Tag: Amazon.com

Alexa gets a ‘no human review’ option

alexa-eavesdropper

With a recent change to Alexa, you can now opt-out of having your voice recordings reviewed by Amazon’s employees.

Why the change? Is it the reports of Google and Apple employees listening in on personal exchanges recorded by the voice-activated assistants? Or perhaps it’s a response to European courts rulings limiting what companies (like Amazon) can do with the data collected by said voice-activated assistants.

alexa

To Opt-Out of Human Review

  1. Open the Alexa app on your phone or tablet.
  2. Select Settings, Alexa Privacy, then Manage How Your Data Improves Alexa.
  3. Locate the setting “With this setting on, your voice recordings may be used … manually reviewed.” and tap OFF.

Cheers

quincy

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First Fun Fakery (April Fools ’19)

To help take some of the edge off tax season, today, the internet unleashes its own bevy of fake (but fun) news. Enjoy this sampling of some of the day’s April foolery

Google

Play Snakes in Google Maps

snake gif

Google Files Screen Cleaner option: “Using haptic vibration, it keeps your device clean inside and out”

 

Google Tulip: “More Water!” Because what better way to know what tulips need than to ask them.

National Geographic

Uncovering a Super Volcano beneath Sidney Australia

Duolingo

With these  push notifications, the elephant… or, owl is in the room.:

Watch this space for more…

And for a look back at previous First of April Fun:

Q, the First Gender-neutral Assistant

Siri, Cortana, Alexa; each is markedly female. And, despite settings that allow you to modify your voice-activated assistant, the voices have been decidedly binary.

Until now; Meet Q

Created by a group of linguists, technologists, and sound designers, Q hopes to “end gender bias” and encourage “more inclusivity in voice technology.” They recorded the voices of two dozen people who identify as male, female, transgender, or non-binary in search for a voice that typically “does not fit within male or female binaries.” To find this voice, the Q team conducted a test involving over 4,600 people, who were asked to rate the voice on a scale of 1 (male) to 5 (female).

For more on the research and technology behind Q, visit TheNextWeb

Cheers!

quincy

Related posts:

Shhh…Alexa is listening (and she can’t keep a secret)!

Amazon Echo

We’ve heard about her creepy laugh, but this may be the first reported instance of her tattling on her masters family. In what Amazon calls an “unlikely but possible” string of events one Echo device recorded a family’s private conversation and sent recording to contact.

Apparently, the device interpreted a word in the background conversation as ‘Alexa,’ prompting her to wakeup and take notice. She then it interpreted the ensuing words in the conversation as a send message.

Alexa’s query, ‘To whom? ‘ went unheard among the conversants, and she (Alexa) interpreted a word among in the conversation as the name of a saved family contact. Asking for confirmation (‘ ________, right?’) she interpreted, among the following words, a confirming, ‘right.’

Then did what she believes was told to do.

Amazon’s statement : “As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.“

It Must Be April 😉

Google Gnome

Google Maps – Ms Pac-man

MsPac-man Google Maps.gif

 

Coca-Cola Helium

All the taste of Coke, all the fun of inhaling a helium balloon and speaking with a squeaky voice.

Coke Helium

Virgin Train Ticket Tattoos

Well, now, says Virgin Trains, customers can get their train ticket permanently tattooed on their body, thanks to the magic of Tick-Ink.

 

Amazon Introduces Petlexia:

 

Burger King Toothpaste

To keep the tasty flavours lasting longer, BURGER KING® has created WHOPPER TOOTHPASTE .

Subway Ice Sandwich Flavored Ice Cream

Oh our aching sides
Oh our aching sides CREDIT: SUBWAY

And Subway:  “On 1 April 2017, the SUBWAY® brand is launching their first ever ice cream range… inspired by the nation’s most love Subs. The savoury SUBZero range is available in these three delicious flavours for a limited time only:

  • Meatball Marinara
  • Chicken Tikka
  • Tuna

Groupon’s Gin-sauna

 

And for a look back at previous tomfoolery:

 

 

A revolutionary drone-based delivery network is being tested—in Bhutan

While Amazon’s drone plans stall, Silicon Valley startup, Matternet, is piloting (pun intended) a drone service in Bhutan. This aerobo (aerial-robotic) fleet is providing a means of delivering medicinal supplies to rural communities.

Amazon’s drone delivery service

Incoming! 

What’s that buzzing? No cause for alarm, its just the latest installment of GTA flying at you. Catch!

Although not yet ready for primetime Amazon is hopeful that this small package delivery service will be start flying in 2016. If successful, it promises to drastically cut delivery time.

(Still no word on the flying cars we were promised)

Enjoy this video from Amazon.

Cheers!

hɔuᴉnb

Comments and questions are always welcome!

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