David 

Thanks for posting this.  After seeing it on your list, I was just about 
to post a link here for this  as it seems to give a nice synopsis of the 
state of the smart speaker industry.

There has been something which has been troubling me as related to devices 
such as the Echo and its role in the lives of many blind users.
I love its convenience and use my stable of Echo devices in many of the 
ways described in this thread;  in fact, I can thank the Echo for getting 
me into the world of Sirius-xm which I otherwise would have never have 
gotten hooked on.

It's one thing to use Echo devices when it allows one to do things better 
and more efficiently.  
But I also sense some have gotten so dependent on their devices that they 
have abandoned their use of the web.

Everything has a place; but, in no way, can an Alexa replace a JAWS, NVDA, 
whatever.
Moreover, screen readers such as JAWS has become easier to use thanks to 
something that you and I use daily, namely Brian Hartgen's Leasey script 
package which is about to go into version 8.

One of the things I have tried in using Alexa is discovering what it can 
and cannot do better for me.
It's simple to ask her for a score or 2 (sometimes it takes her several 
attempt to get it right, btw) but if I want to see a whole of scores at 
the same time, going to pages, whose links I have saved, makes a whole lot 
more sense.
Alexa is nice for a cursory look at the weather; but a complete forecast 
is far better gotten on the web.

Force fitting a smart speaker to do everything in one's life hardly makes 
sense in my view.

BTW, every JAWS user owes themselves to take a look at Leasey even if they 
are a skilled user.
I'm saying it; and I know you have said it also in other places and 
situations.


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