I recently bought into the Sonos ecosystem. While it is pretty limited in some ways (I can't just stream stuff playing on my phone to the Sonos speakers, for example if I am playing a random YouTube video), it has one really good thing going for it: it can sync playback between an arbitrary number of speakers. This is my new standard for this type of thing: speakers that cannot do this are inferior to Sonos. In that regard, their claim that it's also a wireless speaker doesn't appeal to me.
Having said that, this thing looks very cool. Imagine this, connected to a home automation system:
"Alexa, turn off lights in the kitchen."
"Alexa, arm the alarm system."
"Alexa, I am cold."
"Alexa, open the garage door."
"Alexa, start my car."
I know every comment here must mention privacy, so I'll follow the trend. Yes, it listens to you, and sends data to the cloud. However, I am still most likely going to buy one because, well, I can always unplug it.
Do home automation systems like this exist? I was very tempted to create a simple one using RPi and Python to control my lights and I did a cursory search and found nothing too impressive. I could see why this could be really expensive and thus not drive a lot of demand but it seems like something you see in most sci-fi movies that is very possible and a few rich people would enjoy.
I was just covering the sync thing with the guys in my office. In any large building you'll need multiple units to provide good coverage. They need to ensure these work in that context as well.
And it's incredibly hard to do without running wires. Just to cover the first floor of my house, I need 4-6 speakers. I am not willing to commit to wires for this, which is where Sonos shines.
And how long until this is the norm and we stop even talking about the privacy implications? How long after that point the notion of privacy stops existing?
Yes, this is the slippery slope to 1984. Do you carry a cell phone? Do you use a computer? Do you have windows? Do you ever leave your bunker with 4 foot concrete and steel walls? Yeah, your privacy is compromised already.
No, we won't stop talking about privacy because I said I can unplug this thing. Yes, I am excited about a new type of device coming out that is actually as cool as an iPad, or the Nest.
Having said that, this thing looks very cool. Imagine this, connected to a home automation system:
"Alexa, turn off lights in the kitchen."
"Alexa, arm the alarm system."
"Alexa, I am cold."
"Alexa, open the garage door."
"Alexa, start my car."
I know every comment here must mention privacy, so I'll follow the trend. Yes, it listens to you, and sends data to the cloud. However, I am still most likely going to buy one because, well, I can always unplug it.