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Comment by manesioz | Hacker News Reader

Honestly I can't see why anyone has these smart speakers anyways. Best case scenario is what, saving a minute by not typing in a Google query or phone number?

Doesn't seem like a sufficient benefit when you consider the downside -- a device listening to your conversations and selling that data to ad agencies.

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Ad agencies hearing that I want to know the weather, dad jokes, recipes, turn on and off my lights, and to listen to smooth jazz is literally the least of my problems when it comes to data being shared/sold.

Just like anything, there’s a trade off and, for the case of convenience, I’m willing to make the trade off between convenience of talking to a device to do tasks for me and having an ad agency learn what music I listen to that Amazon is probably selling to them anyway since I use the Amazon Music service.

I get your skepticism and applaud it, but you have to remember 99% of the population doesn’t know, care at all, or is willing to make the trade off, whereas the 1% are some of those folks amassed here on HN.

YMMV.

I upvoted specifically, because this is effectively how a lot of users see this feature ( admittedly based on anecdata ). I might even expand on it. Most users do not even see a trade-off. Most see pure benefit.

But.. there is hope as jokes along the lines 'Wiretap, what is the time?' seem to have become more common.

I know Amazon isn't doing a whole helluva lot with the data they're collecting on me via their UI nor their devices; if they were, I would have a lot better recommendations than they offer to me on the regular. Yes, recommendation engines are hard, but Amazon has the computational power, resourcing, and data to do it well, yet they're simply not.

So. For now, I'm fairly convinced the data collected are useless/meaningless and I'm happy to go about my day w/o much worry. If I suddenly start seeing much better targeted recommendations, I'll rethink my strategy.

I.. have a problem with this line of reasoning. If the data is there, it will be used; maybe it will not be used now, but it will used and you have little control over how and when..

And heavens know how much better we will get at it. I am retard at analytics and the things I saw are already absolutely amazing. Just because ads can't seem to show you relevant information is not a good indication Amazon can't infer you like midget porn.

Main one for us is home automation - being able to turn on/off lights, heating, hot water etc is very convenient, saves time [1], money and improves home security.

Can't speak for G's offering, but currently Rest of Ear of Sauron Alexa and chipper, but particularly thick, Siri either don't work very well or fall into the easy to live without novelty category for us.

[1] Particularly around Xmas, lots of switchs which are almost always buried somewhere behind the tree ...

They were sold hard as a means of keeping up with the Joneses; I think some people bought them just because they thought they were supposed to.

It's unfortunate we have to consider the downside. That said, using Siri for common tasks saves time. It might only be 10 to 30 seconds here and there, but add that up over a day, a week, a year... and then multiply by millions of people... The time savings is massive. I expect the capabilities to grow, and adoption to grow, because it's more convenient.

Carplay/Siri is a big one - I can send a text, play music, listen to a podcast without taking my eyes off the road.

As a software engineer I found it very very interesting how voice input feels.

It is different because it's always available without looking for your phone on one site and on the other it actually removes the need to have your phone with you all the time.

It also feels much more natural.

Independent of the benefits, I have a smartphone with a microphone, webcam, Laptops etc. The sentiment that a hardware verified device starts to listen in after specific keywords is for me less of an issue than all the other devices I just mentioned.

I really think that natural voice input will be the future. I want a personal assistant in my flat. And if Elon musk now starts the robot war, those robots will be controlled by voice. I'm pretty sure about it. I also saw plenty of ml research which indicates that.

Edit: and yes voice is so much more practical when you cook or in the shower.

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