Amazon Echo

Community Playground General Discussions
#21

Your phone has this logic built into it’s DSP chips … instead of the music source it uses a second mike to get the ambient noise at the phone and using sophisticated techniques it can cancel this ambient noise from the mike you speak into … so that the phone can get a clear speech signal.

If you have any other noise sources or you are in a live room (lots of echos and reverberations) … the speech recognition will degrade quickly.

#22

With seven microphones in the array, it should be able to deal with echos. It can deal with music it happens to be playing because it can DSP the original source and remove it from the mike stream. But i agree it will be challenging to deal with noise in the room it does not create itself.

#23

This is just another way for corporate America to get into your home. Google has got Nest, Samsung has got Smartthings, Apple has got Homekit, all of your Home Depot and Loew’s have their stuff. Amazon had to find a unique way of infiltrating your last private space or be left out. I believe it is a good lead because voice will be the prime way we interact with the internet in the not to distant future.

#24

The seven mikes allow it to use beam forming techniques to directionally enhance what it believes is the primary signal i.e. track when a use moves in the room or when you move from one speaker to another.

But the problem is that these techniques can’t differentiate between the noise (i.e a fan in a projector, or other people in a private conversation) in the vicinity of the speaker.

#25

[quote=“lemrock, post:23, topic:183970”]This is just another way for corporate America to get into your home.
…
Amazon had to find a unique way of infiltrating your last private space or be left out.[/quote]

That’s why I’m never getting an Internet enabled toilet.

#26

[quote=“TC1”][quote=“lemrock, post:23, topic:183970”]This is just another way for corporate America to get into your home.
…
Amazon had to find a unique way of infiltrating your last private space or be left out.[/quote]

That’s why I’m never getting an Internet enabled toilet.[/quote]

And it’s exactly why I’m getting 4 echos, specifically to install them in all the non master bathrooms. Figure that will confuse their data gathering and yet I will meet the “mandatory requirement of monitoring us in our home” by having the echos on my Amazon purchase history. Maybe Echo and the cat can talk, or I can ask it for the best price on toilet paper or it can call a plumber itself when the flapper sticks.

#27

A perfect way for Amazon to sell multiples per household is to offer some kind of intercom feature between Echos or have Alexa relay a message for you in her voice. Then also have the Echo App allow you to relay a message via your smartphone. I’d buy at least 2.

Simple messages would work for me, but if the microphones and speaker are good enough I wonder if it would work well as a speakerphone for Skype.

#28

If they can simply make it work as well as described and advertised, I’d be very happy with it. Surprised too.

#29

+1

#30

This would be AWESOME. I signed up for one as well. Can’t wait to see where this goes.

#31

My Echo arrived today. The thing is so damn accurate. I don’t think it’s messed up once. Even worked with the kids talking to the wife while the TV was on and the Echo was already playing music.

As a goof, I had VeraAlert ask Alexa to tell a joke…and it worked.

Now we just need some documentation on the APIs.

#32

[quote=“mike Q, post:31, topic:183970”]My Echo arrived today. The thing is so damn accurate.[/quote]At what distance?

#33

[quote=“mike Q, post:31, topic:183970”]My Echo arrived today. The thing is so damn accurate. I don’t think it’s messed up once. Even worked with the kids talking to the wife while the TV was on and the Echo was already playing music.

As a goof, I had VeraAlert ask Alexa to tell a joke…and it worked.

Now we just need some documentation on the APIs.[/quote]

I am SO jealous! Congratulations on being one of the early adopters. How can you confirm that you are “in the queue” to get one?

#34

Got the order in today. First ‘Amazon’ hardware purchase

#35

Getting an Echo would make my Christmas! Love to hear from those getting one early, and how they work. Interfacing with Vera will have to be on my wishlist for 2015!

#36

I’m really quite surprised at the amount of tech stuff that I buy off Amazon that they haven’t chosen me to get one yet…LOL. Either way, I hope they chose me at some point. I would like to try it out.

#37

Same here and I ordered mine within 1 hour their campaign was launched. Not happy! :-[

#38

Being a member of Amazon Prime helps… :slight_smile:

#39

Being a member of Amazon Prime helps… :-)[/quote]

Didn’t help me on this product being a long term Prime member. :-[

#40

Being a member of Amazon Prime helps… :-)[/quote]

Didn’t help me on this product being a long term Prime member. :-[[/quote]

me either