Amazon Hardware Event on 25 Sep

[haertig]

Didn't Amazon have ads showing how wonderful it was to find out what time it is by just asking Alexa, instead of the old-fashioned way of looking at a clock? And now, what, they're selling a clock as an upgrade to Alexa?

Somehow I'm thinking that a voice controlled oven is a bad thing for households with children, or elderly adults with dementia. A very bad thing actually.

The two above items grabbed my attention as being silly/stupid. Unfortunately, the other announced items didn't even grab my attention at all. Oh wait, the eyeglasses with Alexa built in gained attention for the silly/stupid category as well. A few short years ago, talking to your eyeglasses and/or oven would have gotten you committed to a mental institution. Maybe it still should.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by haertig

Didn't Amazon have ads showing how wonderful it was to find out what time it is by just asking Alexa, instead of the old-fashioned way of looking at a clock? And now, what, they're selling a clock as an upgrade to Alexa?

The display isn't just a clock.
It's just one of the functions.

[johnnyb]

I miss the times when Amazon was about books and not about providing solutions to problems that nobody has...

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

I miss the times when Amazon was about books and not about providing solutions to problems that nobody has...

1995 was a millennium ago.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

1995 was a millennium ago.

Ha!

However I would argue that the inception of the Kindle and its first iterations were still part of that focus, neverminding the fact that by the time they came around with their first Kindle, they were already selling things other than books.
Now they are just this unfocused giant that keeps pumping out all sorts of gadgets according to the whims of the market.
Don't get me wrong, I like my Kindle, but from my experience with it, I would not invest in any other Amazon technologies, given how they are all almost certain to fall behind the competition in terms of user satisfaction through useful innovation once the next trend arrives.
I will keep buying ebooks from Amazon but I am constantly making sure to be able to have them available apart from their devices.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

Ha!

However I would argue that the inception of the Kindle and its first iterations were still part of that focus, neverminding the fact that by the time they came around with their first Kindle, they were already selling things other than books.
Now they are just this unfocused giant that keeps pumping out all sorts of gadgets according to the whims of the market.
Don't get me wrong, I like my Kindle, but from my experience with it, I would not invest in any other Amazon technologies, given how they are all almost certain to fall behind the competition in terms of user satisfaction through useful innovation once the next trend arrives.
I will keep buying ebooks from Amazon but I am constantly making sure to be able to have them available apart from their devices.

Amazon was selling CDs and DVDs by 1996 and electronics and dry goods by 1997. By 2000 books were a minority product, hardly worth Bezo's attention. He has bigger fish to try.

Amazon is a consortium, an empire of over 20 different companies. Each is run independently and has to compete in its segment on its own merits. And each has their own pace of innovation.

In cloud services they are neck and neck with Microsoft for first place, so they have to run like heck just to stay where they are; in home automation (which is what yesterday was about) they have a fair lead over Google but not enough to run away; in streaming gadgets, they are neck and neck with Roku, and in streaming video they are third and trying to stay ahead of Hulu.

Even in retail, they are only ahead in online. In total retail they are but a small slice.

It is only in book retail that they are lapping the field so if you only look at books they seem to be dominant and "fat, dumb, and lazy". And there they are so big they have to throttle back or risk DOJ attention.

Basically Amazon competes based on tbe strength of the competition. Microsoft, Google, and WalMart they take seriously. B&N and other bookstores, not so much.

[leebase]

Oooh....let me play.

Amazon is way ahead of Microsoft in cloud services. Amazon is "the Microsoft of cloud services". But Msft is coming on strong and is solidly #2.

Nobody is "way ahead" in home automation. Very nascent market.

Amazon is "way ahead" in "lady in a can" devices.

Amazon is trying to spread their lady into many places (head phones, cars, glasses, microwaves, speakers)....but Google and Apple own the phone market and it's phones you have with you all the time. It's a fun race to watch (and speaking of Watches, Apple owns the smartwatch).

Thing is....there is no clear money making strategy for Amazon as very few people are using Alexa to place orders. Ads coming one day...you wait.

[leebase]

Looks like Amazon saved me some money. No upgrades to their tablets. I've bought (at least) one pretty much every year.

I don't need any more tablets. The current Fire Tab HD 8 and Walmart Onn are "just fine". But getting more performance at those prices is always wished for.

Thing is....my iPad Mini purchase (with 256gig) has taken away my use case for my cheap Android tablets. I have so much storage space that it doesn't matter that I can't load onto an sd card. My cheap Android tablets sit on a shelf and occasionally whisper to me "pick me up, play with me".

If I were more flush with moolah than I am right now, I'd pick up the Echo Buds. Love my Air Pods because my NUMBER ONE use case is for talking on the phone. They are great for that. They are "just fine" for listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks. But...they aren't "all that" when it comes to music listening. I have other headphones, but none of them are as nice and small as the Echo buds. Alas, it's not that high a priority for my current budget. Oh....and "in ear" headphones are also much nicer for use on Airplanes.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by haertig

I'm running 1.17 also. It has never asked to update or attempted an auto-update. But I always assumed that might be because I am running it on Linux under Wine. I would be more worried about updates happening in the native Windows environment. It might be worthwhile for Windows users to install it in a virtual machine, so if the program ever updates, it would be a simple matter to restore the original virtual machine from backup. I generally use the "Download for USB transfer" method these days, but I just checked my "Kindle for PC under Wine" and things still worked via that route too.

I've been running Kindle on PC on Windows 10 before 10 was easily available (I ran the beta version of Windows 10 starting 2014) and have not seen an auto update on any of my PCs.

I also haven't seen a wave of complaints about the program updating when you tell it not to.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by leebase

Looks like Amazon saved me some money. No upgrades to their tablets. I've bought (at least) one pretty much every year.

I don't need any more tablets. The current Fire Tab HD 8 and Walmart Onn are "just fine". But getting more performance at those prices is always wished for.

Thing is....my iPad Mini purchase (with 256gig) has taken away my use case for my cheap Android tablets. I have so much storage space that it doesn't matter that I can't load onto an sd card. My cheap Android tablets sit on a shelf and occasionally whisper to me "pick me up, play with me".

If I were more flush with moolah than I am right now, I'd pick up the Echo Buds. Love my Air Pods because my NUMBER ONE use case is for talking on the phone. They are great for that. They are "just fine" for listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks. But...they aren't "all that" when it comes to music listening. I have other headphones, but none of them are as nice and small as the Echo buds. Alas, it's not that high a priority for my current budget. Oh....and "in ear" headphones are also much nicer for use on Airplanes.

I agree with all of this, except I cannot imagine AirPods working that well on airplanes, there’s relatively little passive noise suppression, and planes are quite loud (last time I flew, I took active noise suppression headphones, and have Rayz wired buds now that I’d use instead). As I’m highly invested in Apple hardware, however, I need that W1 chip to simplify pairing when switching devices. Echo buds won’t do this, and I don’t need or want Alexa in my ears.

Also when it says ‘customize your fit’ it sounds like trouble. I know it’s the only way for noise suppression earbuds to work correctly, but what if none of the sizes work out? The Rayz came with six sets, only the foam ones worked for me, and those need to be replaced periodically. These look like silicon, which in my experience will pop out unexpectedly. The beauty of AirPods is they just fit comfortably and don’t shift or slide around in my ears, or spit themselves out. I can run and jump and do headstands without worries.

If I had a requirement for active noise cancellation in wireless buds they look like a good value (as compared with Powerbeats Pro for example, which don’t even seem to have active noise cancellation).

[leebase]

You misunderstood....the airplane use case is one where AirPods do not work so well. They don’t block much ambient sound. I have a pair of wired in-ear headphones I take on planes. It doesn’t matter how good a mic they have as I’m not making phone calls on a plane. I could see the echo buds being nice for that use case.

Most the time I don’t want in-ear headphones, I do not find it comfortable for long periods. However, the sound is much better...unless you want to go with regular full size headphones.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by leebase

...unless you want to go with regular full size headphones.

My go-to headphones are Sony MDR-7506's, which are made much better by installing Beyerdynamic DT250/DT280 replacement earpads (I'm not sure if these replacement velour pads are still available, but they're great if you can find them).

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR7506-...gateway&sr=8-5

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by leebase

You misunderstood....the airplane use case is one where AirPods do not work so well. They don’t block much ambient sound. I have a pair of wired in-ear headphones I take on planes. It doesn’t matter how good a mic they have as I’m not making phone calls on a plane. I could see the echo buds being nice for that use case.

Most the time I don’t want in-ear headphones, I do not find it comfortable for long periods. However, the sound is much better...unless you want to go with regular full size headphones.

When I was working in a noisy office, I alternated between the Bose QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling headphones (in ear) and the Bose QuietComfort 35 Wireless Noise Cancelling headphones (over the ear). Neither is what I would call cheap, but both got the job done and by alternating the two, I avoided ear fatigue. The in ear worked with my iPhone, so I used those for conference calls. Normally I use Apple earbuds.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

...

I have to ask: Were you actually replying to my post?

[leebase]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

When I was working in a noisy office, I alternated between the Bose QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling headphones (in ear) and the Bose QuietComfort 35 Wireless Noise Cancelling headphones (over the ear). Neither is what I would call cheap, but both got the job done and by alternating the two, I avoided ear fatigue. The in ear worked with my iPhone, so I used those for conference calls. Normally I use Apple earbuds.

I have the Bose over the ears as well. I got them with my airline points and used them on the airplane. They are great for that use case and in general. I just got tired of the size when traveling and my AirPods are my office choice due to the excellent mic and I don’t really want to be completely sound isolated most of the time.

If I’m home and wanting to listen to music - the Bose are my go to.

I have a nice set of Shure in ear monitors ($200 level) and they are my airplane and travel headphones. They don’t noise cancel, but they sound isolate due to being in ear. I just can’t wear them hours on end.

My AirPods live in my pockets and are the 95% use case