Comment on Alexa Is in Millions of Households—and Amazon Is Losing Billions
jordanlund@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Not sure how you monetize “Alexa, set a timer for 10 minutes.”
That’s pretty much all we use it for.
Mine also does weather, turns the bedroom lights on, plays Spotify and settles random arguments about whether old celebrities are dead.
Although she did once claim that Ray Parker Jr was white, so sometimes an extra googling is needed for that.
I did get an Echo Show many years ago that showed the time, but now it just shows ads so the screen is now the base.
I have several throughout the house with a couple hooked up to stereo systems. It’s really nice to be able to stream music to all speakers or to specific groups of speakers like “downstairs group”.
It’s also fantastic for keeping a grocery list. You can then pull it up on the app while shopping or have it text the list to someone else. IMO it’s by far the most useful feature.
You can also use it to check in on kids at the house if they don’t have a phone. You can use the app on your phone to “drop in” on any Alexa in your house and have basically a phone call or a video call with Alexa Show devices.
I’m one of the few that loves having these devices. But as soon as Amazon tries to charge a subscription I will be looking into jailbreaking them.
BobbyNevada@discuss.tchncs.de 3 months ago
I asked Alexa what the weather was like, and they shoe horned a sponsorship.
thr0w4w4y2@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
“drink a verification can to continue”
BobbyNevada@discuss.tchncs.de 3 months ago
“it’s the thirst mutilator!”
JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 months ago
Was it by the way? Say “Alexa, turn off ‘by the way’.”
tacosplease@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Thank you for this
BobbyNevada@discuss.tchncs.de 3 months ago
No, it was like “weather is brought to you by.” Can I not remember the rest because I was blinded by rage . I didn’t even hear the weather. It only happened once.
BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one 3 months ago
They caught on to that and now you gotta setup a routine that automatically disables it every 24 hours because it now auto re-enables itself after a while.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 months ago
I disabled mine… I don’t know when. Maybe a year ago or so? It’s still off. I get your point but it’s definitely not required. It’s been months and it hasn’t come back on. I don’t think the effort of setting up a routine is worth it (with the current rate it re-enables).