Amazon Echo Club

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

It seems that AI has a ways to go before it takes over the world.

I told my brother this when he was visiting from Canada. He is currently working on programming AIs to take over customer representatives. He didn't like my examples of Alexa but his husband thought it was funny.

[OtinG]

I wouldn't consider everything that is described as AI by various people, companies, marketing departments, etc. as being true AI. I'm skeptical that AI exists in the sense of a digital entity that is capable of cognition, mimics and/or surpasses animal/human brains, and will eventually begin seeking out knowledge on its own once it reaches a certain point of maturity/advancement. In other words a digital creature (for lack of better term) that could eventually reach a level of super-intelligence. But we do have some really cool AI stuff like IBM's Watson. I do not consider the home automation and assistant stuff like Amazon's Alexa, Google's Assistant, Apple's Siri, MS's Cortana to be anywhere near the advanced level of Watson though. IMO, Watson is a magnitude, if not several magnitudes, more advanced in AI than the home assistants like Alexa, Google, Siri, and Cortana. I think Alexa, Google, Siri, and Cortana are little more than huge data bases stored on server farms and accessed by some sophisticated software algorithms. They certainly are not very intelligent yet, at least in comparison with Watson. But to be honest, we are a long way from Mr. Scot asking the computer to solve a complex engineering issue with dilithium crystals! What we can do is program the computers to tackle specific tasks in order to solve specific problems. But is that really AI or just good computer programming by human intelligence? I don't know the answer to that, but I suspect we are still much closer to HI in this technology than to true AI.

[wodin]

Yup, we go that here in HI.

[tubemonkey]

Cross-posted from the Black Friday thread:


QVC -- Today Only -- exp 14 Nov

This is the best price this Echo has ever been and is better than any of the upcoming BF deals. BF pricing will be $70 for 1 and $120 for 2.

Today only, so hurry if you're interested.


$99.98 -- Amazon Echo 2nd Gen -- 2-pack ($49.99 ea) -- Free Standard S&H

Alexa, what's the weather going to be like today? What time is dinner on Thursday? Can you order me a pizza?

Ask and you shall receive with this two-pack of second-generation Amazon Echo speakers at an amazing price! With this set, you can give not one but two gifts that are at the top of everyone's list. Alexa, what else can the Echo do?

Well, it also lets you catch up on the news, tune into the radio, and get sports scores using a cloud-based voice service that keeps learning and adding new features all the time. Pop on a streaming service and enjoy immersive sound from the 360-degree omnidirectional speaker, or ask Alexa to set a timer so you don't accidentally burn the pie. You can even connect to select Wi-Fi-enabled devices--so you can make lighting changes using the sound of your voice without leaving the comfort of your couch. From Amazon.

You'll also receive a bundle of cool apps and trial offers for even more entertainment options.

New to QVC? $5 off your first order with code FIVE4U | See Restrictions

[Tarana]

"Life of Pi" by Yan Martel and narrated by Vikas Adam is this month's freebee from Audible for streaming only on Echo.

[tubemonkey]

Skype calling through Alexa is now available

Microsoft has just launched the Skype integration with Alexa that they announced earlier this year. To link the two services, simply go into the Alexa app and login with your Skype account under Settings > Communication > Skype. Once you do so, you’ll automatically earn 200 free Skype minutes. Placing Skype to Skype calls is always free, but the minutes are used if you want to use Skype to call a regular phone number.

Once your Skype account is linked to your Alexa devices in the Alexa app, just say “Alexa, call [name] on Skype” or “Alexa, Skype [name]” to start a call. To call a phone number, say “Alexa, call [phone number w/ area code] on Skype.”

You’ll also be able to receive Skype calls through Alexa. When someone calls you, your Alexa devices will play the familiar Skype ring tone. You just need to say “Alexa, answer” to answer the call.

When using Skype through an Amazon Echo Show or Echo Spot, you’ll have the option to make a video call. Skype’s Alexa integration also works through audio only devices, like the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot.

[tubemonkey]

Pandora Premium is now available on Amazon Echo and other Alexa devices

Pandora has announced that their paid Pandora Premium subscription service is now available on Amazon Echo devices, as well as 3rd party Alexa devices. While Pandora is best known for their free radio-like music service that gives you limited control of what music plays, Pandora Premium is their answer to subscription music services like Spotify and Amazon Music Unlimited. If you pay $9.99 per month, you’ll be able to have full control over what you stream and when. Pandora Premium arrived on Fire TV devices at the start of the year through an updated Pandora app. Now you can select Pandora Premium as your default music service for Alexa devices and fully access the service through your smart speakers.

[wodin]

Alexa will soon be able to read the news just like a professional

Amazon’s Alexa continues to learn new party tricks, with the latest being a “newscaster style” speaking voice that will be launching on enabled devices in a few weeks’ time.

[OtinG]

Amazon and its Bezos-Bozos who program their website never seem to make the interface that easy to navigate, especially when it comes to finding and watching deals. So here is a reminder of how to quickly navigate to any deals via a computer browser you are watching.

Go to the Today's Deals page. (I have a bookmark to find this page easily.)

Near the top of the Today's Deals page there is some light grey text directly under where it says "Today's Deals". Look for the sentence that says "See deals you are watching here" and click on the "here" link. That will take you to a page with your watched deals.

See the attached screen capture.

You can also choose to get a daily email, which I don't find very useful. You can also use their Amazon app to get notifications from them as to when your deals go live. But I really don't like their app, especially on a tiny smartphone screen, and it has sometimes failed to notify me in the past.

[OtinG]

Yesterday I decided to listen to holiday music via my trial of Amazon Music Unlimited. I listened for about 4 hours until I realized I was hearing the same songs over and over again, as in 3 times during 4 hours. That sux! I know all the services do this to some extent. SiriusXM tends to repeat its song list every 4 hours, so after 4 hours you basically get a rerun of the previous 4 hours. I thought that was bad, but it isn't nearly as bad as Amazon Music Unlimited repeating some songs repeatedly over a 4 hour period. In the past few weeks I've listened to Amazon Music Unlimited Classic Rock and 80's Pop channels quite a bit but I don't remember the repetition being as bad as it is with the holiday channel. Any of you guys also noticing this repetition with Amazon Music Unlimited channels?

I have until January to cancel it. I've already decided to cancel my SiriusXM at the end of this month just prior to its renewing as I don't seem to be able to justify the cost with their current programming. I'm seriously thinking about going back to the free services as I really am not a hard core user of music services. The Amazon Music Unlimited plan for one device is the only one I might consider paying for since it is basically only $4/month, but Amazon's music service is not very robust as far as I can tell.

[issybird]

OK, here's an oddity; Alexa won't sing to me anymore. I know, not a huge loss. I discovered it by accident, but she won't sing anything; not a song, not Happy Birthday, not a Thanksgiving or a Hanukkah song, nothing. A request is met with the blue ring for a bit and then silence. Not even an "I'm not sure" or one of her other standard responses when she's flummoxed.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[OtinG]

Amazon admits to security breach today that exposed email addresses and names. They are being tight lipped though, so I won’t be surprised to later find out much more was exposed or compromised. They supposedly emailed all customers who were effected, but we have heard that line of poop from other companies who later admit the breach was way worse than originally published.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/21/am...wn-on-secrecy/

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by issybird

OK, here's an oddity; Alexa won't sing to me anymore. I know, not a huge loss. I discovered it by accident, but she won't sing anything; not a song, not Happy Birthday, not a Thanksgiving or a Hanukkah song, nothing. A request is met with the blue ring for a bit and then silence. Not even an "I'm not sure" or one of her other standard responses when she's flummoxed.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I just tried Happy Birthday and she sang it to me.

Did you ask her to sing one too many times and she said to herself 'That's it, no more singing!'

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Amazon admits to security breach today that exposed email addresses and names. They are being tight lipped though, so I won’t be surprised to later find out much more was exposed or compromised. They supposedly emailed all customers who were effected, but we have heard that line of poop from other companies who later admit the breach was way worse than originally published.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/21/am...wn-on-secrecy/

Naughty, naughty Amazon

This is also being discussed in the News forum:

Amazon exposed customer names and emails in a 'technical error'

[Tarana]

Try "Alexa, play a country song"