[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #562: Is Alexa about to take over our homes? Possibly.

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OPLIN 4cast #562: Is Alexa about to take over our homes? Possibly.
October 4th, 2017

[image: Amazon Alexa family of devices] Amazon.com is certainly known as a
large internet-based company, but just how massive it's become may have
flown under most people's radar. For instance, 7.5% of the working-age
population of Seattle are Amazon employees
<http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-size-insane-facts-about-company-2017-9>.
In 2016, an analysis by Slice Intelligence found that 43% of all online
retail sales
<http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-accounts-for-43-of-us-online-retail-sales-2017-2>
were through Amazon. 1 out of every four adults
<http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-size-insane-facts-about-company-2017-9/#1-out-of-every-4-us-adults-has-amazon-prime-3>
has Amazon Prime.  Yet, Amazon's biggest impact may yet be on a newer
technology, rather than on online commerce. Amazon's voice-activated
artificial intelligence, Alexa, is making huge strides and is now evolving.
Very soon, it's going to be more places, doing more things than ever before.

   -
   - Watch out Windows, Android, and iOS: Amazon's Alexa is turning into
   the next big operating system
   <http://www.zdnet.com/article/watch-out-windows-android-and-ios-amazons-alexa-is-turning-into-the-next-big-operating-system/>
[ZDNet]
   "Amazon sells its hardware cheap because making money that way is not (at
   least for now) its priority. This is a land-grab; whichever company reaches
   enough homes fast enough will become the effective standard."
   - Amazon wants you to wake up with Alexa, and that's just the start
   <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/technology/amazon-echo-alexa.html?mcubz=0&_r=0>
   [NYTimes] "So far, the results for the Echo have been anything but
   humiliating. Now, having grown more confident that it understands the
   fickle market for consumer products, Amazon is making it clear that the
   Echo and other hardware powered by Alexa, the intelligent assistant behind
   the devices, present the company with one of its brightest opportunities."
   - Amazon's latest Alexa devices ready to extend company's reach into
   your home
   <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/27/amazon-alexa-echo-plus-launch>
   [The Guardian] "'Voice control in the home will be ubiquitous,' predicted
   David Limp, an Amazon senior vice-president who is in charge of the Echo
   devices, at an event in Seattle on Wednesday. 'Kids today will grow up
   never knowing a day they couldn’t talk to their houses.'"
   - Amazon's Alexa is a real smart home platform now
   <https://www.fastcompany.com/40474833/amazons-alexa-is-a-real-smart-home-platform-now>
   [Fast Company] "Alexa is no longer just a layer of voice controls that
   supplements other smart home systems such as Samsung SmartThings,
   Alphabet’s Nest, Philips Hue, and Lowe’s Iris. Instead, it’s becoming a
   full-blown smart-home platform, replacing many of the functions that those
   other systems provide. The implication is that Amazon doesn’t want to
   play a supporting role in smart homes anymore. Instead, it wants a hand in
   every interaction, even if voice isn’t always involved."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - "Alexa, Understand Me"
   <http://proxy.ohiolink.edu:9099/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=124794295&site=ehost-live>
 (Anders,
   G. (2017). Alexa, Understand Me. *MIT Technology Review*, *120*(5),
   26-31.)
   - Growing Up with Alexa
   <http://proxy.ohiolink.edu:9099/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cph&AN=124643696&site=ehost-live>
   (Metz, R. (2017). Growing Up with Alexa. *MIT Technology Review*, *120*(5),
   70-74.)
   - Quantity Of 'Skills' Doesn't Mean Quality In Amazon Echo's Alexa
   <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=6XN201709201118&site=pov-live>
   (Quantity Of 'Skills' Doesn't Mean Quality In Amazon Echo's Alexa.
(2017). *Morning
   Edition (NPR)*,)

*Image from https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/smart-home-alexa/
<https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/smart-home-alexa/>*
------------------------------
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