Shh! These Gadgets Are Listening to You (PCMagazine)

From Samsung TVs to your Xbox, some of your gadgets are always listening.

Technology is a beautiful thing, but there will always be the naysayers who are concerned that we are one smartphone feature away from 1984.

That's probably a tad extreme, but if the Snowden documents and countless data breaches are any indication, nothing stays private on the Internet. It probably seems like your every tap, swipe, like, and scroll is monitored and mined for custom ads, location-based deals, and follow suggestions.

But the conversations you have in person, in your living room or your car; they're private, right? Maybe not. Just this morning, it was revealed that Samsung's smart TV privacy policy says plainly that the sets might capture snippets of your conversations in its quest to provide you with better voice-recognition technology.

Samsung was likely just covering itself with that piece of information; a request from its lawyers like those doomsday warnings on pharmaceutical commercials. But it's still a little unnerving. How much snooping are we talking about here?

In Samsung's case, you can turn off the voice-recognition features if you're concerned. But it's not the only gadget with always-on features. As more and more gadgets integrate voice features, expect always on or always listening to be a bigger part of the tech equation.

Check out the slideshow for gadgets that are patiently waiting for your command.

 

Moto X

The Moto X was the first Motorola smartphone to add the "OK Google" command (now known as Moto Voice on Motorola devices). With it, you can say that phrase from across the room, and your phone will wake up and accept your queries—from weather updates to sports scores to text messages. 

You need to activate the option on your phone by sitting with it in a quiet room for a bit so it learns your voice. Moto Voice also works on the Droid Maxx, Droid Mini, and Droid Ultra. On the second-gen Moto X, you can create your own launch phrase, like "Hello Moto X." 

According to Motorola, "Moto Voice is not recording everything it hears, it's simply matching the sound to your tuned launch phrase. The recognition of your launch phrase is done entirely on the phone. Motorola is not saving anything heard by the phone or the command either on the phone or in the cloud."

Nexus 6, Nexus 9, Galaxy Note 4

Motorola devices are not the only ones with always-listening voice commands. The newest Nexus devices—the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9— and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 also respond to "OK Google" commands. More setup (and opt out) details here.

Chrome

Meanwhile, on Google's Chrome browser, your PC can be in a listening mode if you have Google.com open. Unless you always have your Chrome browser open to Google.com, it's not technically an "always on" feature, but you could set it up that way: on a second screen at the office, or on a laptop on the counter while you're cooking, for example.

Amazon Echo

As Amazon says about Echo: "It's always on—just ask for information, music, news, weather, and more." The device, however, does require a "wake word"—either Amazon or Alexa—to carry out your demands. Amazon says the Echo includes an array of seven microphones, which "use beam-forming technology" to hear you from all directions, even if music is playing. Audio is streamed to the cloud via Amazon Web Services, "so it continually learns and adds more functionality over time," Amazon said. It gets to know you, Amazon says, so it can presumably call you by your favorite nickname right before the robot uprising.

Xbox One

Xbox One

The Xbox One has an Instant-On power mode, which lets you wake it up simply by saying "Xbox on." When this mode is on, your console power supply unit (PSU) remains on and the solid white LED on the PSU is bright. You may also hear the console's fan. To alter settings on Xbox One navigate to Home screen > Menu > Settings > Power & startup. 

It's a handy feature, though make sure you don't confuse your console. Some Xbox One owners reported that a mid-2014 commercial for their console featuring actor Aaron Paul saying the "Xbox on" command turned their devices on, too.

Where Can I Drive You?

A car like Knight Rider's KITT is probably on many of our tech bucket lists. While our trusty sedans can't yet save us from danger or drive up the back of an 18-wheeler unassisted (give Google a couple years), car makers are experimenting with tech that puts your car into an always-on mode (usually via Bluetooth) in order to help you make a call or select music without driving into a ditch. 

The systems still need some work. PCMag's Jamie Lendino says his car has a maddening tendency to launch into a 30-second-long voice command tutorial when it doesn't understand—which cannot be silenced. 

With the launch of Sync 3, Ford said it had improved voice recognition to be more conversational, though PCMag's Doug Newcomb said he'll believe it when he sees/hears it.

Facebook Is Listening (for 15 Seconds)

Last year, Facebook announced a feature that will identify the song, TV show, or movie that's playing while you're writing a status update. Similar to Shazam, Facebook's new optional identification feature listens to your surroundings as you type in a new update, and gives you the option to add to your status that you're listening to Beyoncé or watching Game of Thrones, for example. 

Facebook said that nothing the microphone listens to is recorded or stored, and the app cannot identify background noise or conversation. If you'd rather not have the social network scan your surroundings, navigate to Status, tap the smiley face icon, and tap the audio icon to silence it. 

After some users expressed concern, Facebook said that the feature "will only use your microphone (for 15 seconds) when you’re actually writing a status update to try and match music and TV."