Alexa + JMRI

[wcfn100]

Team up Alexa with a 5 year old and you'll learn all sorts of things.  For instance, there's more than one 'poop' song.

Jason

[wazzou]

We use Alexa and “she’s” not without “her” flaws, but “she” isn’t in a position to deny us entry to our own home. 

I see what you did there. 

[davefoxx]

I find it amusing how people (including my GF) refer to the Amazon Echo and Dot as "her".  It is not a human - it is an "it".  It is a computer machine.
While I don't know all the ins and outs of it I suspect that its high level of natural speech recognition and its "intelligence" is due to the fact that it is not a standalone device, but it is just a front-end interface to a large AI program running on very powerful Amazon servers.  It has the horsepower and network capabilities to reach vast amounts of information.  However it is just an "it" with cleverly created (by real humans) programming which makes it seem almost human.  But it is not.

This doesn’t bother me.  I don’t see it as much different than the generations of people that have referred to boats as a “she.”

DFF

[John]

Alexa freaks me out. The thought that Bezos can listen in on my conversation while waiting for me to go "Hey Alexa" is problematic. I prefer to turn on my lights the old fashioned way .. and order my Amazon stuff using the GUI

[C855B]

That's my take, that too much of the processing is offloaded and external to the local device. I'm great with this kind of tech provided that I'm in charge of the off switch, and there is no umbilical to a mothership somewhere not in my control. Philips "Hue" lights, for instance. Once you get everything connected and initiated online, you can unplug it from the internet and the whole system operates autonomously on your LAN. Of course, off-site control and... well, the Alexa interface... no longer work. For some reason.

[jdcolombo]

Alexa freaks me out. The thought that Bezos can listen in on my conversation while waiting for me to go "Hey Alexa" is problematic. I prefer to turn on my lights the old fashioned way .. and order my Amazon stuff using the GUI

Well, I think Bezos would get pretty bored listening to my conversations, and I figure the NSA already has them all anyway . . .

John C.

[peteski]

Well, I think Bezos would get pretty bored listening to my conversations, and I figure the NSA already has them all anyway . . .

John C.

Now we are getting into the privacy territory.  Just because I'm not discussing anything juicy, exciting, or illegal, it doesn't mean that I want my "big brother computer" continuously listening to me. What if instead of the Echo feeding your audio to some Amazon server farm, you had a microphone in your house with your neighbor listening on the other end? 7x24?  Would you mind that?  To me it is all about privacy (regardless whether some illicit activity is taking place or not).

As I see it, we are giving up our privacy in the name of convenience.  I feel very strongly about it (even though I am not doing anything sinister).  All this data collected from all the citizens is stored somewhere and it is searchable (by companies that use it for their financial gain, government, and by hackers). You might think I'm paranoid, but it is jut a matter of time when we will regret giving  up our privacy just to have cool gadgets in our homes.  And you thought Equifax breach was bad. . .

[jdcolombo]

 Hi Pete.

I value privacy.  But you can't really have any in today's world unless you live in a cabin in Montana, cut up your credit cards, throw away your cell phone, and never get on the internet.  Every time you use a credit card, that transaction is logged, and your credit card company sells the data on your purchases to some (probably several) advertising aggregators.  I open my browser and go to TRW, and in the ad space I see everything I searched for over the past 48 hours.  I just planned a trip to Glacier National Park for next September, so as I type this I'm seeing ads for Hampton Inns in Montana above my "post reply" box.   It simply is inescapable if you want to live in the connected world.   I've come to terms with the fact that I don't have any privacy because of the way I live, and I'm not willing to buy that cabin in Montana and live on butchered elk that I hunt myself.   The notion that you can have privacy and still participate in today's connected world is a fantasy.  Yes, we may all end up regretting it, but I've decided that either I can be paranoid about it, or live my life as I wish and accept the consequences.  I've chosen the latter, and I sleep well at night, because I've decided I really don't care if the neighbors or Jeff Bezos or the NSA listen in on me flirting (or more) with my wife.  It's their problem, not mine. 

I realize not everyone may agree with my views.  All good.  But Alexa bothers me not one whit given that my entire life is basically an open book to anyone who wants to look hard enough.  And if they DO want to look hard enough, well, they're sick folks.

John C.

[Maletrain]

John, I suggest that it is really a matter of degree, not absolute privacy or absolute publication of every aspect of your life. 

I, for one, use a lot of things that provide convenience, while knowing that they also provide "big data" that can be hacked and used against me. So, I am careful what I provide.  And, when some company asks for data that it really has no business obtaining, I often lie to them so that whatever "big data" somebody tries to use against me has flaws that make them non-credible and even gives me some idea of what source they used to get my "data."  This is especially true for all those "security questions" that we are supposed to tell companies our childhood best friends, our pet's names, etc. etc. etc.  I just make a list of the lies so they are really just additional passwords of phrases.  If there is a fire that destroys all of my password notes, well, that won't be my biggest inconvenience, because I can simply start over with all the Internet stuff, and more easily than my train collection and layout.

[Lemosteam]

Aaaaand We're all gonna die.

For your freak-out pleasure.

[mmyers]

Mine won't answer to Alice. I want to be able to go ask Alice

[learmoia]

Let me know when Alexa can regauge wheels and turnouts.

For your freak-out pleasure.

When I saw Maletrain's quote.. the first thought in my head was have the Chinese companion doll do it..

~Ian

[Maletrain]

Aaaaand We're all gonna die.

We certainly are.  After all, the root cause of death is birth, so we are all doomed, right?

But, that really isn't the point.  The point is to have fun before we die.  It is much easier to do that if the bastards don't steal your money (so you can't afford to have fun with trains) or "SWAT" your phone number, so you die sooner than need be.

[Lemosteam]

We certainly are.  After all, the root cause of death is birth, so we are all doomed, right?

But, that really isn't the point.  The point is to have fun before we die.  It is much easier to do that if the bastards don't steal your money (so you can't afford to have fun with trains) or "SWAT" your phone number, so you die sooner than need be.

My point was heding more in the "Terminator" direction:

[peteski]

My point was heding more in the "Terminator" direction:

Neah, it will be a peaceful takeover. Humans will be too lazy and dumb to resist.