A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name

Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by almiron10 on Friday February 09, 2018 @03:40PM (#16343642)

I unplug it when I don't want to listen to music or put together a shopping list.

Also, I wouldn't have one if it wasn't given as a gift. I can't believe these are even for sale. They are clearly not ready for consumers. Nearly 90% of the commands I try to give result in Alexa not knowing or misunderstanding. Why should anyone pay to beta-test the product?

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by 3pt14159 on Friday February 09, 2018 @04:04PM (#16343814)

Security minded people should install more physical switches to outlets for this type of thing.

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by codeulike on Friday February 09, 2018 @06:35PM (#16344774)

Wait, in the UK all outlets have to have physical switches. Is it not like that in the US?

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by wiml on Friday February 09, 2018 @09:12PM (#16345453)

Nope. Switched outlets are pretty uncommon in the US. (I've seen them, but not recently.)

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by stordoff on Friday February 09, 2018 @09:18PM (#16345467)

Is that actually a requirement? I know it's the norm, but my house still has plenty of unswitched outlets.

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by codeulike on Saturday February 10, 2018 @05:26AM (#16346718)

In old houses some are unswitched, but modern ones are always switched I think.

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by notyourwork on Friday February 09, 2018 @05:51PM (#16344536)

I'm curious what those use cases are in the 90% that don't work? I don't use mine a lot but I also don't seem to have the trouble you do.

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by 52-6F-62 on Friday February 09, 2018 @03:50PM (#16343711)

> I unplug it when I don't want to listen to music or put together a shopping list.

Do the Echo devices not have a hard mute switch?

I have a Google Home mini and it's usually on mute unless we want it for the same reasons, or to play trivia.

It is muted for weeks at a time, sometimes.

Of course I wonder how much of a hard mute it is. If you touch the thing while it's on and muted it will kindly remind you it's muted and can't hear you.

It would be nice to gain more insight.

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by wickawic on Friday February 09, 2018 @03:54PM (#16343739)

Yes, you can mute an echo and it will glow red.

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by tostitos1979 on Friday February 09, 2018 @03:56PM (#16343756)

No programmatic interface to do it as far as I know.

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by jaclaz on Saturday February 10, 2018 @11:48AM (#16348073)

Sort of:

https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2273

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by Yetanfou on Friday February 09, 2018 @04:08PM (#16343842)

   I unplug it when I don't want to listen to music or put together a shopping list.

...which is when the device stores everything it hears, ready to send it to the mothership as soon as connectivity is reacquired.

No idea whether it already does this but a small battery and a bit of flash go a long way when it comes to overhearing that which was not meant to be overheard...

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Re:A Sleeping Alexa Can Listen for More Than Just Its Name by djsumdog on Friday February 09, 2018 @04:05PM (#16343817)

> Why should anyone pay to beta-test the product?

I guess the pioneer of that was Microsoft and Windows 95.

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