Posted on 05/27/2018 4:46:40 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
Ask around, and youll find a surprising number of people have a smart speaker in their homes. As of January, 1 in 6 Americans own a voice-activated speaker, but Gartner predicts 75 percent of U.S. households will have one by 2020. With a broad gamut of capabilitiesstreaming news and music, answering questions, issuing reminders, and controlling connected home productsthey can offer a good value proposition, particularly when paired with an attractive price point.
But just because our Echos, Google Homes, and HomePods can do all sorts of things doesnt mean were taking advantage of every single one of their features. Many of us are content to rely on our digital assistants for just one, or a handful, of specific tasks. With that in mind, there seem to be several distinct emerging classes of smart speaker users to which people belong.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
This is definitely my category. I use Alexa to stream at least 8 hours per day on weekdays and sometimes even more to listen to talk radio. In the evenings and on weekends we stream mostly music. However, I also use Alexa to stream my audible books.
Alexa was definitely a good investment for me because I put it to a lot of use. In addition, I have a remote speaker so I can hear talk radio right next to my computer even though Alexa itself is in the other room. I also use Alexa via my Amazone Firestick to both listen to the radio and music as well as the Audible books.
I will never buy one of these. Is there a sixth category?
I use Alexa to turn on my streaming from my denon 4300 and acoustic monitor speakers.
Why? They are extremely useful and easy to use. Just say the name of the radio station and it begins playing. Same thing with audible books. Also I love the streaming music. Sometimes I will just give Alexa the year and it plays the top music hits of that year.
Anything associated with the megalomaniac Bezos is not welcomed in my home.
As Groucho used to say “ I wouldn’t trust any group if it had me as a member” (something to that effect.) I get creeped out at anything of this within the home . Hell I have a vehicle without one computer in it as a daily driver . To have a listening device in your home is bad enough let alone PAYING for it....sucker born every minute . How come the NSA built that place out in the desert with all the servers?
Monitor Audio
I'm the smart kind.
I don't have Alexa — or any similar device — in my home.
We, don’t you realize your device is connected to the internet?
“I ‘m the smart kind.”
I would say you are the arrogant kind ...
Im the type who is terrified of these listening devices.
Same here. And for the same reason I dont allow any external access to my home network.
I bet you use your tv remote?
I work in cyber security as a penetration tester. I have banded these from my house. Consider that a warning.
Why do you come on this thread just to insult fellow freepers?
Oral or digital?
I am the kind that wouldn’t allow one near my house.
#1 Intelligence agencies.
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