Omg we just got Alexa

[reddressinggown]

Tell me what fun things she does

This is freaky!

No she doesn’t work for Amazon silent. That was sarcasm I believe.

The paranoia on this thread is mad.

The ignorance on this thread is mad.

My phone does monitor me - it says right now where my car is parked and where it’s usually parked.

That info could be benign, useless or if I had an abusive ex partner who had paired aspects of my phone in the cloud, it could lead him to me.

Better get rid of all tech. Wonder where I can get a messenger pigeon. I need to let DH know that I need him to pick up milk on the way home.

Tech can be great - it is great - but it has to work FOR us.

It’s sensible to have conversations on who accesses your data and what they use it for. About how technology works with civil liberties and privacy.
Your data is valuable - companies make a shit ton of money out of it. It can disadvantage you - the current morotorium on insurance companies using medical test data won’t last. In the hands of repressive governments it can do real harm.

We won’t be getting rid of tech and neither should we - it has the potential to do wonderful things. We just need to make sure there’s an ongoing conversation about how we use it, rather than be used by it. I do t think that’s paranoid in the least. It seems fairly sensible to me (indeed, this sort of thing is what the GDPR framework is starting to address.)

My dot gen 3 is here. Love it

Saving this thread. I ordered a dot in the sale as I only realised this week that I get music with my Prime account. Had planned to mostly use it as a speaker, but considering I forget to put my recycling out every time and usually fling it at the bin men in pyjamas with mad bed hair as I've heard the clinking of the bottles up the street, I love the idea of setting a reminder.

Alexa is sold out on amazon - I blame mumsnet

The thread certainly worked didn't it

My dot is sat in it’s delivery box in the front room.... i’m Itching to open it!!! But it’s for Christmas. Me and DS1 are planning the fun we’ll have with it instead.

@Yesindeed123
@strawberrisc The erosion of civil liberties (by the state or multi nationals) is a real problem.

Honestly, of all the problems I face in life I seriously don’t care.

She turns my fairy lights on and off! No more wrestling to get behind the trees.

Primoestate - I’m in Abu Dhabi and Alexa works fine for smart home / music / radio. Local stuff isn’t very good - she can tell you what the weather will be like but can’t recommend local businesses etc.

Love Alexa I have a view in my bedroom a dot in the living room and I just got a new kindle with Alexa on. I can set alarms, add to my calendar (which is handy because I can never find my diary) set reminders for my meds I have even used her to read a kindle book, yes her voice is very monotonous but I couldn’t read it and I wanted to finish it, I have heard worse voices on audio books tbh I can shop with Ocardo and make lists that I can’t use. I can control the lights which being disabled is great because I have problems with the switches on lamps because of Dexterity Issues, and Best of all I can annoy ds19 by dropping in and telling him to turn down the t.v or music. I can play music from my amazon library and Spotify and I think that as the system becomes more widely used she will probably be able to do much more.

This has been brilliant! Have loved following all your tips, especially with my nice big screened one

Keep them coming, especially if I get great pictures!