When you buy an Amazon Echo, you’d be prepared to be eavesdropped. It is more powerful than a smartphone listening to you. It apparently hears everything in your home, 24/7, and then archives what it learned on Amazon’s cloud storage. So, yeah, if you have an Echo device, you are in a full-time consumer focus group without even knowing it. But thankfully, there’s a mute button. But do you really trust Amazon to mute anything? Well, if you don’t, then you may need Alexagate.
Conceived by the folks over at MSCHF, Alexagate is a nifty (and honestly, quite attractive) device that blocks Amazon from spying on you. It retrofits onto a compatible Echo device and when turned on, uses seven ultrasonic speakers to jam your Alexa’s mic. Since ultrasound is beyond the range of adult human hearing, you won’t be able to hear Alexagate is busy stopping the mics.
The beauty of this device is, you can turn it on and off as and when you desire. All you have to do is clap 3x to turn jamming on or off. The device, which is presented in a striking yellow (that seemingly is a warning of the danger of the device it was designed to be used with), has a cross formed by lighted dots. When the cross appears (i.e. lights up), it means dear old Bezos’ team can’t listen to you.
MSCHF said Alexagate works on most Amazon Echo devices. You may refer to the FAQ for the extensive list of Echo models.
So, if you feel uncomfortable with a third ear in the home because you have an Echo, you may want to consider picking up the Alexagate from Alexagate.com for US$99.
