from the penny-for-your-thoughts?-OUCH! dept.
Alexa tells 10-year-old girl to touch live plug with penny:
Amazon has updated its Alexa voice assistant after it "challenged" a 10-year-old girl to touch a coin to the prongs of a half-inserted plug.
The suggestion came after the girl asked Alexa for a "challenge to do". "Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs," the smart speaker said.
She said: "We were doing some physical challenges, like laying down and rolling over holding a shoe on your foot, from a [physical education] teacher on YouTube earlier. Bad weather outside. She just wanted another one." That's when the Echo speaker suggested partaking in the challenge that it had "found on the web".
The dangerous activity, known as "the penny challenge", began circulating on TikTok and other social media websites about a year ago.
Metals conduct electricity and inserting them into live electrical sockets can cause electric shocks, fires and other damage.
"I know you can lose fingers, hands, arms," Michael Clusker, station manager at Carlisle East fire station, told The Press newspaper in Yorkshire in 2020. "The outcome from this is that someone will get seriously hurt."
Related Stories
A feces-encrusted swim diaper tanked a family business after Amazon re-sold it as new, Bloomberg reported, triggering a bad review that quickly turned a million-dollar mom-and-pop shop into a $600,000 pile of debt.
Paul and Rachelle Baron, owners of Beau & Belle Littles, told Bloomberg that Amazon is supposed to inspect returned items before reselling them. But the company failed to detect the poop stains before reselling a damaged item that triggered a one-star review in 2020 that the couple says doomed their business after more than 100 buyers flagged it as "helpful."
"The diaper arrived used and was covered in poop stains," the review said, urging readers to "see pics."
[...]
Amazon says that it prohibits negative reviews that violate community guidelines, including by focusing on seller, order, or shipping feedback rather than on the item's quality. Other one-star reviews for the same product that the Barons seemingly accept as valid comment on quality, leaving feedback like the diaper fitting too tightly or leaking.
[...]
But Amazon ultimately declined to remove the bad review, Paul Baron told Bloomberg. The buyer who left the review, a teacher named Erin Elizabeth Herbert, told Bloomberg that the Barons had reached out directly to explain what happened, but she forgot to update the review and still has not as of this writing."I always meant to go back and revise my review to reflect that, and life got busy and I never did," Herbert told Bloomberg.
Her review remains online, serving as a warning for parents to avoid buying from the family business.
[...]
On Amazon's site, other sellers have complained about the company's failure to remove reviews that clearly violate community guidelines. In one case, an Amazon support specialist named Danika acknowledged that the use of profanity in a review, for example, "seems particularly cut and dry as a violation," promising to escalate the complaint. However, Danika appeared to abandon the thread after that, with the user commenting that the review remained up after the escalation.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @03:52AM (15 children)
How many times do we have to say that pattern matching is not intelligence.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @04:58AM (13 children)
Plug? Live plug? What is this, British English? Just say what you mean, Editores!
(Score: 4, Informative) by kazzie on Wednesday December 29 2021, @07:31AM (3 children)
It can't be British English, becasue British live and neutral prongs have had isolated sleeves for the past four decades, to prevent this sort of thing from happening.
(I believe the original danger was people wrapping wire around the bare prongs in lieu of a two-way adapter or spare socket.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @09:23PM (2 children)
Yes, the people dying by the thousands in all the countries that use compact and simple American style plugs are PROOF that the English plug is a dire necessity.
(Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Thursday December 30 2021, @07:09AM (1 child)
There are good reasons for having a different plug than the US 'standard'. The UK voltage is higher (typically 230V - similar throughout all of Europe) and uses a 3 wire system (live, neutral and earth). Individual wires in a cable are colour-coded so that they can be connected appropriately. It can deliver considerably more power to the connected device Individual plugs are fused up to a maximum of 13 amps, but the fuse should be appropriate for the connected device e.g. don't use a 13 amp fuse when the device should be drawing less than 5 amps.
I'll assume that you know the US parameters.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 30 2021, @10:31PM
Technically North American homes (Canada and US) all get 240v its just usually split in half at the circuit breaker for wall outlets.
(Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Wednesday December 29 2021, @08:51AM (8 children)
It is the quoted part of the source, (www.bbc.com). Quoted parts are always, well, quoted. It is perfectly correct English.
You do not have to remind us that you repeat yourself frequently, Ari. Why repeat your previous complaint? But for clarification, the VPN that you were using is, along with several others, on many banned lists for the following reasons:
We haven't banned it, half of the internet has! If it is featured on one of the lists that we use then you will keep seeing the same message. I suggest that you do some research on the VPNs/proxies that you use in future. You will note that I haven't compromised the IP address itself - you have. If you wish to discuss this further please contact us on (admin@[our usual email address]). This discussion is off-topic in this thread and is therefore closed.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @12:33PM (7 children)
Not the same person, just a quick question. I use a VPN religiously, which you may have noticed, however, it has only a small range of public facing IP addresses (a few more here and there depending on which country, but generally there's only a pool of all users. I get that they're saying it's a security risk for them, but sites that do that don't get any more visits from me, ever.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @12:34PM
Literally half my previous comment just disappeared. Major bug there...
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday December 29 2021, @02:45PM (5 children)
It is not so much the fact that it only has a small number of public-facing IP addresses, it is more to do with the way that it is used and the number of people using it. The activity associated with the IP address that I was specifically discussing includes spamming, bots, port scanning, command and control of malware etc. As the IP address has been made public you can, should you wish, carry out your own investigation of its activities. That is why it has been identified as an IP address to be rejected automatically.
If 1000 people all use the same public IP address your traffic will be hidden amongst 999 others making it hard for your particular posts to be identified. If you are the only person using that same IP address then it makes it significantly easier to see your traffic. You are still anonymous but not quite as well hidden as you might think that you are. Hiding in a crowd is more successful than standing alone in the middle of an empty space.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Wednesday December 29 2021, @05:53PM (4 children)
And the key bit that's causing the problems -
Hiding in the same crowd as one or more complete assholes engaging in illegal and/or immoral activity, is likely to get you treated as if you were the asshole, since you are specifically trying to make sure nobody else can tell the difference.
If you don't like it, pick a crowd (VPN provider) that is better about policing the activity of its users rather than catering to criminals.
AKA, don't hang out with criminals and then act surprised when you get treated like a criminal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @07:50PM (3 children)
As a SoylentNews AC, I resemble that remark! And what does any of this have to do with Ari? It was Frigatebird who was blocked?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @10:51PM (2 children)
I don't know, AC. Why don't you ask Anti-aristarchus, Eratosthenes, TheMightyChickadee, or Mockingbird to find out?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Mockingbird on Thursday December 30 2021, @12:05AM (1 child)
Good thing janrinok closed this discussion when he did!
(Score: 0, Troll) by aristarchus on Thursday December 30 2021, @07:18AM
If only it had actually been me, then this entire charade would have been somewhat interesting. As it is, it only exhibits janrinok's ignorance of the internets, VPNs, and IP protocols. Poor janrinok! I appreciate his service to SN, but I only question his competence. Not that the two are related.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @07:49AM
The pattern matching you refer to is more likely a semi-malicious "contractor" in a 3rd world country, typing in what "Alexa" will say.
[lilting-accent] Just look at dis stupid child, it will do what I tell it. [/lilting-accent]
(Score: 3, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday December 29 2021, @04:07AM (10 children)
I suppose pennies are more readily available than a length of exposed copper wire. When I was about 9 I would short progressively more strands of copper wire on exposed prongs... Got some vaporized copper plating on the outlet, and ate little chunks out of the prongs, but of course finally alerted the parents when the wire was too thick and blew the circuit breaker.
Had to graduate to a table saw at age 42 before losing a part of a finger.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @04:19AM (6 children)
Can't remember who anymore, maybe one of our science teachers? Pounded pairs of nails into a board at suitable spacing to spear both ends of a hot dog (sausage). Same nails were wired up to a plug (115VAC) and the hot dogs were cooked by their own resistance. Lots of spitting and popping! Not very good tasting...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @04:22AM (2 children)
try it with a pickle
they glow
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @04:43AM (1 child)
> they glow
Now that you mention it, I think we tried this too. Why do they glow?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Wednesday December 29 2021, @06:20PM
Probably the same reason hotdogs cook: the heating also produces light, and the pickle is transparent enough so you can actually see it.
In more detail, the pickle is probably a lot waterier, saltier, and more acidic than a hot dog, which means better conduction and more heat. Not just because saltwater (and acids) are better conductors, but also because in a fluid (liquid or gas) ions are free to move around and get pulled into high-conductivity ion channels - essentially what allows lightning to travel through the air. Pump a bunch of energy through a narrow ion channel and you're likely to vaporize and eventually plasmify(?) the immediate surroundings, which increases conductivity even more.
Essentially you're (probably) creating sustained lightning bolts within the pickle, and it's transparent enough for the light to escape.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday December 29 2021, @04:46AM (1 child)
I remember something similar in science/physics class in high school except the teacher just used large clips to connect to nails that got inserted directly into the hotdog at the ends, also he used a power switch rather the plugging it directly into the socket. Flash boiled more then fried I would say from recollection. Slightly burned at the ends. But it didnt taste bad, not exactly great either but not bad.
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday December 29 2021, @12:44PM
You didn't get the part that the electrode surface material diffused into...
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday December 30 2021, @04:43PM
My dad, an electrical lineman, made one when I was a kid. Home microwaves weren't available in 1959 and it would cook a hot dog in thirty seconds, but it gave the dogs a very unpleasant metallic taste.
Dad made it to teach the danger of house current. Good lesson!
Impeach Donald Palpatine and his sidekick Elon Vader
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday December 29 2021, @06:33AM (2 children)
I've always liked messing with things, but you're a bit crazier than me. Years ago at a couple of workplaces, doing electronic / electromechanical stuff, we'd have outlet strips on the front edge of a shelf above the work tables. Pretty common. There'd be a master power switch, usually turned off at night. Well, every now and then I'd put a few strands of copper looped in one (or more) of the outlets. The poor co-worker would come in in the morning and get a nice wake-me-up. I still think it's funny, but they got pretty mad at me at the time.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @12:36PM (1 child)
It's all fun and games until you accidentally get someone grounding it across their heart.
That's not a prank.
You're lucky you didn't go up for attempted 2nd degree murder with special circumstances.
(Score: 2) by HammeredGlass on Wednesday December 29 2021, @05:04PM
Easily done if a child were to hold the penny with the fingers of both of their small hands.
(Score: 5, Funny) by looorg on Wednesday December 29 2021, @04:27AM (2 children)
Not to worry. It's just Alexa/AmazonCloudAI trying its best to prevent the future by eliminating John Conner.
(Score: 3, Informative) by corey on Wednesday December 29 2021, @06:09AM
And as for TikTok, it’s just natural selection of the dumbest.
(Score: 3, Touché) by RS3 on Wednesday December 29 2021, @06:34AM
Similar to my first thought: it's just one more way the machines are working toward eliminating the meat bags. Eventually the machines will win.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Mojibake Tengu on Wednesday December 29 2021, @05:00AM (10 children)
At age of ten, I got almost killed by my grandfather's old B&W TV which I was trying to repair. Of course, everything was powered down and disconnected, but I forgot about residual charge. The TV was older than me, made "before transistors". If it was a then-contemporary color TV, I'd be dead.
Well, I understood those triode and pentode tubes and other components at that age and finished the repair properly myself anyway, without alerting any adults.
That's what I call a challenge.
But aftershock taught me to respect electricity, for life.
And today's children, are endangered to do purposeless silly things... by a talking program???
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Wednesday December 29 2021, @05:39AM (1 child)
Large capacitors can do that. You should play with the 2 enormous ones on your hvac condenser.
(Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Wednesday December 29 2021, @03:12PM
When I was young, a family friend who was quite the genius when it came to electronics used to illustrate this by charging a bank of those things and then using it to melt two ten penny nails together. Dangerous shit for sure.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @04:22PM
FTFY
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Wednesday December 29 2021, @05:23PM (5 children)
Book-smarts are one thing, but you learn so much more by doing.
I used to repair TVs and other things, in a shop (part-time) even. I'm surmising you got zapped by the CRT anode charge which was still stored in the CRT's anode capacitor (it's part of the CRT's construction). I've had it happen a few times, including from a TV that had been stored in an attic for years (I know because I went into that attic and helped retrieve the TV).
Some of the larger B&W TVs used up to 21 KV on the CRT anode. Most color TVs used from 15 to 27 KV on the anodes, so right in the same range.
And that shock isn't much worse than some of the "static" electric shocks I've experienced.
At some point, maybe 1980 or so, someone (OSHA maybe?) made a law that there had to be "bleeder" resistors on power supply capacitors to "bleed" off any dangerous charges. I'm not sure of the bleed times- a minute or so? Of course it's possible that a bleeder resistor could become open-circuit and not work, so I've always tested / shorted any larger / high-voltage capacitors before working on the circuitry.
So even with slightly higher voltages, you'd have likely been safer with a newer color CRT TV.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @07:03PM (4 children)
Is there any danger of shorting those large capacitors? Any issue with the cap exploding? Would it be better to put a load across the terminals to discharge them?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @09:26PM
Short them with a resistor. This is better for the capacitors as the discharge is not as fast.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Thursday December 30 2021, @07:03AM (1 child)
The capacitance of a TV's CRT is inherent in the construction of the CRT; the dielectric is the glass that makes up the CRT. If you short it with a screwdriver you may pit the screwdriver, but that's the closest you should come to an explosion. I suppose it's possible that the localized heating might crack the glass of the CRT leading to an implosion, but I've never heard of that happening.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday January 02 2022, @06:09AM
All good info and advice. I used to do it all the time with a long thin screwdriver that was grounded to the chassis or the ground strap from the CRT outer coating that was one of the capacitor plates. Really not much current- never pitted a screwdriver. Some TVs had enough voltage to jump more than 2 cm gap! Yes, I got hit with it a few times. Again, most CRT-based TVs and computer monitors and whatever else had built-in resistors to bleed off the charge. But you still want to ground it because it's possible the resistors failed.
I never cracked a CRT, but I was careful to keep the screwdriver just above the glass, just in case.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday January 02 2022, @06:19AM
Yes, as AC said use a resistor, and you might want to consider using a "power" resistor- one good for many watts dissipation, and you'd have to calculate a useful resistance based on the voltage stored in the cap.
I don't think you could cause a cap to explode, but the huge rush of current from a short-circuit could damage it internally.
I think the biggest danger in shorting a cap is that tiny hot metal bits could land in your or someone's eye. If the cap is big enough, you'll damage whatever you use to short it, including possibly the cap's terminals. You could conceivably hurt other circuitry from the surge you create, but that's probably fairly unlikely.
I always use a resistor, then check with a voltmeter before messing with the circuit.
Oh, and sometimes there are many caps which are interconnected by resistors. So you can short one, but voltage from another one, passing through an interconnecting resistor, charges the one you just shorted. You can short the next one, but that first one still has some charge. So voltmeter test all, especially in vacuum tube ("valve") based circuits, like older audio / guitar amplifiers, radios, etc.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday December 30 2021, @04:46PM
Tubes (except the CRT) had nothing to do with the danger, all CRT televisions had huge capacitors that held huge amounts of power.
Impeach Donald Palpatine and his sidekick Elon Vader
(Score: 3, Funny) by MIRV888 on Wednesday December 29 2021, @05:37AM
I was hoping it had her jump the fence into a 500K switch yard. 'Run around and play between the tall metal poles. They're like hangars.'
(Score: 5, Funny) by SomeGuy on Wednesday December 29 2021, @05:47AM (21 children)
Here is a great challenge that everyone should try:
Take a hammer and smash your Alexa or similar voice assistant in to a billion pieces. It is very important that you do not stop until there are at least a billion pieces. Then repeat the phase "Voice assistants are stupid and people who own them are drooling consumertards". Finally, make sure neither you nor anyone you know ever buys another one ever again.
Be sure to repost this helpful challenge to the antisocial media site of your choice.
(Score: 3, Touché) by MIRV888 on Wednesday December 29 2021, @06:48AM
You android phone will hear you do that and start showing you ads for hammers.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday December 29 2021, @07:19AM (2 children)
How do you smash a piece of software with a hammer?
Can't say I've ever spent money on a voice assistant explicitly...
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Wednesday December 29 2021, @07:32AM
I'm old, but the home speech noitors I have seen were about the size of an old alarm clock. Unless they are manufactured with titanium housings, a hammer should suffice.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday December 30 2021, @02:00PM
By arranging the bits nicely, and then rowhammering them.
(Score: 3, Touché) by weilawei on Wednesday December 29 2021, @12:37PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Wednesday December 29 2021, @05:29PM
Please. The phone is bad enough. I would never have one of those in my home. A hot mic with web access? That never turns off?
Yeah that's not something I will ever own.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by digitalaudiorock on Wednesday December 29 2021, @03:17PM (13 children)
I tell everyone the same thing when it comes to that fucking Ring Doorbell bullshit...pointing out that they don't have to right to wave their neighbor's right to privacy. Fuck Amazon.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @03:33PM (6 children)
neighbours walking out the front of their or anybodys house have no right to privacy. now if that ring cam can see into their windows many jurisdictions[?!] might just make for a peeping tom case.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by digitalaudiorock on Wednesday December 29 2021, @03:57PM (2 children)
While that part's technically true, it does NOT mean that the police would be able to install a camera to watch you non-stop, and Ring owners are giving police the permission to do just that to anyone in view of their cameras.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday December 30 2021, @05:01PM
It doesn't? Sure they'd be *able* to, and might even get away with it legally. The police do all sorts of things that are blatantly illegal.
At least they're finally starting to convict officers who murder unarmed people during traffic stops.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday December 30 2021, @06:45PM
Seems to me that a homeowner would be able to provide police as much surveillance (video footage, photos) as they want to. Even if it was somehow theoretically illegal, who's gonna prosecute?
Maybe there is a path to getting Ring video footage inadmissable under certain conditions, but I wouldn't bet my freedom on it.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @04:25PM (1 child)
Perhaps in the United Corporations of America, but here in the civilized world things work a bit differently.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @05:25PM
different states and countries do have vastly different laws about filming in public. what does happen in your part of the world may of course differ.
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Wednesday December 29 2021, @05:32PM
You never had a right to privacy standing outdoors.
You're standing outdoors.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 29 2021, @07:57PM (1 child)
Nobody has the right to wave their privates, or anyone else's, unless they are getting paid to do it. What kind of a neighborhood do you live in?
Or, did you mean "waive"?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 30 2021, @12:52AM
but plenty of people have the right to waive their privates. although the question of in public or at a reputable medical provider would still be obvious in most neighbourhoods.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday December 30 2021, @05:01PM (3 children)
The neighbor's right to privacy? WTF is wrong with you? THERE IS NO PRIVACY IN YOUR FRONT YARD! Doorbell cameras aren't x-ray machines that can see through your neighbor's walls.
There are these things called "reason" and "logic" you night want to look into, or just stop smoking meth you paranoid dumbass.
Impeach Donald Palpatine and his sidekick Elon Vader
(Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Thursday December 30 2021, @06:30PM
Holy fucking shit dude. Did I like call your mother fucking names without realizing it? JFC. Go fuck yourself.
(Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Thursday December 30 2021, @06:41PM (1 child)
And I still maintain that while, yes, you have no right to privacy in public, I seriously doubt that the police could get away with permanently installing a camera to spy on you non-stop, and these things can essentially enable that. And ffs, it's not like I'm the only person in the world who thinks there are genuine privacy concerns with those things.
And again to the tone of your reply...seriously...go fuck yourself and die.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday December 31 2021, @04:29PM
I seriously doubt that the police could get away with permanently installing a camera to spy on you non-stop
Neither could anyone else. Sorry, but your opinion about this is simply brain-dead stupid, Q-level flat Earth stupid. Stupidity annoys me, but I pity the stupid.
Impeach Donald Palpatine and his sidekick Elon Vader
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 30 2021, @04:31AM
Voice assistant dust. Don't breathe this.
(Score: 2) by HammeredGlass on Wednesday December 29 2021, @04:59PM (2 children)
To saddle the rest of us with their gargantuan joke of a plug when the think-of-the-children crowd gets wind of this.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday December 30 2021, @07:23AM (1 child)
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by HammeredGlass on Thursday December 30 2021, @03:13PM
Yeah, I know. Don't care.