Of course. Amazon subsidizes them to be extremely cheap and people get excited about a new thing.
Personally, I have no use for one. "Alexa turn off the lights", or just get up or use your phone? That's what I do at least.
Personally, I have no use for one. "Alexa turn off the lights", or just get up or use your phone? That's what I do at least.
[1] - http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20030417/white-noise-may-dela...
From the article:
"""Both Chang and Paula Tallal, PhD -- a researcher who was not involved in Chang's study -- say it is probably not a good idea to intentionally expose babies and infants to nonstop white noise, but they say everyday exposures are probably not harmful for most children."""
That's not a thing. Life is risk assessment.
> brought music back into our lives, in a big way
That's great, but you should be able get a similar benefit without giving up your expectation of privacy. Normalizing sending the audio from formerly private areas - even if you are not currently saying anything other than "Alexa, play ${random_pop_song}" - will eventually move listening devices across the bright line established in Kyllo v. United States[1][2]. The SCOTUS opinion: (emphasis added)
>> "Where, as here, the Government uses a device that is not in general public use, to explore details of the home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion, the surveillance is a "search" and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant."
When a technology is* in "general public use", a warrant is no longer required to use that technology in a search. If Echo (or similar) becomes common enough for people to start assuming the average home may contain a microphone that uploads to a 3rd party, the expectation that a home is private. Music is important, but was that particular convenience worth undermining the 4th Amendment?
I call B.S.
Why?
It has been normal for decades to send audio from "private areas." Phones, for example. Cell phones now mean you send audio from nearly any location with cell service.
I expect that Amazon respects my privacy, according to their own statements and terms of service. Activating the sending of information is only done intentionally, with the use of a trigger word that I don't otherwise use. This is no different than pressing a button on a computer, or dialing a phone number on my phone.
The expectation of privacy does not change just because I have a device with a microphone, at least from a legal perspective.
Obviously, this still requires trusting the service provider, government, etc.
When the price is right, Alexa-controlled devices (heating, lighting, etc) would get a lot of use.