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Comment by linuxftw | Hacker News Reader

Do people actually buy these video devices? Is it something people actually want, or is television marketing so effective you can convince a large enough section of the population to make this product viable?

I feel like we're in a decade-long fad of techno gadgets. I'm eager for it to end.

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I work in IT in a large institution. Recently we started requiring 2-factor auth to get into payroll. The number of people who tell us “I don’t use apps on my phone” and require a hardware token is shockingly high.

For every tech savvy hacker news minimalist there are 5+ people who find technology easiest to work with when a device does one thing and one thing only.

I also would prefer to have a hardware token vs app on phone, probably for a different reason (I don't want lots of bloated apps on my phone).

And probably those 5+ people that want devices to have one function probably don't want many of these gadgets in the first place. They are in the league of ugly Christmas sweaters: Given, but not used.

My family did purchase a dedicated Skype video device for my grandmother when she started suffering from cognitive decline and moved into an assisted living facility. But beyond niche use cases like that it's hard to see the point of such devices, especially when they're locked into just a single software platform.

I wonder the same thing. I mean, Kinect did a great job of providing video calling via Skype, but it never gained market acceptance. Why would this be any different?

I'm not sure what you mean about the fad of techno gadgets, though. It seems to be that we've had a lot of new gadgets for the past 40 years. Some have been phenomenally successful and stayed around and others haven't (or have come back years later in different forms). I don't expect this to end.

I specifically mean "smart devices" like refrigerators, watches, these weird voice controlled home automation devices, tablets. I just saw a commercial for headphones that are voice controlled.

I don't want or need any of this extra gadgetry, cell phone and laptop are quite sufficient for all of the tasks I care about. I suspect most 'normal' people are like myself and just don't care about all this electronic nonsense.

I get your point, though I actually like the intent of a lot of these devices. I mean, if the smart refrigerator weren't so overpriced, I can see the value in a calendar and shopping list on the refrigerator. Its exactly why people hang paper ones there, but with the added benefit of being synced.

But yeah, there are definitely a lot of overboard cases. I can't imagine using the Alexa microwave or voice controlled headphones. Some of these definitely have a 2008 app store vibe to them.

> I get your point, though I actually like the intent of a lot of these devices. I mean, if the smart refrigerator weren't so overpriced, I can see the value in a calendar and shopping list on the refrigerator. Its exactly why people hang paper ones there, but with the added benefit of being synced.

Unfortunately, I don't trust the vendors of these devices to make them not easily exploitable, I wouldn't trust them with my wifi connection or any of my data.

There are a few use cases where the screen is helpful. Multi-day weather forecasts, recipes, video calling, viewing security cameras or doorbell type cameras.

I have an Echo Show in the living room, and I make more frequent use of video calling than I'd expected to - the big use case for me is quickly dropping in to say hello to my son before bed when I'm away for work. That's something that can be done with mobile devices, but that then requires him to be near one, which he's too young for at the momment.

If it works well as phone, then it will be great.

When I do phone call, when someone pick up, I introduce myself and start talking. When I do hangout meeting, everybody first asks "Can you hear me"?

I can't speak for consumer demand, but I've worked at a place that spent a fortune on Cisco VTC devices, which are basically larger, less user-friendly versions of this.

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