Passionforangling Posted December 11, 2016 Report Share Posted December 11, 2016 Been looking at these for a while and wondered if anyone on here had got one? I don't need one really, it just looks like fun so if they come down in price after Xmas, I might be tempted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted December 11, 2016 Report Share Posted December 11, 2016 Contact Kiffy on here. He's bought one and says it's excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted December 11, 2016 Report Share Posted December 11, 2016 Was playing with one at a mates at the weekend for £50 It's very clever! He hadnt set much up with it so far, it does have some good potential especially if you have other stuff it can interface with (lots in development ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted December 12, 2016 Report Share Posted December 12, 2016 I bought the 'dot' version. It's pretty cool! Especially paired with spotify. But jsut the stuff like timers, alarms, todo, shopping list and calendar are really cool. Well worth the 40 quid (it was 10 quid off for 'cyber week') Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiffy Posted December 13, 2016 Report Share Posted December 13, 2016 i have the echo and the dot, LOVE them.. I listen to music when I go to bed (I know.. big baby needs his lullaby!) and as a country music fan used to have a pure audio internet radio... sleep function was a pain so thought id give this a try.. "alexa play country music" or at the moment "alexa play Christmas country music" and its on.. "alexa sleep timer 30 minutes" and its done... simple! I have zero memory so when I cook food always put a timer on.. ask alexa is easier than finding the timer.. yep the memory is that bad I loose it even adding things to shooping list, then when out shopping open the app on my phone and the lists there.. no more forgetting to take the list have bought a few wifi sockets to power lights etc... work perfect in bedroom but in living room not so good as shes mixing my voice and the tv... I wouldn't be without mine now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNS Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 They are reduced by £20 today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twistedsanity Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 The dot is a fiver off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 They are reduced by £20 today ... for a pack of 3 :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNS Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 The dot is a fiver off Correct- the OP was about an echo hence my post but I guess it could have been misleading given the subsequent posts Am going to order an Echo though I think having read the reviews Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twistedsanity Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 Apparently the echo and dot do exactly the same thing bar battery power and an upgraded speaker, it's on the Christmas list :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 Would not buy one, these systems could very well be eavesdropping on you, or hacked by some unscrupulous person/persons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benspain_uk Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 I've had an Echo since it was released in the UK and I think it is worth the £99 I spent (£50 off for prime members if ordered before release). Very useful for playing music, setting timers, quick updates (traffic, train times, weather etc.) and occasion simply questions (e.g. who many grams is 10 ounces). However don't expect it to be able to respond like a human -it is light years away from that - but still very helpful. Sound quality is much better than some other £100 sound bars as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 Would not buy one, these systems could very well be eavesdropping on you, or hacked by some unscrupulous person/persons. So can many many things, mobile phones to smart tv's........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul1966 Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 how good are these if you do not want to payout for spotify or any other streaming services, is there a lot of free stuff out there? can you stream music from a NAS with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SxS Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 So can many many things, mobile phones to smart tv's........... As has already been reported by the beeb: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31296188 I can't get on with the idea of something like that constantly listening in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 Well, I'm the local paranoid really -- and the device is not /technically/ listening all the time. It's listening for it's own trigger word and *then* it's recording and sending to amazon. I'm a pro audio and DSP engineer, and I've done a lot of software for audio analysis and triggering, and I think everyone has the right approach when they are being paranoid, it's a good idea in this day and age. However in *this* case, the Echo/Dot onboard software is *just* powerful enough to detect it's 'trigger word', and it can't *possibly* send all the audio back to amazon, it would be such a resource hog it would collapse immediately. So, again, *I AM PARANOID* but I'm OK with an amazon dot thing. It's very similar to Google knowing all the time where you are; ultimately, they give you cool feature, and YOU give them stuff they need to target ads or whatever. Knwoing what our government is collecting on us all the time, it turns out it's pretty tame. Just don't expect privacy these days online. It's gone anyway. Too late for worrying about it, all you can do is manage it; at least take the 'good things' of it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglebert Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 What's the significance of the asterisks around some words? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 What's the significance of the asterisks around some words? Errrrrr. emphasis ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglebert Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 Just wondered, notice you do it a lot, never seen anyone else do it Who do you work for as a Pro Audio engineer? I'm in a similar game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 Just wondered, notice you do it a lot, never seen anyone else do it Who do you work for as a Pro Audio engineer? I'm in a similar game Dunno, like Akai Professional, Sibelius, Peavey Electronics, M-Audio, Digidesign? Where planet are you from, not understanding *emphasis* marks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglebert Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 I'm from a planet where words carry their own emphasis, and I don't *need* to add more I'm still none the wiser as to what you do, Pro Audio and DSP engineer, Video compression expert, blower of own trumpet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iano Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 I'm a pro audio and DSP engineer, and I've done a lot of software for audio analysis and triggering, and I think everyone has the right approach when they are being paranoid, it's a good idea in this day and age. However in *this* case, the Echo/Dot onboard software is *just* powerful enough to detect it's 'trigger word', and it can't *possibly* send all the audio back to amazon, it would be such a resource hog it would collapse immediately. Would it take that much capacity to record what it hears, compress it and fire back to the cloud somewhere? I don't believe that Amazon are actually doing this, they couldn't be bothered and they get the info from me anyway through my purchase histories. But assuming it could be hacked, the complexity of just 'tape' and upload to some Chinese server would seem almost trivial. Quite a number of IP Cameras seem to sending odd packets to China. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 I'm from a planet where words carry their own emphasis, and I don't *need* to add more I'm still none the wiser as to what you do, Pro Audio and DSP engineer, Video compression expert, blower of own trumpet I don't feel I have to justify and or document myself more than I already have (and what is mostly on linkedin anyway) while someone who haven't grasped textual communication accents in 2016 is 'a bit' suspicious. Suspicious in a way I've seen a few times before. You know, that sort: https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/ Ie, 'contributing' to discussions that can have a pretty heavy impact on reader's behaviour in a way that looks pretty tame, but still spread FUD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted December 14, 2016 Report Share Posted December 14, 2016 Would it take that much capacity to record what it hears, compress it and fire back to the cloud somewhere? I don't believe that Amazon are actually doing this, they couldn't be bothered and they get the info from me anyway through my purchase histories. But assuming it could be hacked, the complexity of just 'tape' and upload to some Chinese server would seem almost trivial. Quite a number of IP Cameras seem to sending odd packets to China. No the hardware is one's typical mobile phone redux. I will run an highly optimised keyword detection program that will then trigger sending to amazon. Of /course/ it could be bypassed to send everything to amazon, but amazon (even them) wouldn't be able to cope with the data and CPU requirement to filter it, store it, or even keyword search it. In fact, the more people use it, the less likely it could work :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oowee Posted December 15, 2016 Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 I have one its a bit of fun. Asking her if she has gas or looking for love makes me jokes are a bit cringe worthy. Good sound, but frustrating with some of the spotify interpretations. Wont control my windows or Musso sound system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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