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Amazon's Echo: a $200, Multi-Function, Audio-Centric Device
An anonymous reader writes Amazon today quietly unveiled a new product dubbed Amazon Echo. The $200 device appears to be a voice-activated wireless speaker that can answer your questions, offer updates on what's going in the world, and of course play music. Echo is currently available for purchase via an invite-only system. If you have Amazon Prime, however, you can get it for $100. I've put in a request for one; hopefully we'll get a hands-on look at the Echo soon. It looks useful and interesting for random searches, and for controlling devices, but one small speaker (interesting driver arrangement notwithstanding) doesn't bode well for "fill[ing] any room with immersive sound," as Amazon's promo materials claim.
This would be perfect if it only had a faithful synthesis of Majel Barrett's voice.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
You just shout "SLICE! CHOP! SLICE!" at it and it makes fruit slicing noises and tells you afterwards how well you did. When you're not using it, it quietly keeps a compressed log of human presence information and keyword flags that get sent to Amazon's supercustomers. Just like the Kinect, but no Xbox required. Awesome innovation.
Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.
Except its kickstarter, so some douchebeard will keep all or most of your money while mailing you a Debian CD in return.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
"Douchebeard" is my nomination for word of the year.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it