That and creeping the wife out when Alexa picks up on some random sound in our conversations and announces, “I’m sorry, I’m having trouble understanding right now.”
Amazon will happily email you several times a week to tell you new skills. (It’s exhausting trying to keep up.) She knows one snail joke. I think reminders are different from timers. She knows scores of games. She will play radio stations that we don’t get due to Green Mountains. She’s good at arithmetic. She turns our thermostats up and down. Tells us the weather and time, turns lights on and off. She’s kinda cute.
I updated the app with my home and work zip-codes so I ask Alexa what the traffic is like before I leave for work in the morning. Her accuracy is a bit iffy. I also ask her about the weather and if it’s going to rain or snow. I also ask her to play songs by artists I like and she will play quite a number of them before stopping. I noticed that she does add to her catalog when new songs or albums come out. I also ask her to play the news Flash Briefings, which you can set up in the app. I’ve ordered items from Amazon using Alexa, but you have to be cautious about this because of the variation in prices. Probably best to just add to your cart and check-out later when you’ve had a chance to check pricing. Amazon ran a special deal where you get an Amazon credit if you order a gift card through the app, which was nice. Apparently one of my brothers left me a voicemail, since you can make calls and text through the device, but they have no idea how they did it. Other than that I don’t do anything very fancy. Oh, the Meh Stalker skill by @Lichme is available where you can ask about the deal of the day. That makes Alexa totally worthwhile
I dunno about alexa but on my google home I connected it up with the rudimentary harmony remote interface, so I can “ok google, pause the show” or “ok google tell harmony sleep timer 30 mins” etc
We mostly use alexa to control lights. The kids like the jokes, weather. We have a show, so they like movie trailers. We haven’t tried jeopardy yet. I listen to serious XM stations a lot. Can also get NPR and pod casts. She’s not a google substitute, though. She cant tell you how long Bill Belicheck has been the head coach of New England for example.
The same as @heartny - weather and flash news briefings. There is a fitbit skill I’ve been meaning to try but I’d rather not be reminded my gym membership has gone unused for a couple of weeks. I’m with @therealjrn and @sammydog01 and use the echo mostly for home automation via IFTTT.
The big new thing I’ve been enjoying is the multi-room music capabilities. I mean, lots of other things (like Sonos) do that, but when the Dot’s $30 apiece (and I already have too many speakers lying around) it’s a really cheap way to get Christmas music throughout the house.
@dave What I really want is a Sonos Wi-Fi TTS speaker to integrate with other stuff (Like SmartThings sensors) to create my own “Garage Door Open” type security notifications.
-hooking up with my harmony remote - and it gets fancy like I can say “alexa, turn on the ballgame” and it knows to put on the tv and tune it to the right channel
-hue lights - works amazing to say alexa, turn off the bedroom rights without having to get out of bed, or while holding my kid
-zookeeper- my 3 year old loves the animal sounds
-elmo- my 3 year old again.
-tunein- I use it for local sports talk radio
-out of the box, i always ask Alexa about the weather when figuring out what to wear and whether to bring an umbrella or not. it’s also great in the kitchen to ask it about measurement conversions… like when I need a tablespoon of something but can only find the damn teaspoon (seriously, that happens way too much)
We have a 1st gen Echo (pre-release order) and two Dots. We gave one Dot to my Mom and Dad. She uses it for weather, spelling, and general questions. Dad ignores it for the most part.
Most importantly we have it tied to Mom’s cell phone. If something were to happen and they couldn’t get to a phone either one of them can say, “Echo, call [child’s name] cell.” It’s placed so it can hear most of the house. Not 100% coverage but close enough.
As to the privacy concerns about Echo listening in on everything you say: I honestly cannot think of a thing that anyone else would be interested in. I don’t say passwords out loud when entering them on my computer. Same goes for CC numbers. How does that line go?
Someone stole my identity. Now there’s two people without a life.
@JanaS Normally… a few yrs ago… I would have been bothered by it. Whether I said anything of interest or not. But I figure with smart phones and the 1st app we loaded… we lost it all at that point anyway. But I still keep the camera lens on the laptops covered.
I had set up an echo for my elderly mother on my account. She lived alone about an hour away. By being on my account, anytime she asked Alexa a question I would get notified on my Amazon Fire tablet. She was in the habit of asking for the weather when she came downstairs in the morning and before she went to bed in the evening. I was able to know she was ok.
There’s also an “ask my buddy” skill available. You set it up in the app, with up to 10 people’s phone numbers, and emails. If they have fallen they say “alexa, ask my buddy”. Alexa responds " who do you want to ask?". The respond “everyone” and it instantly phones, emails, and texts all the people on the list. Kind of a poor man’s version of I’ve fallen and can’t get up.
@therealjrn ohh more features, nice! I plan on some day adding cards to mine (so photos show up on the phone/show/weird dot with the screen). Some day…
@SkyyPunk The problem with doing that (I looked into it) is that the photos have to be CORS supported, and currently I don’t think they meet all of the guidelines where they are hosted (If I recall, the issue was with the ExpireTime being set, which won’t work). Unless you copy the source images and host them elsewhere, it won’t display properly.
If you have two Alexas you can rename one echo - add a third and you can name that one computer. This way you don’t have them all answering at the same time.
I sold mine on Craigslist. Is that a skill?
Apologies.
Don’t mean to troll your thread. I decided I didn’t want Alexs listening to me, pretty quickly, been tho I never spoke to it.
But you enjoy yours. Ok?
@CaptAmehrican My daughter plays music on her full-sized Alexa. I have a friend who plays Jeopardy! on the Alexa dot along with her music playlists.
I use mine as a kitchen timer, alarm clock, and to play music. Also to check the weather. I don’t really use skills.
@sammydog01 That’s pretty much what we do.
That and creeping the wife out when Alexa picks up on some random sound in our conversations and announces, “I’m sorry, I’m having trouble understanding right now.”
Amazon will happily email you several times a week to tell you new skills. (It’s exhausting trying to keep up.) She knows one snail joke. I think reminders are different from timers. She knows scores of
games. She will play radio stations that we don’t get due to Green Mountains. She’s good at arithmetic. She turns our thermostats up and down. Tells us the weather and time, turns lights on and off. She’s kinda cute.
“Alexa turn Christmas tree on.”
“Alexa turn Christmas tree off.”
Alexa will play audible audiobooks.
Alexa will read aloud most Kindle books I think. Depends on the publisher.
Alexa had special Alexa’s shopping deals not available elsewhere.
I updated the app with my home and work zip-codes so I ask Alexa what the traffic is like before I leave for work in the morning. Her accuracy is a bit iffy. I also ask her about the weather and if it’s going to rain or snow. I also ask her to play songs by artists I like and she will play quite a number of them before stopping. I noticed that she does add to her catalog when new songs or albums come out. I also ask her to play the news Flash Briefings, which you can set up in the app. I’ve ordered items from Amazon using Alexa, but you have to be cautious about this because of the variation in prices. Probably best to just add to your cart and check-out later when you’ve had a chance to check pricing. Amazon ran a special deal where you get an Amazon credit if you order a gift card through the app, which was nice. Apparently one of my brothers left me a voicemail, since you can make calls and text through the device, but they have no idea how they did it. Other than that I don’t do anything very fancy. Oh, the Meh Stalker skill by @Lichme is available where you can ask about the deal of the day. That makes Alexa totally worthwhile
I dunno about alexa but on my google home I connected it up with the rudimentary harmony remote interface, so I can “ok google, pause the show” or “ok google tell harmony sleep timer 30 mins” etc
looks like it will work with alexa too:
https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/harmony-experience-with-amazon-alexa
of course all of this is worthless information if you don’t have a harmony hub…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I use mine to fire photon torpedoes at the kids.
@mfladd that is awesome
We mostly use alexa to control lights. The kids like the jokes, weather. We have a show, so they like movie trailers. We haven’t tried jeopardy yet. I listen to serious XM stations a lot. Can also get NPR and pod casts. She’s not a google substitute, though. She cant tell you how long Bill Belicheck has been the head coach of New England for example.
The same as @heartny - weather and flash news briefings. There is a fitbit skill I’ve been meaning to try but I’d rather not be reminded my gym membership has gone unused for a couple of weeks. I’m with @therealjrn and @sammydog01 and use the echo mostly for home automation via IFTTT.
@f00l - a write-up on how to delete your voice tasks if you give Alexa or Google home another chance. I’m sure the makers of S3 storage wouldn’t keep backups after you delete everything
Alexa, rip a juicy one.
Remind me to… remind me to… remind me to… remind me to…
Find the best price on a type c usb cable and buy it.
The big new thing I’ve been enjoying is the multi-room music capabilities. I mean, lots of other things (like Sonos) do that, but when the Dot’s $30 apiece (and I already have too many speakers lying around) it’s a really cheap way to get Christmas music throughout the house.
@dave My teenage son discovered that he could blast the music of his choice in my teenage daughter’s room. He has the bruises to prove it.
@dave What I really want is a Sonos Wi-Fi TTS speaker to integrate with other stuff (Like SmartThings sensors) to create my own “Garage Door Open” type security notifications.
-Spotify with multi-room music
-hooking up with my harmony remote - and it gets fancy like I can say “alexa, turn on the ballgame” and it knows to put on the tv and tune it to the right channel
-hue lights - works amazing to say alexa, turn off the bedroom rights without having to get out of bed, or while holding my kid
-zookeeper- my 3 year old loves the animal sounds
-elmo- my 3 year old again.
-tunein- I use it for local sports talk radio
-out of the box, i always ask Alexa about the weather when figuring out what to wear and whether to bring an umbrella or not. it’s also great in the kitchen to ask it about measurement conversions… like when I need a tablespoon of something but can only find the damn teaspoon (seriously, that happens way too much)
We have a 1st gen Echo (pre-release order) and two Dots. We gave one Dot to my Mom and Dad. She uses it for weather, spelling, and general questions. Dad ignores it for the most part.
Most importantly we have it tied to Mom’s cell phone. If something were to happen and they couldn’t get to a phone either one of them can say, “Echo, call [child’s name] cell.” It’s placed so it can hear most of the house. Not 100% coverage but close enough.
As to the privacy concerns about Echo listening in on everything you say: I honestly cannot think of a thing that anyone else would be interested in. I don’t say passwords out loud when entering them on my computer. Same goes for CC numbers. How does that line go?
Someone stole my identity. Now there’s two people without a life.
I’m not worried about it.
BTW: We set it up as Echo because it’s easier for my parents to remember.
@JanaS That’s how I feel about security. Even if they picked me to evesdrop on out of all the echo owners in the world it would be boring as heck.
@JanaS Normally… a few yrs ago… I would have been bothered by it. Whether I said anything of interest or not. But I figure with smart phones and the 1st app we loaded… we lost it all at that point anyway. But I still keep the camera lens on the laptops covered.
@lseeber Thanks for reminding me- I just put a Spongebob bandaid over my camera.
@sammydog01 Mah Pleazhuh.
I had set up an echo for my elderly mother on my account. She lived alone about an hour away. By being on my account, anytime she asked Alexa a question I would get notified on my Amazon Fire tablet. She was in the habit of asking for the weather when she came downstairs in the morning and before she went to bed in the evening. I was able to know she was ok.
There’s also an “ask my buddy” skill available. You set it up in the app, with up to 10 people’s phone numbers, and emails. If they have fallen they say “alexa, ask my buddy”. Alexa responds " who do you want to ask?". The respond “everyone” and it instantly phones, emails, and texts all the people on the list. Kind of a poor man’s version of I’ve fallen and can’t get up.
@bookerttt
That’s cool.
I thought this SNL skit of the new “Amazon’s Echo Silver” was very funny.
Alexa just told me that Santa exists in his own time space continuum.
/giphy mind blown
Mostly home automation stuff, with a little music, and many timers.
Also maybe install https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MG4EN4G/ >.> Maybe someday I could update it? Not sure what the one bad review was on about…works fine
@SkyyPunk mehbe this one is better:
https://www.amazon.com/Lichme-Inc-Meh-Stalker/dp/B0748LDB5X/
@therealjrn ohh more features, nice! I plan on some day adding cards to mine (so photos show up on the phone/show/weird dot with the screen). Some day…
@SkyyPunk The problem with doing that (I looked into it) is that the photos have to be CORS supported, and currently I don’t think they meet all of the guidelines where they are hosted (If I recall, the issue was with the ExpireTime being set, which won’t work). Unless you copy the source images and host them elsewhere, it won’t display properly.
@lichme Good to know, thanks!
Unexpectedly got an Echo Show for Christmas. It’s nice, but I haven’t yet figured out anything amazing for it.
@dave I was thinking about getting a show for online recipes. That’s kind of a lot of cash for a recipe display though.
@sammydog01 Consider:
If you have two Alexas you can rename one echo - add a third and you can name that one computer. This way you don’t have them all answering at the same time.
@margot5115 I’ve found them pretty good at deciding which one is closer. Not 100% perfect, but probably 90% of the time only the close one responds.
CNET has a really good article about what all Alexa devices can do, including the Show’s capabilities.