Like others ours arrived yesterday. Piece of cake to set up (cake was for me).
I went with a Dot as I felt it a bit of a nolvelty but 12 hours in feel I should have gone for the bigger one.
Yes it's a bit silly talking to a device but it's so intuitive. Our 5 yr old came down this morning and saw the box and just started taking to Alexa.
I came down a few minutes later and this was playing:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gzoEK545j64
The sound is really quite good from the Dot - a whole heap better than expected. But not as good as the bigger one.
Next time Gadget, next time .....
I have a five year old too.
"Alexa, play songs from Moana"
👿
Our 5 yr old came down this morning and saw the box and just started taking to Alexa.
[b]TURN OFF THE ABILITY TO BUY STUFF![/b]
(In the app got to Settings->Voice Purchasing)
"Alexa, play songs from Moana"
As long as it's "Shiney" I'd be ok with that.
My kids thought it was great telling Alexa to play all sorts of random stuff yesterday. I drew the line at Christian rock though.
It seems fun at first, then you realise it really buggers up your preferences.
"Alexa, play some music"
"Here's a station you might like - Take That"
NOOOO F****** OFFFF
"Here's a station you might like - Take That"
Counter by saying [i]"Alexa, play Kerrang Radio on TuneIn"[/i]
Then [i]"Alexa, volume 11"[/i]
Kerrang radio - forgot about that!
We set up our Echo last night too.
I've already lost control to the little fella - 9 years old and his tech-integration skills are way beyond mine already.
Missus is still suspicious of it, and I'm not sure she'll ever be best friends with Alexa.
Overall we like it, but I was disappointed it wouldn't do stuff like tell me when the next bus was.
Overall we like it, but I was disappointed it wouldn't do stuff like tell me when the next bus was.
Check the skills on the Alexa app/website.
Check the skills on the Alexa app/website.
Yep, particularly the "Local Skills" category.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/alexa-skills/b/ref=sd_allcat_k_a2s_all?ie=UTF8&node=10068517031
Anyone got any recommended skills by the way?
We quite like "The Magic Door" which is a little old skool kid-friendly Choose Your Own Adventure style game: i.e. [i]"You are in a dark wood, there is a path leading to a castle on the West and a path to the North that goes deeper into the woods. Which way would you like to go?"[/i] etc
It's silly but quite well done. Looks like there are few other skills doing similar things now.
"I can't find Hunkpapa by The Throwing Muses in your library"
You're not trying hard enough Alexa. I can see in my browser and the Windows 10 Desktop app.
GrahamS - Member
Our 5 yr old came down this morning and saw the box and just started taking to Alexa.
TURN OFF THE ABILITY TO BUY STUFF!(In the app got to Settings->Voice Purchasing)
Thanks.
I set our new Echo up last night. We've got the MIL staying, Country and Western, was the first request, then Dean Martin. Ended up with easy listening music. 😀
"Alexa, play songs from Moana"
Guaranteed good times!
Woke up from a night shift about an hour ago to find the postie had been with mine, all setup and testing in now. It's impressive understands me easily the sound is Ok but can see me looking for a speaker for it.
Not quite as good a deal, but you can get a certified refurb Echo for £99 today.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01GAGVIKS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Same warranty etc.
Check the skills on the Alexa app/website.
Yep, particularly the "Local Skills" category.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/alexa-skills/b/ref=sd_allcat_k_a2s_all?ie=UTF8&node=10068517031
cheers guys - will test it out tonight
My daughter has decided it needs to remind every hour I am a little overweight bald and answer to the name senior bumhole.
The Skills thing seems a bit clunky to me, you have to remember the trigger words to activate them. I understand why, just they're not always obvious - would be better if there was an option to give a Skill precedence so that if you asked something relevant to the Skill Alexa would respond using the Skill info not a Bing search.
The timer was useful last night when cooking (and listening to Spotify on it).
OK, got mine set up too
Questions for the expert panel, if I may:
I've set up mymediaalexa skill to let it stream music from my pc - seems to work fine but also is gently screaming "HACKABLE" at me. Please make me feel better (or tell me a better way). (file sharing on that PC is restricted and I've set mymedia to look at just one folder)
My kids have discovered that it'll "just play" stuff that's not on my PC so must be coming from Amazon. I have Prime (obvz, given the timing and this thread) and so presumably that does streaming but there's also another, bigger streaming servce that's an extra cost. Sooner or later one of them's going to ask for a trial of that (it's offered every now & then). If I've turned off voice ordering am I safe from that too ?
Anyone got it to print direct to a network printer (Epson, wireless and wired FWIW)
err, that's my lot for now thanks
My kids have discovered that it'll "just play" stuff that's not on my PC so must be coming from Amazon. I have Prime (obvz, given the timing and this thread) and so presumably that does streaming but there's also another, bigger streaming servce that's an extra cost
Amazon Prime comes with a streaming service similar to Spotify .
On the music front, the recognition of requests seems to work much better when you are a subscriber. Also what music you get from Prime is a cutdown list, this was a problem as you couldn't get some soundtrack albums. I think if you were using Spotify as the music source you missed out on some of the commands like skip or resume.
thanks eskay - I know there's a prime service but as riddoch says it's restricted and every now & then it says that song's not available and would we like to trial another service that has more songs but will cost after a 30 day trial. I don't want "us" signing up imadvertently for that
scaredypants - Member
thanks eskay - I know there's a prime service but as riddoch says it's restricted and every now & then it says that song's not available and would we like to trial another service that has more songs but will cost after a 30 day trial. I don't want "us" signing up imadvertently for that
I did not realise it was restricted. I know it was always there with Amazon Prime but I use Spotify (family) so have never really used Prime Audio in anger.
I am happy to pay for Spotify Premium because it deters the kids from illegal downloads (hopefully...)
As an aside, one can stop Alexa with 'Shhh' or 'shut up', as well as 'stop'.
Yes you can also swear at it.
To what end?
makes it ****ing shut up, dunnit
Slightly disappointed with mine. Just got back from holiday and plugged it in. First question: 'alexa when is low tide?'. Answer: I need to install a skill. I probably will get round to doing that for this specific question, but I guess I was expecting more.
This is where the Google Home edges the Echo. Everything is there as a service, well when the UK gets them, rather than having to find and install a necessary skill.
....and as for there being thousands of skills. That's no good when 99% are crap.
@sl2000 Good luck
This explains the difference between Prime Music (free for Prime subs) and the Unlimited service. http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/amazon-prime-music-unlimited-vs-prime-music
I've had it mention a few times that a song isn't available and to try Unlimited but it hasn't asked me if I wanted to subscribe there and then (although I do have ordering turned off anyway, mostly in case I'm drunk and start talking to Alexa...).
i read somewhere that there are 2m songs in prime music and the rest of the universe in the unlimited. I like the streaming music based on genres. Currently ok on prime music but i'm sure i will find limitations for top 40 stuff
Anyone have a recommendation for the best smart plug to use with Alexa (and on an app on an iphone).
Ultimate middle class STW first world problem - the ability to turn on my coffee machine to warm up from bed or when half an hour from home at work or on a bike.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01I3ZCBFK
Can even get an version which tells you how much your middle class affectations is costing you in energy*
*Via a powered plug connected to an always on speaker 8)
I've ordered one of those plugs to do the outside lights. "Alexa.. Lights on" will be awesome and I may get the power measuring one for the Lounge TV Hifi as it often gets left on overnight and bothers me enough to get up and check.
I've 2 of those TP link ones.
They just work, don't need a hub etc
I'll get more when they're on a better offer..
DrP
These ones look interesting, more like inline modules to fit to the power lines rather than big bulky plugs. Only good to 10amp but that's plenty for lights etc.
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I can't believe how sensitive the microphone is, I can talk to it from a different room and about 30 feet away, quite amazing.
its worth noting that the tplink plugs (whilst good otherwise) are not currently compatible with the (excellent otherwise) logitech harmony platform. So whilst you can go 'echo start a movie' and it will turn down the lights, turn your tv to the correct channel, open Kodi on your fire tv and turn your amp on and choose the input, it won't turn on your (non ir-enabled) subwoofer as well (you have to separately ask echo to do that. Oh the humanity!)
You could probably link that together with a suitable IFTTT or Node Red recipe though couldn't you?
If I had a car with a WiFi hotspot, could I use my echo dot in the car? Anyone tried it?
If I had a car with a WiFi hotspot, could I use my echo dot in the car? Anyone tried it?
Installation will depend on car, and how OEM you want it all to look.
So anyone tried "Alexa self destruct" yet?
You can reflash the firmware on the Sonoff Wifi switches Graham linked to and make them directly controllable from Alexa (the new firmware emulates either the Wemo or Phillips Hue protocols which Alexa supports).
https://github.com/arendst/Sonoff-Tasmota
"Alexa discover devices" will cause the echo/dot to emit "discovery" UDP packets which the supported devices respond to. You can then issue "Alexa turn <device> on" etc. Works well, I've flashed it to a couple of the Sonoffs + some bare-bones ESP8266 devices.
I'll get more when they're on a better offer..
[url= http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/tp-link-hs100-wifi-smart-plug-a01wy ]TP-Link HS100 today only at Maplin @ £17.50[/url]
...or [url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01I3ZCBFK ]Maplin via Amazon[/url]
