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.