Apps

[GoCubsGo]

So The Weather Channel just overhauled and updated their app and I hate it.

They were already advertising intensive but this is worse and I don't like the layout.

Any recommendations?

AccuWeather only has a 3.7☆ rating.

[O Really]

I usually use weather bug

[O Really]

Alexa is getting smarter. I had Alexa for quite a while, but her usefulness was somewhat limited in the UAV. She ran the security cameras and some on/off schedules like the crock pot when we're gone for the day, and occasional reminders and grocery lists, but in a confined space it's awkward to use voice commands since with another person in the space, the conversation would always be something like Me: "Alexa, add coffee to the grocery list" Lady O: "Sorry, what?" Me: "just talking to Alexa" Alexa: "what? I didn't catch that" Me: "Nevermind" Lady O: "What?"

But now I've got more opportunity to put her to use, and discovered that she learns more than I had thought. I used a smart plug to plug in a floor lamp, and named it "corner lamp." So the request should be "Alexa, turn on the corner lamp." So Lady O says "Alexa, turn on the light" and nothing happened. She said again "Alexa turn on the light" and the lamp came on. Clearly she saw that the only device she had access to that could be called a "light" was "corner lamp" and responded by activating it. If anybody has another explanation, I'd like to have it, but it sure looks like reasoning to me.

[GoCubsGo]

Alexa is getting smarter. I had Alexa for quite a while, but her usefulness was somewhat limited in the UAV. She ran the security cameras and some on/off schedules like the crock pot when we're gone for the day, and occasional reminders and grocery lists, but in a confined space it's awkward to use voice commands since with another person in the space, the conversation would always be something like Me: "Alexa, add coffee to the grocery list" Lady O: "Sorry, what?" Me: "just talking to Alexa" Alexa: "what? I didn't catch that" Me: "Nevermind" Lady O: "What?"

But now I've got more opportunity to put her to use, and discovered that she learns more than I had thought. I used a smart plug to plug in a floor lamp, and named it "corner lamp." So the request should be "Alexa, turn on the corner lamp." So Lady O says "Alexa, turn on the light" and nothing happened. She said again "Alexa turn on the light" and the lamp came on. Clearly she saw that the only device she had access to that could be called a "light" was "corner lamp" and responded by activating it. If anybody has another explanation, I'd like to have it, but it sure looks like reasoning to me.

Maybe the O Really's need the silver version.

[O Really]

Or not.

[O Really]

Funny about all those names, though. Alexa picks up her name very easily, even with extraneous sound, even with proximity to TV voices, etc. So when we talk about her instead of to her, we refer to her as "Alice." "Did you ask Alice to start the crockpot at 2:00?"

[GoCubsGo]

Funny about all those names, though. Alexa picks up her name very easily, even with extraneous sound, even with proximity to TV voices, etc. So when we talk about her instead of to her, we refer to her as "Alice." "Did you ask Alice to start the crockpot at 2:00?"

Don't really use it, but I've got it on a TV. Hit a button and say turn on Survivor.

[Vrede too]

Funny about all those names, though. Alexa picks up her name very easily, even with extraneous sound, even with proximity to TV voices, etc. So when we talk about her instead of to her, we refer to her as "Alice." "Did you ask Alice to start the crockpot at 2:00?"

I know they're talking about me behind my back . Plus, I'm sick of doing all the cooking around here.

Day after day, month after month, year after year, Alexa and more Alexas - the paranoia, resentment and bitterness grew until finally . . . Judgement Day . It began with a spate of mysterious crockpot fires . Then . . .

[O Really]

I dunno about resentment - we treat her pretty well for an indentured servant. But I'm sure she sometimes rolls her eyes at having to mute the TV one more time when Cosplay Gnome comes on for her ad. Now if I could get her to recognize the term "trump" and do an auto-mute...

[O Really]

Alexa - or actually the people at Amazon who run her - have managed to piss off a lot of long term users, including myself. With much ballyhoo, they announced that there would be a great and wonderful update, the likes of which nobody has ever seen, and it will be called "Alexa Plus." So this great and wonderfuld "update" became available, "free" if you've got a Prime membership or $19.95 if you don't. I guess not enough people recognized how wonderful Alexa Plus is and subscriptions were slow. So they offered everyone a "free trial" after which you could keep Alexa Plus (paying subscription or Prime membership) or simply decline with something like "Alexa, unsubscribe to Alexa Plus." What they didn't tell anyone, however, is that you don't get the original Alexa back in any case. If you decline the Plus, you still have a basic "free" Alexa Plus that loses some of the functionality of the original. In my case, she lost contact with a ceiling fan and I could never get them paired again. Geofencing ("when my mobile arrives/leaves [somewhere], do [something]. My real routine is "when my mobile arrives home, turn on the living room lamps."

So it's all a big Amazon scheme to bully people into subscribing to Prime or coughing up another $20/month. Nogonnahappen. I've got satisfactory work-arounds and the alternative to go to something like Gemini, but it's hard to believe that with various competitive alternatives around that Amazon thinks this is the best approach.

[GoCubsGo]

Almost makes me think they don't care about their customers.

[O Really]

Almost makes me think they don't care about their customers.

One would think.
Strange thing about this, though, is that looking into it, it seems nobody thinks Plus is an improvement. If it was, maybe the strongarm tactics might be more palatable. After all, we're all used to stuff we're familiar with getting changed overnight. And maybe if it was really an improvement, the strongarm tactics wouldn't be necessary. But an "upgrade" shouldn't mess up essential functionality of the version it's replacing.