[Central-md-chapter] A review of the amazon echo

Thu Dec 8 18:15:08 UTC 2016

Hi, all,

I'm sorry I missed the last meeting, but it had been raining 
moderately heavily and heavier throughout the day.  I was afraid 
that if that continued, I could be flooded out.  As for the 
matter of storage of information such as passwords and credit 
card information on the iPhone, I think that it's safe to say 
that while that information may be in your phone, it's safe to 
assume that iTunes and the Ap' store stores it, too. I have an 
iPhone six and had to change my credit card information when the 
chip credit cards came out and the ones without chips were 
discontinued. I use Uber quite a bit and Grubhub sometimes, hence 
the credit card information in my iPhone six. For some reason, in 
addition to changing credit card information, I also changed my 
password for some reason I don't recall.  Both processes of 
changing them involved going into the Ap' store, and iTunes was 
involved as well.  Whether or not that information is stored on a 
cloud or elsewhere is anyone's guess, I'd say; as my brother Jim 
used to say when he didn't know something, "Tell me, and we'll 
both know."

As for your Siri comment, Graham, the trigger isn't "Siri," for 
my phone, but "Hey, Siri." When my phone is charging, Siri 
automatically listens. I often ask Siri things while the phone is 
charging.  I don't have Siri set up to listen when the phone 
isn't charging, unless I press the home button. I use the phone a 
lot since I have it set up to receive and send emails via my Isp, 
as well as for iMessaging.  Not too long ago I purchased KNFB 
Reader, but I haven't done much with it yet.

I'm sorry I missed the speaker, since I tend to be somewhat leery 
of Amazon.  It's a company with two many eggs in one basket in my 
opinion, so how good that company is at any one thing is a matter 
of question in my opinion.  How good Amazon is at security is 
another question for me.  If that speaker hadn't brought along 
equipment for a hands-on demonstration, so that I could assess 
its accessability, I wouldn't buy from the guy, no matter how 
good his spoken presentation.  There's also the matter of cost 
per month for this added security.

I have yet to read the emails about this guy's presentation, 
because I was out and about yesterday.  Today is another day, so 
I'll see.

Usually, I send email from my iPhone, but not while it's 
charging, so this will be sent from Voice Note.

There are my thoughts on the subjects of iPhone, storage, and 
security.

Have a good day.

Brenda Mueller
Central Maryland Chapter NFB

> ----- Original Message -----
>From: Graham Mehl via Central-MD-Chapter 
<central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org
>To: "'Central Maryland Chapter List'" 
<central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Thu, 8 Dec 2016 07:49:08 -0500
>Subject: [Central-md-chapter] A review of the amazon echo

>Hi All,

>Jerry Price gave a wonderful presentation at our last champter 
meeting.
>Sharon sent out a listof products he refferred to and URLs for 
places that
>can be helpful in finding other products. I came across an 
article that is a
>good review of the amazon echo and Amazon dot.  I will provide 
the link to
>the article below. The reviewer has a whole section about how to 
turn on and
>off lights in ytour home. Sharon asked on how that could be done 
at the
>meeting. A concern of security was brought up. Both from a 
constant
>listening point of view and from storage of credit card 
information. I would
>like to point outthat like the Amazon echo listening for a 
trigger word
>constantly Starting with the iPhone 6, Siri can be setup to 
listen for your
>requests too. So instead of holding down the home button, you 
just say the
>trigger word, Siri. As for the credit card and the storage of it 
on your
>phone - I am not sure about all smart phones, but in order to 
setup the app
>store on the iPhone, you have to store your credit card info. I 
would have
>to double check this, but I believe the credit card info is 
stored inside
>the app and not out in the cloud associated with some service. So 
similarly
>ordering pizza the Pizza Hut app would have your credit card info 
saved
>within it in case you use it offen.  So it is up to the app on 
how it sets
>up security of your info. The Amazon echo or dot to my knowledge 
would not
>have this info stored within its skills. The skills or templates 
are
>instructions on how the Amazon echo interfaces / connects with 
the existing
>apps already on your devices the Amazon echo has connection to 
such as your
>phone.

>Here is the URL for the article I mentioned. Check it out.

>https://luisperezonline.com/2016/12/05/amazon-echo-as-an-accessib
ility-suppo
>rt/
><http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001CLBkezp2O4WjT2nT5fnhpyFi9OxluHvAi
diplgTayUqI
>IDTocP9kcBP6NH_0UAnz5-HwWKTjFnG4NEjmRaWAxVDgHi44SCDGZGhfkkq9J-y9m
zcZEshVU6SX
>W0uJDqo_4_OihcHiAEdU_dK8_E73woQhVJgCwddxxk6zefqsIO8vPs6dRPrZ8FN6I
YHdJqRsQqhJ
>tQsEf1IJ5QCTpzSQGFlB1MwfeyYKZuo8YIlsVKG-31kzm5kNW0JM4P353hp1&c=mk
og6dvD7nbrJ>f-hv3AJI4OSCuD-rlmpCXFLsfk5JCjk8UZYG11wRg==&ch=cRFrUK
isMVu-k_ucK90Do2jmWbCu7
>SUegQquKa1tzkEUAmvfCXiwaA==

>--

>Graham Mehl

> <mailto:blind at trailstone.com> blind at trailstone.com

>NFB Central Maryland Chapter, Vice President

>LCB graduate, 2016

> <http://www.freedomscientific.com/Certification