[Bootpathguy]

It's secretly listening to me. My voice commands are "off" but Are they really? For example... The other day my wife and I were discussing a route to a now closed, destination. The base of Snoqualmie Falls. We really enjoyed going down there when you still could. The other day from the observation deck, we could see some folks down there. They were on the opposite side of the river. When we got home. We were in the family room having a discussion about how to now access the basin. I said, "let's Google it". In the search box I typed "how to..." and Google finished my sentence... "get to the base of Snoqualmie Falls" This has happened a handful of times. Google finishing my typed sentences and reading my mind. Freaky! My phone is evil! It's creep'n me out Is the front facing camera watching me? Who's watching me? I also heard about another story with Amazon's Alexa. Even in sleep mode, it's listening and recording everything. It / she helps in a murder case http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/tech/amazon-echo-alexa-bentonville-arkansas-murder-case/index.html

[Jaberwock]

It's the services not the device. I listed to an interview with a Facebook engineer- people were complaining that the Facebook app was listening to their conversations and then serving them ads or friend suggestions based on their conversations. The Facebook engineer said "we don't need to listen to your microphone, we already know more about you than you." Their deep learning programs are nuts- That's why I stay off google/facebook/etc.

[NacMacFeegle]

It really is very creepy - I'll have a conversation with someone in real life with my phone in my pocket, and if I've mentioned some kind of product the next ad I see online will be for that product. This has happened too many times to be coincidence, and I think it may be time to do a hard reset of my phone and be a little more careful which apps I install in the future!

[JonnyQuest]

The "river left" access you mentioned is via a trail that belongs to Snoqualmie Outdoor Theater. If you're a thespian at heart, you can join and have access to the trail. Or you can take up kayaking, launch from the Power House river access, paddle across to river-left, walk your boat up, and enjoy paddling in the pool at the base of the falls. Surreal experience!

[boot up]

I am home sick with the flu, therefore watching a LOT of movies and TV. I just watched the movie "The Circle" that is sci-fi exploring this topic. Very interesting movie, especially if you have worked in high tech and realize it is not really that much of a reach into the future. Weakest point of the movie is its ending, but I won't give any spoilers. Synopsis is the movie uses a company that is a combination of Facebook, Google, Amazon and probably a few others, that try to sell the concept that dumping every bit of your life onto their server farm is only to help you and the world. Of course "what could possibly go wrong" is a major part of the plot structure. Funniest flaw in the movie is when they differentiate "saving to the cloud" as being a very different thing from "saving to an actual place" (i.e. server farm) Or maybe you have to be a major geek to laugh at that one. We have a HUGE Facebook server farm in Prineville, just north of where I live. Unless you know it is there, you would never guess it is there, as they keep it unsigned and low key. It is not there only location. Another flaw in the movie is the server farm scenes are way too small....

[puzzlr]

[zephyr]

Awesome photo puzzlr. Makes me want to do down there (on a hot summer day). I believe I went part way once. I certainly remember the kayakers but can't recall if I got to that location. The trail was closed for repairs another time. ~z

[Bootpathguy]