My 11 year old nephew was blinding me with science yesterday about his Alexa. From what I can gather you talk to it and it searches t’internet to either answer your question or play you a tune. So, in theory I could ask it to list the cast from Ronin, give me a recipe for a lemon drizzle cake and then play me some Bananarama hits. Is this true or is he having me on?

Also, I guess there is a trigger word. Could I call it “Orac”, like in Blake’s 7?

One would also assume that it is effectively bugging your house, so if I say something unpatriotic a team of masked men will put a bag over my head and drag me away for reprogramming.

I need to give some ideas for my Christmas present you see. I already have 50+ Scalextric cars, 6 bikes, at least 15 unbuilt Airfix kits and the wife won’t buy me a Lego Saturn V.

Yes it’s all true.

My neighbour’s got one.

It has a “real people personality”…

Sounds ghastly.

Such things are great for asking for rude jokes…

There are only a few “wake” words.

Alexa, Echo, Amazon or Computer.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201971890

What you said is mostly true. My kids love asking our Echo Dot “how big is the sun” because it results in her (uhoh, it) listing all the dimensions from wikipedia, which are you can imagine are quite big. We’ve a Dot as it’s nice and cheap, and sitting next to a hifi for when we want to play music. It’s moderately useful (weather report, news summary, and calendar update from shouting “alexa, what’s the news” whilst I put the kettle on). Having some “smart home” stuff definitely makes it more worthwhile. The music playback requires Prime, or something.

The trigger words are limited, just “alexa”, “computer”, or something else. Amazon, maybe?

They say that its only sending when you activate the trigger word and the lights come on. Whether you trust Amazon or not is your choice. Obviously if the NSA/GCHQ/etc either coerce or backdoor an Echo then they have access to an always on device in your house. Then again, if they wanted to bug your house they’d probably do it the old fashioned way anyway…

a team of masked men will put a bag over my head and drag me away for reprogramming.

That option is only on the Alexa elite model and can be switched off.

Ours seems to have developed an attitude problem. She regularly ignores us but answers to random words from the television. Definitely a real people personality…..

There were about 3 adverts when I went to the cinema the other day –
“Alexa turn the room blue” – so you can pretend your lounge is the sea
“Alexa turn the cupboard lights on” – so you can “surprise” the person hiding in the cupboard (if they’re deaf and you have a cupboard with lights in)

and er, can’t remember the other. Amazing… but I wasn’t sold. (though DrP loves his 😉 )

The music playback requires Prime, or something.

Prime (or Amazon Music Unlimited as I think it’s called) or Spotify are currently supported by Alexa…

BUT

…if you have bought music (CDs, vinyl, MP3s) from Amazon it can also be played via Alexa. Note it’s also a bluetooth speaker, so in a very roundabout way you could control your Apple Music library via Siri on your iPhone, but get it playing via the Echo speaker. I can vouch for that not being terribly effective or convenient though 😆

… but I wasn’t sold.

I think these Echo devices are a bit like e-bikes. People don’t get them and aren’t sold on them, then they try them and love them.

(tenuous comparison, I know)

I’ve tried an eBike! It goes uphills. Like my other bike, but I have to pedal more.

I’ve seen Alexa! It turns lights on and off*. Like my fingers, but I have to walk to the light switch.

.
*I know I know, it can change their colour as well!

It is loaded with what they call ‘skills’ which are effectively conversation based apps. So if you want it to tell you when the next bus is coming, you need for example the Cardiff Bus skill (if there is one, no idea).

There’s a selection of skills built in which include things like ‘what’s the weather like?’ ‘Did United win today?’ ‘What’s 543/6’ ‘how tall is Everest’ and so on.

The thing with the lights is because it acts as a controller for some kind of home hub system, forget which one.

The difference between this and traditional voice activation is that you don’t have to say an exact phrase, you can ask it in natural language as you would a person and it’ll figure out what you want. But you have to have the skill loaded.

Alexa skills

😆 I knew I shouldn’t have brought e-bikes into it #ShouldHaveKnownBetter

Very simply Alexa allows us to ask for something to be done instead of having to physically do it. Having stood at the sink washing up (and hence having wet hands), being able to ask what the weather’s doing tomorrow, or put the radio on, or play some music or turn the lights on/up/blue is hugely more convenient and – dare I say it – more natural than drying my hands and pressing some buttons somewhere. Alexa is catering for very natural human conversational instincts. I would urge everyone to at least try one in their house for a few days.

There are only a few “wake” words.

Alexa, Echo, Amazon or Computer.

Not if you get Echo For Old People.

[video]https://youtu.be/YvT_gqs5ETk[/video]

But you have to have the skill loaded.

It does quite a bit of stuff out of the box without additional skills. You don’t need a weather skill for it to tell you the local weather for instance, nor a radio skill for it to play the radio.

The most annoying thing about the Echo I’m finding is that the glorious Internet of Things is being ruined by companies being dicks.

I’ve and Echo Dot which I can shout at. I’ve the Plex skill loaded, so I can shout at Plex (a media server thingy). I can ask Plex to play an album from our Plex server on any valid Plex players. Apart from the Google Chomecast Audio (which is plugged into the hifi), which you can control from an iPhone but not from an Echo. Thanks to the Amazon/Google cold war…

Very simply Alexa allows us to ask for something to be done instead of having to physically do it.

I see the future of eBikes! 😆

DezB
I see the future of eBikes!

Alexa, take my eBike for a ride and bring back a few KOMs – I’ve got a hangover

“Computer” isn’t the smartest of wake words, the Echo will respond every time some says “computer” on telly. But I like being able to control the lights in different areas, playing internet radio stations (Soma FM fan) and running multiple timers for cooking with. Also, a Harmony Home Hub will let me control telly, dvd player, soundbar and stereo by voice which I like but is a tad expensive for what it is. Oh, and it has a shopping list -> tell it to add Stuff to your shopping list and Stuff is added to the shopping list on your phone (if it’s been set up).

tell it to add Stuff to your shopping list and Stuff is added to the shopping list on your phone

This is the killer feature* for our house, since our shopping list is also synced across mine and Mrs Tortoise’s phones.

*possibly a slight exaggeration. Just

My Strava skill is in development currently.

I can ask it about my last ride, weekly stats, achievements (KOMs) and monthly/annual stats.

Next feature is to let you know how many rides/miles you’ve done in the last wk vs all other users of the skill.

Here! This is what would get me clicking the One-Click Buy NOW! button- can you say “Alexa, how long would it take me to get to <destination> and what time should I leave to get there at 4:45?”
“Dez, traffic is light and it will take you 20 mins. Leave at 3:25”
And train times and that?
❓

My mate has enabled the integration between his Tesla model x and Alexa. He can currently query it for charge status & enable the aircon to pre-heat or cool the car as necessary. The coolest integration will see him being able to summon the car to his front door from the garage.

This is the killer feature* for our house, since our shopping list is also synced across mine and Mrs Tortoise’s phones.

What app are you using for that, out of interest?

Here! This is what would get me clicking the One-Click Buy NOW! button- can you say “Alexa, how long would it take me to get to <destination> and what time should I leave to get there at 4:45?”
“Dez, traffic is light and it will take you 20 mins. Leave at 3:25”

What would be cooler is if it already knew you were taking a trip and warned you proactively.

Y’know, like Google does. (-:

What app are you using for that, out of interest?

Anylist. I was using it before I got an Echo and they recently released a skill for it. It has a free version

@DezB you can tell Alexa your usual commute and it will *nearly* do what you want

I hope he remembers to hook up the garage door opener into the loop 🙂

My mate has enabled the integration between his Tesla model x and Alexa

Another one for the cinema ads there. I ain’t never gonna do that.

you can tell Alexa your usual commute and it will *nearly* do what you want
Thankfully, my commute isn’t traffic (or train) dependent.

Sounds ghastly.

Does it say “call me Eddie if it’ll help”?

Here! This is what would get me clicking the One-Click Buy NOW! button- can you say “Alexa, how long would it take me to get to <destination> and what time should I leave to get there at 4:45?”
“Dez, traffic is light and it will take you 20 mins. Leave at 3:25”
And train times and that?

National Rail skill.

As for the travel time thing – try asking Google that, it might work.

EDIT just tried asking Google, but it doesn’t seem to acknowledge the time I specify – even though the website definitely does this. If I ask it what traffic is like now on a particular journey it does tell me.

I’d try Alexa but she’s downstairs.

ALEXAAAAAAA?!

Thought this was about Louise’s mate…..

try asking Google that, it might work

Can’t you go “Alexa, Ask Google… blah-di-blah”
And Alexa goes “Hey Google! Blah-di-blah”
That’d be smart 😆