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Comment by adamsiem | Hacker News Reader

Not installing any Alexa’s in my new house. They suck anyway. Literally no practical use cases after 3 years other than being surveiled upon. Oh, and “what’s the weather on the other side of this sheet of glass I’m standing looking through? “ Lol

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Lots of people use them to turn on lights or listen to music. Maybe not your workflow but IMO you sound a little silly strawmanning like that.

I don't own Alexas either, but it's obvious why 'normal folk' would like the convenience.

People can also use the Assistant on their phones like Siri or Google Assistant which does basically the same.

These use cases sound a bit like using a chainsaw to trim your beard.

I'll never understand why people are ok installing recording devices in their home from a giant ad company or retail conglomerate.

Granted I do walk around with a smartphone.

> Oh, and “what’s the weather on the other side of this sheet of glass I’m standing looking through? “ Lol

Lol that's me.

I also use it to set timers while cooking, and play music (I think the sound of Alexa is quite good). But that's basically it.

A wireless speaker that can set timers / arams, and maybe control music, would allow me to replace Alexa. Is there something like this ?

I don't think cloud service linked smart speakers are a wise idea, but I visited a family (before COVID, when you could still visit a family) that was making tremendous use of it: playing music, setting alarms, looking up recipes, ordering stuff from Amazon, and I think looking up reference material and doing arithmetic. Three generations of family members had all clearly made it a nearly unconscious habit. So I don't think this technology can be dismissed as useless to everyone.

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