@antijingoist@hackers.townAmazon Echos have decent speakers and a sometimes cool design.
Gut the insides, keep the speaker, replace insides with a $1 Bluetooth receiver and, if you wish, a kick ass battery and charger board. Maybe add leds while you are in there.
That feeling you get when you've LITERALLY (as in literally literally) spent YEARS (as in, ever since they first shipped) telling people not to install Amazon #Echo (or any similar device) in their homes because they are enormous #privacy risks…
… only to be ignored by nearly everyone…
… and now those same people who ignored you are going around telling everyone else to throw away their privacy hole devices.
That feeling? Annoyed doesn't BEGIN to describe it. 
ArsTechnica: Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28
You might as well throw your Echo and Alexa-powered devices in the trash like you should have done years ago.
Cory (@pluralistic) with a banger of a post:
https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/15/altering-the-deal/#telescreen
And this factoid:
"Congress hasn't passed a consumer #privacy law since 1988, when the Video Privacy Protection Act banned video store clerks from disclosing which VHS cassettes you brought home."
@Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchangeAfter Amazon's news this week,
I feel the need to share this advice from my Privacy Guides article again:
Notify guests if you are
using a smart speaker 
If you are using a smart speaker device in your home such as Amazon's Echo (Alexa), Apple's HomePod (Siri), Google's Nest,
Inform your guests about it when they enter your home 
These devices have the capacity
to record all conversations, and there has already been instances of accidental privacy invasion reported about this 
Even if you don't mind yourself,
offer your guests to UNPLUG your smart speaker while they are visiting you 
@ceresbzns@infosec.exchangeIf you have an Amazon Echo, Ring, or other corpo snitchware installed in your home - you should sell it or smash it with a hammer
Amazon streicht Datenschutz-Funktion bei #Echo-Lautsprechern: Ab Ende März werden alle Sprachbefehle zwangsweise in der Cloud verarbeitet - auch wenn Nutzer dies bisher deaktiviert hatten. #Alexa https://winfuture.de/news,149605.html?utm_source=Mastodon&utm_medium=ManualStatus&utm_campaign=SocialMedia
Starting on March 28, Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and, therefore, avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon’s cloud. In other words, everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon. @ArsTechnica reports:
@HistoPol@mastodon.social#Privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #Amazon's #Alexa
(1/3)
Amazon annihilates Alexa privacy settings, turns on continuous, nonconsensual audio uploading
Is this globally?
How e. g. in the EU.
US laws don't apply there.
"If the #Echo is your property, how come Amazon gets to break it? Because we passed a law that lets them. Section 1201 of 1998's #DigitalMillenniumCopyrightAct makes it a felony to "bypass an access control"...
https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/15/altering-the-deal/#telescreen
'My wife asked why I carry a gun around the house.
I looked at her and said "Spyware". She laughed, I laughed, Alexa laughed, I shot Alexa, it was a good time."
#Amazon #spyware #Alexa #Echo #HomeAssistant
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/everything-you-say-to-your-echo-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-on-march-28/
@trashheap@tech.lgbtA lot of people are talking about throwing #Amazon #Echo devices in the trash this second; in my timeline.
We did this back in February.
Got to say the #HomeAssistant voice boxes are totally usable. A little dumber than Alexa sans a llm, but perfectly adequate if you are like us and mostly just turn smart plugs on and off and check the weather. #HomeAssistantVoice #AmazonEcho #Alexa #Floss
@techhelpkb@mastodon.socialIn an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and, therefore, avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon’s cloud.
#amazon #echo #alexa #cloud #privacy
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/everything-you-say-to-your-echo-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-on-march-28/
"Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28"
Ouch. The best place for these listening devices is in the garbage.
Amazon is going to be disabling the privacy feature that processes voice commands locally on an Echo device at the end of this month. Instead all voice commands will be sent to Amazon's cloud for processing.
I have already followed my own steps to remediate this:
1. Unplug Echo Device
2. Throw Echo Device in Trash
3. Done
Kafele's bat companion
I know I have been doing a LOT of pixels
I find them relaxing in a time of stress for me
But I hope to expand back into the quantity and quality of the art I produce.
I still have many pixels and Refsheets I need to do for myself. But they will be in between other works.
Character(s) ©
Yoki
#FurryArt #Art #Pixel #PixelArt #Roleplay #RojoMitu #Bat #Echo
It is once again time to give thanks to Brian Fox, the Black American programmer that has given us BASH and echo! Thank you for your INCREDIBLE contributions to open source software, Unix, and Linux. It literally would not be the same without you. BASH is still absolutely foundational to all computing today. Happy Black History Month to an absolute icon!
Gay Furry Smex
They warned Conrad that wondering around the jungle alone was dangerous, But given he decided to wander out without any clothes id say he knew exactly what he was getting into~
Patreon Speed paint reward for Echoraptor!
#echo : a sound reflected from an opposing surface and repeated to the ear of a listener
- French: un écho
- German: der Widerhall, das Echo
- Italian: eco
- Portuguese: eco
- Spanish: eco
------------
Join our new Discord Server for language learners @ https://wordofthehour.org/discord
Wires Soviet wire recorder echo plugin by AudioThing on sale for $19 USD! https://rekkerd.org/audiothing-wires-soviet-wire-recorder-echo-plugin-hainbach-sale/
