Be smart, stay dumb.

Back to the sheet Office Calculator · B4
Photo
B4 · Hall of smart-shame Oh no, you didn’t?

Asking Alexa

By Amazon.

Free
Estimate. Prices change.

A cloud server, a speech model and a microphone in your kitchen, put to work on primary-school arithmetic. It will also suggest a shopping list.

Online
Wi-Fi, Ethernet or cellular. An attacker can be anywhere, and it can collect data.
Cloud-dependent
Needs the maker's servers or app to work, so the maker can switch it off.

Buy the dumb one instead

We do not link to the smart one. You can find it.

Survival checklist

What it survives, next to the dumb one.
1
=SURVIVES(threat)Survives…
ThisAsking Alexa
The dumb oneDumb oneCurta calculator
2
Power cut
FALSE
TRUE
3
Wi-Fi goes down
FALSE
TRUE
4
The company switches off its servers
FALSE
TRUE
5
Someone tries to hack it
FALSE
TRUE
6
A firmware update goes wrong
FALSE
TRUE
7
Twenty years from now
FALSE
TRUE
8
=COUNTIF(TRUE)Total
0 of 60/6
6 of 66/6

The dumb one is the Curta calculator.

Row 4

See it in the sheetIn the sheet
Photo You are here

Twelve times eight? Here is what I found on the web.

Asking Alexa

Free
Online · Cloud-dependent Maths, via the cloud. Slowly.