Tag Archives: Smart Speakers

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Here is how to know what voice recordings Amazon gets from your Alexa device

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Don’t you want Amazon to listen to recordings collected by Alexa? You can revoke the permission with a click.

News of Google and Apple’s turnaround on listening to voice messages collected by Assistant and Siri during interactions with users, after the controversy on the matter was taking effect. Since even Amazon was no stranger to the controversial practice, he decided to run for cover by clarifying more explicitly – in the section of his website dedicated to privacy – the way in which he treats the data collected by Alexa, leaving the user the right to grant or not allowed .

In particular, as reported by Bloomberg , Amazon has now included a postscript explaining the possibility that the recordings are  “manually reviewed” , in order to contribute over time to improving the service offered by Alexa, clarifying immediately after that “only one extremely small fraction of vocal recordings is manually reviewed ».

As mentioned, on the same page (which you find at this link ) users can revoke the permission to manually listen to their recordings. In other words, Alexa will continue to save voice recordings from various daily interactions, but will no longer use them that way. However, it should be remembered that Amazon expects users to be able to delete recordings stored on its servers, so if you want to be sure that there is no trace of what you say, you will have to delete them periodically on your behalf.

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The Rise of Home Speakers with Built In Radio 4.0 Compatibility (Google Home, Apple HomePod)

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A new search for Adobe Analytics offers further revelations on smart speakers. The analysis showed an increase in the number of users: to date, in fact, 43 million Americans have already bought at least one smart speaker. This figure is the result of the increase in the last few months, but this time no major new events have been presented to those already analyzed on NL.

If sales have increased without any significant commercial event, such as black friday or the purchase of Christmas gifts, it means that these numbers are destined to grow. The survey also focused on this: in fact, out of the total number of users examined, about half (45%) already owns a smart speaker and expressed a willingness to buy another one during the festivities of 25 December, while the 23% said they wanted to buy one to give as gifts.

It is not a hidden fact that most smart speaker owners would like to own another one, but the researchers also wanted to investigate the uses that users make of them. The most common activity is always the reproduction of audio of all kinds – both from the Spotify player and from radio stations (as you can also do through the FM World application and other aggregators ), which on podcasts of all kinds – followed by constant updates on the weather.

The weather forecast, in fact, together with the news from the world and concerning traffic, are the most common requests in the time slot from 5 to 9 am – if you put yourself on the side of the users – that translate into the most executed command from the side of the smart speaker. In addition, they are increasing – always taking into consideration the sample being researched and thanks to the simplification of daily activities – those related to shopping: from ordering food to the home, looking for hotels to spend the holidays, until the addition of items to shopping lists on online platforms such as Amazon, Aliexpress and Zalando, already on smart devices.

The forecast of Adobe Analytics on the increase in sales during the Christmas period could, therefore, prove to be spot on.