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As Useful As Siri, Which Isn't All That Helpful
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I have been grappling with whether to buy an Amazon Echo or Dot or Google Home for a while now, and what's tripped me up is that, short of spending hundreds of dollars replacing every light bulb and switch with "smart home" equipment to be controlled by these things, I can't come up with a single reason I'd use one. Now, here's the L.A. Times' Michael Hiltzik saying the same thing: They're cool gadgets with no real use other than as a novelty. You can do anything they do more easily with other gadgets or in old-fashioned ways (need a shopping list? Write it and stick the paper in your pocket!). Even playing music or getting news and weather is just as convenient without one of these; for music, you can use your phone and a bluetooth speaker just as easily. The only thing they really do besides tie into your "smart home" systems is order stuff from Amazon. (Los Angeles Times)
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