I bought an Alexa echo long before I actually cared about privacy and I regret it a lot. It’s been a pricey paper weight since then. I wish I could flash some kind of OS and use it as a sound bar or something. I can’t even use the Bluetooth without signing in with amazon account, which requires a lot of data including phone number.
Do you have a shotgun? Makes a respectable flying target.
As if I was ever stupid enough to use Alexa.
Like always, Black Mirror has an episode on this.
Isn’t Black Mirror a manual at this point?
Or a documentary.
I’m amazed it didn’t already as someone who has never used or heard one being used. What’s the business model? Just the data harvesting for purpose of their other businesses?
So, South park?
What the fuck is Alexa+ 🤣🤣🤣
After AI became a thing, Amazon decided you needed to pay a subscribtion to use Alexa with an LLM instead of the basic keyword recognition model
Now I’m going to refuse to purchase one even harder!
I honestly forgot people even buy these
I was saving up for one. Nvm lol
Their users will accept this.
Not this one. I’ve been a Prime member for many years out of convenience (and because I live in the rurals and need to ship a lot of things to the house). Amazon completely fucked it up for themselves with regard to my subscription this past year or two, I’m done.
- Removed the ability to download and sideload Kindle books
- Ads in Prime Video
- Followed by even more ads in Prime Video
- Now this, and I don’t even own an Alexa device
I’m done. Subscription is cancelled (has been for some time now, but unfortunately it was reupped annual). I’ve found alternative sources for several things I need to buy monthly/regularly that I previously would purchase on Amazon. Video was already trashed, but I barely used it. I’ve jailbroken my Kindles, converted all my books to EPUB, and installed KOReader on them. Wasn’t a hard transition since I’ve had a Boox device as my main reader for some years now anyway. I’ve started buying my books from Kobo and other sources.
Looking into other services for online purchases and shipping. It’ll be less convenient, and I’ll still buy from Amazon in the event I absolutely have to, but I’d like to minimize that now.
How do you jailbreak your Kindle?
Depends on the model and firmware, but for most, Winterbreak is the current method.
Do note if your Kindle is updated to version 5.18.x currently it’s not possible to jailbreak. There is ongoing work on a new exploit though, and a new jailbreak method (or update to Winterbreak) is expected later this year.
Edit - actually, if you’re on firmware 5.18.0 the jailbreak may work. 5.18.1 and above it definitely doesn’t.
I have a prime subscription, simply for the delivery and grocery discounts, but the ads on their streaming service have convinced me to stop using it entirely and just pirate all their shows / movies.
I never found much worth watching on Prime, to be honest, even before the ads issue.
As for Prime, I still benefit from the Prime shipping, but a lot of stores on Amazon ship free now even without Prime, and given where I live, 2-day shipping is not a thing. It’s usually more like 4 to 7 days. I’m generally in no rush either way.
My main benefits were shipping and books, plus free games on Prime and GOG. But now the shipping is almost irrelevant, they’ve screwed the book thing, so all that’s left is the games, many of which I won’t even play.
Easy fix:
Follow-up fix: get home assistant and recreate this yourself with a $15 device
I started making my own several years ago but got sidelined by health issues and haven’t gone back to it. :(
My end goal is I have a lot of comic books. I want a voice assistant that can query a database and then turn on smart lights to show box locations.
I got the database done, I got the queries working, then had a heart attack and never got the voice input or smart light output working. :(
Damn. I hope you’re feeling better, my friend.
Working on it!
If you can find a hass replacement for the Echo Flex, I will name my firstborn after you.
How far away is the Home Assistant Voice Preview from what you’re looking for?
It doesn’t plug directly into the wall but instead uses a USB C cable (that you provide). Other than this, mine can answer questions, search the internet, turn things on and off, play music via Spotify, Jellyfin, etc. Tell me about the state of stuff in Home Assistant (temps in rooms, how the solar is doing, what’s on my shopping list and can add things, etc).
It requires you already have Home Assistant set up but it is a pretty good experience so long as you’re willing to do some amount of tinkering to make it your own.
Like other comments say it’s not general public ready but it’s pretty close and costs $69.
It doesn’t plug directly into the wall
That’s a huge deal: it stays out of the way and it’s a complete unit.
Yeah that’s why I called it out. It seemed like it was an important part.
There probably isn’t an actual reason why you couldn’t connect it to a wall plug in a way that replicates this setup even if a bit hacky. E.g. short cable then attach the unit to the top of the plug. It’s not that heavy and may attach fine without coming out of the wall.
Can I replace AppleHome with this stuff?
It’s fun and I recommend it, but I’m hesitant to say you can ‘replace’ your existing systems with it. You’ll probably mostly be able do what you want to do, but we’re still in the enthusiast stage and there’s going to be annoyances and frustrations. Home assistant is also one of the easier things to setup as far as self hosting goes, but you’re going to pick up some skills on the path to getting it working.
Trust me, there’s annoyances and frustrations aplenty with Apple
Alexa has ads since the beginning and I can’t imagine that would change just because they are replacing the backend with AI. The first time Echo wasted my time trying to selling me something in my own home was also the last time. I don’t understand how anyone can be okay with that.
Fuck, the Echo Show series is basically just a glorified ad machine with a clock feature.
I can’t even stand when my Google assistant says more than three words to respond 😂 if I start hearing ads out of that thing I will get rid of it faster than anything I’ve ever done
Alexa already periodically makes “suggestions” that are annoying to disable if you misspeak.
Counting down until it starts demanding credit cards in order to function. Maybe as a form of “identity check”, as that’s been a popular excuse to collect payment information.
Pretty much why we unplugged all of ours. I just need to set a timer, don’t tell me extra shit!
To disable suggestions:
“Alexa, stop By The Way”
Got 8 Google Minis around the house, mostly ceiling mount. First ad that comes out that bitches mouth, I’m taking a 12-gauge to every motherfucking one of them, patch the roof later.
First ad that comes out that bitches mouth, I’m taking a 12-gauge to every motherfucking one of them, patch the roof later.
“Further work from our user experience team has resulted in several recommendations, including revising the Google Mini for the North American market to add a Kevlar layer to the case and using data from the accelerometer to treat an abrupt, rapid acceleration with a threshold above a certain level as “undesirable behavior/behavior needs improvement” user feedback to Alexa+'s prior prompt response.”
You sir, and I say this with no hyperbole; are a hero.
🎵I got a shotgun, and here’s the plot,
Takin’ Minis out with a flurry of buck shot,
Boom, boom, boom! Yeah, I was gunnin’,
And then you look, all you see is Googles runnin’,
And fallin’ and yellin’ and pushin’ and screamin’,
And cussin’, I stepped back and I kept bustin’🎶
Im sure they’ll try to get you to order ammo as they explode.
<pump-action sound>
“How’s your supply of shells? Winchester is having a blowout sale on 00-buck. To learn more…”
Anyone see the newest Black Mirror season?
That one was hard to watch. It just kept getting worse and worse.
Fuck I was just thinking about “common people” when I saw this. Definitely the best episode of that season
I didn’t realize they were still producing episodes. Are they as good as S1-3?
Some of them are, but a few others feel like rehashing old themes without adding much. Still mostly worth watching imo
I’m pretty sure Amazon got this idea from Black Mirror’s latest season
