Just how does that work ??? !!!!!

[fossyant]

I still suspect that our devices are listening to more than we think!

I know that my phone listens out for music playing nearby because I enabled its 'Now Playing' feature. It has a history list of several thousand songs played near it since I bought the phone a couple of years ago.

I think it is listening to more than just music though... I went to my dentist today. As I was about to leave the surgery, I mentioned that my Oral B toothbrush was slowing down; its battery seems to be on its last legs. The dentist had some discount vouchers for Oral B devices and handed me one. 10 minutes later I walked back into my house and as soon as my phone picked up my wifi signal, it went online and downloaded my latest emails. I took a look. Above my emails, Outlook was displaying an ad... "Thinking about buying a new Oral B toothbrush?"

I searched for 'Oral B' a few weeks ago so that might explain it. This could be another example of confirmation bias so I am carrying out an experiment... I had 2 pretend conversations next to the phone. One was for something that I have never searched for or spoken about. The other was for something that I may have searched for in the distant past, but not recently. I won't even tell you what they are until have given Google a chance to give itself away!

Oh yes, they definitely look out for stuff, even if you've done something on a different device.

 

[ColinJ]

Now I am getting ads for other brands of electric toothbrush!

 

[Gillstay]

It also works if you get access to a mates computer, (and esp if his wife uses the same one) searching for something compromising and then deleting it before you leave. Searching for strange or exotic underwear and similar works very well.

 

[biggs682]

You're saying Amazon Alexa listens continuously?

Yep just like the wife 😜

 

[Jameshow]

I typed a msg to a metal roofing sheet guy I know (to build a metal shed, next time I looked on Facebook adds for metal sheds. ...😯

 

[gbb]

Confirmation bias.

Yebbut...how do you know you're not suffering Confirmation Bias by attributing it to someone else