[Closed] Amazon Alexa

Find it useful for music personally.

Got Google Home and Alexa in my Firestick

On the TV it's there for searching etc. great and simple

Google Home it's great,sets timers and reminders, plays music, radio and podcasts checks the weather, checks my schedule, searches the web, is a calculator, converter and heaps more

I got the echo music plan with ours so it's great to have access to a variety of stuff. Timers are good and smart home routines. The voice recognition is pretty bad though and if anything I think it's got worse over time.

I use mine every day for turning heating and lights on and off plus radio sometimes and the question of the day of course.

I thought it would be good for music but it appears that you need to upload your collection to Amazon storage.

So I'm trying out spotify at the moment, which is okay for pop music. Also having problems with voice recognition - Laurent Garnier took six or seven goes. And the german version of 99 red balloons took 4 days to find the right accent.

Use mine with Spotify every day. Also use the timer function a lot.

Oh n I'll randomly play shit music through it when she's working from home to piss her off

mainly used for music and weather but having a three year old and five year old it's a sodding ballache at times

I've just replaced mine with a Google Home Hub, which is brilliant.  I think the Echo has slightly better sound quality, but the Home Hub is more versatile, the screen is useful, and more importantly it doesn't randomly drop BBC radio streams.

Music, because I'm a Prime member I don't have to upload music.

Intercom, cos we have a three storey house.

Reminders and timers

Will soon be entering into home automation I think.

My daughter uses it at night to play her to sleep. You can tell it to turn off after a certain time.

My tip would not be to put it near the telly box when you’re watching the match and Alexis Sanchez is playing

Music service is pretty good if you are a Prime subscriber.  Works wells as an alarm clock.  Our five year old has a love/hate relationship with Alexa.

We mainly used ours for Spotify but eventually found that controlling the music via a tablet was much easier and comprehensive that shouting at Alexa (scrolling through a new album when you don't know all the song names is a pain on Alexa but takes seconds on the tablet).

You can make Alexa do farts though which is a big draw for the kids (and me).

We have 4 in total. Proper geek device, plays music and no if you subscribe to Amazon Music you don’t need to upload, controls various lights and recently setup to control the hot water. All by voice or Alexa app.

 (scrolling through a new album when you don’t know all the song names is a pain on Alexa but takes seconds on the tablet).

For the google music point of view you just ask for the latest album by XYZ and it plays it so maybe try that

We mainly used ours for Spotify but eventually found that controlling the music via a tablet was much easier and comprehensive that shouting at Alexa (scrolling through a new album when you don’t know all the song names is a pain on Alexa but takes seconds on the tablet).

You can control Alexa through the app too.  So if I want something specific I browse with my phone, otherwise I just say 'play music'.

I know I can control music through the Alexa app but it's far more intuitive with the Spotify app and not have to put up with Alexa dropping out.

We have a dot in the kitchen, used every day for shopping list, timers and voice controlling the Sonos to use Deezer.

Jeff

I acquired an Alexa recently, given to me by someone who no longer needed it.  I've been meaning to post this question for a little while.

So far I've found,

"Add (blah) to shopping list" (which is really handy).

"Play (something) on Spotify."

"Play (radio station).

"Tell me a joke."

"Play Lieswatter" (a cute little game by the people who made You Don't Know Jack.)

General Google-type questions, "Alexa, what time does ASDA close today?"

A friend of mine uses one for controlling smart light bulbs, which is neat, but I don't have such things.

That's about it.  I've not even looked at Skills, I don't know where to start.  Any other suggestions greatly appreciated.

"Alexa, talk dirty to me."

Wouldn't want one myself but asking a friend's Alexa about Skynet produced some interesting results.

Control Sonos with voice. Great for radio. Less so with Spotify as can never remember the names of my playlists.

Daily briefing - quick summary of bbc news and sport.

Timers

Intercom.

My ex dumped her ex because of the way he spoke to his Alexa.

No good for Scots 😉

Bedroom radio alarm clock. My missis bought me one about the second time as the DAB broke, it's the only thing it's used for.

I have a Dot and a Spot. Spot is mostly just a glorified alarm clock but also use it to "switch off all lights" after I've gone to bed.

Dot is mostly controlling lights, thermostat and setting timers when cooking. All use it to stream radio to a bluetooth speaker in my bathroom.

Nothing life changing but a bit extra convenience which for me is worth the money.

Genuine question, do people not have a mobile phone to hand?

Genuine question, do people not have a mobile phone to hand?

This is where I always get to when I think about getting one. Maybe if I saw a house where it's all linked up i'd feel different, but otherwise phone + good bluetooth speaker + oven timer + some light switches works for me

Can we just clear one thing up. The device is an Echo (or dot). The assistant is called Alexa. So you don't have an Alexa, you have an Echo.

That's better, carry on.

Never mind "Genuine question, do people not have a mobile phone to hand", how about:

Genuine question -do you lot not have arms and legs.

So far it looks like the vast majority of people use them for playing music and setting timers.

Genuine step forward in human AI(ish) interface then..

🤣🤷‍♂️

Well my only mobile is a company-issued Windows phone so it can't run 99.99999% of apps. I do have an iPad but why would I want to log in to it, open an app and tap something when I can just speak what I want to do?

A couple of Echo Dots here.. only use them for controlling Sonos (and the occasional kitchen timer if I remember) and it's pretty clunky for that (but getting there).

Genuine question, do people not have a mobile phone to hand

Alexa is "hands free" (my phone doesn't listen all the time).

We have a dot in the kitchen, used every day for shopping list, timers

I plan to pick up several of the new sonos speaker with built in Alexa, plan to use it for the above and then linking up musis subscriptions and playing music around the house. Cost difference between ones with Alexa and ones without is circa £20 per speaker with some other features so willing to take a punt TBH.

For the shopping list stuff, how does this actually work? I plan to use it for food shopping, do I need to set up an account somewhere which I can then view or does it just add stuff to a retailers basket and then order for home delviery?

I have an Echo Dot, it was only £30

Its good for music, the basic Amazon music prescription is only £4 a month. Its bluetooth connection can be a little flaky to my amplifier though.

It's probably worth the money just to here my four year old shouting "Alexa put Shotgun on" and it actually knowing what to do

I’m not knocking them, I do think at some point they will become the norm and useful.

At the moment though they play music and set timers ..

#jusayin

We have one in the kitchen. Primary uses for us are:

- listening to music, radio and podcasts ("Alexa play songs by Little Mix", "Alexa play Kerrang Radio on TuneIn", "Alexa, play the Infinite Monkey Cage from the BBC")
- setting handsfree timers while cooking ("Alexa, set a chicken timer for 12 minutes")
- news and weather ("Alexa, will it rain today?", "Alexa what's in the news?")
- jokes ("Alexa tell me a joke about penguins")
- games ("Alexa open the Magic Door", "Alexa play Yes Sire")
- ambience ("Alexa, play rainforest sounds", "Alexa, play fireside sounds")

Genuine question, do people not have a mobile phone to hand

I use Siri on my phone from time to time, but it's not nearly as good and the speaker is a lot quieter.

I think they are great. Ours control lights, and other smart stuff in the house. The fact it works with IFTTT means you can make it do whatever you want really.

Main issue is getting syntax right /lack of natural language recognition when you're using an App.

e.g.

I have to say "Alexa, Ask London Bus North" to get the next few buses going to the station. The actual functionality once you remember what to say is pretty good...

I have to say "Trigger..." when you want it to run an IFTTT routine.

I’m not knocking them, I do think at some point they will become the norm and useful.
At the moment though they play music and set timers ..
#jusayin

You obviously haven't seen the Google assistant booking a restaurant? ie. it has a conversation with a real person to accomplish a task. That is genuine AI.

At the moment though they play music and set timers ..

Just the most common usage I think. I do other stuff with it, just less commonly, e.g. I don't ask it "what is the capital of Uganda" or "how many millilitres are there in 12 fluid ounces" every day. But when I do it is useful.

In terms of AI and speech recognition I do think that Alexa (and the others) are a pretty major step forward towards consumer acceptance.

I sometimes ask mine what day of the week it is (as it doesn't appear on the Sky menu when flicking through channels and I don't buy newspapers), I guess this is a sign of old age :p

"Alexa,where is North?"

How do you get on with the voice recognition?  Does it work or is it like

Anyone else just not bothered?

I've never tried Alexa nor Siri and am just not remotely interested in either of them.

And yes, I'd have taken the blue pill in the Matrix and lived happily ever after.

For the shopping list stuff, how does this actually work?

You say "Alexa, add (whatever) to shopping list."  Then in store you open the phone app, select Lists / Shopping list and you get a list of everything you've added.  As you shop you tick off what you've got and it removes the items.  Works well.

The only slight issue is that you have to add multiple items individually.  I once tried "Alexa, add Coke and lemonade to shopping list" and got back "I've added coconut lemonade to your shopping list."

How do you get on with the voice recognition?

Works well for me, you can speak naturally rather than the voice you'd use talking to a small child... That said Alexa struggles with some words for me, after installing a smart light outside my front door I wanted to name it "outside" but ended up having to name it "porch" after she kept getting confused with outside (I don't have a lisp either...).

How do you get on with the voice recognition?

Works fine even with my accent and she seems to learn too.

For the shopping list stuff, how does this actually work?

I wish more supermarkets would get on this. I shop online with tescos, so when I tell my GH to buy something it actually adds it to my Tescos basket rather than just creating a list in text. When I am ready to do my shopping, I just log into tescos, quick scan to ensure the contents of my basket was created correctly. Then I check out and I`m done.

It only works with tescos at the moment, would be nice to have a choice of supermarket.

Anyone else just not bothered?

I’ve never tried Alexa nor Siri and am just not remotely interested in either of them.

I did struggle with the idea of self consciously using them for simple phone tasks in the office, but at home it just makes simple things easier.

Generally in the mornings as I'm getting ready for work is I ask what the weather is like today, run through any appointments, play Radio 6, when I get home stick the radio on, set a timer, update reminders

Anyone else just not bothered?

I wouldn't call myself a fan.  We only bought it because an Echo Dot and a bluetooth speaker was half the price of an internet radio, and we wanted one of those because local radio stations are awful.

Anyone else just not bothered?

I’ve never tried Alexa nor Siri and am just not remotely interested in either of them.

I use Siri about ... ummm .. 15 times a week?? normally to play music when in the car.. or calling someone from my contacts.

I have everything else in Siri/Apps turned off, I dont want those evil data hivers nicking my othe rprivate life.

It only works with tescos at the moment, would be nice to have a choice of supermarket.

Alexa does this with Ocado and Morrisons.. but not Tesco.

How do you get on with the voice recognition?

Actually does pretty well with me TJ. Probably understands my Scottish accent more often than my wife does.

Using the app you can indicate when she got things right or wrong, which I believe feeds back into the recognition.

You say “Alexa, add (whatever) to shopping list.”

I'm imagining cunning advertisers adding something that sounds a lot like that to their adverts 🙂

I use Siri about … ummm .. 15 times a week?? normally to play music when in the car.. or calling someone from my contacts.

I use Siri to send and receive texts/WhatsApp/iMessage when on the bike or in the car. e.g. "Hey Siri, tell MrsGrahamS I'll be home in ten minutes" and "Hey Siri, read last message"

Alexa does this with Ocado and Morrisons.. but not Tesco.

So how does it work?  "Alex order me some carrots".

It just adds the first carrots it finds, or it reads out a list of 20 different carrots, or selects the ones the supermarket makes the most margin on?

I use the Ocado phone app.  I can browse the 20 or so carrots and pick the one I want looking at price/weight and picture of the product.

I still struggle to see their usefulness past a gimmick.

I still struggle to see their usefulness past a gimmick.

So all of the stuff above is a gimmick?

A voice interface for the tech in your home, media and more? Given it's quicker to get a BBC radio station up on the device than using my phone it's already doing more.

If it's a gimmick the test would be is it the way most UI's will be heading

A "solution" to a problem you've been told you have by the device makers.

For someone who's disabled I can see a use but for everyone else it's just an excuse to pretend to be Captain Picard: "Make it so!"

Given it’s quicker to get a BBC radio station up on the device than using my phone it’s already doing more.

when you really, really, really, really need to be listening to the radio right NOW!

A “solution” to a problem you’ve been told you have by the device makers.

Not really.  It's quite a cheap device, and it has a few handy features.  Mostly around music, for me.  There's no need for passive aggression; f you don't like it, don't buy one.  Shrug your shoulders and move on, you don't have to denigrate the rest of us.

I don't think it was a passive-agressive comment, just pointing out that it's definitely a push of technology into the market

I don't really understand the Luddite comments that crop up whenever new tech is being discussed.

It was like when sat-navs were new, "what's wrong with just reading a map?" everyone wailed.  And sure, you could park up, spend five minutes working out a route through unfamiliar country, then later get stuck in traffic and play the "should we get off at the next junction?" lottery.  Or fast-forward to today, you can just go "ok Google, navigate to (place)" and have the optimal route presented to you in a couple of seconds taking into account national real-time traffic information, and have a pretty accurate ETA to boot.  And if a traffic jam later occurs ahead of you, it reroutes automatically on the fly to avoid it.

Round at a friend's a couple of weeks ago, he's got an Echo running home automation.  "Alexa, living room fifty percent" - *lights dim to half brightness*.  Sure, it's not necessary, and you could get up and dim the lights yourself, stop being so lazy.  But snuggled up on the couch with your partner all warm and snug and comfortable it's surely a nice thing to have?  I wonder, do all the naysayers still get up to change channels on the TV set, eschewing this new-fangled "remote control" malarkey?  It's exactly the same argument.

Alexa / Siri / Google / Cortana et al may well be "solutions to a problem you've been told you have," but the inescapable fact is that they're groundbreaking in terms of the way we're able to interact with technology.  Windows rendered command lines obsolete to all but the propeller-heads.  Touch screens ditto physical keyboards on phones.  Hands up who sneered when the first iPad was announced. "What's this for?  It's pointless."  Give it another decade, we'll be sat telling our grandkids about how we used to have to type out SMS messages letter-by-letter and they'll look at us like we're dinosaurs.

when you really, really, really, really need to be listening to the radio right NOW!

Or for when you are doing the washing up or cooking and want to listen to something else, or set a timer etc.

But yes, lets not make things easier, or simpler....

just pointing out that it’s definitely a push of technology into the market

Like the last 50 years then

 Or fast-forward to today, you can just go “ok Google, navigate to (place)” and have the optimal route presented to you in a couple of seconds taking into account national real-time traffic information, and have a pretty accurate ETA to boot.

To add to that with android Auto on the way home I can ask for an open shop that sells something, last one was checking when the local shop shut on a Sunday to decide if I carried on or went shopping on the way back, all done with the same effort as a conversation with a passenger.

Asking when the next tram from my stop is while getting ready in the morning is another really useful example.

As with anything like this, if you were designing it from scratch today would you make it a fixed object with a keyboard being the only interface?

So how does it work? “Alex order me some carrots”.

Its actually fairly smart. If I say, "Hey google buy teabags", it will add the brand I most often buy to the basket based on my shopping history

Like the last 50 years then

What? Over the last forever number of years there has been a mix of push and pull technology

I still struggle to see their usefulness past a gimmick.

Most of the skills available right now are gimmicks ("tell me a joke" etc) but it's still a young technology - as it matures and complementary technologies (e.g. smart home) become more commonplace the killer apps will emerge.

When it works, the music control can be genuinely useful - asking to play an album verbally is significantly easier / quicker than the process on your phone.

A “solution” to a problem you’ve been told you have by the device makers.

See, also, the TV remote.

The TV remote isn't a great example really. Everyone knows about channel hopping, light setting hopping not so much.

I'll be honest, I'm kind of playing devils advocate as I'm enough of an Amazon household that one of their deals will snag me!

I don’t really understand the Luddite comments that crop up whenever new tech is being discussed.

I have a £1000 mobile phone with Siri on it.  I do not see the need to spend another £200 or whatever to buy something that does the same thing.  Unless we are now at the stage where companies are purposefully de-engineering things like phones so you have to buy a crappy speaker with Siri built in.

My next home I would want to control my house heating/lighting/speakers etc all from my phone rather than splurging out on yet another gadget.

(my phone currently can put radio 4 on in an instant)

+1 to everything Cougar just said.

Obviously some true STWers are sat at home with paraffin lamps frantically writing out their reply with quill and ink 🙂

To be clear, absolutely no one is claiming that Alexa (or Siri, Google etc) are in any way "essential" or even that they do things that are completely unachievable using other methods.

They are just gadgets of convenience. The remote control is an excellent analogy.

Give it another decade, we’ll be sat telling our grandkids about how we used to have to type out SMS messages

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Best get busy if you want to have some Grandkids in ten years time Cougs. </span>

I do not see the need to spend another £200 or whatever to buy something that does the same thing.

What about £30 on a device that works better than Siri, allows you to make calls, and can ring your £1000 phone for you when you can't find it?

I have a £1000 mobile phone with Siri on it.  I do not see the need to spend another £200 or whatever to buy something that does the same thing.

Having seen people struggle with Siri I can see why 😉 Try one of the ones that just works 😉

Everyone knows about channel hopping, light setting hopping not so much.

Not a great example really.. back when there were only 3 channels. The point being that what was originally deemed a gimmick is now the norm.

I’ll be honest, I’m kind of playing devils advocate

Trolling, I believe it's called these days 😉

This technology evolution will pave the way for fully integrated home and work life, better get used to it.. what’s going on now will improve society  in ways no-me has even thought about.

Not just home life, but whole supply chain e2e service sector.

Order a tin of tomatoes  today and the supermarket knows it needs to restock or warehouse stock, takes quantity and quality information, estimated basket totals and credit availability, distribution chains and suppliers growing capacity all planned with limited waste and downtime.

Awesome when you expand the gimmick out a bit, eh 👍

"OK, Alexa. Put another log on the fire please." Hmm.

Sat nav: try living at the end of a no-through road (with sign) that people ignore because their sat-nav tells them they can get through. Even more fun when the lorry gets stuck. Yes, that's the user's fault not the technology.

I'm not a luddite (I worked on the technical side of TV consumer products for nearly twenty years and once digital TV came along it became near impossible to control via the front panel plus manufacturers were always wanting "cheaper" so less buttons, etc.) and am probably borderline early adopter. Actually with the TV remote it might be quicker going over to the TV to do it than trying to find where my wife has left the remote!

For all those using Alexa, etc, if MI5 had come up with a device that listened to what was going on in your home so you could control things would you use it? That's no different to what Amazon, Google, et al. are doing.

Alexa, read me George Orwell's 1984.

Sat nav: try living at the end of a no-through road (with sign) that people ignore because their sat-nav tells them they can get through. Even more fun when the lorry gets stuck. Yes, that’s the user’s fault not the technology.

Where as live nav stuff like Google Maps can learn and you can have a road closed so it doesn't figure on the routing.

For all those using Alexa, etc, if MI5 had come up with a device that listened to what was going on in your home so you could control things would you use it? That’s no different to what Amazon, Google, et al. are doing.

True but it doesn't, your laptop might be though or your TV. Each of these devices has a wake command, it's only connected when it's woken up to listen to and execute a command.

Of course we will now enter the well you can't trust them blah blah blah.

End of the day I live on my own, not many conversations to record.

if MI5 had come up with a device that listened to what was going on in your home so you could control things would you use it?

Chances are your mobile phone can be compromised and turned into a listening device by security services (look at Snowden's revelations about The Smurf Suite for example).

But I still use a mobile and carry it everywhere. Do you?

I didn't realise how much I liked it till i was cooking a roast dinner at my mums house without Alexa.

Only having one timer was a nightmare, having to stop what i was doing to work the thing as well. Obviously coped perfectly well before but why would you want to?

@mikenewsmith - I had to go on to the various open mapping sites and mark the road down as a no through road so those devices that auto-update or use live data picked it up. There's still the occasional older 'dumb' device/user that heads down the lane.

Samsung did have a model of one of their Smart TVs (PN60F8500 and maybe others) that listened to what was going on in the room regardless of you issuing a wake command. I'm not sure if it was ever sold in the UK and quite what the "feature" was to be used for I don't think they'd figured out - the tin hat brigade said it was being sent to the CIA.

But I still use a mobile and carry it everywhere. Do you?

I have a mobile (iPhone) but I'll often leave it at home or wherever so it's never with me all the time. This weekend for example when we went for a ride my wife had her phone so we were covered for emergency cases so I left mine at home.

I like it - we have an Echo in the kitchen and our girls both have a Dot in their rooms. When I am cooking I can use it for timers and I can quickly change songs, turn up the volume etc even if I am knee deep in chicken carcass. The girls ask it to tell jokes, sing them happy birthday etc. We use it to help research when doing homework (much more seamless than breaking off and checking on a computer). Yesterday I was baking the Christmas cake and I asked it what the celsius equivalent to gas mark one was.

Not a great example really.. back when there were only 3 channels. The point being that what was originally deemed a gimmick is now the norm.

3 channels in the backwards UK maybe, but my Zenith LazyBones was awesome*

*maybe