, 3rd party vendors, and shipping. I think these grocery stores need to hire shoppers as consultants so they can develop better apps and tools to make the experience efficient and useful. As it is at current, I only buy a select few grocery items online, preferring to get most of them at a B&M. I'm still going to a B&M regardless though, as I'm never going to pay an online grocery store $15/month for the privilege of buying fresh produce and perishable items. That is insane. I would not shop at a B&M that charged like that either.

DreamWriter · 07-01-2017, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

Kind of, just enough to be told that there were a zillion options for the ingredients I mentioned; I didn't bother to try to specify since I wasn't actually wanting a recipe.

In any case, I don't know that I'd be able to rely on Alexa reading me a list of ingredients and amounts and directions that I'd then have to remember--I feel like I need a printed recipe, or at least a screen showing me the recipe so I can refer to it while cooking.

After you select a recipe, the summary, list of ingredients, and step-by-step cooking instructions do show up in your Alexa app. Dash Wand also reads them to you.

tubemonkey · 07-04-2017, 02:16 AM

Amazon Overtakes Sonos as Leading Wi-Fi Speaker Brand [Chart]

Quote:

Amazon stole Sonos crown as the leading Wi-Fi speaker brand in 2016, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics.

Quote:

“Amazon has hit upon a winning formula with its Alexa-powered series of Echo speakers and its rapid success has clearly sent shock waves through the industry” says David Watkins, Director within the Intelligent Home Group at Strategy Analytics. “However, we believe that demand for Amazon’s own brand devices is having largely an additive effect on the overall wireless speaker market particularly when you consider that the popular Echo Dot is often paired via Bluetooth to a better quality speaker.”

jswinden · 07-04-2017, 10:51 AM

I don't think Sonos speakers have an AI home assistant feature. Do they? I'm not that familiar with them. But they look like they are more expensive, and from the reviews I've heard they blow away the Echo and other home assistant devices as far as sound quality. But if Sonos don't have an AI home assistant feature, then this really is not a fair comparison as they don't fit into the same category as the Echos, Google Home, Apple HomePod, etc.

I can't wait for the day when AI starts meaning Artificial Intelligence rather than Absolute Insanity. I'm getting really tired of arguing with, shouting at, and being generally frustrated with my Echo and Dot. I think the problem is that it requires intelligence to code Artificial Intelligence, but not so much to code Absolute Insanity.

tubemonkey · 07-04-2017, 11:05 AM

Beta testers can now control Sonos speakers through any Alexa-enabled device

Quote:

Amazon and Sonos first announced their partnership for Alexa to be the main voice interface for Sonos’ line of premium smart speakers in August of last year. Their efforts have finally come to fruition with this week’s release of Sonos’s Beta Alexa Skill that allows Alexa device’s like the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot to control any Sonos speaker.

The key difference between Sonos’ integration with Alexa, that is unique from all other speaker manufacturers, is the ability to use more natural commands. Instead of saying “Alexa, ask Sonos…” like you might expect if you’re used to using Alexa skills, you can simply say “Alexa, play Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Kitchen” and the appropriate Sonos speaker will begin playing. You can also control volume and playback with commands like “Alexa, turn it up in the Living Room” and “Alexa, next in the Bedroom.“

This new ability for Alexa to control another device in the home by specifying the room it is in is currently unique to Sonos. Amazon and Sonos have worked closely to make this possible, and it’s assumed this ability will eventually be available to other speaker manufacturers and even other smart devices.

jswinden · 07-04-2017, 11:26 AM

So basically you can use Alexa via an Echo device to control a Sonos speaker via a skill. Well that doesn't make Sonos an AI home assistant by any stretch of the imagination.

Human: "Alexa, have your people send a request to the Sonos people asking if I can listen to my music on one of their speakers in my living room"

Alexa: "Okay, I'll play "YMCA" by the Village People."

Human: "@#$%ing moron device!"

booklover6 · 07-05-2017, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

Human: "Alexa, have your people send a request to the Sonos people asking if I can listen to my music on one of their speakers in my living room"

Alexa: "Okay, I'll play "YMCA" by the Village People."

06-30-2017, 05:57 PM	#2212
jswinden Nameless Being	One category that Amazon is not good at having in their store is groceries and pet food and such. I have a lot of trouble finding the brands I want and at a reasonable price. That was the main reason I opted to not get the Wand. It is extremely frustrating trying to shop for groceries online, whether at Amazon or any regional grocery store chain. It takes longer than driving to the store and buying off the shelf. I wish retailers would rethink their online groceries apps and get them working better. For one thing, they either don't offer the brands you want online, only offering them in store, and then they have too many restrictions on what you can and cannot buy. For example, try buying 17 lbs of kitty litter from an online grocery store. I've yet to find one that will deliver it because it weighs too much. I made several attempts to buy groceries, non-perishable items only, online with several different stores. All I accomplished was a lot of wasted time and a lot of frustration. In the end you wind up having to go to the B&M store anyway, so I no longer even try to do it online. Even the buy-online-and-pick-up-at-Walmart option is a PITA. Last edited by jswinden; 06-30-2017 at 06:00 PM.

07-01-2017, 10:54 AM	#2214
jswinden Nameless Being	The good thing about grocery shopping at many grocery stores is the familiarity with the layout of the store. That is, you know the general location of all the items because you shop there a lot. Granted many grocery stores love to mess with you and re-arrange their stock periodically, but you can fairly quickly adapt to the new locations. One grocery store I've shopped at for a decade now, a Neighborhood Walmart Grocery, just remodeled the inside of the store replacing the old shelving and refrigeration units and they even re-arranged where same were located and how they were oriented. That was the first time in a decade that they had significantly changed the location of sale items. But it only took a visit or two to get acclimated to the new design and item locations. Unlike my mother who loved to shop and would go up and down every isle and pick up and examine nearly every item, even the ones she had no desire to buy, I'm more of the typical male shopper. I want to get in and out as quickly as possible, and preferably leave with everything I came to buy. I hate shopping for groceries, but I have to eat... So back to the good thing about many grocery stores, that familiarity with their layout. When I'm familiar with the general location of their items, I can make my grocery list, then map out in my mind where all those items are located. So I can essentially build my grocery list and order all the items along the shortest pathways through the store. Instead of my mom's great two hour adventure in grocery shopping, I follow the ordered list and know which isles, and on which side of the isles, each item is located, so I'm in and out within 30 minutes or less and I'm leaving with two or three weeks worth of groceries. My mom, who passed away nearly three decades ago, would likely be appalled, but I bet my dad would high five me from the great beyond if he could. Okay that is a guy thing as far as getting in out of the store quickly and getting every item you need. We hate shopping, at least grocery shopping. When grocery shopping online I cannot get in and out quickly. You would think so, but no that's not how it works. You have no isles to map out. You have to use the search box to find everything. You never know who you will buy the item from, and I'm talking about from which 3rd party vendor. You have to search through multiple listings for each item to find the best price, the preferred shipping method, the correct size, etc. You have to avoid accidentally buying a $2,000 bag of cat food. I never encounter any of that in a B&M grocery store, at least not on that scale. Now you have spent 2 to 5 minutes placing one item in your cart. You only have 30 to 40 more items to locate and buy, so get comfy because you are going to be sitting in front of the computer for a while. And what happens when the item you want is not available? More searching and researching, more time spent. Similar items are lumped together in the B&M store so if your preferred brand is out of stock it is easy to quickly grab a different brand. It is a more involved process online though. I've tried grocery shopping online several times in the past year. I've tried using Amazon, HEB (a regional Texas grocery chain), Walmart, and at least two other regional chains. I'm always disappointed and I always seem to spend more time online trying to find my items than I would have if I had just got in the car and gone two miles to the local Super 1 Foods and shopped the old fashioned way. So far all of the online retail grocery shopping has been virtually the same-type in the item in the search box then move to the next item. This is grossly inefficient and time consuming and anything but user friendly. If the online grocery stores would build truly useful apps that allow you to build favorites lists, then shopping could be done much more quickly. But even then, on Amazon you would still have to muddle through all the choices for sizes, 3rd party vendors, and shipping. I think these grocery stores need to hire shoppers as consultants so they can develop better apps and tools to make the experience efficient and useful. As it is at current, I only buy a select few grocery items online, preferring to get most of them at a B&M. I'm still going to a B&M regardless though, as I'm never going to pay an online grocery store $15/month for the privilege of buying fresh produce and perishable items. That is insane. I would not shop at a B&M that charged like that either. Last edited by jswinden; 07-01-2017 at 10:58 AM.

07-04-2017, 10:51 AM	#2217
jswinden Nameless Being	I don't think Sonos speakers have an AI home assistant feature. Do they? I'm not that familiar with them. But they look like they are more expensive, and from the reviews I've heard they blow away the Echo and other home assistant devices as far as sound quality. But if Sonos don't have an AI home assistant feature, then this really is not a fair comparison as they don't fit into the same category as the Echos, Google Home, Apple HomePod, etc. I can't wait for the day when AI starts meaning Artificial Intelligence rather than Absolute Insanity. I'm getting really tired of arguing with, shouting at, and being generally frustrated with my Echo and Dot. I think the problem is that it requires intelligence to code Artificial Intelligence, but not so much to code Absolute Insanity. Last edited by jswinden; 07-04-2017 at 10:54 AM.

07-04-2017, 11:26 AM	#2219
jswinden Nameless Being	So basically you can use Alexa via an Echo device to control a Sonos speaker via a skill. Well that doesn't make Sonos an AI home assistant by any stretch of the imagination. Human: "Alexa, have your people send a request to the Sonos people asking if I can listen to my music on one of their speakers in my living room" Alexa: "Okay, I'll play "YMCA" by the Village People." Human: "@#$%ing moron device!" Last edited by jswinden; 07-04-2017 at 12:45 PM.

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06-30-2017, 03:29 PM	#2208
Catlady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,421 Karma: 52734361 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip	Got my Dash Wand today! It looks nice stuck to the refrigerator, and I was happy that batteries were included since I forgot to buy any. My first issue with it was that I couldn't set it up using Amazon's own Fire tablet; oh no, I had to do it from my phone, which necessitated deleting apps to install Amazon's shopping app. Of course, it's not Amazon's fault I have no space left on my phones, but why in the world couldn't I do it from the tablet? I used a nonactivated phone, and that was OK with Amazon, but the Fire tablet was a no-go. The second issue, of course is the lack of the timer function--I optimistically tried to set a timer/reminder/alarm, thinking maybe there'd been an update, but no. Who at Amazon thought something marketed as a kitchen device didn't need a timer? I tried the barcode scanner but the particular product wasn't available. Still, it seems pretty nifty. Realistically I don't expect to use it much unless it gets a timer function. I may ask for a weather report in the morning while I'm making coffee, I suppose. I thought it would do news, but that's not supported either--too bad. Since it was free, I'm happy.

06-30-2017, 06:32 PM	#2213
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,298 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), iPad Air M3	I use Amazon for groceries all the time. Mostly because of the CHOICE! I can almost always find the specific brand and type I want. And I'm fussy. My King Arthur flour is even in Prime Pantry, as is the brown rice I prefer - Tamanishiki Super Premium. I don't buy daily groceries there, obviously, since I'm in Canada and we don't have nearly the level of reasonably priced products that the US has. But for specialty items that I can't easily get in my remote location? It's where I go first.