The Amazon Dot is amazing

Actually your Alexa stuff is also loaded into an encrypted account. And only you can give permission to access it. There was a recent case were the cop’s fishing wanted to play back what an Echo might have heard. Amazon told them to go pound sand. Your input on the Alexa App is a separate thing it is about commands. Here is an example.

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If, as in this case, Alexa gets it right you say yes, if no you go to the second page and comment on it. At first I was having trouble. In said Alexa play Quiet Village Radio. Every time it started to play Martin Dennys’ Quiet Village. I learned to tell it were to go. TuneIn...
I do know about that story. They didn't get off the hook. The defendant allowed them to release it and they did.


"Then the data does get sent, anonymization and encryption means your voice commands aren't tied to your Apple ID, and even the company isn't able to clearly view it.

So far, data stored on Amazon's servers is not anonymized. Google Home's assistant is able to access a user's search and location history and stores data on voice commands until it's been deleted.

The FBI declined to disclose how often it requests voice data from Amazon's Echo, but the retail giant has shown that it can retrieve Alexa recordings from specific users in a criminal investigation."

https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-will-keep-conversations-with-siri-and-homepod-a-secret/


There is a huge difference between the two. In one case, the company can easily retrieve the information and in the other they can't.
 
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Yes I know all of that but just accessing the Internet and your illusions of privacy are over. I have counted well over 100 trackers on some of the sites I have visited. What’s more there are trackers that track the primary trackers. So you have Doubleclick, owned by Google, I have seen 10 or more trackers following it. Some of the worst are online newspapers, and news magazines. Of course there is Yahoo! Who explosed a couple of billon accounts to hackers. I have largely gone down the Apple path, and I am on the last PC I will ever assemble. The next main computer will be an iMac. In the meantime I am not going to loose sleep for something that is impossible to control short of faking your own death and living in a cave. :D
 
After this week with the Facebook revelations there's no way I'd ever put a device like this in my house.
 
3 Echoes and counting here. As I live alone and only request new briefs, weather forecasts and to play music selections, there is not much for Alexa to listen to. When company visits they are curious and several of my buds from work now have their own. Plus I am not hiding anything, except maybe some nocturnal passing of gas. You should be more afraid of your Smart TV if you don't have the camera covered. If a burglar breaks in Alexa may be benficial as she might contact the law. NO I don't hide my location. My original full size Echo is a pleasure to have playing music while I sleep, decent fidelity but not so overwhelming that it wakes me.
 
What does Facebook have to do with Amazon? :confused:

It's the same privacy deal... Hard to really talk extensively about these issues without delving into politics, but I will try.

If you trust one over the other, sure... Personally I'm not big on a device that records everything I say in the privacy of my own home and stores it on a server somewhere. Facebook just gave away my pictures and my posts along with those of 50 million other Americans to Cambridge Analytica who have used it for nefarious purposes.. To the point they are being investigated by the British Government and Zuckerburg has been dragged in for questioning.

What happens to your conversations that are being stored? What could happen to your conversations? Why is Amazon EVEN storing your conversations? Even if Amazon really doesn't share with third parties it can't realistically prevent hacks. What if the government decides it wants to know what you are saying?

I personally enjoy my privacy and anybody buying a device such as this ought to know there are larger things at stake. If I'd have known what Facebook was getting up to with my data at the start there is no way I would have joined that site.

I see Apple is taking a much better stand than either Google or Amazon, but to me I see absolutely no reason to have one of these. In fact I find the whole thing quite scary. As we've found out from Snowden the NSA can hack into your smart TV and listen to you, or watch you. But even that is leagues better than a private company storing everything you say in your own home as a matter of policy.
 
After this week with the Facebook revelations there's no way I'd ever put a device like this in my house.

Anybody that was surprised by this Facebook controversy has failed to understand what a scumbag operation Facebook is. Twitter is no better.

I think about the paraplegics who to whom devices like the Alexa, the Google Home Assistant, or Siri are an enabling God send. Being able to order stuff, listen to a song, radio station, or podcast, make a phone call. By voice command is a world changer to them.
 
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Anybody that was surprised by this Facebook controversy has failed to understand what a scumbag operation Facebook is. Twitter is no better.

Count me in to the category of failed to understand. I knew with them that the user was the product, but I did think they would have some base level of consumer protection.

Anyway, I fear I'm steering the conversation away from the original intent. I'll bow out now.
 
My main point is that there are huge differences in how Apple handles your data versus everyone else. It is a feature and there are trade offs for that feature.
 
I refreshed my knowledge on the Alexa. It does not record every things you say. It only does so when a activation statement is made. And when the requested operation is completed it stops recording.
 
I refreshed my knowledge on the Alexa. It does not record every things you say. It only does so when a activation statement is made. And when the requested operation is completed it stops recording.

This fact was revealed about 6 months ago IIRC.
 
I refreshed my knowledge on the Alexa. It does not record every things you say. It only does so when a activation statement is made. And when the requested operation is completed it stops recording.
It does it when it “thinks” you said the activation word. Quite often, mine “hears” Alexa more often than it is said.
 
If I'd have known what Facebook was getting up to with my data at the start there is no way I would have joined that site.
Count me in to the category of failed to understand
Yup...there ye go matey.

By any means I am not a foil hat privacy freak. But I realized long ago that once you share/post anything...anywhere on the Internet it's eternal. Raised two daughters through their teens (pre&nacent Facebook) circa 2002-2007 and (as a computer nerd) policed & preached that shit hard. They whined but they "knew" more than the average bear. And for the most part (FB, et.al. be damned) it's a sticky to this day. Admittedly however, 10-15 years forward, I honestly never imagined such the "dots.connected" power/influence of mined data manipulation on the "innocent masses" which is reveling today. Strange fish/barrel days indeed.

That said, I'm not ready to take a hammer to my Dots just yet. :cool:
It only does so when a activation statement is made. And when the requested operation is completed it stops recording.
Really?.....Is that defacto assurance or merely fine print faith on your part? :)
huge differences in how Apple handles your data versus everyone else.
Apparently, that's an absolute maybe. Ultimately, assuredly....not really. Jus saying....;)
 
Do or do not, there is no try.
index.php

:biggrin:
 
Even Wall Street is starting to use Alexa to assist clients.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-amazon-s-alexa-to-wall-street-trading-floors

Google and Microsoft are both big players in business (MegaCorp is currently moving from M$ Office to Google’s G-Suite). I expect voice integration will be coming, at least for BI, to these platforms. Amazon, Google and Microsoft are leaving poor, incompetent Siri in the dust, lol.
Microsoft has always kicked Apple's butt in the business world. If the company I worked for got rid of Excel, I would leave the company. No way in hell I am starting over with all of the macros I have built over time.

Just because these companies and their tech compete at some level, doesn't mean they all have the same goals. In most ways, the goals of these companies are very different with very small areas that overlap.
 
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If I had my way, Excel would have been outlawed years ago, but the bean counters refuse to give it up, sigh. Every freaking Excel user has his/her own version of the truth, based on some bastardized manipulation of the data that makes them look good. Grrrr. I have to reconcile their crap with the Data Warehouse, Analytic Cubes, Tableau, etc. We have had to correct their crap more times than I can count.

AI is beginning to play a major role here at MegaCorp. I’ve dealt with Salesforce’s Einstein for a couple of years, and am now delving into IBMs SPSS and Watson. Watson can already be voice enabled; I expect Salesforce isn’t far behind.

Amazon hosts a huge chunk of the Fortune 500s data now on AWS, and Google’s G-Suite is replacing Office in a major way. Both these majors, you can bet, are actively looking for ways to voice-enable business intelligence, using versions of Alexa and Google Assistant.

Voice interaction with all kinds of data is decidedly the future. The companies that lead this space in the office will have a huge advantage in the home and car, as well (Toyota now making noises about Alexa integration, after Ford, BMW, Mazda...) I wouldn’t want to be stuck in Apple’s walled garden, but that’s just me...
 
If I had my way, Excel would have been outlawed years ago, but the bean counters refuse to give it up, sigh. Every freaking Excel user has his/her own version of the truth, based on some bastardized manipulation of the data that makes them look good. Grrrr. I have to reconcile their crap with the Data Warehouse, Analytic Cubes, Tableau, etc. We have had to correct their crap more times than I can count.

AI is beginning to play a major role here at MegaCorp. I’ve dealt with Salesforce’s Einstein for a couple of years, and am now delving into IBMs SPSS and Watson. Watson can already be voice enabled; I expect Salesforce isn’t far behind.

Amazon hosts a huge chunk of the Fortune 500s data now on AWS, and Google’s G-Suite is replacing Office in a major way. Both these majors, you can bet, are actively looking for ways to voice-enable business intelligence, using versions of Alexa and Google Assistant.

Voice interaction with all kinds of data is decidedly the future. The companies that lead this space in the office will have a huge advantage in the home and car, as well (Toyota now making noises about Alexa integration, after Ford, BMW, Mazda...) I wouldn’t want to be stuck in Apple’s walled garden, but that’s just me...
No one is "stuck" in Apple's "walled" garden. The iPhone has an Alexa, Google Assistant, etc. apps. I have Dots and a Google Home mini. Tell me how anyone is stuck? The only people that are really "stuck" are those that are too inflexible to change or try something different (assuming they want to) or would take a huge hit to productivity by changing.

Apple has their own approach. They have CarPlay which is already in a lot of vehicles and many iPhone owners want it in their next vehicle. Apple has always concentrated on consumer products, so we will see where they are headed in this arena. But my main point is that just because Amazon or any other tech company is carving a path, doesn't mean Apple has to follow them. None of the major tech companies have a product nearly as popular as the iPhone, does that mean they should shut their doors? The thing you have in your pocket dictates a lot of the other products you use, especially with Apple's ecosystem.

Excel is my favorite program by far. Macros save tons of time. We do use some automated processes with SQL tables outside of Excel, but having every macro converted would take years.
 
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