20 thoughts on “Amazon just surprised everyone with a crazy speaker that talks to you”
99 for prime members…Dammit. THat’s gonna make me buy it
I requested an invite… but I’m not sure why I want this. I never use Siri, in fact disabled it on the last iPad that passed thru, and I’m fully entrenched with Sonos. Hmmm.
I don’t know why I want it either. But I do. I don’t have any kind of sonos in my house though.
Amazon is on to something here… except phones. :) Not sure how many reads you get Dave, but seems like every single one of them in the past two weeks ordered Fire TV sticks and want a speaker. If you have a few million readers they’re going to be rich. :)
PS: I ordered two sticks and signed up for an invite to get this thing which I view as something I want but can’t answer why.
“Not sure how many reads you get Dave, but seems like every single one of them in the past two weeks ordered Fire TV sticks and want a speaker. If you have a few million readers they’re going to be rich.”
Damn straight. Loss money on every order, and make it up on volume. They’ll be rich, rich I tell you…
I disagree with Matt Yglesias on 95+% of his opinions, but his ‘Amazon is a massive philanthropic effort by the stock market to benefit consumers’ take seems about right to me. Almost twenty years of success can’t be argued with.
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And a cloud-enabled microphone in every home? What on earth could possibly be wrong with that?
No telling if or when Amazon intends to make money. But my readership is only large enough to move 65 Fire TV Sticks. Assuming most were purchased at $19 and the commission is 4%, at least *I* will be cash flow positive for the month with a whopping $49.40 bounty. ;)
Still percolating on this speaker thing. Wish it were more Sonos, less Siri. The video advertisement does a nice job of pointing out its flaws – override your family members or take over a friend’s home. Will be interesting to watch it unfold. For $99, I may just take a flyer on it as a Bluetooth speaker … with benefits. Or pass entirely. Hm.
Yeah, I requested an invite too. Dave needs the $4.
Dave sold me on Sonos – we are working on #4 now. Having said that, the ability to ask questions and get information has me intrigued. For $99, I requested an invite.
For those keeping score of Amazon’s countless shell companies, I suspect the Echo appeared late yesterday on the FCC – filed by an “Igluu” of West Trenton, NJ as a “digital media receiver” with four bands worthy of evaluation. Here’s one:
No surprise. West Trenton has long been known as “Silicon Trenton”, well publicized by a famous sign on a bridge there that reads, “Silicon Trenton Makes. The World Takes.”
And the clever play on words, as the Echo is clearly one brick in Amazon’s “Igloo Initiative” to provide digital media shelter from the Google and Apple elements.
“And the clever play on words, as the Echo is clearly one brick in Amazon’s “Igloo Initiative” to provide digital media shelter from the Google and Apple elements.”
Huh. Certainly possible.
But I’d been assuming that “Igluu” meant that all data would be stored in Amazon Glacier, meaning that the time between a vocal query and a response would be about two hours…
Revised Amazon Echo commercial, maybe not safe for work. :)
as a prime member it was easy to justify for only $100. i do see some future goodness coming from this device. maybe a future satelite for other rooms that stays connected to the echo so you can use it like an intercom, plus have all the other features.
I read that thing last week about the guy who bought the smart TV and was now afraid to turn it on after reading the T&C’s which apparently openly discuss the fact that you shouldn’t say anything private in front of the microphone etc. Probably just some lawyer padding his back account, but it does make you think….
“I read that thing last week about the guy who bought the smart TV and was now afraid to turn it on after reading the T&C’s which apparently openly discuss the fact that you shouldn’t say anything private in front of the microphone etc. Probably just some lawyer padding his back account, but it does make you think….”
What do have to hide, Glenn? Why the pressing need for ‘private’ conversations in your home? Big Brother loves you, and you ought to love Big Brother.
Also, you’re missing the upside. Recently, I had a disagreement with my significant other about who said what in a conversation we’d had at home a few months back. I called the NSA’s toll-free hotline, and within minutes, they pulled up the records and confirmed that I was correct!
Cloud-enabled microphones and cameras in our homes benefit everyone. Really hard to see any downside here…
99 for prime members…Dammit. THat’s gonna make me buy it
I requested an invite… but I’m not sure why I want this. I never use Siri, in fact disabled it on the last iPad that passed thru, and I’m fully entrenched with Sonos. Hmmm.
I don’t know why I want it either. But I do. I don’t have any kind of sonos in my house though.
Amazon is on to something here… except phones. :) Not sure how many reads you get Dave, but seems like every single one of them in the past two weeks ordered Fire TV sticks and want a speaker. If you have a few million readers they’re going to be rich. :)
PS: I ordered two sticks and signed up for an invite to get this thing which I view as something I want but can’t answer why.
“Not sure how many reads you get Dave, but seems like every single one of them in the past two weeks ordered Fire TV sticks and want a speaker. If you have a few million readers they’re going to be rich.”
Damn straight. Loss money on every order, and make it up on volume. They’ll be rich, rich I tell you…
It’s the underpants gnomes strategy executed to perfected.
I disagree with Matt Yglesias on 95+% of his opinions, but his ‘Amazon is a massive philanthropic effort by the stock market to benefit consumers’ take seems about right to me. Almost twenty years of success can’t be argued with.
—–
And a cloud-enabled microphone in every home? What on earth could possibly be wrong with that?
No telling if or when Amazon intends to make money. But my readership is only large enough to move 65 Fire TV Sticks. Assuming most were purchased at $19 and the commission is 4%, at least *I* will be cash flow positive for the month with a whopping $49.40 bounty. ;)
Still percolating on this speaker thing. Wish it were more Sonos, less Siri. The video advertisement does a nice job of pointing out its flaws – override your family members or take over a friend’s home. Will be interesting to watch it unfold. For $99, I may just take a flyer on it as a Bluetooth speaker … with benefits. Or pass entirely. Hm.
Yeah, I requested an invite too. Dave needs the $4.
Dave sold me on Sonos – we are working on #4 now. Having said that, the ability to ask questions and get information has me intrigued. For $99, I requested an invite.
For those keeping score of Amazon’s countless shell companies, I suspect the Echo appeared late yesterday on the FCC – filed by an “Igluu” of West Trenton, NJ as a “digital media receiver” with four bands worthy of evaluation. Here’s one:
https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=768409&fcc_id=ZWJ-0823
“filed by an “Igluu” of West Trenton, NJ”
No surprise. West Trenton has long been known as “Silicon Trenton”, well publicized by a famous sign on a bridge there that reads, “Silicon Trenton Makes. The World Takes.”
And the clever play on words, as the Echo is clearly one brick in Amazon’s “Igloo Initiative” to provide digital media shelter from the Google and Apple elements.
“And the clever play on words, as the Echo is clearly one brick in Amazon’s “Igloo Initiative” to provide digital media shelter from the Google and Apple elements.”
Huh. Certainly possible.
But I’d been assuming that “Igluu” meant that all data would be stored in Amazon Glacier, meaning that the time between a vocal query and a response would be about two hours…
Revised Amazon Echo commercial, maybe not safe for work. :)
as a prime member it was easy to justify for only $100. i do see some future goodness coming from this device. maybe a future satelite for other rooms that stays connected to the echo so you can use it like an intercom, plus have all the other features.
I read that thing last week about the guy who bought the smart TV and was now afraid to turn it on after reading the T&C’s which apparently openly discuss the fact that you shouldn’t say anything private in front of the microphone etc. Probably just some lawyer padding his back account, but it does make you think….
“I read that thing last week about the guy who bought the smart TV and was now afraid to turn it on after reading the T&C’s which apparently openly discuss the fact that you shouldn’t say anything private in front of the microphone etc. Probably just some lawyer padding his back account, but it does make you think….”
What do have to hide, Glenn? Why the pressing need for ‘private’ conversations in your home? Big Brother loves you, and you ought to love Big Brother.
Also, you’re missing the upside. Recently, I had a disagreement with my significant other about who said what in a conversation we’d had at home a few months back. I called the NSA’s toll-free hotline, and within minutes, they pulled up the records and confirmed that I was correct!
Cloud-enabled microphones and cameras in our homes benefit everyone. Really hard to see any downside here…
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tLercVPgzNQ/SEgqUghQ0kI/AAAAAAAAAg4/sMZwsSaPsLM/s320/i_now_pronounce_you_chuck_and_larry_movie_poster.jpg
So has any one been selected to be able to purchase the Echo for $100 yet?
If I get selected I won’t mind paying $100 for it. But I have no desire to pay the normal price of $200 for it.
I did, and so did my son
From the NYT review, the creepiest comment to the promo video:
“A woman wrote, “I’m already envisioning Echo as a member of my family.”
$99 may seem cheap, but when you factor in the cost of sending it to college…