Alexa

[Tone]

Just got this from a couple of mates, Lynne and Steve (duo Hazjak) :-

So funny! Alexa was being an arse, not understanding anything we asked
her. So Steve told her to F*** off. Next thing, she's playing this! “

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJYnSMk9seE

I'm working on a radio edit......

Tone

[Brian Gaff]

Well, what can one say. I can recall the opening track of the album Son of
Schmeison (probably mis spelled) by Harry Nielsen. Very much in the same
mindset. There is a radio edit of that around with silly noises instead of
the swearing.
Brian

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"Tone" <to...@email.com> wrote in message
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[Don Stockbauer]

do y'all allow google groups here? itz the Only group I know how to use.

I heard that if one uses Google groups here in the shed that one's text wont even show up to all the other sheddites so how was for years and years apparently people were reading my mind drivels and commenting on them?? How can this be ? it's some kind of paradox or maybe a pair of ducks ? what will you do ?run run children run you can't hear them before they get here your death will be painless time to roll out the kill file.
Literally.

[Julian Macassey]

On Sun, 27 Nov 2022 20:40:12 -0800 (PST), Don Stockbauer
<donsto...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> do y'all allow google groups here? itz the Only group I know
> how to use.

It isn't a question of allowing, but can we be bothered
to deal with posting software that doesn't follow standards. So,
the solution is to use something that works. There are choices
for every OS.

https://usenetreviews.org/newsreaders/

>
> I heard that if one uses Google groups here in the shed that
> one's text wont even show up to all the other sheddites so how
> was for years and years apparently people were reading my mind
> drivels and commenting on them??

It depends on how tolerant the software is of non
standard posts, and the tolerance if the users of shitty
softwware.

--
Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I
reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time? - Bill
Gates, Jan 15 2003

[John Williamson]

On 28/11/2022 11:49, Julian Macassey wrote:

> It depends on how tolerant the software is of non
> standard posts, and the tolerance if the users of shitty
> softwware.
>

It's not just the software that annoys users here, it's also the content...

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[Brian Gaff]

Sometimes messages have a character set not actually the same as that in
the header that google use. Thus things can and ddo go wrong. another issue
is some apple devices seem to send things like =20 in amongst the plain text
as well.

Brian

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"Julian Macassey" <jul...@n6are.com> wrote in message
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[Brian Gaff]

Did anyone see that woman taking apart ann echo dot the other night so as to
explain to the great unwashed how it worked and why it was not actually
listening all the time, Namely because the softwaare to listen was triggered
by the wake word on the internal chip, It was only after that that the data
was sent to the cloud and Amazons servers to decode.

Brian

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"John Williamson" <johnwil...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
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[Tim+]

Anyone who has owned an Alexa will tell you that she occasionally
spontaneously responds to speech without the wake-up word.

Tim

Brian Gaff <brian...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Did anyone see that woman taking apart ann echo dot the other night so as to
> explain to the great unwashed how it worked and why it was not actually
> listening all the time, Namely because the softwaare to listen was triggered
> by the wake word on the internal chip, It was only after that that the data
> was sent to the cloud and Amazons servers to decode.
> Brian
>



--

Please don't feed the trolls

[Julian Macassey]

On Mon, 28 Nov 2022 12:08:50 -0000, Brian Gaff <brian...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Did anyone see that woman taking apart ann echo dot the other night so as to
> explain to the great unwashed how it worked and why it was not actually
> listening all the time, Namely because the softwaare to listen was triggered
> by the wake word on the internal chip, It was only after that that the data
> was sent to the cloud and Amazons servers to decode.

What that tells me is that for the echo to execute
commands it first needs the wake word. As in order to wake up to
respond to commands it tells me it is always listening. Does it
phone home if it "hears" other speach?

--
Michael Jackson is proof of what a person can accomplish through
a lifestyle free of alcohol or drug abuse. Ronald Reagan 1984

[Peter]

"Brian Gaff" <brian...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:tm28cj$1vddd$1...@dont-email.me:

> Did anyone see that woman taking apart ann echo dot the other night so

The woman was Hannah Fry, professor of mathematics at UCL and regular
presenter of science programs on the beeb. The program was part of a series
"The Secret Genius of Modern Life".

--
Peter
-----

[greymaus]

Anyone that owns an Alexa needs their head examined. Imagine having an
electronic bug in their home voluntarily?.


--
grey...@mail.com

Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smell the stench of an Influencer.
Where is our money gone, Dude?

[Dave W]

Great stuff! It says it was the first record that Jools Holland played
on. Also that radio edits already exist.
--
Dave W

[Brian Gaff]

Not really, what actually happens is that it thinks you have said the word,
then does its thing.
IE it is not listening all the time even then.

Brian

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"Tim+" <tim.d...@gmail.com> wrote in message
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[Sam Plusnet]

On 30-Nov-22 18:15, Brian Gaff wrote:
> Not really, what actually happens is that it thinks you have said the word,
> then does its thing.
> IE it is not listening all the time even then.

How can it know (or suspect) that you have said the magic worm - unless
it is constantly listening to everything you say?

--
Sam Plusnet

[Tim+]

That’s what they want you to believe.

Tim

Brian Gaff <brian...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Not really, what actually happens is that it thinks you have said the word,
> then does its thing.
> IE it is not listening all the time even then.
> Brian
>



--

[Ahem A Rivet's Shot]

It listens to everything you say and when it detects the magic worm
it starts sending the audio stream to the server farm that runs the AI to
jbex out what's being asked of 'Alexa'. Sometimes the audio gets listened
to by the developers responsible for fine tuning the AI.

In theory it only sends to the server farm when activated - now can
I interest you in shares in a bridge project ?

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

[Jim the Geordie]

In article <20221130212352.4d71...@eircom.net>,
ste...@eircom.net says...

The magic worm lives in your box. It talks to you even when the internet
is dowm. True, all it tells you then is that the internet is down.
When the internet is 'up' then your commend/question goes off to get the
answer for you.
Whether it remembers every question you ask is another thing.

--
Jim the Geordie

[Don Stockbauer]

Do y'all like to play games?

[Julian Macassey]

Exactly. It is listening, what we don't know is if it is
phoning home. I seem to recall one of these bots was caught
listening to punters for "training" purposes.

--
(Elon) Musk told the Guardian by email: “Guardian is the most
insufferable newspaper on planet Earth" - Guardian 7 Sep 2018

[Sam Plusnet]

We have one which will light up (orange, IIRC) when it wants to tell you
something.
I try to tell it go go ahead simply - to get rid of the annoying light -
but it refuses to simply tell you what it wants to say - unless you tell
it _exactly_ the right worms.

As this is usually to tell me about a delivery which I already know
about - it's just a nuisance.

--
Sam Plusnet

[Tim+]

“Alexa… Notifications” works for me.

Tim

[Sam Plusnet]

I forget, and ask if she has an 'announcement'.
Which:
a) Seems an entirely reasonable thing to say - but:
b) Sends her off at a complete tangent ("What's the announcement?")
which just wastes even more time and winds me up.

--
Sam Plusnet

[greymaus]

From reading teck news, Alexa is being run down. Never made a profit.
Could anyone tell me why data-centres are being built?. Is there anyone
so stupid as to trust their data to them. No, stop. One at a time.

[Ahem A Rivet's Shot]

On 2 Dec 2022 20:57:54 GMT

greymaus <grey...@dmaus.org> wrote:

> From reading teck news, Alexa is being run down. Never made a profit.
> Could anyone tell me why data-centres are being built?. Is there anyone
> so stupid as to trust their data to them. No, stop. One at a time.

Yes companies are doing so in droves, many are being sold^Wrented
packages with all sorts of features (file storage, databases, software,
kubernetes driven dynamically scaling server farms ...) by Microsoft,
Amazon, Oracle etc. Many others own their own hardware (or rent dedicated
hardware) but keep it in a managed data centre (or two widely separated
ones) rather than keeping it in their offices - some don't even bother with
offices.

[Mike Spencer]

greymaus <grey...@dmaus.org> writes:

> From reading teck news, Alexa is being run down. Never made a profit.
> Could anyone tell me why data-centres are being built?. Is there anyone
> so stupid as to trust their data to them. No, stop. One at a time.

The original promise of the computer to corporate/biz owners was:

1. Buy computer

2. Turn it on

3. Money comes out

Turns out there was a huge omission:

2a. Hire highly trained (expensive) support staff, by more tech
stuff they demand, pay to resolve incomprehensible problems,
other stuff, network, blah blah, expenses, downtime,
liabilities, blah, and now it's time to replace the obsolescent
computer so go to 1.

Now you can substitute:

New 1. Pay someone to do everything covered by old 1., 2. and 2a.

New 2. Money comes out

What is wrong with this picture?

--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

[Ahem A Rivet's Shot]

On 02 Dec 2022 21:49:56 -0400

Mike Spencer <m...@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:

> Now you can substitute:
>
> New 1. Pay someone to do everything covered by old 1., 2. and 2a.
>
> New 2. Money comes out
>
> What is wrong with this picture?

Nothing provided a) you trust the "someone", b) you have your
data backup safe in your own hands, c) you have another "someone" to switch
to and d) the charges don't make you think fondly of 2a.

Usually a is covered by contract that expires on bankruptcy, b,
c usually don't get thought about until after the bankruptcy or ransomware
attack - d is often a nasty sir prize TAAAW.

[Mike Spencer]

Ahem A Rivet's Shot <ste...@eircom.net> writes:

> On 02 Dec 2022 21:49:56 -0400
> Mike Spencer <m...@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:
>
>> Now you can substitute:
>>
>> New 1. Pay someone to do everything covered by old 1., 2. and 2a.
>>
>> New 2. Money comes out
>>
>> What is wrong with this picture?
>
> Nothing provided a) you trust the "someone", b) you have your
> data backup safe in your own hands, c) you have another "someone" to switch
> to and d) the charges don't make you think fondly of 2a.

Just so.

> Usually a is covered by contract that expires on bankruptcy, b,
> c usually don't get thought about until after the bankruptcy or ransomware
> attack - d is often a nasty sir prize TAAAW.

So I surmise. Also, there is some concern that (a) and (c) are
subject to recursion as "someone" is also capitalized on the magical
"money comes ouy" presumption.