site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3772 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 9, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

7
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Does anyone have a recommendation on voice controls for smarthome things (e.g. Alexa, Google Home, etc) that are not designed to try to advertise to you? Currently I have a couple of Echo devices, but Amazon has been making Alexa steadily worse and worse. The app has ads inserted into your shopping list, and at least half the time the device will respond to a command with a "by the way, did you know about (other feature)" line.

Needless to say I want to replace my Echo devices since it's clear Amazon is more interested in advertising (to paying customers, no less) than it is in providing a user friendly service. But I'm also not sure if any of the competitors will be any better. So I'm hoping others here have experience and can make recommendations.

I used to work at a company that made voice assistants that didn't talk to the cloud and they worked better than Alexa et al believe it or not.

But unfortunately, the company got bought by Sonos for the tech and theirs does spy on you iirc.

All I can tell you is that what you're looking for is possible, but I don't know if anybody picked up the flag once we put it down.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats