In Case You Missed Us: Amazon Alexa and Tech Flops on Tech Talk with KTRS

Last week on Tech Talk, our IT Expert covered topics from Amazon Alexa to some of the biggest technology flops of the past few decades. SumnerOne's IT expert, Jeff Groby, fielded many questions from Guy Phillips and his co-hosts in efforts to share the latest news in the world of technology for our segment on The Big 550 KTRS.

Amazon Alexa in the News

Do you have an Amazon Alexa? Last week, the news hit that Amazon has workers listening to recordings of what users are telling Alexa. Amazon employs people all across the globe to help improve the overall capabilities of the popular digital assistant.

Amazon said, the workers are listening to recordings captured in the environments where the devices live. The recordings are then transcribed, annotated, and then placed back into the software as Amazon works to eliminate gaps or issues within the technology. Amazon is letting its users teach Alexa how to be of better service to them. This effort is working to better Alexa's understanding of human speech to help the technology better respond to commands.

Even though Amazon employees may be listening to you, they take their users privacy seriously. The employees do not have access to any information that would clue them in on the identity of the users, and all collected data is confidential. Jeff mentioned that Amazon is only using small bits of the conversation to help Alexa to learn how to better communicate with users who have speech and language barriers. 

Popular Technology Flops Over the Years

It seems that a big handful of technologies introduced to the market too early end up making the list of technology flops. Whether the concept was just way before it's time, the device was too expensive for the average consumer, or there was just little interest, there are product flops every year.

One of the big flops that Jeff discussed was the Apple video game console from the 1990s. Jeff is a known Apple fanatic and stated that the technology was just too mainstream when it was released. It is estimated that fewer than 100,000 were ever sold.

Another well-known flop that was discussed was Google Glass. These glasses seemed like something straight out of the future, and people were overly hyped for Google to release the device. However, the invention was ahead of its time. The technology to power Google Glass wasn't quite there yet, the product was costly, and the public just wasn't ready to deal with the potential privacy concerns yet.

Jeff stated that we shouldn't be surprised when technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) takes off in addition to something similar to Google Glass resurfacing. These two technologies and more will take over someday, we just have to be patient and wait for the research to catch up.

Tech Talk on KTRS

Tune in every Friday afternoon at 4:20 to The Big 550 KTRS to hear the latest information about technology from the Experts at SumnerOne for Tech Talk. We've covered everything from cyber attacks, data breaches, all the way to providing end users with technology gift-giving advice. Want to learn more about SumnerOne and what our IT Experts do when they're not on the radio? Contact us for more information.