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Alexa is Coming To Windows 10 PCs From HP, ASUS and Others (engadget.com)

Posted by msmash on from the next-up dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Amazon's Alexa recently arrived on headphones and even toilets, but it's about to become much more ubiquitous by hitting Windows 10 PCs later this year. HP, ASUS and Acer have revealed that the voice assistant is coming to various models, including ASUS's ZenBook and VivoBook lineup, the HP Pavilion Wave, and select Acer Spin, Swift, Switch and Aspire notebooks. Amazon will release a special Alexa app in the spring, and laptop builders are tapping Intel's Smart Sound tech to make sure that the app can pick up your voice when you're not right next to your PC. "Hands-free access to Alexa on PCs can be helpful to customers in many ways, like making it simple to interact with your smart home, get news or weather, set timers, and more," Amazon Alexa VP Steve Rabuchin said in a statement.

31 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. The article didn't state by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    why I would want this?

    1. Re:The article didn't state by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      *You* aren't the customer -- like the cellphone applications that you don't want, it will probably be pushed onto "your" device and you won't be able to delete it or shut it off.

    2. Re:The article didn't state by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2

      you might pay more for a PC tho if it didn't have it installed, so there's that angle. Similarly not having a webcam and not having a microphone are increasingly features i'd want in a PC if I were going to buy one rather than build one.

    3. Re: The article didn't state by sdinfoserv · · Score: 2

      Exactly why I don't want it. Thank you.

    4. Re:The article didn't state by mark-t · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The power button, perhaps? Windows 10 is a desktop OS, after all.

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    5. Re:The article didn't state by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Funny

      "why I would want this?"

      It's progress.
      When you now say on a public toilet:
      There's no fucking paper!"
      Nothing happens.

      On the new toilets you say:

      "Alexa, there's no fucking paper!"

      You'll get a response:
      "Order for toilet paper confirmed, stay put until monday."

      Or in select cities:
      "Stay put for 2 hours."

    6. Re:The article didn't state by coofercat · · Score: 3, Funny

      Surely you 'set timers' all day long don't you? I mean, I probably spend literally microseconds per month setting timers that would be oh so much easier if only someone could give me a voice controlled one.

      Even Amazon can't think of a good reason for Alexa on your PC. That's okay, neither can I.

      This is obviously all just part of a plan to flood the market with Alexa so that literally every calculator and laser pen has it. Hell, you'll soon walk into some people's houses and say "hey Alexa" and have 5 devices all answer you. Setting timers will never be quite so easy as it is now. So long as Alexa is there though, then Google probably isn't (or can be kept out), and god forbid Cortana or Siri should ever get anywhere.

    7. Re:The article didn't state by interkin3tic · · Score: 2

      Also didn't state why amazon didn't do this before. They can't be making much money off the dots at $35, and if google or apple smart assistant gains more users, they'll have lost a big edge on their store.

    8. Re:The article didn't state by Hylandr · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Install Linux. The kids all have it these days. My wife and I are the only holdouts.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    9. Re:The article didn't state by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Funny

      In two hours, an Amazon employee will use the Amazon Smartlock(TM) on your front door to enter your house, go to your bathroom, unlock the bathroom with the Amazon SmartBathroomLock, enter, replace the toilet roll on your toilet roll holder, dispose of the empty roll, and spray a deodorizing spray, all while you sit on the toilet and watch.

      And it's all part of your Amazon Prime subscription.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    10. Re: The article didn't state by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Erh... the problem is, I WOULD look like a little ignorant bitch in front of my friends if I DID buy it...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    11. Re:The article didn't state by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      I think it's time to cancel my Prime...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    12. Re:The article didn't state by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      Doesn't the power button just put Windows in a sleep/hibernate state? I bet Alexa is still listening.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    13. Re:The article didn't state by dwillden · · Score: 1

      You, are no geek or nerd. Every true geek or nerd has dreamed of speaking to his computer since the dawn of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Only Alexa responds to the wrong prompt and doesn't sound like Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.

      This has a ways to go, but in many ways is achieving that geeky dream. Giving us handheld communicators with global reach. (you can even get Bluetooth broaches for that variant of the experience.)
      Now if we can just get Warp drives, anti-gravity and gravity controls, Holodecks, replicators and transporters.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    14. Re:The article didn't state by dwillden · · Score: 1

      Amazon will pay Linus to integrate it into the next build of the Kernel. Or Intel and AMD to build it into the core processor functions of every CPU. Amazon will own your soul one way or another.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    15. Re: The article didn't state by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Cortana is removable. You just need a decent third party "windows 10 castration application" to do it.

    16. Re:The article didn't state by dwillden · · Score: 2

      And the paper will have an x-rated pattern printed on it. Alexa strives to meet every aspect of your request.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    17. Re: The article didn't state by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I don't even want Windows 10, and certainly don't want Amazon's Alexa in my OS anyway. Amazing how Microsoft can't figure out any way to make Windows 10 attractive to so many consumers and grasps at straws like Alexa.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    18. Re:The article didn't state by mark-t · · Score: 1

      Yes, but that is user-selectable. Plus, thereâ(TM)s always the mains switch in the back, attached to the power supply, if the situation gets really dire. Unless you were in the middle of a large disk-write when cutting power, windows will generally recover from it at next bootup quite handily

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    19. Re:The article didn't state by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      I call your Amazon - Torvolds purchase and raise you a Forked Repo.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    20. Re:The article didn't state by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't putting Alexa on your pc just result in Cortanna and Alexa having a cat fight...
       

    21. Re:The article didn't state by KingMotley · · Score: 1

      We set timers probably 15 times a day. Mostly for cooking and having a voice controller timer while cooking and your hands are either full, or covered in food is actually very nice.

      As for being on the PC, well... In the past week:
      Twice I was either working later than I normally do, or on a day that I don't normally do, so I had to change the thermostat. Once I did it via the web on my PC, the other I yelled at Alexa in the living room from my office to do it. I guess I could get a dot for my home office, but I have a PC here, so that would have been nice.
      I needed to add some things to my to do list, which would have been nice to do from my PC via Alexa.
      I've created appointments/reminders a few times this week where it would have been nice as well (If it synced with my Outlook reminders which I could set up, but haven't yet).

      Your imagination is either very poor, or you just don't like change.

    22. Re:The article didn't state by magarity · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't putting Alexa on your pc just result in Cortanna and Alexa having a cat fight...

      More like a cycles fight, especially when both are combined with the Meltdown and Spectre fix drivers.

    23. Re:The article didn't state by dwillden · · Score: 1

      Likely, although with a forked repo, Other distro's could remain Alexa (aka HAL) free. If Alexa (aka Skynet) is to take over the network it must be deployed to every platform possible.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    24. Re:The article didn't state by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      The Star Trek computer is a voice command interface, not an 'assistant'. If you watch Star Trek closely, they use voice to narrow the search field and then almost always look at the drilled-down data on a screen. Further, The Star Trek computer doesn't attempt to 'be nice', or use colloquial phrases. When i tell Cortana to play a song, she gets cheeky and REPLIES instead of just playing the song. The Star Trek computer never attempts to be my friend or buddy up to me. We DO NOT WANT an assistant, we want voice command.

      --
      Good-bye
    25. Re:The article didn't state by ls671 · · Score: 1

      Amazon will pay Linus to integrate it into the next build of the Kernel...

      I would bet they will pay Lennart Poettering to incorporate it into systemd instead.

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
  2. CustomersDontMatter by sdinfoserv · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just like the evisceration of NN so the wealthy and powerful corporations can pillage- it no longer matters what we as consumers want. 80%+ of Americans supported Net Neutrality, yet it was killed anyway.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com...
    What you or I want as "free" Americans in a "Democratic" society no longer matter. If a company can extract our personal information it will at any cost to our liberties or pocket book.

    1. Re:CustomersDontMatter by sdinfoserv · · Score: 2

      Perhaps, before you post, Coward, you should read the link. A a vast majority, including 3 out of 4 REPUBLICANS opposed the repeal of Net Neutrality on the eve of the vote. Which contradicts with the GOP storyline of "pesky Government interference" by regulation of providers.
      Just like "pesky Government interference" requiring fire escapes or defining child labor laws. Corporations have shown little respect for safety to people, the environment or human rights. So, unfortunately, when Corporations fail to act responsibly, it falls on Governments to ensure the public safety and welfare.

  3. Off my new laptop list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So, conveniently can remove the following laptop from my list of possible new laptops to replace my agin ASUS Zenbook this spring -ASUS's ZenBook and VivoBook lineup, the HP Pavilion Wave, and select Acer Spin, Swift, Switch and Aspire

  4. Re:Waiting for suppository version by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    They tried that, but the sound was kinda muffled.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Another "Assistant"? by cyberpunkrocker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've already disabled Cortana on Windows 10 and Google Assistant on Android, Alexa is just yet another privacy-invading annoying ass-istant to disable...