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Amazon Alexa's 'Brief Mode' Makes the Digital Assistant Way Less Chatty (cnet.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the cut-to-the-chase dept.

A new update is rolling out to Amazon Echo devices that gives users the option to make Alexa respond with a short, beeping sound rather than her customary "OK." Reddit users reported seeing the new feature this week. CNET reports: You access the Brief Mode in the Amazon Alexa app's Settings Menu under "Alexa Voice Responses." You can also ask your Alexa-enabled device to turn on the Brief Mode. Once the setting is enabled, you can ask Alexa to control devices to which she is connected and she will respond with beeps rather than "OK" to let you know that she received and completed the task. Don't want to completely quiet Alexa down? Amazon also rolled out a "Follow-Up Mode" last week that's designed to let you will let you talk to Alexa more naturally. That mode will let you make successive requests without needing to use Alexa's wake word between each command.

25 comments

  1. Thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks for the advertisement, fuckwad.

  2. WRONG ANSWER! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Working

    Do I have to eggsplane this?

  3. Just stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can the brief mode keep this advertisement off the front page?

  4. HHGTTG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Your plastic pal who's fun to be with"- the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation

    Douglas. You were a prophet.

    See also: talkie toaster.

    This was all foreseen.

    1. Re: HHGTTG by bn-7bc · · Score: 1

      Oh no noy that tostoholic toaster from red dwarf, that thing was a bit over the top

  5. Not bad by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now we just need a Grunt-Mode for us men.

    1. Re:Not bad by antdude · · Score: 1

      I would like Tim Allen's grunts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... :P

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  6. Alexa by MrKaos · · Score: 1

    Ha ha ha haaaa HAHAHAHAHAHA

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  7. Tried it by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    It works.

    You can now (finally) engage in a much more normal interaction. For instance:

    Alexa, what time is it?
    ::it's four fifty three PM
    thank you
    ::You're welcome
     
    ...it's surprising how much of a difference this makes in the character of the interaction. Much better.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    1. Re:Tried it by PReDiToR · · Score: 0

      Voluntarily giving Amazon access to more data to store on the sounds in your room.

      How long before the brand new, latest thing, how shiny and nice is this, ALWAYS LISTENING mode comes out?

      I hope that every second of audio goes through the NSA too. It wouldn't do for Amazon to be the only ones who heard terrorist plots being planned or kiddie abusers.

      --

      Do not meddle in the affairs of geeks for they are subtle and quick to anger
    2. Re:Tried it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is, and has been, in ALWAYS LISTENING mode. How else will it respond to you when you call out to it?

  8. Mobile version by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Give it wheels and call it R2D2. Beep boop!

  9. umm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    uhh but will.. uhh when will it be able to work out, errr, when people like use filler words and stuff?

    The fact it is getting these kinds of updates just reinforces to me the idea that we're still far away from real natural speech querying. I can read and write to a sufficiently high standard but I'm a fairly poor orator, and while I've not used Alexa I have used Siri and WhateverGooglesAIisCalledToday and neither of them can handle the way I would talk to a friend or a retail assistant or whatever. You have to speak in an oddly formal way to get it to work.

    1. Re: umm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's difficult for the same reasons that making yourself understood on the phone is more difficult than in person. Too many paralinguistic cues and deictic expressions that index aspects of shared frames of attention which make interpreting what people mean to say, i.e. pragmatic meaning, rather than what they literally say, i.e. semantic meaning.

  10. Nobody likes a chatty cathy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only makes sense. Plus it takes away from the creepiness of an app trying to put on a facade of being conversational.

  11. Wife by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LOL!When is my Wife getting brief mode? LOL! (Married guys understand why this was posted as AC)

  12. Let me guess... by burtosis · · Score: 1

    To switch it back you enable C3PO mode?

  13. Reminds me of this exchange by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There was this sci-fi movie Outland featuring Sean Connery, and he
    was sent to investigate certain homicides that were drug-related in the
    mining base of a distant moon. He spoke to the computer (Note: I forgot the
    name of the drug -- replaced here with dimoxinil

    Sean: At the time of his death, what were his last words?
    Computer: He said, Gaaack! *cough* *cough* But seriously, he said
    Dimoxinil; it seemed funny to me why he would be thinking of medicine at the time.
    Sean: Who asked you?
    Computer: Up yours#

  14. Better still. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    ... make Alexa respond with a short, beeping sound

    Have her (it) *say* "Beep".

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  15. What next after "brief mode"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will it get a panty mode?

  16. Misdirected paranoia by fyngyrz · · Score: 2

    Voluntarily giving Amazon access to more data to store on the sounds in your room.

    Yep. Not even slightly worried about it.

    The government would be the one I was worried about, if I was worried about anything - because they have, and will improperly use, immense amounts of power.

    Amazon has no power at all other than to offer me stuff, or get others to offer me stuff, which I can always take or leave. And that particular power has been a considerable boon to my life.

    How long before the brand new, latest thing, how shiny and nice is this, ALWAYS LISTENING mode comes out?

    Oh, probably not that long. Hopefully in robot form. I'll take the French Maid model, thanks.

    I hope that every second of audio goes through the NSA too.

    It probably does, although it's an open question as to if they can decipher it or not.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  17. Let's expand this by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    Can we get this for the Windows 10 1709 installer? Cortana is so time-wasting and cringey it makes me embarrassed to even listen to it. She literally says "A touch of wifi here, and you'll be back to watching cat videos" or something virtually identical to that. Could they be any less professional?

    1. Re:Let's expand this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My cable box says 'phew, I need a rest' when I put it into standby mode. That got old *very* quickly (like about 5 seconds).

  18. Uh-huh... by kiphat · · Score: 1

    Uh-huh... Uh-huh...

  19. Need this on more devices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wish my car had this option. I have owned the f*kcing thing for 5 years. I know that I need to push the g*ddam phone button to answer.