Imagine shelling out good money for a smart display meant to simplify your daily routine, only to find it relentlessly shoving advertisements in your face – that's the growing frustration hitting Amazon Echo Show users hard, and it's sparking real regret among buyers.
If you're new to smart home tech, the Echo Show is Amazon's lineup of devices with screens that let you interact with Alexa, the company's voice assistant, for things like video calls, recipes, or weather updates. But lately, owners are noticing a surge in promotional content popping up on these handy gadgets. For context, these displays have dabbled in ads before – think promotions tied to Amazon's Shopping Lists feature, where it nudges you toward items on your virtual grocery roster, or pop-ups highlighting cool Alexa skills that enhance what your device can do. Plus, if you're streaming tunes via Amazon Music through Alexa, you might hear sponsored audio spots interrupting your playlist.
Now, the buzz from online communities like Reddit and insights from tech journalist Jennifer Pattison Tuohy at The Verge point to Amazon ramping things up even more. Tuohy, who has multiple Echo Shows in her home, shared that she's seen an uptick in ads cluttering the home screens – those idle displays that greet you when the device isn't in active use. This escalation is so intrusive that it's driving folks to drastic measures: some are unplugging their units entirely, others are ditching them mid-use, and a few are even boxing them up for returns to avoid the constant sales pitch.
But here's where it gets controversial: Amazon is now aggressively promoting Alexa+, their shiny new subscription-based upgrade to the Alexa assistant powered by generative AI. For beginners, generative AI is like having a super-smart chatbot that can create responses on the fly, making interactions more natural and helpful – think brainstorming ideas or summarizing news. However, even though Alexa+ is still in its Early Access phase (meaning it's not fully rolled out and available only to select testers), ads for this paid service are dominating Echo Show screens without mercy. One frustrated user on Reddit vented, 'This is getting ridiculous, and I'm about to just toss the whole thing and move back to Google,' describing how these 'full-volume' promotions blast through their device.
Tuohy noted something particularly irksome – on one of her Echo Shows (but not others), ads appeared for the first time just this week, and they even interrupted her personal photo slideshows, which is supposed to be a cozy, ad-free way to enjoy family pictures. The examples she spotted included pitches for elderberry herbal supplements (touted for immune boosts), Quest sports chips (a protein-packed snack for fitness enthusiasts), and decorative tabletop picture frames. It's like your own digital photo album turning into a billboard.
And this is the part most people miss: while users can tweak some settings to curb certain ads, like those in music or skills, the home screen promotions are stubbornly non-optional. You can't just flip a switch to banish them. When tech site Ars Technica reached out to Amazon for clarity, a spokesperson responded with a statement emphasizing their approach to personalized recommendations, but it didn't address disabling options directly – leaving many wondering if this is a fair trade-off for the convenience these devices promise.
Subtly, one could argue that while ads fund free services elsewhere, plastering them on a device you paid for feels like an overreach, especially when it invades personal moments like viewing photos. Is Amazon prioritizing profits over user experience, or is this just the evolving reality of smart tech? What do you think – are these ads a deal-breaker for you, or do the benefits of Echo Show outweigh the annoyance? Drop your agreement, disagreement, or personal stories in the comments below; I'd love to hear how this is affecting your smart home setup!
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