Amazon Wants To Put a Camera and Microphone in Your Bedroom (vice.com)

On Wednesday, Amazon announced the Echo Look, the latest gadget in the company's new Echo-powered hardware lineup. Motherboard explains: The newly announced Echo Look is a virtual assistant with a microphone and a camera that's designed to go somewhere in your bedroom, bathroom, or wherever the hell you get dressed. Amazon is pitching it as an easy way to snap pictures of your outfits to send to your friends when you're not sure if your outfit is cute, but it's also got a built-in app called StyleCheck that is worth some further dissection. [...] "All photos and video captured with your Echo Look are securely stored in the AWS cloud and locally in the Echo Look app until a customer deletes them," a spokesperson for the company said. "You can delete the photos or videos associated with your account anytime in the Echo Look App." Motherboard also asked if Echo Look photos, videos, and the data gleaned from them would be sold to third parties; the company did not address that question.

Comments

I don't want one but....

[fishthegeek]

This is honestly kind of a brilliant way to float a "presence" balloon. IMHO: At first Amazon didn't get what Echo was. They thought of it as an internet connected speaker, when in reality it was a modern day "Thing" from the Addams Family. I think they've learned that lesson, but one of the most important attributes of Thing is that it understood who was where, and who was addressing it. A lack of contextual awareness is what makes all automation suck. I don't want motion sensors to know if I moved, I want home automation that knows which room I'm in. I also think this is a shot across Apple's bow.

Guesswork?

[Phics]

I've been wondering lately if tech companies are just throwing technology at various populations to see what sticks. Is it cheaper to develop this crap and see if they stumble on something popular and trendy, or if they actually spend any time or effort researching and vetting ideas before developing them? Maybe I'm slowly going beige, but this idea just seems ludicrous to my dusty old brain.