SmartHome

>>58832604
Yes. They are worth it if you actually have smart devices. On their own they are not, although I would still like the Echo for a voice activated music streaming device as amazon prime is my main music source.

Your phone in no way compares, btw.

But again, unless you really want to drink the smarthome koolaid, not worth it on its own.

>>58832636
it a shame how lazy you sound

how hard is it to turn on a light, press play on a radio, or look out the window to see the weather?

>>58832636

I was thinking about dot2 (already have Bose bluetooth) for a Valentine's gift. Do you ever connect to IFTTT?

>>58832604

No one else played with these things before? So mostly these are just a toy with no real functionality?

>>58833078
Alexa is a nice toy.

I really don't understand the point of these things. Really how hard is it to order stuff online or anything else they do for you?

>>58832650

How hard is it to wash dishes? To wash clothes? To crank-start your car? I don't see you doing any of those things.

>>58833078

Like the first reply said, they're awesome if you have smart home accessories. I use mine primarily to control my Hue lights, and I also use it to play music, read audiobooks, tell me the time or the weather, etc.

Time in particular is nice. I never kept alarm clocks around inside my room because they glow like a motherfucker 24/7 for no reason. Sure, I could tell the time on my phone, but when I'm turned over in the other direction all wrapped up in my fiancee, it's easier to ask Alexa.

Same with my bedside lamp, really. It's a cheap Ikea lamp with an in-line power switch, and said switch is way the fuck back behind my nightstand. I have to dig for it to turn it off the regular way. So I got a WeMo switch, plugged it into that, and from then on, all I had to do was say, "Alexa, bedside lamp off/on", and all was well.

>>58833180

You'd be amazed how handy the shopping list is. One of our four Echoes is in the kitchen, and we make heavy use of it as a shopping list curator. "Alexa, add coffee creamer." "Alexa, add trash bags." "Alexa, add butt plugs." You can then look at the list in the app while you're out shopping. It's also good as a multipurpose timer and unit converter for cooking.

>>58832604
Are any of these things useful at all if i don't live in the US?

>>58833669
So you can't just as easily write these things down a piece of paper and have the same outcome?

>>58833669
>How hard is it to wash dishes? To wash clothes? To crank-start your car?

About 100 times harder than ordering shit online yourself or writing down a shopping list.

>>58832604
I was gifted an echo dot for christmas and decided to try it for 2 weeks.
>scream across the room to do anything
>understands 65% of the time
>shit webapp
>weather report never worked (it didnt say the actual data, just the "todays high will be" part
>it randomly allows some bluetooth device (not one of mine) to pair with it while it was not explicitly in pairing mode
Literally all i used it for was bluetooth tethering to my ok speakers and after the random bluetooh pair i put it in it's box and now i just use it's cable as a phone charger.

File: 1462630795436.jpg (18KB, 181x200px) Image search: [Google]

18KB, 181x200px

>>58832604
>Are they worth it?
Are you stupid?

https://www.rt.com/usa/371984-amazon-echo-warrant-recordings/

>>58833708
>Are any of these things useful at all if i don't live in the US?
Not really... save the money and buy some toilet paper instead.

>>58833755
It may have a use if you spend $200-300 on IoT home devices and use a ton of the services that it can push shit to via IFTTT, but given that i dont have any of those things (and dont want or need them) alexa is useless to me.

>>58833724

Sure, but then I have to a) find and go to the piece of paper and writing instrument every time I want to write something down, b) keep track of it for a week or two until my next shopping trip, and c) read my fiancee's illegible scrawl. Plus, we can't split up to shop faster when there's only one copy of the list. Trust me, it's a better way.

>>58833727

Do you think that's all it does? Our Echoes work as alarm clocks/timers, it can adjust lights (especially useful when in bed or watching a movie), it plays all kinds of audio for us (at worst, it's a great Bluetooth speaker), and its dumb jokes entertain our guests. It does a lot more, too, that's just what we use it for. Not bad for $40.

>>58833755

I didn't have that experience. I do have to enunciate a bit, and there's the occasional issue with noise pollution from TVs, slamming doors, moving speakers, etc. during command input, but it generally understands me 95+% of the time at a reasonable volume. Weather works fine for me, and I don't know *what* the hell happened with your Bluetooth pairing. I've never seen any of ours (we have four) do anything like that. The webapp is thoroughly mediocre, though.

>>58833773

If you're the kind of person for whom the FBI is going to issue a warrant for your communications, you a) have larger problems in your digital life, and b) probably know who you are. Otherwise, this doesn't affect you.

>>58833790
The bluetooth wild pairing issue is a known bug but Amazon doesn't give enough of a shit to fix it apparently.

>>58833790
>nothing to hide retard
kys and get off my 4chan. go back to plebbit, faggot.

>>58833816

I'm not saying "hurr hurr nothing to hide". I'm saying that, by the time a three-letter is issuing a warrant for your fucking Echo, you've probably left a trail a mile long and a mile wide elsewhere on the Internet, and you're completely fucked.

Additionally, if you've done something serious enough that said three-letter is on your ass, you're up to something and you know it. If you're up to something, yeah, don't have an Echo.

I'm not saying you have nothing to hide if you're not doing anything wrong. I'm saying that it takes a significant amount of effort for them to look at your Echo to begin with, and you've probably done something to attract their attention if things have progressed that far.

>>58833790

Holy fucking shill Batman.

>>58833790

That was really thorough. Thanks for the detailed pros list. It really helps out.

File: pepe bsod.png (119KB, 500x552px) Image search: [Google]

119KB, 500x552px

>>58833816
>>58833838
ALEXA, NUKE MY HARD DRIVES

>>58834059

You joke, but you can probably arrange that via IFTTT.