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Post by runner5 on Nov 17, 2016 20:47:25 GMT
I love mine. We cook every single day so it's great to have hands free timers, shopping lists (I notice what we're out of when my hands are wet or mixing some food together) and to do lists. I use mine to get the hews, look up things, read my audio books and play my music. They are endlessly entertaining for kids ("Alexa tell me a joke") and helpful to them when doing homework especially for spelling words. If you use YNAB, you can ask Alexa how much you have in a given budget category or have her transfer money from one category to another. There's an email every week with her new skills. And of course, she'll order anything you'd like from Amazon. Of course! DH's favorite trick is to pull in from work and get Alexa to start playing a song of his choosing. He has a lot of fun with this and cracks me up. I love that one of us will be cooking, the other will come in, start helping, ask Alexa to play some music and next thing you know, it's a party. That never happened before - just as you realized how great some music would be, you'd have to stop, wash and dry your hands, find a device, etc. etc. I destroyed the speakers in an iPhone I used to own setting a timer while I was cooking (I accidentally smeared butter in it). I'm pretty frugal but Alexa has paid for herself by the hands free timers alone. I stopped burning stuff and stopped running sprinklers outside too long.
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Post by rst on Nov 17, 2016 20:59:45 GMT
Reconditioned Echos are $119 at Amazon right now. That's a pretty remarkable price.
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Post by disneypal on Nov 17, 2016 22:26:41 GMT
I have the echo and the dot and love them both for the reasons above. I do however have a question. The dot is in my bedroom, I've figured out how to set the alarm to wake me up and it works well....but the alarm also goes off on the echo in the kitchen. Is there a way to only have the dot alarm? Are they both named Alexa? If so, try changing the name of the one in the bedroom to Echo and see if that works. Save
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Post by MadamG2U on Nov 18, 2016 2:40:37 GMT
I have the echo and the dot and love them both for the reasons above. I do however have a question. The dot is in my bedroom, I've figured out how to set the alarm to wake me up and it works well....but the alarm also goes off on the echo in the kitchen. Is there a way to only have the dot alarm? Are they both named Alexa? If so, try changing the name of the one in the bedroom to Echo and see if that works. SaveThank you! I will give that a try! MadamG2U
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Post by monicad on Nov 18, 2016 4:01:44 GMT
I'm thinking about asking for Google Home for Christmas; I love the idea of using it for audio books, but will have to figure out how to do that through Google. I need to have something going while I'm cooking; music, Netflix, Periscope...but an audio book would be great.
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Post by MadamG2U on Nov 29, 2016 23:24:37 GMT
I have the echo and the dot and love them both for the reasons above. I do however have a question. The dot is in my bedroom, I've figured out how to set the alarm to wake me up and it works well....but the alarm also goes off on the echo in the kitchen. Is there a way to only have the dot alarm? Are they both named Alexa? If so, try changing the name of the one in the bedroom to Echo and see if that works. SaveJust wanted to let you know it worked! Thank you again MadamG2U
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suzastampin
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,587
Jun 28, 2014 14:32:59 GMT
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Post by suzastampin on Nov 29, 2016 23:42:56 GMT
Does Alexa only speak English? I ordered the Dot thinking it might be something fun for my son. He speaks very fast and is sometimes hard to understand. I'm wondering if she would get used to his speech and be able to answer him or follow his commands.
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Post by papersilly on Nov 29, 2016 23:46:29 GMT
SIL has one. she uses it to play music. SIL lives alone so Alexa must be added company for her.
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Post by disneypal on Nov 30, 2016 0:20:20 GMT
Just wanted to let you know it worked! Thank you again That is great - glad you came back and told me
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Post by gmcwife1 on Nov 30, 2016 0:23:25 GMT
What do you use yours for? We have had our for a few months now and I have figured out two things. It is an expensive timer for the kitchen and it does not answer to Siri, no matter how many times you try. There have been times that she butted in when she was asked to. I think that she gets lonely. LOL. Do you have any advice on any great things to do with Alexia? I'm glad you asked since dh has this on his wish list Now off to read all the ideas and uses!
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Post by rst on Nov 30, 2016 1:16:48 GMT
I just got my own Alexa (early opened Christmas present) and it's been very fun. I used a meditation skill to fall asleep last night-- very relaxing. I put things on my to do list as the thought came to me, even though my hands were gunky while cooking. I've set up an order list to help our home nursing staff keep track of medications that need to be refilled. There's a skill where you can check when the dog was last fed -- very helpful in a busy house with erratic schedules. We played Jeopardy after supper, listened to a squirrel fact of the day (DS #4 loves squirrels and is doing a report on them for English class), I add ideas to my christmas gift list when they occur to me. We've settled point of information by asking for Wikipedia to tell us when Tom Petty sang that particular song, we've looked up local phone numbers, I've asked for pronunciations (not always great) and definitions. I get weather and news and traffic updates. I can listen to a daily scripture reading. I can call up a 7 minute workout and listen to favorite music while I do it. It will read me the book most recently open on my Kindle, or if I really prefer a voice other than Alexa's, I can listen to an audio book from Audible. Some kindle books are enabled to allow you to sync your reading between kindle and audio.
I haven't tried out the environmental control aspects yet, but I think that is a really exciting application for a lot of people -- lights, appliances that plug in, security camera management.
Like pretty much anything else, it's what you make of it. I find it pretty easy and intuitive to use and obviously I've jumped in with both feet. My DH is not as excited about it, but I can see a lot of applications where is could be very useful for him as his disability increases -- it's able to understand him even when his speech is fairly slurred. It is a skill to learn to communicate with Alexa, but the device learns from you, and the more you use it and give feedback, the better it gets at recognizing your idiosyncrasies.
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