Amazon's Alexa Virtual Assistant Can Now Order Millions of Prime Products For You (thenextweb.com) 57
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: Amazon added a new skill for its voice assistant Alexa on Friday, and it could help the e-commerce giant add even more revenue to its already billions in yearly sales from selling everything from toilet paper to toothpaste. With today's update, now you can tell Alexa you want to buy any one of its tens of millions of items that are sold on Amazon. The one caveat is that the item must be a Prime product, meaning it is fulfilled by Amazon and can be shipped to shopper's doorsteps within two days or less. So if your daughter or son wants a Elsa doll from Disney's Frozen movie, you simply ask, "Alexa, please order the Elsa doll from Frozen," and Alexa will suggest a toy that fits that description. You then say "yes" to continue the transaction, and Alexa will take care of charging your credit card, and shipping the product to your home. Quartz posted a story in early June in which it documents several concerns from parents that Amazon Echo is conditioning the kids of this generation to be rude.
Re:Hello alexa (Score:4, Funny)
please gimme a blowjo. Thank you.
In 20 years, that might actually not be out of the question...
My wife joked that she wouldn't mind an Alexa sex robot, because unlike a real girlfriend, Alexa would have an off switch. :)
Re:Hello alexa (Score:4, Insightful)
My wife joked that she wouldn't mind an Alexa sex robot, because unlike a real girlfriend, Alexa would have an off switch. :)
She hasn't thought through the fact that this makes it unlike a wife as well, eh
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She hasn't thought through the fact that this makes it unlike a wife as well, eh
No, a girlfriend is a toy, a wife is a life mate...
No robot could ever replace my wife, she is my soul mate and I love her every waking minute...
But she can't pole dance to save her life. :) (and yes, she tried, even took classes, cause she loves me!)
Would she care if I had a pole-dancing sexy robot? No, she really wouldn't.
Would she care if I had a pole-dancing sexy girlfriend? Yes, she really would.
The difference, to use her words... "the robot doesn't want to become your wife, the girlfriend will".
What I wanted Alexa to do (Score:4, Insightful)
I know this sounds bad; but I am a middle aged man, I am not going to make new friends. I am not allowed to have a dog. I wanted something that I could come home and chat with. Yes, something that would remember to wake me up and discuss movies, books, and games with me.
I realize it will never be a person; I am well aware of chat-bot limitations. However, with more and more single households, I can see a demand for something like this. To deny the market is to ignore a market.
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What you describe is all too common, you are not alone...
The market for personal assistants will be massive... they need to get better in being able to hold a conversation, but that will come with time...
No thanks. (Score:2)
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In this case however I would expect some sort of parental lock, so Alexa doesn't order new tows whenever your kids cry out for them.
Re:WTF are TOWS? -- It is also known as a BGM-71 (Score:2)
A TOW, BGM-71 is a wire guided missile and was first adopted in 1970. It is one of the most widely used anti-tank missiles in the world.
What does this have to do with a home automation gadget?
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What value does "Alexa" add?
The "convenience" of impulse buying, so more profit for Amazon.com. I used to order all kinds of crap three to four, sometimes up to six times a week. Now, since I've limited myself to placing things in my cart, then ordering only once a week, I find myself removing a bunch of crap I don't really need. Alexa, and those single-item order bobbets, bring back the impulse shopping with a vengeance. I foresee people who talk to themselves receiving all kinds of surprise packages on their doorstep.
Besides, th
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The "convenience" of impulse buying, so more profit for Amazon.com.
I like to see a picture of what I am ordering and the price before I buy. I also like to check the order before that final click just in case there is a long delivery time or some unexpected shipping fee. Just saying 'buy this' and having the system take over is something I can't see myself doing, however I really don't buy commodities like detergent online anyhow. Adding to a list makes sense.
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I'm sure the real idea is to make impulse-buying easier and the norm. An early step in this direction was One-Click purchasing. Now you don't even have to click.
As a consumer, try to never impulse-buy anything. Put it in your 'basket' by all means but wait a few days, see if it still seems necessary. In many cases you can just delete it at that point. Buyer's remorse is your friend if you can arrange to experience it before you've closed the deal.
Re:No thanks. (Score:4, Funny)
The idea is that instead of you shopping around for a good deal, alexa suggests the item with the largest profit margin and you simply say yes.
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I'd rather have Alexa (well, some assistant that I actually control, but for the sake of this discussion...) just make a list of stuff I want throughout the day, and then I can review it and check prices (etc.) at the end of the day. Rarely do I need something so rapidly that I can't wait for it to ship tomorrow. If I do, I'll sit down and order it right now, and make sure I have the best chance to get it.
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Trump 2016
Why not? (Score:2)
Not for types like me! (Score:4, Insightful)
I fully understand why amazon does this: To avoid people like me...
I hate when stores keeps payment info! I actually like having to get my cards from my wallet, in my jacket, hanging in another room.
Why? Because half the time I realize I do not need what I was about to purchase anyway. Or realize that I should search for a better deal on a cheaper site...
That habit saves me a lot of money and I have less stuff that I never use anyway...
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I actually like having to get my cards from my wallet, in my jacket, hanging in another room.
You don't remember your card numbers and expiration?
I'd have to get my cards changed weekly if that approach should have any value for me, because the numbers stick.
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Let me guess, you're the person that uses the self check out lane and then calls the attendant because the sale price didn't ring up then wants to write a check?
I have enough in my life that I want to do to not waste time on stuff I have to do. My wife and I solved the "we need toilet paper"/'I forgot the toilet paper" conundrum a long time ago with subscribe and save. We have a Dash button next to laundry and dish washing detergent. About out? Pres the button and in 2 days the mail man drops it off.
Once up
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What toilet paper or dishwasher tabs does your local community make?
We regularly get our fresh vegetables from the farmers market. We buy a half a cow from the parents of one of my wife's co-workers.
What part about writing checks helps the local community?
Script to TV advert (Score:2)
What happens when you leave your TV on near your unattended echo and the advert script runs like ...
Not entirely improbable - the ad showing the gullible how easy it is to buy their stuff
It arrives and you dispute that you ordered it
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Things are best when warehouses are fully automated.
"The Amazon warehouse in Gobberfield TL is currently unavailable for delivery after Alexa was really sure someone had ordered its support pillars."
Buying stuff with voice recognition? (Score:2)
Alexa.. Buy milipede for the atari 2600.
"Yes sir. Buying a million pads for the atari 2600".
I wonder what people will really receive (Score:2)
... given that (at least in countries other than the US, including, but probably not limited to, UK and Germany) Amazon's search engine doesn't even let you combine two search words with a logical 'and', generating dozens and hundreds of result pages full of the stupidest stuff. Even more funny is that it claims it does, while it has been that way for many years...
"Can Now Order Millions of Prime Products For You" (Score:2)
"Can Now Order Millions of Prime Products For You" whether you want it to or not.
About Prime... (Score:2)
Prime doesn't always mean "two days or less". More and more Prime items are being quoted 4-6 days or longer, and I've had several Prime items arrive more than a week after ordering over the past year.
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Prime is a scam anyway. Before Prime, delivery times of 2 days were normal with Amazon, but as soon as they started offering Prime, suddenly it became normal that delivery takes a week.
Glad it's Amazon and not MS (Score:2)
Else instead of "can" it would be "does". Whether you want to or not.
Ordering is easy ... (Score:2)
... but I'll wager that canceling an order placed by mistake still requires logging on to the website — and if the Marketing and consumer behavior experts have anything to say about it, you can expect that process to eventually grow longer and more tedious, to help encourage people not to cancel: "That would take so long, and it's only fifteen bucks ..."
In any case, stand by for the inevitable headline about someone whose kid plays around and orders $10k worth of toys on Amazon without the parent eve
Of course! (Score:2)
Did anyone think Alexa was created just to make life better for humanity?
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Did anyone think Alexa was created just to make life better for humanity?
Not anyone with two brain cells to rub together.
Yippee (Score:2)
More and easier ways to spend my money, woo hoo!
Oh, wait.....