WELCOMEPAGE
ISSUE 378|COMPUTERSHOPPER|AUGUST 2019 3
“A
lexa, turn on lounge light.”Mmm, that’s not it.
“Alexa, turn on living room light.”Nope,not
that either.
“Alexa, turn living room light on.”Nothing.
“Alexa, turn –actually don’t bother,I’ll just get up and
do it myself.”
Foranyone who has used some kind of artificial
intelligence-powered voice assistant, whether Amazon
Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri, this probably sounds
familiar.These AI systems promise us an easy lifeof
bossing around an unseen slave,there to do our bidding,
from turning up the heating on acold night to turning
down the volume of atune when the phone rings.
But in reality,Ioftenend up carrying out the task
myself,asIcan’t remember the exact wording required
to get my assistant to do it forme. So there’s no point
repeatedly shouting “Alexa, stop music” or “Alexa,
stop Sonos” if the chosen command is ‘Alexa, stop’.
She’s not smart enough –yet –towork out the
nuances of our language.
To make the voice assistant experience abit smoother,
David Ludlow has spent hours testing out the various
systems, and has put together aguide to getting the
best out of Amazon Alexa. Turn to page 78 foradvice
on choosing the right Echo speaker,and step-by-step
guides to linking your speakers forbetter music control
and changing the wake-up word. Just think, no more
Alexa interrupting your viewing every time the Lexus ad
comes on TV.
I’m also pleased to announce thatComputer Shopperis
officially government-approved, kind of.Congratulations
to our very own Clive Webster –tech expert,Advanced
Projectseditor and now newly elected UK councillor.Clive
was elected in May’s local elections, no doubt aided by
some excellent Excel-based campaign research (Shopper
376) and Quire-based team working (Shopper368).MadelineBennett,Editor
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Contactus
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ContributingContributingEditorDavidLudlowdavid@computershopper.co.uk
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MelCroucher,AmyDavies,KayEwbank,SimonHandby,
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available toComputerShopperShopperat the time of review. ‘Value for money’
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