The Atlantic
The iRobot deal follows a known Amazon strategy, one that Jeff Bezos has admitted to in the past: using mergers to buy its way to dominance. (I asked Amazon if this is what it’s doing with Roomba, but the company did not comment.) Several companies make and sell robotic vacuums, including brands like Shark and others. But Roomba is the household name, so ubiquitous that it’s shorthand for every other robot vacuum available. By simply taking over the company that makes the most popular product in the industry, Amazon can grow its monopoly without actually having to out-innovate and out-compete its rivals. More
I didn’t know Amazon owned RING doorbells, imagine all the information they’ve been capturing about the comings and goings of people who own them? -Dr. Tar
I didn’t want one before Amazon bought them. I sure don’t want one now.
We’ve got one. Saves the better half a lot of time and that’s handy when you are self employed. I’d be more concerned about their door bell thing than the vacuum cleaner. You can get any house plans from your county with little trouble.
well, they track you everywhere you go w/ your cell phone & car gps & listen to you while the tv’s on
… & when you’re on-line (uh-oh!)
the ring doorbell is about worthless, since the only people that use it are Amazon delivery drivers
& I don’t see a Roomba in my future … hell, vacuuming is considered ‘exercise’ at this point in my life
How on earth does one have a Roomba with dogs? They go nuts when we hand vacuum. Without adult supervision, it would be buried in the backyard the very first day.
Rich Taylor
LOL. My Labs avoid it. They hate it.
If you have hardwood floors and animals that leave hair all over, one of the stupid iLife V5S robot vacuums for $120 (can find deals for $99 on occasion) with no mapping, internet, cameras, nothing “smart” about it, is the best deal around. The cheapest one doesn’t even have a roller brush to clean, simply empty the dustbin once a week. It also has pads you can attach for mopping, works great for small floors, I lock mine in the bathroom and come back in a half hour to a completely spotless floor. It does a better job than a very expensive Roomba. For carpet, Neato Botvac does a superb job, but it’s more money and has some smart features (you can turn off, not sure about the new ones). And they seem to last forever, I’ve had mine coming up on 6 years with no problems and they run 3 times a week. Based on experience and research, these 2 brands will do a better job for less money and more privacy for less money than Roomba. My wife refuses to touch a vacuum and I got sick of pushing one around and needed a companion to help out.
I’ll keep my mid 50s Interlux for quick jobs & the built-in vacuum system for when I need a workout.
question to all you botvaxers … does it empty itself?
or do you let it outside so it can ‘evacuate’ itself?
do you have to scoop up the waste & dispose of it in a bag, so the neighbors won’t step in it?
@Μολων Λαβε — Heh! I want one that will sneak out of the house at 3:00 a.m. and empty itself under the neighbor’s bougainvillea.
We are Luddites. I used to be excited about new technologies; even having to learn the lesson over and over again to wait for at least the second release! Then again, some of the newer versions lacked the over-engineered charm of the first. They were just production line stuff, lacking the obvious zeal that went into a product launch. But I digress.
Today, except for a laptop and a phone, I own nothing that tracks me. I don’t purchase anything over my phone, and rarely on my computer. Ever since Amazon let someone hack my info, I call my daughter and she orders what I want from them. The only other thing in my house that is “smart” is the electric meter hanging off the side of it. I balked at that, but the City made it a big hassle to opt out of the replacement. I don’t like not having the option.
There’s no way I would own an Alexa, Siri or anything like them. Collecting data from them by the government should be a no-brainer verboten. Using that data should be a felony. Funny, though, how these things morph. The FISA court started out being restricted to FOREIGN investigations. Couple laws being made (regulation, rules, guidelines) by government functionaries, and not legislators, and everything the government does with our private information can be used against us.
” The only other thing in my house that is “smart” is the electric meter ”
Geoff’s not happy about this.
Worried about Roomba but not the listening and tracking device sitting next to you 24/7?
Not in my house. Not DISQUS, Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Ring, IPhone etc nor social media’s gaggles of demented honking geese.
I have an aversion to anything “smart”