[this is good] Someone made an alternative firmware for now semi-bricked Nest hardware that not only restores features but cuts Google off. Love it!

https://github.com/codykociemba/NoLongerEvil-Thermostat

GitHub - codykociemba/NoLongerEvil-Thermostat: Breathe fresh life into your bricked Nest, now with 100% less evil!

Breathe fresh life into your bricked Nest, now with 100% less evil! - codykociemba/NoLongerEvil-Thermostat

GitHub
Now imagine someone could do this for all those Echos, actually unlocking the hardware from Amazon's increasingly stupid service and let you use that nice mic and speaker and processing power to do something actually cool.

If you like that idea you'll like this:

https://benbrown.com/library

Library - A short story by Ben Brown