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Amazon Just Announced the Touchscreen Echo Nobody Asked For (gizmodo.com)

Posted by msmash on from the things-Amazon-does dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Amazon just announced a new grandmaster Echo gadget with the company's voice-assistant technology built in. It's called the Echo Show. It's got a touchscreen. It's got wi-fi and Bluetooth. It costs $230. And it's even creepier than its siblings. At its core, the Echo Show is just a regular Echo with a 7-inch screen. That screen lets you watch YouTube videos and see the weather forecast after you've asked for it. The new gadget also lets you make calls, video calls, and send text messages to other people using Echos or to mobile devices with the Alexa app installed. Thanks to Alexa integration with gadgets from Arlo and Ring, you can also see what your nanny cam sees. But check this out: the Echo Show also has a 5-megapixel, front-facing camera. So now, instead of your Echo just listening to your commands, it can watch you as well. The Echo Show joins the screen-free Echo Look as the second Amazon Echo device to feature a camera. On a sidenote, Amazon said it will bring the voice-calling ability to all other Echo devices.

7 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong product name, wrong size by klingens · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We need a TV sized Echo with display so we can call it Telescreen.

    Everyone needs one, at least all party members.

    1. Re:Wrong product name, wrong size by Anubis+IV · · Score: 4, Informative

      Chalk this one up with the Fire Phone and, in the near future, the Echo Look as yet another Amazon hardware device destined to fail.

      After I heard about the Echo Look, I presented the idea of it to my non-technical, "normal" wife in a positive light, trying to frame it as a good thing, just to see how she'd react. When she suggested without any prodding on my part that it could be a bit creepy, I gave her the Amazon talking points and kept moving along, hoping to gloss over those details, but to no avail. By the end of the description she was so creeped out by the very notion of the product that she made it clear she would never allow one in the house. To say the least, she was quite glad when I dropped the charade and made it clear I was on the same page as her.

      I don't get why Amazon keeps making these things, given that both technical people and "normal people" find these sorts of products incredibly creepy.

  2. We're obviously not the target demographic by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I suspect the people who think it's a great idea to have an always-on microphone in their house will not suddenly start objecting just because a camera is added to the device.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:We're obviously not the target demographic by ckatko · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You're basically the only non-retard in this comment section that I can find.

      "Omgawd guys, this product will totally fail for the following reasons... that equally apply to the original product... which is successful and makes more money in a year than I will accrue in my entire lifetime. I'm so smart."

  3. They're after the kids by swb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My 12 year old son thinks talking computers are the bomb. He always asks if we can get an Echo or a Google Home whenever he sees the commercials. If he gets ahold of an iPhone, he will go to town asking Siri questions. It's his default method of looking things up.

    (No, he doesn't have his own phone, and no I don't encourage and actively discourage it so much my wife thinks I'm an asshole about it).

    I always explain that these things are always listening and it's like having a stranger in our house listening to everything we say. Totally not OK.

    But I think their real goal isn't adults who were raised reading 1984 in school. It's kids, who think that talking to corporate electronic systems is normal and have no sense of electronic privacy.

    1. Re:They're after the kids by Bodhammer · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Marty DiBergi: (quoting a review) "This tasteless cover is a good indication of the lack of musical invention within. The musical growth of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry."

      Nigel Tufnel: That's just nitpicking, innit?
      -Spinal Tap

      --
      "I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
  4. Re:Seriously? Choose a better news source by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It just fits with Slashdot's history of technology predictions.

    iPod: The MP3 player nobody asked for.

    iPhone: The phone nobody asked for.

    Amazon AWS: The server service nobody asked for.

    Amazon Echo: The device nobody asked for.

    Tesla: The electric car nobody asked for.