There are three things I’ve found that smart speakers are good for, setting timers, asking for the weather, and manipulating the TV without having to get up or find a remote, etc.
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Any smart speaker. I’m assuming there isn’t really any reason to trust Google or whoever any more than Amazon.
Also playing white noise while I sleep, turning a lamp on/off, and NPR.
Edit: forgot an important use. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I can just ask what time it is rather than have to find my glasses, get up, and look at a clock.
I thought my Google speakers were going to be really useful, but they’re not. I mainly use them for white noise. I’ll play music on them sometimes. My wife uses it for a morning alarm and to ask questions. They are linked to my Google account, so sometimes I get a notification about an answer to a question. There have been times I’ve woken up in the morning, saw a notification, and then asked my wife if she was trying to figure if there is a certain number of bananas that is considered a bunch or some shit like that.
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Technically no speaker, but AFAIK my phone basically can use the same tech, so I don’t see a big functional difference in terms of the extent to which I’m being spied upon.
Apple probably does the best with it from a privacy standpoint. They anonymize all data and delete it after two weeks. That goes for phones and speakers.
That being said Siri is probably the worst voice assistant. I never use it.
I bought a smart speaker for mainly those reasons.
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I missed this announcement, but apparently Prime Video picked up The Apprentice. Pretty sure Trump had a Exec Producer credit in addition to being on the show, so that should be a decent check.
I truly hope this inspires the next Luigi M.
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Amazon settles a lawsuit with the FTC. Article doesn’t do a great job of describing the class and payout calculations, but, as I read it, if you have/had Prime within the last few years, you might have some money coming your way.
https://www.npr.org/2025/09/25/nx-s1-5551026/amazon-prime-lawsuit-ftc-settlement
Can you get paid in the form of free Prime?
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It’s basically my alarm clock. I also use it to set timers for cooking and to tell me the weather in the morning. That’s really it.
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Amazon drop-shippers on eBay getting more and more prevalent. Seems like the only reliable way to avoid that is to buy used.
Yeah, but what if that couch used to belong to JD Vance?