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Original poster

To not see the point of Alexa?

226 replies

abacucat · 20/11/2018 10:03

Unless you are disabled, switching lights on or off is no big deal. And everything else is simply what you can do on a laptop or tablet. I don't see why you would spend money buying another gadget that doesn't do anything new.

OP posts:
bookmum08 · 20/11/2018 11:04

I'm on the pointless side but it was amusing to watch my daughter and her friend ask lots of stupid questions (on friends one obvs)..
Alexa what is a fart
Alexa do you have a boyfriend
Alexa do you love me
Alexa do you love Siri
Alexa
Alexa
Alexa
I so wanted Alexa go all crazy and tell them to shut up and leave me alone. Anyway it was amusing for ten minutes and then they went back to playing with Lego.

BlueNeighbourhood · 20/11/2018 11:04

I absolutely adore my Google Home.

For the first few weeks I hardly used it, but it sits on my bedside table. I use it to set my alarm to wake me up and then ask it to play TalkSport and it streams immediately until I leave for work. In the evenings when I'm at home I use it to play music, ask it to look up facts (rather than getting my phone or tablet out) and make to-do lists. It makes everything a lot easier.

I've heard that the devices can communicate with others in the house to pass on messages, the jokes it tells are quite funny and it's a great piece of kit that you don't realise you miss until it's gone again. Considering the Google Home is only £29.99 and the 3rd Gen Alexa £24.99 in the Black Friday sales it's a great stocking filler for someone.

I get why people don't want it because of the listening in/targeted advertising but it's happening now and we just have to live with it. If your home device doesn't do it, your phone will. I would recommend it to anyone.

Ellisandra · 20/11/2018 11:06

I don’t get Alexa to do anything that is life changing, nothing I need.

But here’s something I love: my husband and I can be ships that pass in the night sometimes, I work away, we both have busy lives. We don’t do a weekly shop, because of where we both work we tend to just pop in, and because a lot of plans change we don’t always have a fixed idea of what we’ll eat. Also because I’m likely to say “fuck the meal plan - I just fancy cheese tonight”

So - the shopping list.
The instant one of us uses something up or wants something, just call out and it’s added to a sloping list on both our phones. If I go into the shop, I double check - I can get something he added 5 minutes ago manually to the list, from work. I can also cross it off, so he doesn’t buy it on the way home.

It’s great!
I love him getting in and knowing I’ve saved him a stop off for butter, because I happened to (unplanned and unknown to him) have decided to go to the shop at lunchtime.

None of that is necessary. We could call or text. We could do all our shopping once a week and not allow ourselves to deviate.

As I say - it’s not life changing.
But it’s just EASY.

BarbaraofSevillle · 20/11/2018 11:08

There is no 'talking' news on that as such so I have to stop and read it

I find it far quicker to read online news than anything with video clips or spoken word.

I hate what they've done to the BBC news website where half the video clips include content that can be read in seconds but take at least a minute to play and that's after they've loaded up and sorted themselves out.

AdobeWanKenobi · 20/11/2018 11:10

Point is though BarbaraofSevillle I need to stop to do that, whereas Alexa talking to me I can still be getting ready for work. I'd much rather hear a briefing than read one mostly because I still haven't sorted new glasses

tellmewhenthespaceshiplands · 20/11/2018 11:12

Skynet. That is all Wink

adaline · 20/11/2018 11:13

I kind of see the appeal in that it's a pretty cool, handsfree gadget.

But I'm still not getting one. It listens to you all the time (it has to, otherwise how will it know if you say "Alexa") and like others I don't understand buying a device that allows corporations to listen to every word you say.

I get why people don't want it because of the listening in/targeted advertising but it's happening now and we just have to live with it. If your home device doesn't do it, your phone will.

Nonsense. You don't "just have to live with it". If you have a phone you can switch off the microphone - you can't do that with Alexa otherwise you can't use her at all. People are choosing to buy these because it makes their lives a tiny bit easier. Sorry, but I would rather get up and turn the lights on myself and write a shopping list using pen and paper than have a device that listens to my every word in my home.

Amazon might "only" use it to sell you stuff/encourage you to sign up for Prime or whatever else, but this is just the start of it. Wouldn't be too hard for the government to buy rights to the contents of them in some way and use it to influence voting or worse, control what you can and can't do in your own home (North Korea, anyone? 1984?)

bookmum08 · 20/11/2018 11:13

Adobe or if you just switch a radio on and you could hear the news, weather forcast and music. Plus you don't have to be permantly connected to the Internet for that.

adaline · 20/11/2018 11:15

Lastly, I then navigate to the radio station I listen to and load that up.

Can't you just...switch on the radio?

ILiveInSalemsLot · 20/11/2018 11:20

“Nonsense. You don't "just have to live with it". If you have a phone you can switch off the microphone”

How do you know someone can’t just switch it back on?
People have reportedly hacked into people’s cameras on laptops and switches them on.
We ll all be enslaved soon Sad

AdobeWanKenobi · 20/11/2018 11:20

I could switch on a radio, I'd probably hear 40 minutes of inane chatter, music I hate and adverts before I eventually got to my news and weather and even then it wouldn't give me my more 'niche' news.

And no adeline, I cant just switch on the radio as I don't own a DAB radio and Planet Rock doesn't broadcast on FM in these parts.

Ifailed · 20/11/2018 11:20

Can't you just...switch on the radio?

I think you have to ask Alexa to do that for you now.

Wordthe · 20/11/2018 11:22

The point of Alexa is for Amazon to own you
surely that's obvious

SummerGems · 20/11/2018 11:23

It’s a toy and nothing more. It’s a cool gadget for some people but nobody needs one. They however need people to want them because the more people who own them the more access the government potentially have to your data in the future. Access to your every word, access to your every action. It’s not happening yet but it will.

I refuse to have one in my house. I have banned the use of Siri in my house as well because people were getting annoyed with it and we’ve gone too far in the direction of humanising our technology. It’s an inanemate object.

vandrew4 · 20/11/2018 11:24

adobe just switch on 5live on the radio. fulls news and sports briefings every 10 minutes or so. no music to endure

dingit · 20/11/2018 11:25

It means dh can shout at her, instead of me Grin

ReverseTheFerret · 20/11/2018 11:29

We have dots in the bedrooms and an echo downstairs - they get used a lot for setting timers, listening to the radio on various stations (thus ending the glorious kitchen radio station war between Radio2 and Absolute90s where I would want to throttle DH if he'd retuned MY radio yet again off my station of choice), I like the brief news summary when I'm getting ready on a morning, checking football scores quickly, the kids quite often shout at it to ask the spelling of a word... plus music on demand (drawback being she can play that fucking Baby Shark song) and generally running playlists of music that I want to listen to while I'm doing house stuff.

It's also helped my child with speech difficulties no end with her speech clarity as it's really reinforced articulating the L sound she was missing out of things in a manner that didn't require a fucktonne of parental nagging.

AdobeWanKenobi · 20/11/2018 11:32

Vandrew will 5live give me an in-depth briefing on all the Formula One news?

WibblewobbleTum · 20/11/2018 11:34

It's handy but definitely not a necessity. Won't be getting one in my house either. DH finds them a bit creepy!

Paddington68 · 20/11/2018 11:34

If you don't see the point, don't buy one. Next!

Blanchedupetitpois · 20/11/2018 11:36

I like having a hands-free one stop shop for:

Radio
Music
Podcasts
Google
Cooking timers
Weather

I could do all of those things separately, but it’s handy not to have to get a phone or laptop out if i’m baking etc. But that’s just me - I don’t think everyone needs one!

Bugsymalonemumof2 · 20/11/2018 11:36

I love it. I can crawl into bed and remember I have left a light on and now have to get back out again. I can play music, i can listen to the radio, i can check the time, i can ask it to tell me to get the dinner out in 20 minutes, i can tell my kids to stop killing each other in their bedroom without having to move.

And it farts.

It is brilliant.

Lolipop44 · 20/11/2018 11:37

I only use mine for music and i absolutely love it. If there's a particular song i want to listen to i just ask 4 it to be played it's much better than searching through hundreds of CDs. I'd hate to be without mine!!

QuietContraryMary · 20/11/2018 11:37

It's so Amazon can literally spy on you.

www.vnews.com/Police-think-Alexa-may-have-witnessed-a-New-Hampshire-double-slaying--now-they-want-Amazon-to-turn-her-over-21591862

Anyone who has one of these things in their house needs their head examining.

AdobeWanKenobi · 20/11/2018 11:38

Paddington68 how dare you come on a thread and say something reasonable!