Alexa Records You Up To 19 Times A Day [NEW]
Instead, we came up with a much simpler approach: we turn to popular TV shows containing reasonably large amounts of dialogue. Namely, our experiments use 134 hours of Netflix content from a variety of themes/genres, and we repeat the tests multiple times to understand which non-wake words consistently lead to activations and voice recording.
Alexa Records You Up To 19 Times A day
A study conducted by Northeastern University found that Echo and other smart speaker devices from companies like Google and Apple accidentally respond to words similar to their wake word up to 19 times per day. Examples that activated Alexa with the wake word "Echo" were words that had a vowel followed by a "K" or "G" sound, such as "head coach" or "pickle."
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Smart speakers, like Google Home devices or Amazon Echos, can accidentally activate 19 times a day and record 43 seconds of audio with each activation, according to a new study released by Northeastern University.
According to the research, smart speakers activate without user permission between 1.5 and 19 times a day on average, depending on much dialogue is spoken around the devices. During these activations, more than half the devices recorded for 6 seconds or more, with the longest recording time lasting 43 seconds. The findings come from a study conducted by professors at Northeastern University and Imperial College London, who have spent the last six months studying smart speakers.
July 1Quantifying the silent spread of COVID-19We recently sat down for a conversation with Dr. Lucy Li, a data scientist at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, to discuss her latest research to estimate unreported COVID-19 cases. The research is supported by the AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative, a global program to support organizations working to bring better, more accurate, diagnostics solutions to market faster. June 30Amazon donates more than $1.2 million in COVID-19 supplies in OhioOver the past few weeks, Amazon has supported donation of COVID-19 related supplies to over 20 local nonprofits across the state, benefitting more than 52,000 people. "It is wonderful to have the support of Amazon during these times, especially because our customers need our help now more than ever," said Matt Habash, President and CEO of Mid-Ohio Food Collective. "We know this is a marathon, not a sprint. These supplies allow us and our partner agencies to continue our work in stabilizing families and helping them get back on track. We are here with our neighbors and for our neighbors. Thank you Amazon!"
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How to use Alexa and Amazon Devices to stay informed and connectedWe want to do everything we can to support customers during these unprecedented times and our teams are working to make Alexa and Amazon Devices (Kindle, Fire tablets, Echo, Fire TV, and more) even more helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.
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In September 2019, Amazon launched many new devices achieving many records while competing with the world's smart home industry. The new Echo Studio became the first smart speaker with 360 sound and Dolby sound. Other new devices included an Echo dot with a clock behind the fabric, a new third-generation Amazon Echo, Echo Show 8, a plug-in Echo device, Echo Flex, Alexa built-in wireless earphones, Echo buds, Alexa built-in spectacles, Echo frames, an Alexa built-in Ring, and Echo Loop as well as the Echo Show generation.
Alexa can perform a number of preset functions out-of-the-box such as set timers, share the current weather, create lists, access Wikipedia articles, and many more things.[30] Users say a designated "wake word" (the default is simply "Alexa") to alert an Alexa-enabled device of an ensuing function command. Alexa listens for the command and performs the appropriate function, or skill, to answer a question or command. When questions are asked, Alexa converts sound waves into text which allows it to gather information from various sources. Behind the scenes, the data gathered is then sometimes passed to a variety of suppliers including WolframAlpha, iMDB, AccuWeather, Yelp, Wikipedia, and others[31] to generate suitable and accurate answers.[32] Alexa-supported devices can stream music from the owner's Amazon Music accounts and have built-in support for Pandora and Spotify accounts.[33] Alexa can play music from streaming services such as Apple Music and Google Play Music from a phone or tablet.
In November 2018, Amazon sent 1700 recordings of an American couple to an unrelated European man. The incident proves that Alexa records people without their knowledge.[95] Although the man who received the recordings reported the anomaly to Amazon, the company did not notify the victim until German magazine c't also contacted them and published a story about the incident. The recipient of the recordings contacted the publication after weeks went by following his report with no response from Amazon (although the company did delete the recordings from its server). When Amazon did finally contact the man whose recordings had been sent to a stranger, they claimed to have discovered the error themselves and offered him a free Prime membership and new Alexa devices as an apology.[95]
There is concern that conversations Alexa records between people could be used by Amazon for marketing purposes.[99] Privacy experts have expressed real concern about how marketing is getting involved in every stage of people's lives without users noticing. This has necessitated the creation of regulations that can protect users' private information from technology companies.
During the Chris Watts interrogation/interview video[101] at timestamp 16:15:15, Watts was told by the interrogator, "We know that there's an Alexa in your house, and you know those are trained to record distress", indicating Alexa may send recordings to Amazon if certain frequencies and decibels (that can only be heard during intense arguments or screams) are detected.
Over the past few years, Amazon has very slowly been ramping up the use of Hunches, those follow-up questions Alexa asks you after you interact. Sometimes these suggestions are helpful, for instance offering to lock your door at night or suggesting a new way to use timers, but they can also be annoying and disruptive when you're in the middle of a phone call and don't want to have to tell your voice assistant to stop talking.
Alexa's Drop In feature is a cool way for friends or family to connect when unable to get together in person, for example, over the holidays with ongoing travel restrictions. Unlike a phone call, drop-ins don't require you to "answer" the call: Your friend just speaks out of your device's speaker. Sounds cool when you first use it, but it's easy to forget that virtual visitors once permitted will then have access to drop in anytime -- unannounced. Unless you want to risk friends or family members using the feature at inopportune times, you should switch off Drop In until you want to use it. Here's how. 350c69d7ab