Gadget Freak?

I was recently accused of being a gadget freak when talking about the new Amazon Echo.  I was talking to a friend about the new Amazon Echo and that is when he made the comment.  The accusation actually somewhat surprised me.  Perhaps it shouldn't have, I do write this blog.  But it did.

Perhaps I am a gadget freak.  But really I'm not after gadgets for the pure joy of gadgets, but rather the things that gadgets can enable.  I've recently replaced my flakey Pioneer VSX-1122 receiver with a Yamaha RX-A1040.  The thoughts below reflect my recent setup and comparison of the two units.

Here are some (new & recycled) high-ish level thoughts on how our lives could be better with gadgets:

• Reduced Friction: Make it easier for me to do things or access information.
• Make it easy for me to do the things that I want to do.  Echo is cool because you just don't have to do anything beyond speaking.  Until we can do a direct brain interface, this is going to be the easiest and most convenient way for me to express myself to a computer.
• Allow me to multitask.  Asking questions while I'm cooking (I'd probably put the Echo in my kitchen).  Setting timers while I'm throwing spaghetti into boiling water.  All of this would make my life a little bit better.
• I also that computer interface elements matter quite a bit here, too.  I am a huge fan of Atlassian's Confluence wiki product.  When I'm on a page and want to edit it, all I do is hit 'e' on my keyboard and boom - I'm editing.  Blogger has a long ways to go before its as good.  In fact, Blogger is so far behind that I'm worried that Google will give up on it at some point in the not too distant future.
• Lower Setup Hurdles: Make it easy for me to extend the equipment and environment in my home.
• Electronics companies do somethings poorly, but others are done quite well.  I don't have to set up HDMI.  I plug it in and it works.
• The device should stay aware of what is connected to it.  If it's configured in such a way as that output wouldn't or shouldn't be working, tell the user.  Can it be that hard?  Specifically, I'm thinking about my new Yamaha receiver that has a "Zone 2 - Zone Out" set of RCA jacks, but no description of when those are active.  See below in "Better Documentation" for more complaints here.
• I think that there should be a setup video, a walk through of all of the functionality and an ability to skip ahead to key sections.  Post this on YouTube or a specialized site that focuses on letting people to skip to specific portions of the video.
• Improved Error Handling:  When something doesn't work, help me fix it.
• When something doesn't work, don't tell me "Memory Error UE22".  Seriously (Pioneer), that is ridiculous.  Unhelpful, especially when Googling it comes up with nothing.
• My new Yamaha receiver cut out a couple of times when I was in the process of connecting speaker wires.  I would turn it off and then test a new group of speakers.  Eventually, it said to "Check Speaker Wires".  OK, that makes some sense.  But why stop there?  Why not tell me exactly which speaker is giving you the problem?  Shouldn't there be a quick routine where each speaker is tested individually and then a better suited message is displayed (i.e., Check Center Speak wire)?  I did check all of my wires, made some changes, but then got the message a couple of more times.  Then, the messages stopped and the stereo is no longer complaining.  I guess it's all fine?
• I'm the least optimistic about seeing improvements in this area, given that I think that companies (incorrectly) discount the value to the consumer of this part of the process.  I think that many people are willing to do some trouble-shooting before they get tech support on the line or before they give up and return their items to the store from which they purchased it.  I think that companies are incorrectly determining that it's just not worth it.
• More Integration and Imagination: let's think of all of the potential use-cases, not just the easy ones.
• If I'm playing music on my Roku using Amazon streaming on my Prime account, the Echo should be able to ask if I want it to replicate that sound stream.  Given that it can listen to it's environment, it should also be able to synch up on the timing.  This feature may exist, but if it does, I'm unaware from their documentation so far.
• Better Documentation: Document your product exhaustively, but in a way your customers are likely to understand.
• Provide good reference material.  Tell me exactly how it works.  I mean exactly.  When do various outputs function and when do they not.   What are the dependencies between one action versus another?  Yes, the documentation probably gets a bit more complicated, but mine was delivered by CD-ROM (or actually me downloading from their website), so it shouldn't really be much of an additional cost, no?
• Back to the "Zone 2 - Zone Out" set of RCA jacks.  Apparently they are not active all of the time? Are they at line level or at speaker level?  I don't know.  Again, the documentation is not sufficient.  It does say on page 153 that Zone Out is "1 V/1.2kΩ" but I don't know what that really means.  I think its more Line Level than not, but why is it at 1 V instead of 200 mV, like the AV out?  Why?  What is up with this? Wikipedia doesn't really help.  Maybe some of you all out there know?