Anyone have an Alexa Dot gen4?

[Alan Harper's Tash]

You are too old.
They do not record everything you do unless you cannot understand settings.
They don’t just play music, they are radios and you can call mobiles, as well as thousands of other things.

There are loads of stories surrounding targeted advertising. They are listening. Silicon Valley will have so much info on all of us. Alexas seem pointless as my phone does all the things you listed.

 

[kaz7]

Mine is right next to the telly so it gets confused , doubt it even hears me talking to the cat , record away , it is switched off though

 

[fulabeer]

Maybe I’m getting too old, but I don’t really understand why anyone needs any of these Alexa type things.

I just can’t get past someone recording everything you do being more important than having a device you can get to play your favourite music.

You would be amazed at what these things can do.
Music is only scratching the surface.

These things are basically running our house.
On arriving home. We just say "Alexa i'm home".
This starts a sequence of the heating turning up, to the lights coming on. The TV/Sky box and sound system switches on.
All the light switches can be controlled by it, including automated lighting timers for the garden and outside.
Daily clock alarms, reminders and shopping lists are automated.
We can make whole house announcements at dinner time for example. Drop in or call to any room.
They even work when not at home with the Alexa app on the phones.
The CCTV works on any of the screens.

Leaving the house is the same. Tell her you're leaving and the heating goes down and Tv's and lights get turned off.

Saying all that. If the router or internet go down, it like being back in the dark ages...literally!

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

You would be amazed at what these things can do.
Music is only scratching the surface.

These things are basically running our house.
On arriving home. We just say "Alexa i'm home".
This starts a sequence of the heating turning up, to the lights coming on. The TV/Sky box and sound system switches on.
All the light switches can be controlled by it, including automated lighting timers for the garden and outside.
Daily clock alarms, reminders and shopping lists are automated.
We can make whole house announcements at dinner time for example. Drop in or call to any room.
They even work when not at home with the Alexa app on the phones.
The CCTV works on any of the screens.

Leaving the house is the same. Tell her you're leaving and the heating goes down and Tv's and lights get turned off.

Saying all that. If the router or internet go down, it like being back in the dark ages...literally!

Maybe it’s because I’ve never used one, but we manage to switch stuff on and off and communicate with each other without “her”.

CCTV is the only thing it would add and I just don’t feel it beneficial enough to offset the listening in.

 

[RadcliffeRick]

Does anyone remember transistor radios? The joy to be had turning it to face in different directions, trying to get a decent reception. Kids these days; they don't know they're born.

My greatest memory of a transistor radio was listening to England playing cricket at Sabin Park against the West Indies. This whilst listening under the bed clothes as it was school the following morning

 

[somapop]

I’m pretty certain stuff I’ve been talking about lands me an advert on the likes of Instagram soon after (not typing anything into my device).

Not looking for a companion to talk too coz lonely, more a small not too pricey speaker I can use to link my spotify, phone & (if feasible) my fireTV (as the actual stick was stick in the washing machine last year & doesn’t fully work - the phone app is a pain to load up everytime I want to run a command).

Does this have a ‘wake me up with my favourite radio channel’ option too...but presumably has to be paired with a device in order to do this?

 

[jimharri]

My greatest memory of a transistor radio was listening to England playing cricket at Sabin Park against the West Indies. This whilst listening under the bed clothes as it was school the following morning

Or Radio Luxembourg.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

Or Radio Luxembourg.

With the signal fading away every couple of minutes or so ... !

 

[jimharri]

With the signal fading away every couple of minutes or so ... !

Ah; those were the days.

 

[lafitz2008]

Got a couple of Echo Show 8s when they were last on sale, really good sound, better than than the dots.
I've got all my lights and some other stuff on smart plugs running through Alexa, I love it.