ALEXA. Thinking of getting one. I am not a tech. person. What do I need to operate Alexa?

The point is to use those tech precisely because you are not tech savvy. Alexa is Amazon, not Google so making that mistake is kinda unbelievable.

Starting with Google Chromecast, there's a category of tech so simple to use just follow the instruction no more than 5 steps probably less to set it up for use.

The primary thing you require is a willingness to provide Amazon with even more information about your private life, likes, etc. so that they can target you with yet more adverts from themselves and their paying partners.

I bought a handful of Echo Dots on sale. You need a tablet (I had trouble with my phone) running the Alexa app and your Wi-Fi network name and password handy for the initial setup -- the tablet has to sign in to the Echo and tell it how to use your home network. After that you're up and running and might occasionally use the app or Alexa web site to tweak some settings or read your shopping list.

As for privacy concerns, the smart speaker itself is dumb and is only listening for the magic word. When it thinks it hears "Alexa", "Echo", "Amazon", or "Computer" (you get to choose) it will stream your voice to the mothership for interpretation. This is all automatic, humans hear only a small fraction of the recordings to make sure Alexa is working right. That's how Amazon, Apple and Google all do it, and it's good enough for me.

alexa spies on you..............

Don’t do it. Alexa listens to everything in your house all the time. Which means google is listening to everything in your house all the time.