Page 36 - Seniorstoday March 2024 Issue
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listen on hearing the wake word, but even or pressing the physical mute button on its
then, voice assistants can make mistakes. body. It’s a tiny button with a microphone
Anyone with a voice assistant device may icon on it. The Apple HomePod, on the
have experienced it accidentally getting other hand, doesn’t have a button, so
triggered by random background noise. you’ll either need to temporarily disable
It’s a common phenomenon (and outright it through the app or say, “Hey Siri,
annoying, to say the least). stop listening.” The inconvenience with
A Statista report shows that 45% of manual interventions like these is the
users worldwide are wary about voice back and forth of disabling and turning
data privacy, and rightfully so. While it on. Moreover, how often would you
companies such as Google, Amazon, and remember to disable it? My guess is not too
Apple are addressing these issues to frequently.
develop a more robust privacy system, at Most of us keep our voice assistant
the end of the day, it is technology we’re devices right next to where we’re probably
dealing with, which means it’s not always discussing every minute detail of our lives.
perfect. While these devices offer benefits galore,
A quick fix for this problem would be they do pose certain privacy risks.
temporarily disabling your Amazon Echo We’ll leave it to you; it’s a call you must
and Google Home devices through the app take after careful consideration.
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