Alexa Echo

carl

carl

True Classic
My daughter gave us an Alexa Echo for a gift. It relaces our older Alexa, which I never use by my wife likes to listen to music with it. Anyway, other than showing the time and outside temps, it just seems to be a commercial display device. Is there a good YouTube vid or google article on the various actually useful things you can do with it for non tech people like me?
 
Sorry, I can't help you with that one, I am in the Google echo system but the difference is minimal. I have a device in almost every room and I use them for listening to music, showing cooking receipts, telling me news, and appointments, making calls, turning on/off lights, locking the door... Your fantasy is the limit. I have a device in the garage as well. Besides playing music I also use it for solving mathematical problems instead of using a calculator ex. "Hey Google what is 432-121,5. -Very handy when taking measures etc.
I find it extremely useful as it can control almost any connected "smart" device. Start with buying a couple of smart bulbs to learn how it works, and if you find it interesting continue with more advanced stuff. Warning, It is addictive.
www.cnet.com

Ultimate Alexa Command Guide: 200+ Voice Commands You Need to Know for Your Echo

We compiled the complete list of commands you can give to Amazon's Alexa on any of your Echo devices.
www.cnet.com www.cnet.com
 
carl said:
My daughter gave us an Alexa Echo for a gift. It relaces our older Alexa, which I never use by my wife likes to listen to music with it. Anyway, other than showing the time and outside temps, it just seems to be a commercial display device. Is there a good YouTube vid or google article on the various actually useful things you can do with it for non tech people like me?
Click to expand...
I use one tied to my RING doorbell so I can see who’s there, and converse with them. Also use it as a voice-activation device to simplify my overly-complicated Logitech Harmony Hub AV system. We keep the camera covered. Also use it as a kitchen cooking timer, recipe display device, and yes, music playback at times. What you should look for on Youtube is a video on Alexa ‘Skills’. That’s where you can make it useful….
 
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Bjorn Nilson said:
Sorry, I can't help you with that one, I am in the Google echo system but the difference is minimal. I have a device in almost every room and I use them for listening to music, showing cooking receipts, telling me news, and appointments, making calls, turning on/off lights, locking the door... Your fantasy is the limit. I have a device in the garage as well. Besides playing music I also use it for solving mathematical problems instead of using a calculator ex. "Hey Google what is 432-121,5. -Very handy when taking measures etc.
I find it extremely useful as it can control almost any connected "smart" device. Start with buying a couple of smart bulbs to learn how it works, and if you find it interesting continue with more advanced stuff. Warning, It is addictive.
www.cnet.com

Ultimate Alexa Command Guide: 200+ Voice Commands You Need to Know for Your Echo

We compiled the complete list of commands you can give to Amazon's Alexa on any of your Echo devices.
www.cnet.com www.cnet.com
Click to expand...
We're about to have the same setup here at my parents house! My dad doesn't know it yet, but for Christmas I got him a bunch of various smart home devices (switches, thermostat, door lock, etc.) The convenience is unbeatable.
 
carl said:
My daughter gave us an Alexa Echo for a gift. It relaces our older Alexa, which I never use by my wife likes to listen to music with it. Anyway, other than showing the time and outside temps, it just seems to be a commercial display device. Is there a good YouTube vid or google article on the various actually useful things you can do with it for non tech people like me?
Click to expand...
In some cases, you can also ask it what it can do, and it'll give you some basic functions that are commonly used.

How much it can do is based on what devices you have setup and linked to it, but in general, commands such as "wake me up at 8am with (insert song name here) are possible, as well as general questions you'd google. You can also ask it travel time to a certain place, how bad traffic is, the weather, etc. If you're not sure it can do something, just ask it. The worst case is it tells you that functionality is not yet available.

Once you learn to use it fully, they can be quite nice to have around, though I mainly use mine for music.
 
Jonohhh, we are showing our generational differences. We have no smart devices in our house. We have remotes for our garage door opener in our cars and a keypad lock for the front door. That's as exciting and modern tech as we get!

We were told our house thermostat can be controlled from our cell phones (yes we have those) but we never set it up for that functionality.

My wife and I probably use 7% of what our phones can do and will end up using even less for the Echo. I like living in my analog life bubble.
 
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