[gkoberger]

Well, Alexa will only actually buy something if you've already purchased it (EDIT: Seems this isn't true anymore!). The use-case of this is something lie "Alexa, buy more toilet paper" or "Alexa, we're out of salt." Saying it from across the room while cooking is much easier than washing your hands, grabbing your phone, loading the app, searching for the product, and hitting "buy".

It's definitely meant more as a replacement for a shopping list than it is a way to, say, do your Christmas shopping.

[linker3000]

> Saying it from across the room while cooking is much easier than washing your hands, grabbing your phone, loading the app, searching for the product, and hitting "buy".

Is that a realistic scenario for the majority though?

Aren't most people going to either make a mental note and add it to the shopping list later, or just wash/wipe hands and add a note to the list on the fridge blotter/whiteboard etc.

It'll be a sad reflection on the evolution of cognitive thinking if the people believe that they have to drop everything, clean up and reorder cornflour the instant they run out.

> grabbing your phone, loading the app, searching for the product, and hitting "buy".

Considering that, as well as the other option of having a magical listening tube in the house, living in a small English village, I have the 'luxury' of grabbing my coat and walking about 400M to the local store, and apart from the minor health benefit, I could also stretch the operation into a dog walking session, bump into and talk to some friends on the way and get some fresh air. There's also the local pub (http://the-quaffer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/murrell-arms-barnh...). Alexa, pull me a pint of London Pride...

[Klathmon]

Oh come on.

When used this way it's a minor extension of a shopping list that gets automatically fulfilled.

Are you really gonna argue that it's a "sad reflection on the evolution of cognitive thinking" to re-order something right when you realize you need it rather than making a mental note, possibly forgetting it next time you are at the store, the store maybe being out, and then having to lug this shit around yourself?

It's a convince. I personally use it for cat litter all the time. I get it from Amazon anyway cause they have the best price for it, and when I realize it's running low I tell the Alexa to order more of it. And that sure as hell beats the alternative of driving 20 minutes to the grocery store that has this cat litter at some point in the future before I run out (not everyone lives 400m away from a store that sells everything)

It's not the end of the world.

[keithpeter]

No, I agree, it is not the end of the world.

However, it is one of those small changes that shift society's rules of engagement very slightly. The teenagers I teach already order stuff from their phones, and discover music &c entirely through online media. I live near the centre of a large city in the UK and when I'm popping the 50m to the corner shop for more salt or haldi, I have to dodge the swarms Deliveroo bicyclists. Every takeway has the Just Eat sticker and all the radio cars have Uber on the side as well as the local taxi company.

There is a shift in the details of daily living.

[Broken_Hippo]

I read this stuff, read there is a shift in the details of daily living... and for the life of me, I don't understand why this is a bad thing. It isn't like we've not had grand shifts before.

The automobile. Indoor plumbing. Electricity. Stoves and vacuum cleaners. Television, radio. The wheel - but more importantly, the axle. Heck, hand washing shifted some details of life.

It seems very natural for us to move forward and change this stuff. Is some of it necessary? No, but that's just what humans do to an extent.

[linker3000]

> It isn't like we've not had grand shifts before.

This isn't anywhere near a grand shift - it's a clever commercial ploy to increase profits for a narrow range of businesses.

> The automobile. Indoor plumbing. Electricity. Stoves and vacuum cleaners. Television, radio. The wheel - but more importantly, the axle.

Sure, THEY were grand shifts that improved health, sanitation, freed up significant amounts of travel or labour time, brought education and entertainment to the masses etc.

How do we classify Alex's contribution to society: "I can speak some words and receive cat litter the next day".

OK, I jest - the AI behind Alexa will no doubt reap other benefits in time, some may even be societal rather than commercial.

Don't get me wrong; I love gadgets and innovation - I work for an Enterprise Class storage manufacturer and spend all day working with terabyte/petabyte-scale disk and flash array setups, and stuff I can't even tell you about - but let's have some perspective here!

[keithpeter]

I don't know if it is a bad thing or a good thing or something in the middle (some advantages but revealing new problems such as the one in the OA). But there is a shift.

Maths example: place notation and Arabic numerals made adding and subtracting very easy (you try adding numbers in roman numerals without translating) but we lost insight into ratio and proportionality concepts. That was around 1200 or so in Europe.

[appleflaxen]

who cares?

this happens every generation.

the very things that some of us miss as "details shift" (like books) were the reason for the moral panic when first introduced.

http://www.historytoday.com/frank-furedi/media%E2%80%99s-fir...

[SixSigma]

While I'm not arguing against the use case for Alexia, for something like cat litter, why not buy 1 bag every X weeks, surely your cat excrement production rate is fairly constant.

[morganvachon]

> ...surely your cat excrement production rate is fairly constant.

I see you aren't a cat owner. One of our cats is pretty consistent but the other varies wildly both in her eating and pooping habits. One day the litter box is barely in need of scooping, the next you have to scoop twice throughout the day. This has caused us to have to buy a bag of litter in the middle of the week on more than one occasion.

[SixSigma]

So the variance is high but the rate is fairly constant

[Klathmon]

I'm not perfect.

There are times I would remember to get more when I'm running low, there are times I'd forget and I'd have to run out at 1am to the 24/7 supermarket because I feel so bad for forgetting and I know how much the cat hates when her litter is low.

In the past I would have multiple boxes stacked up and would try to reorder when I was down to one, but even then I'd forget, and storing multiple boxes of cat litter is annoying in our small condo.

This is a great solution to me. And before this I had a DIY button made with a raspberry pi that would do it for me that I put near the cat litter. IMO this is a better UX.

[SixSigma]

I shoul dhave made the point that a more useful system would learn your re-order timing and you wouldn't have to do anything except bring it inside.

[Klathmon]

It does try, and for some things that does work.

But I've found it's just not that consistent for it to work in some of these cases.

I sometimes order 2 boxes of litter a month, and sometimes don't order any.

Now if you are talking about something which will measure how much I have left via a scale or some other method and reorder when I'm low, I'd love that! I'll need to see if I can grab another ESP8266 and some load sensors and set that up!

[cja]

The majority needn't buy it for it to make billions for Amazon.

[pranjalv123]

Really? For me it will order whatever I ask for (it'll report the first result of the search, tell me the price, and ask if I want it).

[shostack]

And this is the reason I'll never use that feature.

The quality of many top Amazon results is often not accurately portrayed with all the fake comments, swapped products, etc. plus, with the various seller and shipping options, I frankly don't trust Amazon to pick the best product and options for me.

[pranjalv123]

For some things, sure. But if I just want batteries or something? It's fine, and saves me some time.

[shostack]

Funny you use that example. There's actually a lot of issues depending on what batteries you buy as some sellers swap in expired batteries, or off-brand replacements. It was so hard to find a certain battery I needed once that was legit, that I just ended up going to my hardware store and getting whatever namebrand they had.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

How about a pony?

[adventurer]

No, a pony will take a nice trot up to you and politely ask if you know what you're ordering.

[navs]

Unless you've ordered a pony before in which case it'll be happy to have the company.

[morganvachon]

This combined with Amazon's Prime Now service makes it almost possible to start a meal, realize you're low on an ingredient, yell at your Echo, and get the ingredient in time to finish dinner.

Damn, we really are living in the future the 1950s imagined we would.

[8draco8]

Christmas shopping would be possible if Amazon would allow for connecting amazon account with Facebook. You could then give commands like "Add to shopping cart , $50 items from my family members wish lists".

[mturmon]

Does this really sound at all appealing? Buying things at random from automated lists?

[givinguflac]

How else could you possibly show you care? /s

[Roritharr]

Maybe you care, but can we please have this, as a "Christmas for the rest of us"-Solution?

Every year it's a stressful and unhappy affair for our small family since so many relatives expect something.

[mistermann]

Good point, I realize I've come to somewhat dread Christmas as well. So many gifts for people that don't care because they have everything, yet you're socially obligated.

[sjclemmy]

I've got a solution for this that I've practiced for the last couple of years: presents for children only. The annual pointless spendfest is the dark side of a consumerist economy. If you or your friends and family are offended because you haven't bought them a gift it's their problem, not yours.

[Broken_Hippo]

I solve this with food. For years I've made christmas cookies. General mix for work and folks I don't know well. If I know someone's tastes and they are close, I customize.

It isn't always cookies, but generally food. The weirdest thing I found is that folks wound up looking forward to my gift, even though they know what I give them. The main downside is that it takes some work, a bit of freezer space, and some planning.

[kuschku]

Craft them something? I mean, you don't have to gift expensive things just because.

[douche]

If kids aren't involved, I think the Yankee Swap is the answer. Everybody brings one gift, you pick numbers out of a hat to see who gets to choose first, you can either pick a wrapped present or steal one that's already been opened. Everybody gets a present, and it tends to be something that you might actually want or make use of, since you usually can end up trading away anything that is a real bad fit.

[SixSigma]

> So many gifts for people that don't care because they have everything, yet you're socially obligated.

They have all the food they will ever eat for the rest of their lives ?

My unsolicited advice is buy the equipment for making chutney / jam / pickle/ candied fruit / dried fruit etc. and give everybody a container of that with a pretty label their name & your name on.

[elliottcarlson]

I know a few families that have all agreed to go the Secret Santa route - each person has one other to buy for, except for the kids in the family. This means everyone will get something, but it limits the cost aspect -- of course couples etc might do something for each other separately - but for the overall family giving aspect it greatly narrows the scope.

[tripzilch]

if you don't know what to give someone, give them something they'll use up. food, candles, nice pens, incense, olive oil, wine or liquor, a bouquet of dying plants, etc

[superflyguy]

In case you didn't know, you can already share your Amazon wish lists with people. You don't need Factbook integration.

[hiddencost]

Not true anymore