Goodbye privacy, hello Alexa: here's to Amazon echo, the home robot who hears it all

The experiment with having a robot in my home was going well – useful exchanges, mutual learning, some bonding – right up until the robot thought I told it to "fuck off". But the robot was convinced. It flashed its blue light and scolded me in a tone mixing hurt, disappointment and reprimand: "That's not very nice to say." Or bristled, saying it had erred and should pay more attention before leaping to conclusions. I could have unplugged the thing. Instead, worried at hurt feelings and a vague possibility of retribution, I apologised.