Shh, Alexa’s Listening… or is She? |Thingee’s Tech-Talk

So what’s your wake up call? Is it an alarm, a catchy tune or maybe “mom” or “dad”? For a personal digital assistant like Alexa, it could be: Alexa, Computer, Amazon or Echo (stay with us for an inside scoop into the name “Computer”).  At least those are the wake words that have been preset into the Amazon device to initiate an activation or “wake up” as it were.

Like you, Alexa isn’t really paying attention until you wake her up but once you do, what happens then… does she keep listening in to every conversation you have all day?

Tech-Talk breaks down common misconceptions about digital assistant voice technology and hopefully we can allay some of your concerns about adopting this amazing tool, check this out:

So as you’ve heard, intelligent personal assistants are more friend than enemy.  The device starts recording upon identifying the wake word then records for up to 60 seconds at a time.  Privacy is less an issue and convenience and function are a bonus.

These devices are good for home and office… and that’s where we can help.  Practical uses can be developed to take your business into the digital age.  Contact us and let’s brainstorm!  Where do you see your business in 5 – 10 years? It would be our privilege to help get you there.
Now, about the name “Computer”, it’s a techie nod to that beloved science fiction television show… yup, Star Trek. So, let’s boldly go where no man… ok we’ll stop there, but thanks once again for joining us to talk a little tech!

Jeff Bromley
Jeff@thingee.com
973-644-9012 ext. 11

Tech-Talk brings you the latest tech advances to put you ahead of the curve.  Look for future Tech-Talk posts, subscribe to our email list, and give Thingee a call to discuss how this new tech can help achieve your goals. One way to ensure you won’t miss any of our Talk-Talk video casts is to subscribe to our  YouTube channel.

Video Transcript

0:00 hey everybody Jeff Bromley here from

0:02 from Thingee again and welcome back to Tech

0:04 Talk today we’ve been talking a lot

0:06 about Amazon Alexa in the past and we’re

0:09 going to talk about something that’s

0:10 near and dear to a lot of people it’s

0:11 Alexa security so what is Alexa doing

0:15 how were you interacting with it what is

0:17 it recording so for some people this is

0:20 a security concern they want to know is

0:22 Alexa recording every single word that I

0:24 say around my house is recording my wife

0:26 my children no it’s not

0:29 Alexa right now that device is waiting

0:33 it’s waiting to hear what’s called a

0:35 wake word and there’s four different

0:36 ways that it can wake up so you have

0:39 computer which is pretty cool Echo

0:41 Amazon or the most popular which is

0:44 Alexa which I’m sure your Alexa right

0:46 now if it’s in the background and you

0:47 have one it’s going off so right now

0:49 it’s going to start listening that you

0:51 said that Alexa wake word and it’s going

0:54 to record that conversation yes it is

0:55 recording that yes it is putting that

0:57 information to the cloud but it only

1:00 does that when you wake the device this

1:03 is some great stuff

1:05 Amazon Alexa has the ability to help in

1:07 everyday life let’s look at the proof

1:09 points there have been a ton of

1:11 technology advancements over the past

1:13 decade that you weren’t able to think

1:16 about being able to apply to our very

1:19 day lives being able to shop for

1:21 groceries online or do your Christmas

1:22 shopping and have those delivered

1:24 directly to your door those are things

1:27 that we never thought about and now

1:29 they’re making our lives easier this is

1:31 only the beginning so we may have some

1:34 bumps in the road but let’s give it some

1:36 time you know if you don’t want to get

1:39 in the game maybe you’re hesitant and

1:41 you know you think that Amazon Alexa is

1:43 still recording your voice well come

1:45 back keep listening and we’ll keep you

1:47 up to date on all of the latest trends

1:50 did you like this video if so you can do

1:52 a couple things right now to continue

1:54 our technology journey together one like

1:58 us on Facebook LinkedIn Twitter follow

2:00 us on YouTube or you can go to Thingee.com

2:03 to get more information so I look

2:05 forward to seeing you next time on tech

2:06 talk until then take care