As I look out the window this morning, the tranquility is shattered by my neighbor sprinting down the sidewalk, screaming for help. Close behind him is a roaring lawnmower, nipping at his heels, its blade churning in a bloodlust.
“Well, I’ll be!” I mutter. “My neighbor must have gotten one of those new Smart Mowers, the kind that are voice-activated. You just say ‘Christine, mow the grass’ then stand aside and let it do the work. Looks like someone has already hacked it, probably those pesky Russians.”
Sound far-fetched to you? Well, then, it’s time to get up to snuff on the technology craze taking over the world—voice-activated devices. Looking into the future, one thing you can be sure of is that sadistic tech billionaires will introduce an array of new things to reduce our savings accounts… and increase our stress levels.
My wife just got a phone upgrade. I must admit that her new phone has a lot more voice features and is very chatty. It will talk about nearly anything. I thought it was bad enough around the house when my wife would talk to our dog, and I would frequently shout “What?” from another room.
But now, in addition to the dog, she is talking to her phone or other devices all the time, commanding stuff like “Siri, give me a recipe for eggplant soup,” resulting in my shouting “What?” twice as often.
You must speak slowly and clearly when making a command. For example, tell Siri to have an order of chicken wings delivered from a restaurant. Within minutes the doorbell will ring, and it’s possible you will be greeted by a delivery person attempting to hand you a squawking live chicken.
Or over the holidays, you might say, “Alexa, play Jingle Bells.” And the odds are pretty good that you’ll experience several dental fillings pop out of your mouth as Alexa cranks up ‘Hells Bells’ by AC/DC.
One thing you must be very careful to avoid when it comes to these Smart devices is leaving Google, Siri, and Alexa alone together for an extended period of time. Lord only knows what stories about you they will be sharing.
