#15

Had something similar few days ago when discussing a reporter and their column with friends, then one guy started getting some targeted ads about them. He says he has never read them. He started saying Google was listening as well…maybe he was right…

#16

This is definitely possible, but it’s also massively complex just to generate a suggested search. The phone’s picking up the term from somewhere, but it’s probably something relatively simple.

#17
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#18

I’d get that if it was my work phone, but it was my personal one. Don’t have my work email on here.

Anyhow, I hope it’s just a freak coincidence.

#19

I get adverts for Christian single ladies wanting to date so no one is listening to me at all.

Although, yesterday my boyfriend used a curse word and the Amazon Echo thing came to life and said, “That’s not very nice.”

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#20

Wrap your whole head in tin foil and swallow your sim card.

HTH

3 Likes
#21

you ask it enough questions, maybe it just wants to get to know you better

#23

Perhaps relevant twitter thread

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#25

That would mean smartphones would have shit battery life… :face_with_raised_eyebrow:… :thinking:… :astonished:

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#26

Of course they are, otherwise how would they know when you say, “OK Google”?

#27

Just a coincidence think of all the times it doesn’t happen

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#28

alright Kasabian

#29

This isn’t creepy at all, Google Calendar literally asks you if you want it to read information from your emails. He probably just clicked OK without reading it.

#30

Apple swear blind that they’re not, but iOS has had the ability to do Speech Recognition for ages. It’s not happened to me personally, but so many people have mentioned it that it can’t just be coincidence.

#31

By buying an Echo you have pretty much asked Amazon to bug you…

#32

Your phone (if you’ve got the feature switched on) is listening for those specific keywords and supposedly ignores everything it hears before it hears that.

Obviously whether it’s actually doing that or not is another matter… how much do you trust Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft et all.

#33

Yeah, true. Although I didn’t buy it. My other half got it at the magazine where he works as a gift from a PR person wanting column inches.

#34

no they don’t give a shit

#35

Was at a tech conference t’other week and among other things there was a lot of chat about voice activation tech. Apparently Siri/Apple stuff is way, way, way down the bottom of the league in terms of sophistication, recognition, connectedness etc

Consensus seemed to be that Amazon has the best hardware & google has the best software

There was a tech/marketing bod from some Nordic hotel chain and they had done a pilot thing whereby they kitted up one hotel suite with an Alexa that they had hacked and hooked to their own hotel’s (digital) services and offered the voice activated suite at a discount price to willing participants and she was all like ‘everyone totally loved it …and the data we got from it was just incredible’

So yeah, it’s creeping in

#36

One of the most alarming things was hearing how easy it is to hack these devices - don’t know why…it’s not as if I trust google/Apple/Amazon/Microsoft above any other individual or corporation but still it seemed somehow wrong

Strange what you get conditioned to eh?