Amazon, please help me meet one of my life goals

[thistlechaser]

There are many things from the Star Trek world that would be life-changing to have now. Transporters (visit your family around the world without wasting a day on an airplane!), food replicators (OMG I've dreamed about them so much. Whatever food you want! And I bet they could make it as low calorie as you want! Any food in the world!), and the whole computer system always there and ready to respond to you.

With Amazon Echo, we're a step closer to the computer system. Once you turn it on, all you need to do is speak a question or command out loud, and it responds. (Sort of like a version of Siri, but for your home.)

I was about to drive to Amazon's HQ and demand one, but it turns out the 'wake word' (the word you have to preface all of your questions/commands with) is pre-set and you can't use your own.

The wake word is Alexa, not Computer. :(

I'd love to be able to just speak up in my apartment. "Computer, set a timer for 15 minutes." "Computer, how far is it to Smithsville, CA?" "Computer, remind me to send an email to my sister tomorrow."

Using 'Alexa' isn't cool at all.

I might get one anyway (I submitted a request for an invitation to buy one). Since I have Prime membership, the price would be $99 instead of $199. Some reviews have mentioned that Amazon might include the option for different wake words later... I'd think 'Computer' would be a popular one.

Edit: By way of al_zorra: The National Wildlife Federation talks about the risk of zombies.

Assuming animals can't become zombies (generally a safe assumption), then I'd buy his logic.

Comments

[adam-0oo.livejournal.com]

I am fascinated to see where this goes. One of the problems with Google Voice and Siri is that they just haven't licked the background noise problem, so I can't use them at all if I ever leave the house. Alexa though, is in the house always, so it really ups your chances to use it.

Still, still, if you spend all your time being "No Alexa, what I meant was...", but voice recognition has no where to go but up, and every word it hears makes it smarted and better at what it does.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm fascinated as well. There are some issues that I didn't go into in my post:

- When you activate it, it listens to everything going on, not just your voice. Some people are questioning what kind of information Amazon might be collecting.
- Apparently the whole point of it is to push you towards shopping on Amazon (being made by Amazon, that's not all that surprising). So when you say 'buy flour', it will only look on Amazon's site.

I'm not exactly sure it would be worth $100 for me, but I'm willing to take the chance. I use timers all the time (while cooking) and it would be nice just to say it out loud instead of setting the microwave. I always question my spelling on lots of words, so it would be great to say "Computer, how do you spell..." instead of pausing to google it. But like you said, if you have to fumble with the voice recognition, then a lot of the usefulness goes out the window.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I'm sure someone out there is already working on a mod/hack to make it respond to "computer" and also use Majel Barrett's voice. I mean, what are nerds for???

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I sure do hope so!

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

Why is it safe to assume that animals can't become zombies? :p

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

In most stories I've seen/read, they can't be made into zombies. I like the ones best where they can. Animal zombies are the best zombies!

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

It just doesn't make sense that they can't be made into zombies! :P Man, what illogical worldbuilding (imo).

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Agreed, I think all mammals should be able to get it.

[kriatyrr.livejournal.com]

In Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy, it's all mammals over the weight of approximately 40 pounds, so you don't get zombie babies/toddlers/cats. Everyone has the inactive virus in them, and exposure to the live version causes amplification into a zombie. And of course, some creatures go into spontaneous amplification upon reaching the weight threshold. A terrible world to be a parent in, for sure.

But at least they don't have to deal with the risk of being eaten from the inside in the case of a miscarriage. At least human babies don't grow teeth until well after they are born. (Do you know of any settings where this is a thing? I don't.)

(Also: I don't have a zombie icon. Oh well, Chryssalid is as close as I get)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that sounds really interesting! I had seen mention of Feed before, but not much more than that.

But at least they don't have to deal with the risk of being eaten from the inside in the case of a miscarriage. At least human babies don't grow teeth until well after they are born. (Do you know of any settings where this is a thing? I don't.)

I wish I did! I really want to read that now. I'd be so dark and interesting! Some babies are born with teeth though. Natal teeth are uncommon. They are present in about 1 in every 2,000 to 3,000 births. (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003268.htm) So if a mother were really unlucky, that could happen...