Your frivolous purchases, stuff you don't need...
Discussion
Digger said:
If I do get it, it may well be an excuse to finally get a Raspberry Pi to leave it Internet-connected, and log data to Weather Underground.
Looking at the Amazon listing further, it looks like they are rather cheekily shipping Cumulus with it (based on the screenshots of the software). Usually Fine Offset stations are shipped with the crappy EasyWeather.
Be aware that Cumulus is currently Windows-only. The author has been promising a Linux version for ages but, although it's written in C# (and hence *ought* to run with Mono under Linux), it has many Windows-only dependencies.
Du1point8 said:
smn159 said:
jimmyjimjim said:
If it can control Sonos and Tado I'm getting one.
Please tell me that it can't
OH is going to kill me if that shows up soon
Great speaker on it - not 'quite' as intelligent as I thought it would be but the 'simon says' is quite amusing! Was discounted to $99 so for the bluetooth speaker/radio/siri-type-info its quite a bargain. And the shopping list is pretty useful too
Yes, for $99 it's bloody good. $199, not so much. I used the WeMo control just now, was quite impressed. It's actually quite useful as a 'house assistant' for various things.
Quite amusing asking it the weather and it telling you that there's a flash flood warning and tornado watch (yes, there are).
The shopping list is actually bloody convenient. You're doing something, run out of whatever and call out to add it to the list, works a treat.
Quite amusing asking it the weather and it telling you that there's a flash flood warning and tornado watch (yes, there are).
The shopping list is actually bloody convenient. You're doing something, run out of whatever and call out to add it to the list, works a treat.
Absolutely nothing creepy and worrying about a microphone listening to everything you say, and then sending it to the cloud where it's analysed, mined, catalogued and stored. Nothing Big Brother about that at all. No siree.
Personally the concept of this product scares the s
t out of me and the only way I'd have one in my house is if you made it illegal not to.
Personally the concept of this product scares the s
t out of me and the only way I'd have one in my house is if you made it illegal not to. JonRB said:
Absolutely nothing creepy and worrying about a microphone listening to everything you say, and then sending it to the cloud where it's analysed, mined, catalogued and stored. Nothing Big Brother about that at all. No siree.
Personally the concept of this product scares the st out of me and the only way I'd have one in my house is if you made it illegal not to.
Personally the concept of this product scares the s
t out of me and the only way I'd have one in my house is if you made it illegal not to. 
It's not always streaming everything to the cloud. It has a trigger word which the device (without using the cloud) listens for and needs to hear before it wakes up and starts streaming your instructions for recognition.
See #3 & #4: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.htm...
It's no different to how other utilities with 'always listening' capabilities work - MotoX, iPhone/Siri, etc.
mft said:
It's not always streaming everything to the cloud. It has a trigger word which the device (without using the cloud) listens for and needs to hear before it wakes up and starts streaming your instructions for recognition.
See #3 & #4: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.htm...
It's no different to how other utilities with 'always listening' capabilities work - MotoX, iPhone/Siri, etc.
I don't doubt that these systems work as you say, and as advertised, but I'd rather not have a device with an open mic and an open internet connection. No matter how benign it claims to be.
Personal preferences and all that.
JonRB said:
mft said:
It's not always streaming everything to the cloud. It has a trigger word which the device (without using the cloud) listens for and needs to hear before it wakes up and starts streaming your instructions for recognition.
See #3 & #4: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.htm...
It's no different to how other utilities with 'always listening' capabilities work - MotoX, iPhone/Siri, etc.
I don't doubt that these systems work as you say, and as advertised, but I'd rather not have a device with an open mic and an open internet connection. No matter how benign it claims to be.
Personal preferences and all that.
Scares the crap out of me TBH. Big brother is real alright.
Hainey said:
JonRB said:
mft said:
It's not always streaming everything to the cloud. It has a trigger word which the device (without using the cloud) listens for and needs to hear before it wakes up and starts streaming your instructions for recognition.
See #3 & #4: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.htm...
It's no different to how other utilities with 'always listening' capabilities work - MotoX, iPhone/Siri, etc.
I don't doubt that these systems work as you say, and as advertised, but I'd rather not have a device with an open mic and an open internet connection. No matter how benign it claims to be.
Personal preferences and all that.
Scares the crap out of me TBH. Big brother is real alright.
The other day the better half and I were talking about birthday presents for our nipper - next time I came online the ads were for all the toys we'd been talking about, when I've done none of the searching/shopping.
Made me think...
Sway said:
Don't know if unrelated, but I've noticed since getting a Nokia Windows phone, that the web adverts are often related to things I've been talking about, but haven't done anything online about.
The other day the better half and I were talking about birthday presents for our nipper - next time I came online the ads were for all the toys we'd been talking about, when I've done none of the searching/shopping.
Made me think...
Android does this too.The other day the better half and I were talking about birthday presents for our nipper - next time I came online the ads were for all the toys we'd been talking about, when I've done none of the searching/shopping.
Made me think...
JonRB said:
People said that ECHELON was tinfoil-hattery until the Snowden leak and we found out that it was worse even than the most paranoid whisperings about it.
I don't doubt that these systems work as you say, and as advertised, but I'd rather not have a device with an open mic and an open internet connection. No matter how benign it claims to be.
Well, there's a bit of a difference between a secret government data collection network operating internationally and on a vast scale, versus a private company offering a customer a product and a service, as I'm sure you appreciate. As you say, though, it's your choice.I don't doubt that these systems work as you say, and as advertised, but I'd rather not have a device with an open mic and an open internet connection. No matter how benign it claims to be.
But do you really evaluate every choice, every facet of life thinking "what's the worst that might happen"? Is there never any assumption of good faith, or trust, initially? I can't help feeling that's a slippery slope down to moving to live in an air-raid shelter in Montana, stockpiling guns and tinned food, eschewing electricity, and relying on candles to write your memoirs.
Take Google: while there have been lots of privacy concerns about their activities, I'm happy to use gmail and their various other services --which make my life better-- until such a point that I feel they have crossed a line in how they use it, at which point I'll take my emails and personal data elsewhere.
Sway said:
Don't know if unrelated, but I've noticed since getting a Nokia Windows phone, that the web adverts are often related to things I've been talking about, but haven't done anything online about.
The other day the better half and I were talking about birthday presents for our nipper - next time I came online the ads were for all the toys we'd been talking about, when I've done none of the searching/shopping.
Made me think...
Really?! You're saying that your phone actively recorded your private conversation, Microsoft streamed and analysed that data, and then used it to serve very precisely targeted ads to you for the toys you'd been discussing? I find this too incredible to believe, frankly.The other day the better half and I were talking about birthday presents for our nipper - next time I came online the ads were for all the toys we'd been talking about, when I've done none of the searching/shopping.
Made me think...
Are you sure that someone else in the household didn't do a few searches for kids toys that you're not aware of? You didn't use your phone to search for an example or a picture of a toy, while you were talking? You didn't quickly search for something using Cortana?
mft said:
Really?! You're saying that your phone actively recorded your private conversation, Microsoft streamed and analysed that data, and then used it to serve very precisely targeted ads to you for the toys you'd been discussing? I find this too incredible to believe, frankly.
Are you sure that someone else in the household didn't do a few searches for kids toys that you're not aware of? You didn't use your phone to search for an example or a picture of a toy, while you were talking? You didn't quickly search for something using Cortana?
I was sceptical too, until I had a go at testing it (again, with my HTC One). Basically me and a friend were talking about something ( I had my phone unlocked and in my hand) and when I went to google the topic of conversation I only had to put the first letter in and the full title of what I was looking for popped up in the autocomplete box. This is on Android, btw.Are you sure that someone else in the household didn't do a few searches for kids toys that you're not aware of? You didn't use your phone to search for an example or a picture of a toy, while you were talking? You didn't quickly search for something using Cortana?
JonRB said:
Digger said:
If I do get it, it may well be an excuse to finally get a Raspberry Pi to leave it Internet-connected, and log data to Weather Underground.
Looking at the Amazon listing further, it looks like they are rather cheekily shipping Cumulus with it (based on the screenshots of the software). Usually Fine Offset stations are shipped with the crappy EasyWeather.
Be aware that Cumulus is currently Windows-only. The author has been promising a Linux version for ages but, although it's written in C# (and hence *ought* to run with Mono under Linux), it has many Windows-only dependencies.
I've not tried it myself yet so cannot comment on it. I'll put it on a Pi at some point, as I'll then be able to turn my PC off at night.
Russ35 said:
New version of Cumulus (Cumulus MX) has been in Beta testing for a couple of months now. Cross platform and will work on a Raspberry Pi. You can follow the progress of it on the forums http://sandaysoft.com/forum/
I've not tried it myself yet so cannot comment on it. I'll put it on a Pi at some point, as I'll then be able to turn my PC off at night.
Cool. Thanks for the info - I was not aware of this. I've not tried it myself yet so cannot comment on it. I'll put it on a Pi at some point, as I'll then be able to turn my PC off at night.
The Pi would be an ideal platform for running Cumulus on.
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