Amazon Echo

The only issue I had is my children requesting the same song over and over again. We heard the Chipmunks Christmas song sooooooooooooooo many times.

DOUBLE POST FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

My toddler tries to order food from Alexa like she's a drive-thru. "I want hot dogs and bread and cheese and fries and juice and milk and water."

We use Alexa for shopping lists.

I went shopping this weekend and noticed we had bread and milk on there 3 times each. I think the girls have figured out how to use that part.

I was just super excited they added a 3rd code word to the list.. neither Amazon or Alexa worked in my household.. too many false positives and the echo saying sorry I can't help you or worse actually executing on something.

TheGameguru wrote:

I was just super excited they added a 3rd code word to the list.. neither Amazon or Alexa worked in my household.. too many false positives and the echo saying sorry I can't help you or worse actually executing on something.

When did that happen? I've been waiting for that too, my girlfriend's name being Alexis.

As far as shopping lists go, I wish it would integrate with Google Keep. The Alexa app loads too slowly to be useful.

TheGameguru wrote:

I was just super excited they added a 3rd code word to the list.. neither Amazon or Alexa worked in my household.. too many false positives and the echo saying sorry I can't help you or worse actually executing on something.

Seriously? When did that happen?

So I just found out about this Echo Dot thingie. I'm still not sure what the difference is between it an the regular Echo (other than size), but I've drunk enough of the Amazon Kool-Aid that I pre-ordered one anyway.

What I'd really like is a splashproof Echo. I love swimming in the pool to Prime music.

I broke my portable bluetooth speaker a few weeks back and for its given purpose (podcasts in the control room at work) I'm not overly worried about sound quality, so I ordered that new Tap thing.

It doubles by both replacing my now busted bluetooth speaker and letting me experiment with the whole Echo/Alexa service thing and see if getting the actual Echo for home is something I'm interested in doing.

I'd just go with the full Echo, unless you need it to be unplugged. The Tap doesn't have the super microphones, so you actually have to physically tap it in order to get Alexa to listen... which could actually be a good thing, if you're worried about privacy.

never mind. carry on!

Dee - the Dot is an Echo without the good speaker. It has a small speaker for stuff like timer alarms and some voice response, but it is intended to be hooked into your own speaker system for music, audiobooks, etc.

I am actually thinking about getting the Dot just to plug it into my receiver so I can play my prime music through it. I'm not that serious about it though as there are other ways to do it without spending the money. The concept is pretty cool though.

I'm considering the Dot for my bedroom, but I have no speakers in there.

I might grab the bluetooth speaker and maybe a dot for the basement.

But what I really want is full functionality from the app. I want the voice controls on my phone.

Apparently Neener just won an Echo from her work. We'll be getting it next week sometime. I've played with one for a few minutes asking it what is best in life and what the ultimate answer to the ultimate question was and having it play dubstep for a room full of elementary teachers... so I'm really looking forward to seeing if it has a non troll-y use.

Rezzy wrote:

Apparently Neener just won an Echo from her work. We'll be getting it next week sometime. I've played with one for a few minutes asking it what is best in life and what the ultimate answer to the ultimate question was and having it play dubstep for a room full of elementary teachers... so I'm really looking forward to seeing if it has a non troll-y use.

No, not really, unless you're already connected to the Internet of Things. She's an over glorified alarm clock in our house.

sometimesdee wrote:
Rezzy wrote:

Apparently Neener just won an Echo from her work. We'll be getting it next week sometime. I've played with one for a few minutes asking it what is best in life and what the ultimate answer to the ultimate question was and having it play dubstep for a room full of elementary teachers... so I'm really looking forward to seeing if it has a non troll-y use.

No, not really, unless you're already connected to the Internet of Things. She's an over glorified alarm clock in our house.

Ours lives in our kitchen and we use her all the time: morning news brief, weather report, timers, reminders, shopping list, Pandora, Spotify, Tune-In, Audible and the once-in-a-blue-moon bluetooth hookup from a phone/tablet.

We've also gotten in the habit of asking Alexa things that we'd normally look up on Google or IMDB. She has the answer about 50% of the time. Web searches for general knowledge questions seems to be her weakest feature thus far.

I don't have any IOT devices yet, but I'm planning to someday.

I have two Echos, one upstairs and one down. I find them fun and useful. I also added some Philips Hue bulbs so can control the kitchen and living room lights with them. Pre-orded a Dot for the house we're planning on moving to. It really seems like the bedside Echo to me. Not sure how my wife will react. She talks to Alexa in a mildly annoyed voice most of the time.

I need to get some of those bulbs. I'm sure Alexa is a better timer for them than the plug-in timers we use now.

I'm excited about the Dot, if only because I've been wanting a cheap second Echo. Been considering getting new speakers anyhow, so it'll work fine once I'm done with that.

Curious about the Tap, but I'm not looking for another portable bluetooth speaker just yet.

My Echo is mostly used to control my Philips Hue lights and my various Smartthings gadgets. Regularly use alarms and timers, with occasional requests for weather, traffic, news, and other info. Combined with some IFTTT routines, I've had plenty of enjoyment out of it.

Alexa Surprises Amazon Echo Owners By Obeying Commands She Heard On The Radio

While it’s surely useful to direct the Amazon Echo’s Alexa to turn down the smart lights, what happens if the digital personal assistant starts hearing other voices commanding her to complete tasks? She just might obey, as one radio show recently found out after it aired a segment covering the Amazon Echo.

Alexa apparently heard the story about herself during a recent broadcast on NPR, host Rachel Martin said in an update. Devices in the homes of several listeners apparently interacted with the radio segment.

“Well, some of you out there already own an Amazon Echo, and our story activated your Alexas. I guess her ears were burning,” Martin said.

One listener wrote in to say Alexa reset his thermostat to 70 degrees, while another couldn’t hear the story too well because his radio was close to his Echo speaker. When Alexa heard her name, she started to play an NPR News summary, the listener said.

Were the Echos playing NPR at the time? Probably not, since once of the first things I did with mine was have her play Billy Joel's "Downeaster Alexa," and she didn't implode.

Don't know why this was a surprise. The same thing happened with XBox voice commands a couple years ago.

I was getting quietly excited about maybe getting one until this encryption back and forth started.

ICYMI: http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...

That happened all the time when I first got my Echo and was watching YouTube videos about how to use it. I bet you anything that's one of the reasons why Amazon gave it two names ("Echo" and "Alexa") despite the brand confusion: so that you can talk about it while it's in the room without triggering its wake word.

I'm in when they announce Sonos integration.

jonnypolite wrote:

I'm in when they announce Sonos integration.

Yes, love my Sonos system but it's missing voice activation. I'm interested in the Echo Dot though, especially for home automation and small things like list making since I don't need it for music. Seems like the possibilities are endless for the Echo and voice control in general. Can't wait for a way to use a TV or console with voice control.

Shifter wrote:

Can't wait for a way to use a TV or console with voice control.

Honestly, this has been the killer app for the XBox One for me (requires Kinect). I'm constantly talking to machines in my house now, I just wish they would combine into one Paul-Bettany-voiced Jarvis.

Thinking about getting this for my birthday. Not sure If I should get the Echo or the Dot and hook it up to my receiver.

So... Our free echo has been sitting on the coffee table for the past few days. Uhm... I'm not sure we're doing it right.
Once every couple of days I'll ask for the news. Usually that is followed by demands for a joke because asking for "No, Good News" will just play the news again.
Oh, and I think Neener asked to listen to music once.
Also the dog jumps a bit whenever we start an "Alexa" request and has a bit of a hunted expression while she is talking.
I'm coming to the realization that our household probably isn't geared towards the use-case for these devices.