The Amazon Echo, Alexa, is an always-on voice interface to the data center you don't understand. It sits in your living room answering questions and doing small chores while you try over and over to learn what it can do.
Echo lives in the kitchen next to the Technivorm-Moccamaster 3000. Only one makes coffee.
Echo routinely disappoints. It's a handy kitchen timer when your hands are full but not yet smart enough to time two things at once. Not yet.
Everything you say goes to Amazon's data center where the deep learning in their neural network tries to make sense of what you ask.
Echo's most clever feature is the phased array directional microphone that hears you clearly from anywhere in the room. No need to get up from your chair.
Echo is the VIC-20 of the Ambient Intelligence era. The co-evolution of learning begins.
Echo is the most ambient of the Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon race to own and deliver all knowledge to their respective subscribers. See Programming Paradigms
# Later
A year has passed. Like any website Echo changes, not always for the better.
Echo acquired a second timer which was heavily used cooking for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thank you.
Echo acquired an unfortunate awkward turn of phrase. The annoyingly verbose response "your timer will ring ten minutes from now" replaces the knowing confirmation "ten minutes starting now". This lasts four weeks then reverts.
# Grow
Amazon follows the niche-and-grow strategy to dominate of the internet of things. The functional but rather specialized echo is now joined by the dot and tap.
Dot is the stubby version of echo, one inch high, but happy to speak through a tiny speaker or bluetooth music to speakers nearby. amazon 
Tap is the battery operated and stereophonic version with an induction charger and optional colorful carrying strap. It can pair with your phone or play from its own memory. And when on wifi it talks like its big sister. amazon
See Watson Chats
# Stale
I time my coffee brewing each morning. Ten minutes, starting now. I have both hands full filling and placing the cone but can still speak softly to echo the moment the heating begins.
I could pour coffee after nine minutes but the cone would be dripping on the counter. I had a bean once that brewed slower. Eleven minutes to finish. I know this because of accurate timing.
January 30, 2022. Echo starts beeping and won't stop. We finally unplug it and start reading #alexadown tweets for laughs.
I get up early, hours before my wife. I've been known to forget the coffee and let it get cold in the pot. Bummer. Hence the timing.
Lately I've been forgetting to alert echo when the coffee starts. I've caught my mistake soon enough to enjoy hot coffee and my morning solitude. I've filled with a sense of self-sufficiency.
I'm tired of talking to echo every morning. This is an unusual realization. I'm reminded again just how stupid "she" is. I'm thinking of replacing her with an AVR Tiny 12 current sense and piezo beeper. No hands, no talk, beep.
# Related
Meeker says echo threatens iphone. post
The valley remains more excited about VR even though Alexa is in more hands of regular people. post
Joshua Porter explains how to make echo talk well. post
The Privacy Threat From Always-On Microphones Like the Amazon Echo. aclu
Tracking, Profiling, and Ad Targeting in the Amazon Smart Speaker Ecosystem. arxiv