The only way to get an opportunity to purchase Amazon’s trick new toy Echo is to request an invite. Well, I did that. I suppose the reason for this is that they’re only manufacturing a limited quantity and they want them going to the coolest Amazon customers. Ok, if I was Amazon I would look for long time customers, with a Prime account and a purchase history involving a lot of electronic gadgets. (i.e. Geeks!)
I decided this morning to take that process to the next level by creating a program that identifies myself to Amazon, proves to them that I’m a geek by showing off my code, and then presenting a table reminding them of all the cool geeky things I’ve bought from them since 2008. I’ll then figure out a way to email the link to the people who are making this decision for Amazon.
My blueprint consisted of:
- Downloading my Amazon purchase history into a .csv file.
- Importing that file into a new Google Docs spreadsheet in the Cloud.
- Utilizing my great Zend tools to read that spreadsheet with a php module and pass it back to my new program.
- Write the program, which consists of the following:
- Responsive, scales across all devices.
- Links to my code and my blog.
- Presents a sortable table with the data from my cloud based spreadsheet.
The program is done. It doesn’t show the items I bought (only Amazon can see that) but it does illustrate my fascinating purchasing history with Amazon!
You can see that I’ve spent a bit of money ($4,986.57) at Amazon.com, not counting shipping. I’ve had a Prime account for the last few years so shipping charges are becoming a non-item. It’s interesting to note that I’ve saved some money ($1824.29) off their list price ($6,700.70 – $4,986.57) by ordering when I did. $831 per year average spent over six years is also interesting.
Regardless if Amazon thinks I’m cool, I now have a list of everything I’ve bought from them since 2008, and I know how much money I’ve spent!
Here’s the Program! You can sort the table by clicking any title at the top.
Update 11/10 at 0930. I discovered some cross-browser issues with the program this morning and it should be working fine now…
so… did you get an echo? it looks a little big brother to me…maybe I’m just paranoid :)
I’m waiting…
Your paranoia is most justified. This thing is listening to everything you say and is hooked up to the internet 24/7.
But, I’m making a calculated assumption that Amazon wouldn’t be that dumb to log your entire conversational life on their cloud. Responding to your questions only when asked and giving you answers, learning about your preferences along the way, should be it’s only function.
If they deviate from that, their entire successful business model would be at huge risk.