Slashdot Mirror
Alexa is Coming To Windows 10 PCs From HP, ASUS and Others (engadget.com)
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.
*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.
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.
Exactly why I don't want it. Thank you.
The power button, perhaps? Windows 10 is a desktop OS, after all.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
"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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.