The Wing Commander set up the Google version of this here at the house, and, with a voice command, he made it do things like:
Make phone calls
Report the weather
Find out when the local barbershop opens
Play music from his Spotify account
Tell him a joke
Tell him a scary story, but...
It refused to set his "phaser to kill."
He's taking it back to Portland with him, but his mom really wants him to leave it here so she can play with it.
The paranoid in me is saying "It's listening to everything that's being said in my house."
ReplyDeleteOh it is, at least in the room it's in. The question is whether it's somehow recording, categorizing and then reporting back what it hears. That information, I think, might be worth big money. But then, people disagree with me on this.
DeleteYou're a braver man than I am. I won't allow any of those devices into my house, and my TV will never be "smart." (I don't watch TV anyway, but I wouldn't have one that listened to me.)
ReplyDeleteEven Orwell never dreamed that people would actually buy their own Telescreen for Big Brother to observe them!
I received one for Christmas. I haven't set it up yet. I'm hoping that the person paid to monitor me is a Harvard educated transexual. They'll really learn to hate me.
DeleteWatch out. It's kind of addicting to bark orders at it and have a smooth female voice immediately express approval and execute those orders with robotic precision.
DeleteIt's like a Stepford Wife without the curves.
Delete"It's like a Stepford Wife without the curves."
DeleteThat's reason enough not to have one.
There was a funny show on TV last night.
ReplyDeleteI laughed.
My wife laughed.
Alexa laughed.
I shot the dot.
Good move.
DeleteSuch fun & funny reactions to the idea of this thing.
ReplyDeleteMine is one of abhorrence. George Orwell came to mind immediately.