Is Amazon Alexa really the “colossal failure” Amazon says it is?

Granted, I’m willing to do this even though I suspect my privacy is being invaded because of the desire for monetization. In that regard, Apple is putting more powerful processors in their Siri capable devices so that many of the privacy concerns are addressed by keeping private information in a secure enclave on the devices themselves. I digress. In life as in technology, we like routines–at least if we’re honest. I’ve been a fan of home automation for years. When we got our first taste when our alarm system had the option to add light switches to the control panel, and allow us to turn off lights we’d forgotten to turn off, it became a race between my wife and I as to who could get the app open and turn those lights off first. Before that it was usually me who’d ask, “Did you turn off the lights downstairs?” And, it was me who would make the trip down to turn them off. I was thrilled at the convenience! And even happier that my wife liked it too, although she wasn’t quite as thrilled as I was. Enter the ability to say, “Alexa, turn on the studio lights.” when her hands were full, and she was now as thrilled as I was. Getting to those routines, you didn’t think I forgot did you? We can say, “Alexa, Goodnight” and that kicks off a routine of shutting off every light in the house. But there’s more. Routines can be triggered by time of day as well. So at dusk, all the outdoor lights come on, and indoor accent lighting comes on. You get the picture. Somebody kept on forgetting their cell phone… so, I wrote a routine that triggered when the garage door was opened, and our Echo asks, “…do you have your cell phone?”

Now when it comes time to buy something, even though I’d prefer to support local stores, I find more often than not that I’m turning to Amazon. That’s when you discover another cool thing about having echo dots everywhere! Your echo dings, and you ask, “Alexa, what’s my notification.” She responds with, “An Amazon Shopping order for Ken has arrived.” In case I missed the notification, there’s a ring around the echo that lights up, so you know to ask.

The bottom line in my book is the more I can automate, the more time it frees up for me to do other things that are more important. I want to be alerted when my automation doesn’t work, and that’s a bit more of an issue. We aren’t quite at the point where you can tell that the automation isn’t working as expected. That’s where having a camera system could help. If you told the garage door to close, and it didn’t, the sensor on the door can tell you, but if it’s a light, you could see that it turned on if there was a camera.

What has me excited now is the prospect of being able to use the technology to help families dealing with dementia or Alzheimer’s keep their family member safe, and give them a measure of freedom and sanity. I can see a day where Alexa announces, “Dad is on the move!” And that happens because a motion event on a camera triggers a routine that makes the announcement on every echo dot in the whole house. It turns out people experiencing dementia and Alzheimer’s, respond to music, so I have the echo dot nearest to him play  the Apple Music playlist I created just for him.