
All New Amazon Echo Dot - johnwheeler
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01DFKC2SO?ref_=pe_1840220_207574400_ods_Email_Home_DR_crm_EchoDotlaunch
======
swalsh
Will these be networked together? For instance, if my washer finishes can
Alexa tell me? Or if I want to tell something to my wife up stairs, can I ask
Alexa to tell her?

Also, I know it's not possible... but something I wish I could do in the SDK,
I want to ask Alexa (which sits on my counter) to listen for my instant pot to
beep, and than tell me. Sometimes I walk away, and don't hear it.

~~~
new_hackers
The ad-hoc instant intercom is also a HUGE win. In the 50s and 60s, all the
fancy houses on TV had an intercom (didn't the Brady Bunch?). The intercom
seemed to just fade away.

However, I would MUCH rather say "Alexia, tell upstairs that 'its time for
dinner'", and it to be replayed upstairs. Rather than walking into the next
room and yelling up the stairs like a neanderthal.

~~~
heywire
>However, I would MUCH rather say "Alexia, tell upstairs that 'its time for
dinner'", and it to be replayed upstairs. Rather than walking into the next
room and yelling up the stairs like a neanderthal.

I struggle to find to the words to express just how absurd this sounds to me.
I must be getting old.

~~~
true_religion
Not old enough. I live in a house with a dumbwaiter so late night snacks can
easily be sent back to the kitchen with a click of a button.

Other things that were great, and I now miss---vaccum tubes in offices. Sure
you don't need them to send messages, but if you want to send anything
physical, however small, now you have to walk.

Oh and I certainly miss the bell system, where you could stand in the living
room and ring a bell in any room in the house to tell the occupants that
dinner was ready.

~~~
GBond
So what you are saying is you prefer a dumbwaiter over a smart home.

------
LeonidBugaev
Well, I guess one of the most interesting things hidden in then Q&A section:

> Comes with 90 day warranty vs first gen had 1 year

> Optional 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year extended warranty available for U.S.
> customers sold separately.

~~~
post_break
90 day warranty is highway robbery. I have stopped buying electronics with
anything but my AMEX because of these crap warranties.

~~~
overcast
At this point I buy everything with my American Express. The amount of extras
they give you is just crazy. Between saving 6% on grocery, 3% on gas, extended
warranties, credit on utility bills, and other random deals. It's basically a
no-brainer. Assuming of course you're responsible, and pay it off every month.

~~~
dawnerd
I've been slowly switching everything over. I've been flying a lot too so
getting a delta branded amex is really tempting for all the miles and such.
Besides the extended warranties they give you, the travel aid is also a huge
benefit. Instead of dealing with the airline I just give amex a call and they
deal with it.

~~~
overcast
Like I said, if you're responsible with payments, its awesome. However the
fees/interest rates will murder you otherwise.

~~~
outworlder
Many AMEX cards are not credit cards, they are charge cards, and supposed to
be paid in full every month. Get one of these. Won't prevent mistakes but will
remove the association between credit and money that many people have.

~~~
gcr
What's the difference between a charge card and a debit card?

------
ajamesm
Integration with Domino's Pizza is a real win. If you're eating two to three
deliveries a day, those few minutes of friction are costing you hours a year,
never mind the overhead of the mental context switch. Buying this product is,
in effect, adding quality years to your lifespan.

~~~
johnwheeler
But, it's not hard to see how this functionality can be extrapolated: One day
you ask Alexa for items off Amazon and a drone drops them off on your
doorstep.

Think about all the pieces involved in that: The hardware and software design
of Echo/Alexa, Amazon's distribution network built out over years, FAA
lobbying to get the drone flying.

If that doesn't impress you, nothing will.

~~~
the_watcher
I'm with you. When they launch, to demonstrate the functionality, they need
some functions, which means partners. Obviously there are near infinite
applications of "Alexa, ask X to do Y". Zapier and Iffft have made entire
businesses out of a much more annoying way to do this.

------
Eridrus
I would buy one of these in an instant if it could control a Roku without me
having to my own server and could control my infrared TV/sound bar. I can't
believe how I still have so many remotes.

~~~
normalfaults
Logitech harmony hub with ifttt might help. Checkout r/homeautomation for lots
of different ideas

~~~
the_watcher
It does help. A lot. It's easily the best option out there. It's still just
really frustrating to have to buy a $150 device that's more expensive than any
of the disparate devices I am trying to control in the first place (save the
TV). That said, given today's state of things, it's worth it.

------
new_hackers
Amazon may just be the 800lb gorilla that has enough man-hours and computing
power to finally integrate all the disparate APIs into a single platform. And
their device doesn't cost very much

~~~
aljones
They're punting though. After a triggering phrase is said it hands off a
string to the API associated with the phrase. So, no natural language
processing unless the API does it. Users have to be trained to say particular
triggering phrases.

~~~
URSpider94
The only trigger you have to say is "Alexa", just like Siri or Ok Google.
Everything else is processed.

------
mapletree
Buy 5, Get 1 Free OR Buy 10, Get 2 Free

I'm no mathematician, but...

~~~
OJFord
I hate this sort of thing!

Not only are "normal people" \- non HN-readers, that is - going to see through
this anyway, but even if not, what's wrong with:

    
    
        1 FREE Dot for every 5 you buy!
    

How is that not a better UX?

It seems so obvious, and yet this happens repeatedly - even from a company
like Amazon, which I imagine has this tagline run past a fair number of people
before it goes live.

~~~
mathrawka
The power of suggestion.

If you see that if you buy 5 and get 1 free, you are now thinking about how
great having 6 in your house would be.

What's this? Buy 10 get 2 free? Now you are thinking about getting 12. That's
now putting your find on the 12 vs 6. So now you may think 12 is too many, but
6 is good.

So instead of buying 1, you just bought 5.

~~~
pkaye
Another trick I see in grocery stores is a get 2 for $2 deal. This tells you
nothing about the price of 1 but people assume getting 2 is some sort of deal
and buy more than they need.

~~~
overcast
Just an fyi, it's ALWAYS 1 for $1 in those types of "deals".

~~~
Infinitesimus
Anecdote time! Had an incident at a shop with my SO where we did the math and
realized that the 'Deal' price was more than buying 2x of the individual
package (it was something small but I forget what it was) . Someone screwed
up...

------
Zenst
One aspect about this that did not sit well was that bluetooth speakers will
not work if they use security as "Bluetooth speakers requiring PIN codes are
not supported." an aspect that puts me off. For example a neighbor got a
branded speaker with the usual extra's like mic and ability to work with
phones and it had no PIN code and I demonstrated how anybody can connect and
indeed record using that built in mic.

So I hope that improves though you can just use a wired speaker, which would
be somewhat better anyhow.

------
tlrobinson
What's new about the 2nd generation, besides price?

One thing I'd really like is to be able to configure the Alexa voice to play
back through both the speaker and aux output, since sometimes I turn my
speakers off.

Also, if multiple Dots in the same household can work together as a Sonos-like
system that would be awesome. ' At the very least if two Dots hear the same
voice commands hopefully only one (the closer one?) will respond.

~~~
CharlesW
> _At the very least if two Dots hear the same voice commands hopefully only
> one (the closer one?) will respond._

That's what the newly-announced "Spatial Perception" feature does.

In theory, it will detect which Echo or Dot is closest to you, and respond
only on that device.

Happily, it's going to be rolled out to existing Echo/Dot devices as well.

------
chanandler_bong
A 12 pack?

The Dots were created by Bezos. They rebelled. They evolved. There are many
copies. And they have a plan.

------
rdslw
How did they manage to reduce price by half (AFAIK) ? Does Amazon subsidies
echodot now?

~~~
pgrote
As someone who bought the original dot at twice the price, I wondered the same
thing.

They are cutting us a break, though:

"Something just for you As a customer who purchased the previous–generation
Echo Dot, you can get a $10 Alexa Shopping credit when you order the All-New
Echo Dot using Alexa Shopping. Order today through October 20 and a $10 Alexa
Shopping credit will be applied to your account within one week after your new
Echo Dot has shipped."

~~~
stronglikedan
They aren't really cutting us a break though. In order to take advantage of
the offer, we have to buy the new dot _and then_ purchase something else from
them. They lose nothing, and gain everything. A break would be $10 off the new
dot.

~~~
gakada
$10 off vs $10 credit is exactly the same thing unless you never buy anything
from Amazon ever again.

~~~
stronglikedan
> unless you never buy anything from Amazon ever again

Exactly my point. You _have_ to buy something else to take advantage of the
offer. That's not a break - it's like a BOGO slap in the face for 1st gen
owners.

Another thing I thought of: There are a lot of people who didn't know they
were "early adopters" until yesterday. The 1st gen was marketed as "available
until sold out", adding urgency to the purchase. It just keeps getting better
and better (read worse and worse). I will very seriously consider further
purchases of Amazon products, so they will definitely lose money over this.

------
meow_mix
"Alexa order 12 dots"

Getting a little ambitious

------
mxuribe
Anyone have personal experience with either Triby
[[https://www.amazon.com/Triby-portable-speaker-built--
Service...](https://www.amazon.com/Triby-portable-speaker-built--
Service/dp/B013DJSKKQ/)] or Nucleus [[https://www.amazon.com/Nucleus-Anywhere-
Intercom-built--Serv...](https://www.amazon.com/Nucleus-Anywhere-Intercom-
built--Service/dp/B01I5O5LCO/)]??

------
jedberg
My Alexa products would be _so much more useful_ if I could push things to
them. Like even if you just gave me a way to subscribe my echo/dot to an SNS
topic.

I could do so many awesome things when combined with all the AWS buttons that
I've won.

Push a button, make the echo say "dinner is ready!". Put a button outside and
when someone pushes it say "someone's at the door!"

------
byebyetech
Echo Dot project should be renamed to NSA@Home.

~~~
jedberg
People keep saying this, but you can actually see a log of everything that is
sent to Amazon. And you can verify the log yourself by sniffing the traffic to
Amazon. You can see that it most definitely does not send data unless the blue
ring is lit.

Now, you may argue that it is recording all the time and then sending its
recordings when you issue a command, but I'm willing to take the risk that
Amazon is not willing to risk their entire reputation on helping the NSA like
that.

~~~
byebyetech
I totally agree that Amazon would not "wish" to risk their reputation by
snooping on their customers, however if they are forced to do so they might
comply. Perhaps Echo is not installed in many homes for it to be any interest
of NSA yet. But if it were installed in millions of homes I would imagine some
agents knocking Mr. Bezos's door.

In terms of sending data, I would imagine they may optimize it by first
matching the spoken keywords before they start extensive logging, or you have
to be on some list to begin with.

------
bpicolo
Pretty interesting that their recommended Dot + Speaker combos are more than
the cost of the Echo by like...50%.

~~~
Stratoscope
For me this is a huge plus.

I got one of the first batch of Echos when they were sort of an invitation-
only thing. I wasn't sure how the voice interaction would turn out, but I
figured it would at least make a decent streaming music speaker.

Ugh. The sound quality of the Echo was its worst feature for me. Really not
what I expected from a speaker, especially after seeing their fancy
descriptions of how they worked so hard on the sound quality.

It's boomy and muddy, not at all what I'm looking for in a music speaker.
Oddly enough, I didn't see a lot of complaints about it, so I guess that boomy
muddy sound is what a lot of people like? In any case it's not for me.

So yeah, having the Alexa functionality but being able to connect higher-
quality speakers - and stereo too? That works for me.

~~~
jedberg
I'm pretty snobby about my music quality, but the muddy and boomy is "good
enough" for me when I just want some background music while we eat or cook,
which I can make happen with the power of my voice while holding the baby.

Mainly it is the fact that I can make it happen while holding the baby, I'm
willing to forgive a lot of the sound issues.

~~~
Stratoscope
Oh, I hear you! (Pun intended.) There can definitely be a tradeoff between
convenience and quality.

In fact, right now I don't have _any_ really good speakers at home. If I want
good sound quality I have to use my Yuin earbuds or maybe the old Sony E888's
if I can find them.

Totally off topic, but since the earbuds came to mind I have a great hack for
them. One problem with earbuds like the Yuins with a symmetric cord is that
it's hard to tell the right from the left without looking closely. So I bought
two of those bags of foamy covers that they have on Amazon for like $3-4 for a
hundred of them - one bag of white covers and one of black. I put a black
foamy on the left earbud and a white one on the right. Now I never get them
mixed up!

Back to Echo, I think my disappointment with the sound quality had a bit to do
with how they marketed it, claiming excellent sound and showing the cutaway
drawings of how they achieved that, or claimed to. And then the actual sound
wasn't nearly as good as what I'd expected from the marketing. A case of over-
promising and under-delivering.

------
the_watcher
Some of the skills they list are pretty hilarious:

There's something called a Meat Butler.

------
pbreit
Has Apple made any moves suggesting it will get into this category? A Siri-
enabled Beats speaker would be a decent start. Call it a "hobby" if concerned
about low volume.

------
SoulMan
Great innovation but at the same time amazon.in proudly sells a Chetan Bhagat
book on their home page.

~~~
amckenna
I'm not familiar with Indian current events, could you elaborate?

------
djhworld
Are they ever going to release any of the Echo products outside of the US?

It feels

~~~
jedberg
They just today announced that it will work in the UK and Germany.

------
bigtunacan
Alexa, when does the world end?

------
lowglow
If you're interested in this tech, come work on something cooler with us at
Asteria: [https://getasteria.com/](https://getasteria.com/) We're based out of
San Francisco and have plenty of need for people interested in building the
future with us.

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