Amazon Echo

[dxg]

Is it just me, or has "akexa turn out all the lights" broken within in the last couple of days? It seems to want specific lights now and can't deal with with "all the" - unless I've suddenly got a lisp from somewhere...

Edited by dxg on Tuesday 13th December 09:38

[Quattromaster]

PRTVR said:

Quattromaster said:

Guys, notice that Echo will control your heating, but all the wifi thermostats I'm looking at are for gas heating, any good suggestions for one for oil heating.

Hive I think works with anything, so long as you have a timer for it, I don't have a Echo but have read it works with Hive.

Thank you my friend,i thought I'd looked at hive but must have had my stupid head on at the time.

[21TonyK]

gadgetmac said:

I have absolutely no idea what you just said.

And I know Wordperfect 5.1

And I've still got a copy on 5.25 disks along with the training manuals I wrote for it LOL

/time for a clear out of the spare room over Xmas I think!

[s2000db]

Anyone know how to get Apple calendars working on this?

I've synched mine to google calendars, but it still wont see events on this??

[mark2705]

I'm considering one of these as a Christmas pressy for my parents who don't have any music subscription services. Other than radio, is it able to play music via amazon. ie if they were to ask it to play music by XXX would it play ? or would it say they need Amazon prime etc.

[Smiti]

mark2705 said:

I'm considering one of these as a Christmas pressy for my parents who don't have any music subscription services. Other than radio, is it able to play music via amazon. ie if they were to ask it to play music by XXX would it play ? or would it say they need Amazon prime etc.

Yes it can do that and more - but you need a subscription to a music service. Amazon have one for £3.99 per month which gives you access to 42 million songs right up to todays hits.

Examples of commands:

Alexa, Play Christmas classic songs
Alexa, Play Christmas pop songs
Alexa, Play Hello by Adele
Alexa, Play Songs by Adele
Alexa, Play Songs by The Temptations
Alexa, Play Pop music
Alexa, Play My Music Library

[mark2705]

Thanks .... could I link it to my account even though it would be on a different wifi and address ?

[MrBig]

Arrgh!! Modern tech is both awesome and infuriating in equal measure:

Buy iPhone and iPad
Get fed up of iTunes
Subscribe to Spotify
Buy new car with Apple Carplay
Spotify doesn't like Carplay and/or vice versa (works occasionally but usually not and requires unplugging and replugging phone in)
Subscribe to Apple Music
Apple music + Carplay = happy commuter
See demo of Amazon Echo
Want Amazon Echo
Realise Amazon Echo will not work with Apple Music
Cry

What is it the kids say? FML?!?

Phone contract changes in the new year and spotify premium will no longer be included FOC. I have got an amazon prime account but I really cant be bothered setting up and maintaining all my playlists for the 3rd time!

Any suggestions please? Or just home that apple join in the game soon. (Although knowing my luck that won't work with the hive system I have installed...)

[AC43]

MrBig said:

Arrgh!! Modern tech is both awesome and infuriating in equal measure:

Buy iPhone and iPad
Get fed up of iTunes
Subscribe to Spotify
Buy new car with Apple Carplay
Spotify doesn't like Carplay and/or vice versa (works occasionally but usually not and requires unplugging and replugging phone in)
Subscribe to Apple Music
Apple music + Carplay = happy commuter
See demo of Amazon Echo
Want Amazon Echo
Realise Amazon Echo will not work with Apple Music
Cry

What is it the kids say? FML?!?

Phone contract changes in the new year and spotify premium will no longer be included FOC. I have got an amazon prime account but I really cant be bothered setting up and maintaining all my playlists for the 3rd time!

Any suggestions please? Or just home that apple join in the game soon. (Although knowing my luck that won't work with the hive system I have installed...)

I'm personally waiting for the Google Home.

But I've bought my son an Amazon Echo for now so he can have a fancy alarm clock, music streaming (family Spotify account), Hue lighting and something he can generally much about with that doesn't have a screen to keep him awake).

Will probably flog it in a few months when the Home appears.

Am staying a million miles away from the Apple ecosystem and use Google for most things and Amazon just for shopping, really.

Edited by AC43 on Wednesday 14th December 11:19

[ajprice]

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/13/13934702/first-...

"I’ve got a bit of a problem. I keep on shouting at three different voices in my home, and it’s driving me crazy. Alexa, Siri, and Cortana all promise to be the best personal digital assistants, but none of them talk to each other and they’re all pretty bad at their jobs."

[prand]

MrBig said:

Arrgh!! Modern tech is both awesome and infuriating in equal measure:

Buy iPhone and iPad
Get fed up of iTunes
Subscribe to Spotify
Buy new car with Apple Carplay
Spotify doesn't like Carplay and/or vice versa (works occasionally but usually not and requires unplugging and replugging phone in)
Subscribe to Apple Music
Apple music + Carplay = happy commuter
See demo of Amazon Echo
Want Amazon Echo
Realise Amazon Echo will not work with Apple Music
Cry

What is it the kids say? FML?!?

Phone contract changes in the new year and spotify premium will no longer be included FOC. I have got an amazon prime account but I really cant be bothered setting up and maintaining all my playlists for the 3rd time!

Any suggestions please? Or just home that apple join in the game soon. (Although knowing my luck that won't work with the hive system I have installed...)

The way I've done it is get rid of all the Apple products and not get tempted back. Then I can stay away from itunes and apple music, and I'm not tempted to shell out on expensive things that don't work with other systems and services. Generally very happy with Android products and my Amazon echo is a great thing for the kitchen.

[LDN]

I've just bought a couple of Echo Dots using the current promo; I was putting off getting one to see how they'd evolve - but I'm interested in them, as a way to control things in my home whilst away.

Does the Alexa iPhone APP let you login and manage devices / plugs? So if I'm abroad, can I login to the one APP and control anything connected?

Second question; what's the general concensus on the smart plugs needed for devices... best value / quality? They seem to be around the £30 mark; is this right?

Thanks for any help.

[Thorburn]

Back on offer again, although not quite at Black Friday levels.

£5 off the Dot: http://amzn.to/2huMuCs
£20 off the Echo: http://amzn.to/2hsDxMT

Also £15 off the Fire Tablet: http://amzn.to/2hkW50Y

[Shaw Tarse]

Anyone had Alexa waking up due to (I presume something said on TV) ?

[Stiggolas]

Yes, happens fairly regularly It recognised someone on the news saying "and next time", said quickly it sounds like Alexa

[pmanson]

Colleagues at work purchased an Echo for me for my Birthday.

Initial thoughts so far are that it's good for:

• News/sports updates
• Taking lists

I haven't managed to get it talking to our Tado properly yet (and even then i'm not sure it will do what I want it to do). eg. Tado what is the temperature, Tado boost the hot water etc

I'm also desperately waiting for the Sonos link up to happen, at which point I really think it will be used in anger.

Any recommendations on lights/lamps that it can also control? (we've got a couple of table lamps that we could control)

[Shaw Tarse]

Stiggolas said:

Yes, happens fairly regularly It recognised someone on the news saying "and next time", said quickly it sounds like Alexa

Thanks,
Good job I'm not a TV presenter, I'd be tempted to start a new game

[MrBig]

prand said:

The way I've done it is get rid of all the Apple products and not get tempted back. Then I can stay away from itunes and apple music, and I'm not tempted to shell out on expensive things that don't work with other systems and services. Generally very happy with Android products and my Amazon echo is a great thing for the kitchen.

Indeed and I have considered that option, but between my wife and I we have vetubred away to android 3 times and always ended up disappointed with the reliability of the devices or OS. It's only really the music that puts me off the echo. Presumably even if I had an android device I would still be stuck with Amazon music or Spotify?

[prand]

MrBig said:

Indeed and I have considered that option, but between my wife and I we have vetubred away to android 3 times and always ended up disappointed with the reliability of the devices or OS. It's only really the music that puts me off the echo. Presumably even if I had an android device I would still be stuck with Amazon music or Spotify?

Which is fine for me 99% of the time, so no worries there!

[IIIRestorerIII]

pmanson said:

I haven't managed to get it talking to our Tado properly yet (and even then i'm not sure it will do what I want it to do). eg. Tado what is the temperature, Tado boost the hot water etc

I've only been able to adjust temperature so far and looking at the tado website that's all they've enabled for now. Maybe they'll develop it more if they see enough folks using it.

https://support.tado.com/hc/en-gb/articles/2144559...

How does tado° work with Amazon Echo / Alexa?

You can use your Amazon Echo to control your tado° devices. Simply enable the tado° skill and connect your tado° device as a smart home product in the Alexa portal (https://alexa.amazon.com).

Once tado° is connected to your Amazon Echo device you can adjust temperatures with Alexa, for example: “Alexa, set the temperature in the Living Room to 22 degrees” or “Alexa, decrease the temperature in the Bedroom by 2 degrees”.

Your tado° will receive the command as a Manual Control input which overwrites the automatic operation of the Smart Schedule for the default duration, defined in the tado° settings.

We are looking forward to the future development of the Amazon Alexa API and will implement more functions as they become available in the Alexa API.