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joezydeco

So the product is named "Echo" but you ask it questions by calling it "Alexa"? That's just odd.

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In the video, the actors say they chose the wake-word themselves. So presumably you can use anything you like.

I believe you get to pick the name you want to call it (called the wake word), per the video.

The default name is "Alexa".

So the product is named "iPhone" but you ask it questions by calling it "Siri"? You don't buy a Cortana either, you buy a product named "Windows Phone" (?).

What's odd to me is that Alexa is way more common name for humans than Siri is. I wonder what false positives will do for households with a human Alexa.

But why not use "Echo" as the wakeup word, or name the product "Alexa", then?

I'm not considering the iPhone/Siri example the same. Siri came much later after iPhone and is not the primary mode of iPhone operation.

Probably because "echo" is too common of a sound as a component of other words.

Example?

ecological

If the recognition algorithm works the way I believe it does, it's looking for silence before the keyword, indicating it's the start of a question and "Alexa" is the subject:

e.g. "Alexa, how many people live in Germany?"

and not

"I should talk to Alexa about ordering ten new televisions."

Can't think of a lot of sentences that start with "ecological".

yeah, I was half joking.

That being said, I think you can name the echo whatever you want. Maybe the people in the commercial just chose "Alexa"

The system default is "Alexa". Says so right on the web page.

Amazon LEXical Analysis, perhaps?

That's way too perfect there's no way it's a coincidence.

The original Alexa trademark Amazon acquired was based on the Library of Alexandria. So, it is in fact a coincidence. :)

Yes but there is a reason they chose the name to use with this product.

Almost certainly relevant is that Alexa is an Internet analytics company that Amazon owns.

Why "almost certainly"? They don't seem particularly connected

"it only hears you when you use the [wait chord?] we chose"

edit: "wake word" I guess.

My guess would be that they can switch the name of either if needed in the future (to rebrand or whatnot). This isn't that dissimilar from the iPhone's Siri, or Window's Cortana.

Strange choice for a wake-up word, given that it's a person's name.

I had to read that line several times to make sure I was not missing some thing.

Sorry, I should have made my sentence clearer: as in you have a wife/daughter/friend/girlfriend in the room who happens to be called Alexa, along with this new Amazon device. Hilarity ensues ;-)

I mean their sentence on Echo's page. I totally got what you where saying.

It's likely the easiest applicable trademark Amazon had available, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexa_Internet .

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