My son handed me one of these $50 gadgets a few months ago and I remember thinking that is was one more potential dust collector. But we plugged it in anyway and connected it to our Wifi. That’s it. No programming or buttons to push. It’s a voice activated personal assistant that’s actually fun. A few of the possibilities are:
- Alexa, connect me to classical music (or the Beach Boys, Beatles, or James Taylor)
- Alexa, what time is it (or what’s the weather; or what’s the Mariner’s score?)
- Alexa, give me my news flash for the day
- Alexa, louder (or softer) – or stop
- Alexa, connect me to KUOW (or your favorite station)
- Alexa set the timer for 30 minutes (or alarm for 7AM, or remind me to call Dad on father’s day)
- Alexa, add peanuts to my shopping list (the list shows up on your smart phone Alexa app)
- Alexa, add the 2 PM music performance in the MBR to my calendar (also shows up on your smart phone calendar)
- Alexa, tell me a joke – or play Jeopardy
- Alexa call my daughter (works if the daughter has the device – and a message can be left)
- Alexa read me my kindle book
In one CCRC in California, a third of the residents now have an Amazon Echo or Dot (the latter is much cheaper and can be connected to your speaker system). Try it, you might become addicted too!
I am testing the new one with the little screen but have no experience with the voice-only predecessors. For setup, one uses their iPhone app which does allow you to browse and type during setup.
Clearly a lot of thought has gone into Echo’s design.