Amazon Echo

[xeny]

audi321 said:

Oh....hang on......could I have 'casted' to a Firestick?

Yes.

[audi321]

xeny said:

audi321 said:

Oh....hang on......could I have 'casted' to a Firestick?

Yes.

Grrrrrrr....money wasted!

[Dan_1981]

Bought my sister a dot.

Somehow managed to upgrade myself to prime at the moment so am currently abusing amazon music.

Should I buy myself a dot?

Will I use it ever?

Is it 'just' a speaker?

[tenohfive]

It's not 'just,' a speaker - it's not 'even,' a speaker. If you want something just to play music, you don't want a Dot. It's slightly better than listening to a smartphone in speaker mode, but significantly lower quality for music than even a cheap bluetooth speaker.

Pair it to a speaker, or plug one in and it's a different story.

They're great. I've got two now, but the more things you connect it to the handier it is. But for basic things like hands free timers/alarms, checking the temp outside or even just find out what time it is when your hands are full they're handy.

[durbster]

JimbobVFR said:

durbster said:

I'm going to connect it to a HEOS speaker but I can't figure out whether that'll interfere with its normal operation. Does anyone know?

All sounds will go through the speaker if you use the 3.5mm connection. I'm not sure about connecting with Bluetooth.
It's an extra device but the way the Google versions interact with chromecasts actually makes load of sense now I've used them together, interaction is via the units speaker but music will play on the chromecast through your speakers.

Thanks, I got the Dot today and it all seems to be working nicely. The onboard speaker is actually better than I thought and would be adequate for voice only.

Music needs a proper speaker though so I've paired mine to a HEOS with Bluetooth. The way it seems to work is it'll stay paired until you do something else with the HEOS. You can pair it again in a couple of seconds by saying "connect to speaker". A little bit of a faff, that's all.

I'll dig out a 3.5mm cable and see if that removes the extra step.

I'm a bit narked to discover full HEOS support isn't available in the UK yet, despite them announcing last year that it would be ready for Q1 2017. There's a skill on Amazon.com but not on Amazon.co.uk for some reason. Oh well, all this stuff is still new isn't it.

[Funkycoldribena]

durbster said:

Thanks, I got the Dot today and it all seems to be working nicely. The onboard speaker is actually better than I thought and would be adequate for voice only.

Music needs a proper speaker though so I've paired mine to a HEOS with Bluetooth. The way it seems to work is it'll stay paired until you do something else with the HEOS. You can pair it again in a couple of seconds by saying "connect to speaker". A little bit of a faff, that's all.

I'll dig out a 3.5mm cable and see if that removes the extra step.

I'm a bit narked to discover full HEOS support isn't available in the UK yet, despite them announcing last year that it would be ready for Q1 2017. There's a skill on Amazon.com but not on Amazon.co.uk for some reason. Oh well, all this stuff is still new isn't it.

" Alexa,play would you rather "
Some very strange dilemmas....

[Cotty]

B17NNS said:

N0ddie said:

What kettle do you have that doesn't need the on switch flicked every time you wanna boil it?

I was thinking that. Pretty limited with the things you can use smart plugs for.

I think one of the selling points is safety. Use one of the plugs on something you would want off when you are away from the house. Say your wife or girlfriend uses curling or straightening tongs, use a wifi plug on it. leave the house "Oh my god I left the tongs on" whip out the phone and turn them off via the app.

[davek_964]

Cotty said:

I think one of the selling points is safety. Use one of the plugs on something you would want off when you are away from the house. Say your wife or girlfriend uses curling or straightening tongs, use a wifi plug on it. leave the house "Oh my god I left the tongs on" whip out the phone and turn them off via the app.

I have ordered a couple of wifi plugs, purely for controlling lamps.

I'm not sure they're the best solution for things like curling tongs though - you still have to remember you left them on. I have a socket for my iron which has a built in 30 min timer - if I forget to switch it off (which I was regularly doing) then it switches off after 30 mins. Seems a much better solution for the "I forgot to turn something off" scenario.

[kingston12]

davek_964 said:

I'm not sure they're the best solution for things like curling tongs though - you still have to remember you left them on. I have a socket for my iron which has a built in 30 min timer - if I forget to switch it off (which I was regularly doing) then it switches off after 30 mins. Seems a much better solution for the "I forgot to turn something off" scenario.

True, but on the TP-Link plugs, the App will tell you if it is in the on or off position, so regardless of whether the actual tongs are on or off, you should be able to guarantee the smart plug itself is off.

I say should, because these apps are never 100% reliable and that is why I am reticent to use them for high powered items like irons.

One thing I did automate recently was my garage door. It has an electric opener anyway, and I went away for the weekend not being 100% sure if I had shut it or not. Of course I had done, so I am glad I didn't drive back to check, but I bought a £30 'Wemo Maker' and a £20 webcam to save any uncertainty in the future.

Now I can see from anywhere if the door is open and close it if it is. I'd only ever use it as a last resort as I don't think it is too safe closing the door whilst I am not there, but it will be well worth the money if I use it once.

I haven't connected that one to Alexa!

[RizzoTheRat]

Cotty said:

I think one of the selling points is safety. Use one of the plugs on something you would want off when you are away from the house. Say your wife or girlfriend uses curling or straightening tongs, use a wifi plug on it. leave the house "Oh my god I left the tongs on" whip out the phone and turn them off via the app.

Can you use IFTT with them? If so you could set it up so it turns the plug off if her phones not in the house.

[tenohfive]

You can, although with the TP Link ones it's a bit fiddly and involves using webhooks. Not a major issue though.

I'm looking to do similar with ST - if all the family are out of the house, automatically switch off certain plug sockets and then switch on alerts if the motion or door sensors activate. I've not got any cameras set up but dropping in on one of the Dot's should give an idea of if someone is in the house in theory.

[Watchman]

Blue Oval84 said:

Watchman said:

I'm a Google fan and I now have four Dots for the same reason.

I find it hard to understand anyone buying Apple or Google in this regard.

Yeah but the Google Mini is the same price as the Dot, the only issue with the GH Mini is that it has no 3.5mm output. If you want to use it for reasonable quality audio then obviously this is an issue, but I'd say that it's higher standard of voice recognition still makes it a contender.

That was what won me over anyway.

I know it’d be extra money but if you want quality output then casting to a Chromecast Audio is quite incredible. They are quite fabulous little things in that regard however I had problems with them not attaching to my 5GHz network and not referencing music from my NAS. For those reasons I abandoned my plans to use them for music sources for ceiling speakers and expanded my Sonos network instead. But if you can make them work for you, and you have invested in the GH mini then I would heartily recommend them as a worthwhile addition.

However I would question whether the GH mini is better at voice recognition than the Echo, only because the only false reads any of my Dots have had are because of mumbling children. I use my Dots for heating and lighting control, as well as music and “silly questions”, so they are used often.

That said, I also have a Google phone and I have found “OK Google” to be equally flawless in fairness.

In the end, the lead that Amazon has - the sheer number of skills available - is the decider for me but what I am pleased about is that by having competition, they should all raise their games.

[B17NNS]

At £35 you might as well have both. I think the future is going to be devices with Alexa, Google assistant and Siri all in one. I think Sonos are going down that route.

[tenohfive]

Watchman said:

However I would question whether the GH mini is better at voice recognition than the Echo, only because the only false reads any of my Dots have had are because of mumbling children. I use my Dots for heating and lighting control, as well as music and “silly questions”, so they are used often.

That said, I also have a Google phone and I have found “OK Google” to be equally flawless in fairness.

I do like the fact that I can (purely using voice) control my lights, heating etc any of the following ways:

1. Using one of the Dots
2. Using an Android phone
3. Using an Amazon tablet
4. Using a Google tablet
5. Using the Fire TV Stick remote

They're all playing together quite happily. The reality is that if I'm in the house I'm using the Dots as the microphones work well, even when I'm around a corner in another room (unless there's a lot of background noise.)
The hardware is a mix of Amazon, Samsung, Philips, Hive and TP-Link.

In summary nice to see that there is less and less risk of being tied into any one system these days.

[Funkycoldribena]

tenohfive said:

I do like the fact that I can (purely using voice) control my lights, heating etc any of the following ways:

1. Using one of the Dots
2. Using an Android phone
3. Using an Amazon tablet
4. Using a Google tablet
5. Using the Fire TV Stick remote

They're all playing together quite happily. The reality is that if I'm in the house I'm using the Dots as the microphones work well, even when I'm around a corner in another room (unless there's a lot of background noise.)
The hardware is a mix of Amazon, Samsung, Philips, Hive and TP-Link.

In summary nice to see that there is less and less risk of being tied into any one system these days.

Lazy sod.




Going to have to sort this out myself.

[durbster]

El stovey said:

durbster said:

I'm still uneasy about the fact that it's basically a wiretap in my home but if it means I can switch the shed lights off without having to get up...

Might interest you.

Tapping a device.

https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-echo-wiretap-ha...

And what happens to your data.

https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-echo-and-google...

Thanks for this. I read up on how the data would be handled when the Echo first came out but it was all a little vague so I thought I'd wait and see how it played out. Thanks to all the early adopter guinea pigs out there

Because we have to accept our every move being tracked in exchange for this cool technology, my strategy is to distribute my data across as many companies as possible in the hope none of them will have everything in one place.

[sybaseian]

Found another use for Alexa besides lights, music, heating, etc

Opening and closing my electric gates.

I can ask Alexa to open or close my electric gates - very handy because I have an echo dot in my car or when at home.

Alexa - trigger open gates

Alexa - trigger keep gates open

Alexa - trigger close gates

[dmsims]

With a routine you could just say "Alexa close gates"

[sybaseian]

dmsims said:

With a routine you could just say "Alexa close gates"

Routines won't work for me because there is no Alexa skill for my gate controller at the moment.

The gate controller does have its own SIM card so I can SMS it a code or even phone the gate to perform open/close. The controller also allows visitors to automatically call me if they need access.

To get around the issue of not being able to use Alexa routines, I have had to set it up as an IFFT Alexa trigger which can then send the corresponding SMS code to control the gates. (SMS are sent via ClickSend SMS service)

[wiggy001]

I received my Echo Dot, Logitech Elite/Hub and Samsung TV yesterday. Yes it was like Christmas, for me at least!

I've got Alexa working the Logitech and kind of understand how it works via "Scenes" (seems a little clunky and I don't fully understand why the Logitech needs scenes, but my Nest is a "Device"?

I believe if I plug the Echo into my Amp via a 3.5mm cable I can output internet radio (eg TuneIn) through the amp (not tried this yet). What I want to know is, is there a way I can give Alexa a command that will turn on my Amp, set it to the correct input and start playing a TuneIn radio station in one command?

I'm pretty impressed overall. The worst bit is remembering the actual commands Alexa is expecting (and training my wife to "speak Alexa"!).