![]() Music: Never workout without some musical inspiration. Just say, “Alexa, wake me up to pop music for running at 5 am.” Get a little extra motivation when your alarm goes off in the morning. Music Alarms: Working out in the morning is hard. ![]() Reminders: Need to book your spin classes for the week right when the clock strikes noon on Monday? Ask Alexa to remind you so you don’t miss out on your favorite classes. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.Īmazon Echo does everything from playing music to answering your questions but it also has some cool tricks enabled like being your personal trainer, or reading a bedtime story to your kids.Īmazon says it’s Prime members bought more Echo Dots than any other product in any category in 2017! That’s a lot of people now talking to Alexa! Here are some fun commands you can try.į ollow KTLA Tech Reporter Rich DeMuro on Facebook or Twitter for cool apps, tech tricks & tips! Find my keys by using its attached Tile -I hate having to use the Tile app on my phone to find my keys it would be awesome if I could make this happen with my Echo.This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.I’d love a supported skill from Apple to allow this 3 Find my iPhone functionality – there are a few hacks that have been built to allow someone to use Alexa to find their iPhones but those hacks are kludgy.Managing my AnyList grocery list with my Echo – The Alexa team just rolled out a beta skill for managing lists I’m hoping AnyList is an early adopter (as of this writing, the only services using the API are AnyDo and Todolist).If they ever roll that out, I imagine I could easily create a skill for this. Supposedly, ADT is creating a public API for their monitoring devices. Connecting my home security system to Alexa – Today, I use the Pulse system from ADT.There are a few additional integrations I’d like to do, pending skill development (or some time for me to develop my own skill) Still – for $3.99, it’s not expensive to at least try out. Plus, I spend a LOT of time managing my music library, and I don’t think Amazon allow me to create and track the same level of metadata. I’m not sure how I feel about paying for another service that I can only use with my Echo (at the $3.99 price). $3.99 isn’t much – but I already pay for Apple’s music subscription service. Premise: Using Alexa to play music from Amazon music subscription service.Ĭost: Low- $3.99 a month (Amazon Echo only)Ĭomplexity: Low to Medium– all I need to do is sign up for the service – though, I assume there are some tracks that I’ll want to upload from my iTunes library (assuming some songs – like Prince’s catalog – are not available in the Amazon library). Plus, we would get more out of our bulbs. Using Alexa to turn off the lights as we leave the house (or using the associated phone app) could shave some dollars off our electric bill. We’re always running out the door to get someplace, and we never have time to run back in to turn off the lights. Those devices, between $30-50 per switch, do not come cheap.Ĭomplexity: Medium– though it’s not hard to replace a light switch, I need to figure out if I have a neutral wire available (some switches require a neutral wire to power the switch). I’ll want to control the lights by more than voice – and the thought of opening my phone to turn off the lights gives me the heebee jeebees – so I’m looking at physical light switches. Premise: Using Alexa to control light switchesĬost: High – I either have to move to smart bulbs or smart switches. Plus, we don’t receive too many voicemail messages – our family and friends just send text messages. Most calls of significance are made to our cell phones. We only use Ooma because we want a home phone in case there is an emergency and the kids need to call someone. Premise: Using Alexa to check my Ooma voicemailĬost: Low (as I’ve already invested in Ooma, as part of my home technology refresh 2)Ĭomplexity: Low – just activate the skill Still, with a device this powerful, I could be doing more. So, I’m putting together a plan to better use the device as a smart home assistant. That’s not a diss: with four kids, timers are a necessity. I use it for timers, connecting my phone via Bluetooth to play music, and to play Jeopardy. I checked the mail every day for its arrival, thinking of all the cool things I could and would do with it.įast forward to today, and I’m using the Echo daily… but not at its full potential. Two weeks ago, I received an Amazon Echo as part of the prize for Hackster’s Internet of Voice challenge (2 nd Place 1). Me with my Amazon Echo (and trophy from Hackster)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |