My neighbor said his new smart speaker was 'life changing' and I had to bite my tongue

He was raving about it at our building's mailboxes yesterday, saying it could control his lights and play any song. I went home and read three different reviews online, and two of them pointed out the same big privacy flaw in the fine print. Now I'm stuck wondering if people just don't read the full reviews before they buy stuff. How do you even figure out what the real deal is with a gadget before you bring it home?

3 comments

3 Comments

xena_kim21d ago

Wait, he didn't know about the privacy thing? That's the first thing I check for now. It's scary how much these things listen to. I just assume every gadget is collecting data, so I dig through the bad reviews to find the deal breakers. Sometimes you have to look on forums where people who actually own the thing talk about the problems.

veramiller21d ago

Why do we even need to read the fine print on a toaster?

webb.keith12d ago

Check the app permissions before you even install it. I found a weather app that wanted access to my contacts and call logs, which is insane. That's when I started looking at what data each app actually needs to function. If a simple flashlight app asks for your location, that's a huge red flag. You can usually deny those permissions and the app still works fine.