TV News Broadcast Accidentally Activates Alexa, Initiates Orders (cw6sandiego.com)

ShaunC writes: In San Diego, TV news anchor Jim Patton was covering a separate story about a child who accidentally ordered a doll house using her family's Echo. Commenting on the story, Patton said "I love the little girl, saying 'Alexa ordered me a dollhouse.'" Viewers across San Diego reported that in response to the news anchor's spoken words, their own Echo devices activated and tried to order doll houses from Amazon. Amazon says that anyone whose Echo inadvertently ordered a physical item can return it at no charge.
Meanwhile, Engadget reports that a team of Twitch streamers has convinced one Google Home device to answer questions from another, and they're livestreaming the surreal conversation.

Comments

Dilbert predicted this

[Anonymous Coward]

Much as I think Scott Adams has turned batsh!t crazy recently, he did predict this way back in 1994

http://dilbert.com/strip/1994-04-24

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[meerling]

In the early 80s at the PC group meeting, a rep came in to show off their voice command software.
He set it up, and then from the crowd, someone said "Format C: Enter", followed by another voice "Yes".
Sure enough, it formatted the entire drive, and the rep had a much shorter presentation than he was expecting, but even he had to admit, the demonstration, though short, was very effective.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Anonymous Coward]

No such event ever occurred.

Re: Dilbert predicted this

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi Scott.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Snotnose]

Is this the one where Wally walks through the office saying "Format c\" Cuz he really did forsee the future in that.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[93 Escort Wagon]

Dilbert has made him rich - so the correct term is "batshit eccentric".

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[PopeRatzo]

Naaah, what was really crazy was thinking that an ex-stoner "community organizer" raised by Communists, who'd never been in charge of a damn thing his entire life, could be a successful President.

And yet, he leaves office with the highest approval rating of any post-war president.

I think Scott Adams would call this "cognitive dissonance".

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[quenda]

It did too. I was there, and the rep's name was Craig Shergold.

Re: Dilbert predicted this

[Motherfucking Shit]

Approval ratings are a snapshot measure of what peope believe to be true right now, without the benefit of historical reflection.

So are elections. Something tells me a lot of Trump voters are in for a very disappointing 4 years.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Anonymous Coward]

> post-war president.

Odd statement considering that every day of both of his terms, the US has been, and is still, at war. He's not a "post-war" president. Worst Nobel Peace Prize winner evah, save for Henry Kissinger.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

"Much as I think Scott Adams has turned batsh!t crazy recently,"

Or maybe he's just smarter than you.

No, he's gone batshit crazy. I love the comic strip but he's gone full-blown cranktard in the last few years.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Anonymous Coward]

He did divorce his wife and start dating a bizarrely attactive girlfriend one third his age. If that's crazy, sign me up!

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Darinbob]

Problem is too many people just believe the made up stuff from Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and the like, and will believe the most bizarre rumors about Obama. As in that he's actively working to remove borders between the US, Canada, and Mexico, or that there was literally zero immigration between the 30s and the 50s. They don't have the evidence to back this up but they do believe whatever these people say on the air. So it's no wonder that people think Obama was raised by communists, is a muslim, was born in Kenya, etc, because American no longer bother to use their brains, it is a vestigial organ. Obama has deported more people than any other president and yet so many are firmly convinced that he's trying to get illegal immigration to increase. What's even more bizarre is that someone who's solidly right wing conservative can deny these conspiracy theories and then get shouted down for being a liberal who's trying to steal their guns, they're stuck to a viewpoint that you must be 100% in agreement with them or else you are an enemy. And they'll defend all this by saying "all mass media lies" which is their way of saying that all evidence must be ignored and rely only on your gut instincts. I've never seen America so weird before, and I lived in the 60s.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Darinbob]

Another problem with American voters is that so many only bother to vote for the president. So in midterm elections they stay home and then are baffled the the opposition inevitably wins big in the house. Doesn't matter if the president is Democrat or Republican, midterms very often go the opposite direction. Congress has much more power than the president and yet the same fools get reelected over and over.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Darinbob]

What does "bizzarely attractive" mean?

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[DNS-and-BIND]

Obama has killed more children with drones than all other Nobel peace prize winners combined.

Obama brought so much hope back to America that America voted for a Republican outsider to undo everything he did.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[AmiMoJo]

This demo is usually attributed to Microsoft, which is how I know it's fake. There's no way Microsoft software would convert "see colon enter" into "C: " correctly :-)

There was another one from years back which might actually be true. Screen reader software being demonstrated, with the vendor claiming that it could optionally filter bad words. Of course, they opened the filter configuration window to enable it, and it promptly read out a catalogue of foul language before they could tick the enable box.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[swb]

I don't think it applies in the linked pictures, but I've heard the term used to describe women who aren't conventionally attractive and may actually have one or more features which are somewhat unattractive. Yet somehow the whole ends up being greater than the sum of its parts and they end up being attractive.

I often it boils down to the face/body duality. The girl with an unattractive face but great body, the girl with the so-so body but spellbinding face.

The actress Molly Parker is best example I can think of off the top of my head.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[No Longer an AC]

Why would you even think that a person's sanity is in anyway related to their intelligence?

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Cederic]

I took down all my Dilbert stuff at work.

I find that comical and pathetic.

Scott Adams hasn't changed in the last two decades, but suddenly his support for a politician you don't like means his art is somehow tainted?

You sound like such a pathetic little snowflake. Hope someone's looking after you and changing your nappy every couple of hours.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[thegarbz]

We found it. The voice of god. The omnipotent one. The one who has been everywhere in history at the same time and has seen everything.

Not really surprised they are an anonymous coward, but we'll take what we're given.

All hail the mighty AC.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Applehu Akbar]

And yet, even a fucktard like yourself admits he was a SUCCESSFUL President.

"Not as bad as Jimmy Carter" is not how I define a successful President.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[DogDude]

AC, if you find a Real Doll "attractive" (even "bizarrely attractive"), may I be the first to suggest you get out of the house a bit more?

Re: Dilbert predicted this

[oobayly]

To be fair, I gave Trump better odds at winning - because he brought out the "it's rigged" excuse before the vote, much like what happened with the EU referendum in the UK.

I - like many - laughed at the idea idea of "bring pens", because rubbing out pencil marks is the best way to rig a referendum... My colleagues were bringing out every excuse why the Leave camp would lose.

In hindsight is a very effectively tactic. If you're an undecided or apathetic voter, being told one side will steal the vote will likely spur you into action.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Anonymous Coward]

On the flip side, Obama has done these things, yet everyone is freaked out Trump is proposing these things.

- Obama deported more people than any other president, yet Trump wants to deport people, and he's a racist neo-nazi
- Obama signed the largest border fence enlargement in history, yet Trump is the xenophobic, racist, reincarnation of hitler.

I've never seen BOTH sides of America so weird before, although, I've never been so old before, so it may just be that I understand the weirdness better now.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Cederic]

Somebody supporting racist, sexist, bullying fuckwads DOES deserve derision

Nice non-sequitur. Would you like to respond to my actual comment too?

Re: Dilbert predicted this

[WebCowboy]

I'm curious...please elaborate on how he is crazy and why you think this happened recently?

* he has ascribed to his outlook on life and ideology since before creating Dilbert...when he learned hypnosis techniques in his early 20s.

* though he never endorsed any candidate, he correctly observed Trump knew what he was doing and that he would become president...and it isn't the only correct call he has made

* in all his writings and interviews I've almost never seen a more reasoned, dispassionate insightful commentary.

Scott Adams is not crazy. He appears to be super smart...as in Einstein and Hawking smart. He even acknowledges that he doesn't know everything and can be an idiot at certain times, which is a sign of very high intelligence.

I suppose it is understandable that you think he is crazy then. Quite often people confuse intelligence with insanity. But I'm still curious as to what makes him appear crazy because to me he seems quite rational.

Of course, that might say something about me too...hmm...

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[ChrisMaple]

Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce The clear intent of the Founders was that individual states should be prevented by Congress from taxing and otherwise hampering interstate trade. Allowing the sale of insurance across state lines is clearly within the Constitutional powers of Congress, and it is beneficial for everyone concerned.

You, however, are claiming the right to prevent me from buying insurance wherever I want to, based solely on where my primary residence happens to be. That is arbitrary, capricious, and an attack on my best interests. The only thing keeping you from being a tyrant is your lack of political power.

Re: Dilbert predicted this

[stealth_finger]

Heck we even elected a person who picked a fight with the Pope over the wall nonsense for goodness sake. Even if you are not religious, a certain amount of respect is due such an obviously good man.

Who's that then? It isn't Trump and most certainly isn't the pope.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[stealth_finger]

Do you support corruption? Is that why you voted for Hillary?

It's most certainly what you're going to get with Trump.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[stealth_finger]

You think he turned batshit crazy- did he correctly predict the election, or did you?

Seems to me basically everyone who voted trump predicted the election.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[stealth_finger]

He did divorce his wife and start dating a bizarrely attactive girlfriend one third his age. If that's crazy, sign me up!

No that's a symptom of the money not the craziness. If you want a young fit girlfiend/wife just get a shitload of money and they will be queuing up. Make sure you keep it though because they will fuck off faster than you can say prenup.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[F.Ultra]

Thanks for the effort but there where no voice recognition software in the early 80s. in particular any machine where "format c:" would be performing anything wouldn’t have had the horsepower needed. I played around with speech recognition in the early 90s and then all the systems could do was to train to your particular voice which was very hit and miss.

Re: Dilbert predicted this

[wyHunter]

Perhaps they'll simply return to their roots and put their electorates in re-education camps?

Re: Dilbert predicted this

[wyHunter]

Ah yes, it's the left again - a 'broken system' aka constitutional government. Tyranny - it's what they crave.

Re: Dilbert predicted this

[Quirkz]

To be fair, the guy did get extremely rich and famous mostly through the power of imagining things. His error is in thinking that's a universal rule, rather than a blend of luck, talent, timing, and who knows what else.

Re: Dilbert predicted this

[oldmac31310]

Actually, he endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Re: Dilbert predicted this

[Coren22]

https://www.govtrack.us/congre...

AC must be talking about Hillary, she after all actually voted for increasing the border fence.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Coren22]

racist,

What race did he speak out against? Please, give examples. The only things I have heard as the fake news that he was for a muslim (religion) registry, which he never actually said, and that he wanted to expand the southern border wall, which could be considered anti latino (also not a race, latinos can be black, white, and native). Please point me to anything racist he has said or done.

sexist,

In what way? Calling out a Fox News anchor for her vitrolic attitude near the beginning of the race? Talking about (in private) grabbing the pussies of willing women? So you are saying he is sexist for having a sex drive now? Wow...

bullying

Well, I guess we should get rid of all the polititions, after all that describes Hillary! just as much.

fuckwad

So, because you don't like him, no one else is allowed to like him? Your candidate lost, get over it. If you supported Hillary, I would like to point out to you that she is pretty damn sleezy, anti woman, racist as all hell, and supports her husband through all his rape allegations.

I voted for Johnson, and I am left of Hillary, so don't act like I am some ignorant Trump voter, because that doesn't fly.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[Coren22]

Hillary actually is corrupt, and proven corrupt. Trump might be corrupt. Which would be a better choice? Personally, I think the better choice was Johnson, at least he was only an idiot.

Re:Dilbert predicted this

[stealth_finger]

Yeah, the better choice was not one of those two.

Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[Noishkel]

Seriously, did no one at all in testing not see that coming? Well, guess not. Safe bet that Amazon will be rushing some sort of patch on that ASAP before someone starts screaming orders to Alexa on live TV to see what they can get it to do.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[meerling]

That's what some like calling an Epic Design Fail !
Really, anything that uses money, deletes files, or anything like that, really needs some kind of verification.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[technomom]

It's Amazon. It is designed to do exactly this. Amazon doesn't make any hardware that isn't designed to sell you stuff from their store.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[Oligonicella]

It is designed to do exactly this.

Oh, bullshit.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[sumdumass]

It's more like the little girl told the echo what it wanted for Christmas or something and the news caster paraphrased.

In case he wasn't though, Amazon's own voice ordering fact page says that when you attempt to order something it searches

Your order history - only Prime-eligible items.
Amazon's Choice - Amazon's Choice items are highly rated, well-priced products that are available to order immediately.
Prime-eligible items - including delivery by Prime Now for eligible items.

in an attempt to find/idntify what you ordered. If a dollhouse was on the Amazon's Choice list, it would have been ordered under this policy.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[quenda]

Safe bet that Amazon will be rushing some sort of patch on that ASAP

Patch!? Hell no, they've rushed out a patent - the no-click patent. Everyone else will be prevented from doing this, which is some consolation.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[silverkniveshotmail.]

It doesn't even work that way, if you say, "Alexa, buy an iPad" it reads a long description for the most popular result for "iPad" then asks if you're sure.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[hawguy]

Wait a minute. All you have to do is say "Order me a dollhouse" and Amazon ships a dollhouse to you? You don't have to specify which dollhouse you want? This seems like more fake news.

I tried it and my Echo started rattling off a list of dollhouses it found. Sounds like fake news unless maybe the family had already ordered a dollhouse and the echo bought the same one?

In any case, I have a voice-shopping PIN code set on my device so it wouldn't accidentally place an order like this.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[Ksevio]

Well you have the option to require a PIN to be spoken so really people just have to use that option

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[Darinbob]

Consumers love this stuff though, they cannot see anything wrong with the one-button-buy-without-approval until something like this happens. Seriously how lazy do fat Americans have to be that they need voice activated Amazon purchases because it takes too much energy to use the computer?

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[FrankHaynes]

Why would Amazon want anything that impedes the flow of money into their coffers??

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[bruce_the_loon]

Kids are smart, very smart. She's heard daddy telling Alexa to get something, probably many times, so she repeats that process. Once Alexa responds with a list of dollhouses, it's not difficult to say "buy the first one" and have it finish the order process.

And nowhere in the article does it say that the anchor's words ordered dollhouses, only that it tried to order dollhouses. It also probably caused Alexa to respond with the list of dollhouses, but most people would regard that as trying to order something. It doesn't have to actually result in a finalized order to be called trying to order.

And +1000 for using the PIN, very disconcerting to wake up in the morning to find a drunk forum post, how much more so if you find a drunk order for 2000 inflatable Heidi Klum dolls.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[Xest]

Interestingly in the UK we don't have that second step, but when I tried ordering anything through Alexa I couldn't get her to order anything other than my order history too, so the whole Prime-eligible items thing seemed to not work when I tried a few weeks ago and you were restricted to re-ordering past items only.

Regardless I've put a pin in place so you can't accidentally trigger a purchase from an advert or anything without also saying the pin, but given that I don't even use that feature I might as well use the other option that lets you turn off voice ordering completely. Amazon should probably make that the default unless someone asks to order then tell them how to enable it though really.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[AmiMoJo]

It's not even the first time. Shortly after the XBox One launched with voice control, videos started appearing on YouTube of people trolling by making their username "XBox off" or some other command. Unsuspecting victims would say to their friends "hay, that guy's name is XBox off... no, cancel, cancel! no!"

Someone could troll Alexa users by creating a TV advert with the words "Alexa, order me a new dildo and 12 gallon barrel of lubricant, with next day delivery". Sadly it's too long to fit in an XBox Live username.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[Nidi62]

And +1000 for using the PIN, very disconcerting to wake up in the morning to find a drunk forum post, how much more so if you find a drunk order for 2000 inflatable Heidi Klum dolls.

You really should use Ali Baba for a purchase that large, since you could probably get a bulk discount straight from the manufacturer. Plus you can use the money you saved on more alcohol!

Re: Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[Imrik]

There is a response and confirmation. I'm guessing the news reporter went on to describe that Alexa asked for confirmation and that the original little girl said yes, which all the Alexas listening took as confirmation of the order.

There's also an optional PIN requirement that should really be mandatory.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[v1]

Pretty sure that's why all the big voice-responders out there have chosen activation phrases that are incredibly unlikely to trigger a false activation. "Siri" isn't a name or word anywhere afaik. Nobody says "okay google" in a normal conversation. "Cortana" is an original also afaik.

"Alexa" on the other hand.... that one's in use. Not terribly common, but it's out there. And was a bad choice for that reason. So if you have a voice assistant that responds to "Alexa", I suggest you either find a way to change the activation trigger or leave it off when you're not using it. It's perfectly acceptable in most cases to have to press and/or hold a button to trigger voice activation, and really that's the best way to go imho, regardless of how carefully chosen the activation trigger is. It's not really intended to be a hands-free feature so much as it is intended to save you from having to type in your query or tap a bunch of buttons for a command.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[Slashdot Junky]

consumables, which aren't really...

I believe the existence of and apparent broad expansion of Amazon's Dot device says otherwise. It's core purpose is reorder a specific consumable item with one touch.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[hawguy]

consumables, which aren't really...

I believe the existence of and apparent broad expansion of Amazon's Dot device says otherwise. It's core purpose is reorder a specific consumable item with one touch.

I think you mean the Amazon Dash Button . The Amazon Dot is a less capable Amazon Echo device.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[RivenAleem]

"Hi Siri" and "Ok Google" both include voice recognition that can be (not perfectly!) keyed to only respond to specific people. That Alexa doesn't already have this is odd.

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[coofercat]

Do they have a digital assistant too? Oh I wish they would...

Me: "Alibaba! I'm at the front door - open sesame!"

Me: "Alibaba! How do you get red wine out of a carpet?"
Alibaba: "...Soak in white wine, then fly for at least half an hour to try it out"

Me: "Alibaba! I think I've been robbed, call the police!"
Alibaba: "Er... no, sorry, you left the place this messy when you left this morning"

Re:Well that's a hell of a security hole.

[GuB-42]

Why would Amazon want anything that impedes the flow of money into their coffers??

Because Amazon doesn't want to handle all the returns that result from such mishaps.
And should it happen repeatedly, it could be seen as forced sales. In that case, the item is considered a gift and customers have the right to keep both the item and their money.
Not to mention the loss of customer trust and potential class-action lawsuits.

How has he turned crazy?

[SuperKendall]

Much as I think Scott Adams has turned batsh!t crazy recently

Scott Adams correctly predicted Trump would become president. Perhaps you should be a little less dismissive of someone who got something right that so many people predicted would turn out the other way...

Then of course there's the whole grew his own comic empire angle, but a bunch of stacked successes cant mean anything, right?

Re:How has he turned crazy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Scott Adams predicted Trump would win in a landslide.

I realize nuance isn't important to people like you, but it is an important distinction since it implies less a careful analysis of the situation and more a wild-ass guess. But, hey, lets just start following anyone that happened to be (kind of) right that one time, even if they just got lucky. That's the true path to success.

Re:How has he turned crazy?

[FatdogHaiku]

...but a bunch of stacked successes cant mean anything, right?

Could mean someone is in the market for "Elbonian Success Buttresses"!
Is your success stacked to unbelievable heights?
Get yourself some "Elbonian Success Buttresses"
A Fine Product from Path-E-Tech**
**(We keep saying that so that if it actually happens it will look planned)

Re:How has he turned crazy?

[the_Bionic_lemming]

Now we have these devices (Alexa, Siri, Google's forgettably named thing #6), that can listen in on everyone at home, and Trump (the product of election hacking by Putin) soon to control the agencies that can hack those devices.

"WE" isn't the correct word, you need to exclude the chunk of people that read 1984 and actually pay attention to the erosion of our privacy and rights.

Re:How has he turned crazy?

[SuperKendall]

Now we have these devices (Alexa, Siri, Google's forgettably named thing #6), that can listen in on everyone at home, and Trump (the product of election hacking by Putin) soon to control the agencies that can hack those devices.

And Trump is the crazy one.... Riiiiiiight

Not that they cannot and will not hack those devices. It's just that they will use that ability in a targeted manner, not to actually spy on everyone all the time.

Do you think Trump would have any issue with NSA (or Russian FSB for that matter), hacking an Alexa in Paul Ryan's

Yes actually I do - it's not like Trump is Hillary.

Re: How has he turned crazy?

[tylersoze]

Hey I just correctly predicted the outcome of this coin toss I just made. I must be a super genius!

Re: How has he turned crazy?

[msauve]

But the Russians influenced that flip.

Re:How has he turned crazy?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Perhaps you should be a little less dismissive of someone who got something right that so many people predicted would turn out the other way.

Being right and being batshit crazy aren't mutually exclusive.

Re: How has he turned crazy?

[Z00L00K]

I think that one of the problems were that Trump and Hillary both were too similar and nobody really wanted any of them.

Re:How has he turned crazy?

[AmiMoJo]

cott Adams correctly predicted Trump would become president

Which proves he is about as accurate as a coin flip.

The reason people think he has gone crazy is stuff like this:

"Let me say this again, so you know Iâ(TM)m not kidding. Based on what I know about the human body, and the way our thoughts regulate our hormones, the Democratic National Convention is probably lowering testosterone levels all over the country."

Re:How has he turned crazy?

[No Longer an AC]

Predicting Trump would be elected was a stroke of genius, but not because he could foresee the future.

It was more like a stab in the dark - people already thought he was kind of out there, so if he predicts trump and he's wrong, so what?

But if he's right, he's a genius!

And so is Michael Moore? (didn't he predict a trump win too?)

(Actually, they both are arguably geniuses even if I may not like them.)

There was a good chance that Hillary could have won and if she had we'd be calling Scott Adams an idiot. (right, like trump ever had a chance....)

Unless someone was involved in rigging the election there's no way anyone could have called it ahead of time without a Gambler's Roll

Re: How has he turned crazy?

[SuperKendall]

Hey I just correctly predicted the outcome of this coin toss I just made.

From what all of the polls and many media people were saying, the equivalent was tossing a two-headed coin, the guy next to you calling "edge" before it landed and him being right.

Did you seriously think before the election day it was a 50/50 shot? Even a 80/20 shot? Almost no-one was giving Trump odds above 10%, and that was just them being charitable, many were saying it was 99% sure that Hillary was going to win.

Re: How has he turned crazy?

[stealth_finger]

I read the whole thing and it was a bunch of things which may or may nor have happened and didn't actually refer to very much that is verifiable, I guess you're supposed to already know about any agree with these things. Then it changes pace and focus' on some South African breakaway town which is coded basically whites only as if its the best thing ever and should be replicated.

Well bugger me!

[quenda]

Well bugger me! ... No! No! Cancel! ...

Alexa 7.0 robotic assistant will need a safe word.

Re:Well bugger me!

[sims 2]

Alexa, Stop!

Re:Well bugger me!

[drew_kime]

Well bugger me! ... No! No! Cancel! ...

Alexa 7.0 robotic assistant will need a safe word.

My safe word is, "OUCH! TAKE IT OUT!"

Re:Well bugger me!

[NoSalt]

VooDoo Dick my ass!

Same problem as with one-click ordering

[Solandri]

Confirmation? We don't need no stinking confirmation.

I got tired of playing whack-a-mole with Amazon's settings trying to disable one-click ordering (there isn't one universal setting to turn it off - the different stores have their own independent settings). I ended up just creating a dummy Amazon account with no credit card info attached, and linked my phone and tablet apps which require an Amazon login to that account instead of my regular Amazon account. Sounds like that may be the best way to deal with the problem on the Echo as well.

puzzled

[buss_error]

What gives me pause - is it really such an inconvenience to open a browser and, like, click a single button? I'm no technophobe, but I am against the misapplication of technology. I guess Alexia and Siri and the like are OK if one is a paraplegic or otherwise unable to use their hands.

Other than my grand nieces shouting cute things at Siri to see what happens... it simply strikes me as flash and little substance.

Re:puzzled

[Darinbob]

These online companies love this because they get more impulse buys. If you have to pull out the credit card to buy then it gives the dumb consumers chance to rethink their order. If someone complains they will refund for one order, or one customer, etc, but they will not change their minds on the technology that makes them tons of money taking advantage of customers.

(Amazon even tries to mislead people into signing up for Prime where the one-touch buy works best, by saying "click here for free shipping!" Had to clean this up from my mother after noticing she was into a Prime first month free trial with automatic charging of the credit card at the end of the month, and she had no idea what Prime even was and only purchases one or two things a year from them. This seems very deliberate and not just a misunderstanding as you can see the lack of safeguards or explanations of what you're signing up for.)

Re:puzzled

[thegarbz]

is it really such an inconvenience

Everything is an inconvenience if it can be done quicker faster and easier using some other way. It's why we invented the TV remote control. We didn't even want to get off the couch much less go to a computer, browse some website, find something and order it. It's why we have repeat periodic ordering, it's why some people outsource their dinner arrangements.

Any little thing is not inconvenient enough to be a problem. All the little inconveniences however do add up.

Would someone go and buy a dedicated device to do their shopping like this? Unlikely. Would someone go and buy a generic digital life assistant that could do everything from look up stuff, to ... do their shopping? Yes most definitely. Now on the flip side I can't think why you would go out of your way to omit a feature like this given the purpose of the device, ... the fact that it was developed by an online retailer not withstanding.

Re:puzzled

[CCarrot]

These online companies love this because they get more impulse buys. If you have to pull out the credit card to buy then it gives the dumb consumers chance to rethink their order. If someone complains they will refund for one order, or one customer, etc, but they will not change their minds on the technology that makes them tons of money taking advantage of customers.

(Amazon even tries to mislead people into signing up for Prime where the one-touch buy works best, by saying "click here for free shipping!" Had to clean this up from my mother after noticing she was into a Prime first month free trial with automatic charging of the credit card at the end of the month, and she had no idea what Prime even was and only purchases one or two things a year from them. This seems very deliberate and not just a misunderstanding as you can see the lack of safeguards or explanations of what you're signing up for.)

^^^ This.

I also had to do this for my mother, after she had ordered something a bit closer to Christmas than she wanted to, and of course she clicked on the enticingly blinky "Free 2 day shipping!!!" button, with the eensy teensy fine print on the bottom about something-something Prime. Who doesn't want to be Prime? Sure! It's free, after all, the button says it is! Of course she knows what she's doing, she's ordered from Amazon at least two or three time in the last couple of years...she's an old hand at this Amazon thing!

*facepalm* Okay Mom, I know it's totally not your fault, but lets start by getting this Prime fee reversed on your credit card...

The sad part is, I don't think she'll be ordering anything from Amazon again, even though I walked her through what buttons to push to avoid enrolling in 'Prime'. Use of shady tactics destroys customer trust, and what makes me extra angry is that stupid shit like this just reinforces her low-grade technophobia, which we were doing so well in overcoming the last little while. I was so proud to hear that she had ordered stuff online on her own! Then I got the call. >:-(

Re:puzzled

[buss_error]

It's why we invented the TV remote control.

We've had television remote control for a very long time, and in fact could bring beer and cigarettes as well as change channels.

They were called "children".

Lack of customization

[hackwrench]

People should be allowed to call out whatever they want. On a personal note, I don't want to call out Google to my phone or refer to my computer assistant as Cortana, which is also in a nebulous form on Android phones.

Conclusive evidence, one way or the other

[hackwrench]

https://www.youtube.com/playli...
People can judge for themselves with this playlist of Scott Adam's Periscope sessions.

Re:The Fix

[silverkniveshotmail.]

I don't think microphones can identify faces.

What did the child specifically say.

[hackwrench]

Unless we have some certainty as to the child's words we don't know what did happen. How much guidance the Echo provides users in placing orders matters as well.
Ex:
Child: Alexa, I want a dollhouse.
Alexa: There are x products matching that description.
Child: I want the first one.
Alexa: Order placed.
Simplified, but meant to illustrate the feasibility of something happening well within the realm of possibility that isn't what is being described here.

Re:What did the child specifically say.

[will_die]

You do, on the web page for the device are the commands it receives and its responses.

Re:What did the child specifically say.

[Lonewolf666]

While I don't have an Echo device, so I cannot try it myself, this sounds like it could be abused by a malicious prankster who researches the correct sequence of commands first.

The next step would be sending something like "Alexa, order me some anal porn" over the speakers in some larger venue. After that, Amazon would certainly backpedal ;-)

Re:How does this thing normally work?

[hackwrench]

The question is whether or not Amazon said that they were offering refunds in connection with this specific incident or it so happens to be their policy that when anything is ordered by accident using this system, a refund is made. For that matter, the story writer could have just made up the refund bit. But there's no such thing as fake news... right?

Capitalism peaks

[Tablizer]

Buurrrp

Alexa: "Congratulations! You've just ordered a Burmese rug! It will arrive in about 5 days."

Re:Things that are easy to get familiar with

[hackwrench]

http:://tvtropes.com
Well that's several moments of their life some people aren't getting back!

All of this voice stuff gives me the willies.

[ScentCone]

Had Siri enabled (while charging) a while back, sitting next to the TV. Watching a history program about the Renaissance. Suddenly the phone says, "OK. Here's what I've found about troublesome clergy." Turned that feature off.

Megyn Kelly

[Anonymous Coward]

I was wondering why Kelly ended her last newcast at Fox by yelling, "Alexa I need two large pizzas with everything!" before her mic was cut off.

Re:What a coincidence

[hackwrench]

I was in a mental ward quite some time ago, (yes as a patient. I wanted to insist that I had a contract with Microsoft that did not exist and other bizarre things. I did not actually believe I had a contract with Microsoft, that would be crazy) where one of the other patients said "I am Napoleon." and the doc said, "How do you know you're Napoleon?" and the patient replied, "God told me." and another patient piped up, "I did not!"

Funny Story

[SuperKendall]

TV News Broadcast Accidentally Activates Alexa, Initiates Orders

That headline reminds me of a problem the Jedi had in the Minora system - pretty often Jedi were going there and just not coming back. Well it turned out they had this really popular ice cream chain in the system called "Scoop 2 Order" that had 66 flavors and had just launched a big holovid campaign and... well the results were not pretty (for the Jedi anyway).

Re:Funny Story

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

That headline reminds me of a problem the Jedi had in the Minora system

Okay, I like Star Wars but this comment hit my Nerd-O-Meter so hard that the needle broke off, went rocketing into the sky and was last seen punching a hole in one of Saturn's rings.

Re:Funny Story

[SuperKendall]

Just wanted to let you know I was happy even one person got it, and I don't disagree with you in the slightest. :-)

P.S. the Minora system is not "real"(i.e. canon), for anyone that cares, that part I made up so don't wrack the EU looking for what that meant.

Re:No

[hackwrench]

The answer is We don't know. Trump's a fantastic liar and we have no idea what his scruples actually are. As for defending a Russian hack, we don't know the facts on that one either or even if the Russians played the role it is said they did. Do they have capabilities similar to this? Most likely, but we don't know how many other people, including those doing things like this just for kicks have done the same thing and could be the culprits.

Re:Why doesn't Alexa ask for a password?

[MichaelSmith]

The password is Alexa. Its not a common word.

Re: Trump didn't win, landslide or otherwise

[Anonymous Coward]

In California, where the Democrat candidate got those 3,000,000 extra votes, anybody can get a driver's license, legal US citizen or not. Anybody in California can show up at the polls with a drivers license and vote.

There are considerably more than 3,000,000 illegal aliens in California.

Yet people act like the Republicans 'gamed the system.'

I can see a new game

[charliemerritt03]

Get the anchor to say "...."

Re:Everything I didn't see

[hackwrench]

If it isn't let's play footage on YouTube, it's fake, and even some of that stuff is fake... ever hear of tool assist? But seriously, I don't trust any news source and most of it just isn't that relevant to me... but people take this stuff oh so seriously when it isn't anything that might keep the sun from rising the next day.

Alexa...

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

"Alexa, set fire to my house!"

Ha ha, just kidd- hey, do I smell smoke?

"OK Google" has same problem

[Tony Isaac]

More than once, in an advertisement or news story, someone has said "OK Google," usually demonstrating what the command can do. In response, often one of our phones will respond. So far, it has only said "I'm sorry, I didn't get that" or something similar.

A little too simplistic?

[Tony Isaac]

How could Alexa make a reasonable dollhouse choice with just the words "Alexa, order a dollhouse"? What kind? How big? How expensive? Seems the intelligence of the shopping aspects of the voice commands is a bit stunted.

Re:A little too simplistic?

[thegarbz]

Seems the intelligence of the shopping aspects of the voice commands is a bit stunted.

Actually it goes through a documented search process starting with your own history, brands, prime items, and items in stock and available for immediate delivery. I think you're of low* intelligence.

*You're probably not, but I know nothing about you and I'm not going to bother to look you up so I'm just going to make a random assumption without basis and put it here on the internet hoping for some modpoints.

Re:A little too simplistic?

[Tony Isaac]

Well, perhaps I do have "low" intelligence, but I have written shopping cart features for a major customer-facing Web site, so I do know something about how shopping carts work. Frankly, if I wanted a dollhouse, say, for a family member, I'd have to see quite a few of them myself, before even I knew which one I wanted! Maybe you'd be happy enough just taking whichever one Alexa chose for you, but I don't know many people who wouldn't at least care about the price range.

Re: Trump didn't win, landslide or otherwise

[Known Nutter]

Anybody in California can show up at the polls with a drivers license and vote.

Sorry, but no.

You're entitled to your opinion, but not your own set of facts.

Re:No

[msauve]

"Trump's a fantastic liar "

I'm not so sure about that. I think it's more that his beliefs aren't from sound core principles, so are not well formed and therefore are subject to change. Well, that and the words come out faster than he can think about anything but himself.

Re:Alexa, order me a drone strike

[I'm New Around Here]

As if the current POTUS hasn't ordered thousands already.

FALSE NEWS

[cdwiegand]

Anyone with an Alexa knows when you start an order it lists matching products and asks for verification.

Re:FALSE NEWS

[Imrik]

It is entirely possible for it to take something else said by the reporter as choosing a dollhouse and verifying it. Amazon should really set it up to use a PIN by default.

Re:FALSE NEWS

[Anonymous Coward]

Or people could, maybe, not deliberately install a spying device with a microphone in their own homes. That would fix the problem too.

Covox Speech Hardware/Software in the later 1980s

[hughbar]

I'm not sure that this really happened. However, in the 1980s we (myself and son) were messing around with Covox voice synthesis and input: http://nerdlypleasures.blogspo... of course, we did speculate about this. It was easily within the (rather limited) capabilities of the Covox products. Maybe this was the company?

Off-topic, we used it to read endless directory listings in a monotonous robotic voice. Those long winter evenings just flew by.

Jail / prison will have better care and that may b

[Joe_Dragon]

Jail / prison will have better care and that may be better then Bankruptcies.

Re: Trump didn't win, landslide or otherwise

[David_Hart]

As a former border patrol officer said in an interview a few weeks ago 1 in 10 illegals he took into custody had a voter ID card on him/her. Considering the low percentage of voters who carry their ID cards with them it would seem a huge percentage of illegals vote.

Unless the border guard can point to recorded statistics, it's purely an opinion. In general, most people suck at keeping accurate track of numbers and statistics in their head so they will say something that "sounds right", based on memory, but are usually way off base.

He may have believed what he was saying, but that doesn't make it true...

Ok, I'll bite.

[KWTm]

TV News Broadcast Accidentally Activates Alexa, Initiates Orders

That headline reminds me of a problem the Jedi had in the Minora system - pretty often Jedi were going there and just not coming back. Well it turned out they had this really popular ice cream chain in the system called "Scoop 2 Order" that had 66 flavors and had just launched a big holovid campaign and... well the results were not pretty (for the Jedi anyway).

Ok, I'll bite. Explain it to those of us who have only seen 7 Star Wars movies, please.

Re:Ok, I'll bite.

[CronoCloud]

Order 66 is the order for the execution of the Jedi, as seen in Episode III

Re:Ok, I'll bite.

[SuperKendall]

To be fair, one can be forgiven for not remembering Order 66 since so many Star Wars fans hired Will Smith for a memory wipe after watching the sequels.

I personally did not like the sequels but did like the Order 66 twist quite a bit, I mean how can you watch anything all the Clone Wars material (cartoons and so on) and not constantly think about how they are going to turn on a dime to kill the Jedi? It's just this big looming unexplored plot point that has a lot of potential, none of it explored.

Re:Ok, I'll bite.

[KWTm]

Thanks. That explains it, since I fell asleep halfway through Episode 3. Both times that I watched it. (I remember waking up to some cyborg dude with four arms wielding for lightsabers, and promptly fell asleep again.)

Re:Ok, I'll bite.

[SuperKendall]

If you had watched the Clone Wars cartoon (the original stylish animated one, not the CG version) you'd have been greatly looking forward to the "cyborg dude with four arms"

And then disappointed...

But really you should watch that original Clone Wars cartoon, it was the best part of all the prequels by a mile. Including an awesome Mace Windu sequence.

Re:Ok, I'll bite.

[CronoCloud]

Ditto on the non-CG cartoon, though the CG one isn't bad either, just not as good as the non-CG one.

Re:Trump didn't win, landslide or otherwise

[EzInKy]

The States elect the President of the United States, not the people. Certainly not a landslide, but Trump did win around 60% of the States.

Re:How does this thing normally work?

[Imrik]

It's their policy to offer refunds whenever you don't want what you bought, just like most other stores do, this incident is just a specific application of the policy.

Re:Why doesn't Alexa ask for a password?

[Imrik]

It's available, but it isn't enabled by default.

Re:What a coincidence

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny how, if someone says that "God" told them they are Napoleon, we assume they are crazy, but if they say that "God" told them to hate homosexuals, we accept it as fact.

Alexa has no voice authentication

[arit]

This appears to be an inherent security vulnerability in Alexa - it has no voice authentication (see, for example, https://youtu.be/zZ8TJGWdqn4, 7min 23 sec). In general, it is quite hard to authenticate voice in a manner that is not spoofable or replayable (without significantly damaging usability).

Siri and news radio in the car...

[jpellino]

She hears "...reports say Syria..." on CNN and then starts listening, I get a whole paragraph of attempted actions.

Re:Siri and news radio in the car...

[CCarrot]

She hears "...reports say Syria..." on CNN and then starts listening, I get a whole paragraph of attempted actions.

TV: "Reports say Syrian extremists threaten to bomb the White House"

Siri: "Composing email...sent!"

Re:Why doesn't Alexa ask for a password?

[CCarrot]

Unless you know someone named Alex (or even Alexa) and speak rapidly or slur your words...and really, who doesn't slur juuust enough to get the wrongeset word sometimes? Reading my friends' dictated texts is a hilarious enterprise on occasion...

"Alex-and-Jeff-want-to-buy-a-car. A-black-2016-Escalade."

2 weeks later

"Oh no, what have you done!"

Citation needed

[hackwrench]

based on centuries of collective experience
Citation needed. What people perceive as dangerous seems to be rather shifting over time.

Re: Trump didn't win, landslide or otherwise

[ChrisMaple]

Please point to a group of individuals who would be a better source of honest information about illegal aliens than border guards.

Re: Trump didn't win, landslide or otherwise

[ChrisMaple]

About 20 years ago I was a resident of California, and I did get a voter registration card when I registered. A small rectangle of thin cardboard, easily lost, discarded, or forgotten, and never asked for at a voting place.

Furby circle burble

[nicolaiplum]

Back when Furbies were new, several colleagues and I put several of them in a quiet meeting room in a circle, and waited for them to quieten down. We then said something to one of them, and left them to it. This was around 1997.

The chance of a Furby replying to another Furby signal, sound, etc, is not quite 1.0 so the loop gain of the circle was less than 1, but it still took hours for them to finally stop burbling at each other. Being nerds, we were amused.

Getting talking automata to talk to each other is not new :)

Re: Trump didn't win, landslide or otherwise

[stealth_finger]

Please point to a group of individuals who would be a better source of honest information about illegal aliens than border guards.

I don't know, anyone except border guards. It's in their interest to make the situation seem as bad as possible.

So Alexa activates when you say "Alexa"

[norweeg]

how's that working out for all the people who live with someone named Alexa?