Free Republic

FAYETTEVILLE, AR — As the December days began to tick away, a local man grew so desperate in his attempt to buy his wife a great Christmas gift that he decided to reach out to the National Security Agency to find out what she wants. "I figured it's my best shot," said Willard McBane. "She's always so difficult to buy for, and she doesn't ever give me any hints, so I knew I needed to bring the NSA in on this one." At first, Willard's attempts to ask for help were subtle. "I just started speaking out loud whenever I...

Amid concerns the rise of artificial intelligence will supercharge the spread of misinformation comes a wild fabrication from a more prosaic source: Amazon’s Alexa, which declared that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Asked about fraud in the race — in which President Biden defeated former president Donald Trump with 306 electoral college votes — the popular voice assistant said it was “stolen by a massive amount of election fraud,” citing Rumble, a video-streaming service favored by conservatives. The 2020 races were “notorious for many incidents of irregularities and indications pointing to electoral fraud taking place in major metro centers,”...

A new disturbing video has emerged of Amazon Alexa purportedly telling a man that there will not be a 2024 election because the “War Powers Act of 1973” will be invoked. In a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, by Conservative influencer account Chuck Callesto, the man asks Alexa, “Alexa, who will win the next American election?” Alexa responds, “The 2024 American election will not take place, here will be no winner, the War Powers Resolution of 1973, or the War Powers Act, will be invoked by the act of war with Russia and China. Alexa continued, “Once...

In today’s world of politically correct insanity, it’s truly baffling that a significant number of Americans willingly invite in their homes these advanced devices that constantly eavesdrop on their conversations and actions. Yet, that’s become the norm with gadgets like Echo and Alexa, which feel like creepy spies sitting in the corner, recording every noise you make. Well, one guy learned the hard way just how risky that idea can be when his doorbell accused him of being “racist” and Amazon completely shut down his entire “smart home.” The guy’s name is Brandon Jackson, and he gave a detailed account...

Consequences can come at you fast or slow. If you’re a trillion-dollar company, you get to choose which, a bit, but you can never escape completely. Amazon is burning billions on Alexa because voice assistants need massive infrastructure but can't be monetized. Google Cloud is $700 million in the red as of last earnings and heading south to a state of madness like a New Jersey retiree. These are mature products in saturated markets. You don't need an MBA to know what will happen. But even the dean of Harvard Business School can't say when.The big confounding factor is reputation....

No, Alexa doesn’t confirm Michelle Obama was born Michael. This is Pants on Fire! Alexa gives Michelle Obama’s maiden name when asked if the former first lady “started out as “Michael.” Michelle Obama is not a transgender woman. Though we’ve previously debunked claims that former first lady Michelle Obama is a transgender woman who was born Michael LaVaughn Robinson, that former President Barack Obama referred to her as his "husband, Michael," and that this photo shows her as a man before they married, a video in a recent Instagram post appears to show Alexa suggesting otherwise. "Alexa?" someone can be...

VIDEOAlexa seems to be rather shy about defining a recession. If you ask her to define "recession," she will give you a definition for the act of receding. And when you narrow the question down to asking her to define "economic recession," Alexa takes refuge by citing the highly biased Wikipedia definition of recession which notably leaves out a certain definition which has been generally accepted...until now.

At its annual re:Mars conference today in Las Vegas, Amazon’s Senior Vice President and Head Scientist for Alexa, Rohit Prasad, announced a spate of new and upcoming features for the company’s smart assistant. The most head turning of the bunch was a potential new feature that can synthesize short audio clips into longer speech. In the scenario presented at the event, the voice of a deceased loved one (a grandmother, in this case), is used to read a grandson a bedtime story. Prasad notes that, using the new technology, the company is able to accomplish some very impressive audio output...

The Babylon Bee hits it out of the park with this 2 minute video. Sorry it’s you tube but this is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. Classic Bee.

An Amazon Echo owner was left shocked after Alexa proposed a dangerous challenge to her ten-year-old daughter. AI-powered virtual assistants like Alexa that power smart devices and speakers such as Echo, Echo Dot, and Amazon Tap, come with a plethora of capabilities. These include enabling the users to play simple verbal games or request "challenges" on demand. A 'shocking' challenge When sitting idle, such as during the holidays, it wouldn't be unusual for an Amazon Echo owner to ask Alexa, "tell me a challenge to do." Typically such an auditory request has the AI prompting the user with a quiz...

A woman has been shocked to discover just how much data Amazon has collected about her. She posted a viral TikTok video explaining how she requested to see the data but wasn’t expecting to receive so much. TikToker my.data.not.yours explained: “I requested all the data Amazon has on me and here’s what I found.” She revealed that she has three Amazon smart speakers.

Amazon customers have one week to opt out of a plan that would turn every Echo speaker and Ring security camera in the US into a shared wireless network, as part of the company’s plan to fix connection problems for its smart home devices. The proposal, called Amazon Sidewalk, involves the company’s devices being used as a springboard to build city-wide “mesh networks” that help simplify the process of setting up new devices, keep them online even if they’re out of range of home wifi, and extend the range of tracking devices such as those made by Tile. But Sidewalk...

If you use Alexa, Echo, or any other Amazon device, you have only 10 days to opt out of an experiment that leaves your personal privacy and security hanging in the balance. On June 8, the merchant, Web host, and entertainment behemoth will automatically enroll the devices in Amazon Sidewalk. The new wireless mesh service will share a small slice of your Internet bandwidth with nearby neighbors who don’t have connectivity and help you to their bandwidth when you don’t have a connection. By default, Amazon devices including Alexa, Echo, Ring, security cams, outdoor lights, motion sensors, and Tile trackers...

A WOMAN hacked into her ex’s Alexa device to scare off his new girlfriend from 130 miles away, a court heard.Philippa Copleston-Warren, 45, allegedly used the virtual assistant to order the girlfriend to pack up and leave — which she did in floods of tears, it was said. She also allegedly used the device to flash the house lights on and off. Copleston-Warren, is also accused of hacking into her ex’s Facebook account and uploading nude pictures. Prosecutor Misba Majid told Westminster magistrates the couple had recently split after two years. She said the businessman was targeted at his Lincolnshire...

Call it neuroscience on the go. Scientists have developed a backpack that tracks and stimulates brain activity as people go about their daily lives. The advance could allow researchers to get a sense of how the brain works outside of a laboratory—and how to monitor diseases such as Parkinson’s and post-traumatic stress disorder in real-world settings. The technology is “an inspiring demonstration of what’s possible” with portable neuroscience equipment, says Timothy Spellman, a neurobiologist at Weill Cornell Medicine who was not involved with the work. The backpack and its vast suite of tools, he says, could broaden the landscape for...

Amazon has rolled out a whole-building version of its Alexa AI voice assistant for landlords, billing ‘Alexa for Residential’ as extending smart-home functionality to renters – tenants’ consent apparently not required. The e-commerce giant announced Alexa for Residential on Thursday, describing it as a feature “that makes having an Alexa-enabled home accessible for anyone, regardless of whether they rent or own their home.” Tenants can link up their own Amazon account, but if they don't have one, no problem – they'll be placed on the building's system. Landlords, Amazon explains, will have the option to provide “custom voice experiences for...

A few months back there was a discussion about Echo devices. I did get an Echo Dot for the wife to try and vocally control our DirecTV box. But shes not into it and only uses it for spelling and stuff. Then recently I got an offer for a free Dot. I got it and put it into my office. They both work fine. And then my evening TV viewing went to hell. I watch Alias, Justified, Miamai Vice and stuff off the internet. But now I get continuous freezing. Then a couple of days ago I saw the lights...

I can not get talk radio on my Alexa over the past hours...keep saying that it's not available. However, music is available----anyone else having this problem?

Haha! https://youtu.be/F4vXvAKDFMA  

U.K. law firm Mishcon de Reya LLP, the law firm that handled Princess Diana's divorce, told its attorneys stuck at home to turn off Alexa or Google Assistant when they are discussing sensitive matters pertaining to any client. A partner at the firm suggests that lawyers working from home should keep all of their devices away from their workspace. Mishcon de Reya partner Joe Hancock, who runs the firm's cybersecurity unit, also worries that other devices, such as Amazon's doorbell security camera Ring, baby monitors and CCTVs, are also a problem. Hancock also notes that his firm is less worried...