Amazon Echo

[tankplanker]

Has this been mentioned yet? Alexa is being updated to allow follow up commands, currently only in the US but hopefully should roll out here soon: http://myitforum.com/amazon-adds-follow-up-mode-to...

[ecsrobin]

tankplanker said:

Has this been mentioned yet? Alexa is being updated to allow follow up commands, currently only in the US but hopefully should roll out here soon: http://myitforum.com/amazon-adds-follow-up-mode-to...

Superb although I’m sure that will take a while to roll out here.

[sgrimshaw]

eybic said:

Is anyone else having issues with repeatedly disconnecting from the wifi? It must do it twice a week and I have to go into the app and set it up again where it reconnects straight away. It started about 3 weeks ago and all other wifi devices seem fine.

Yes, I've got several (4) Echos and they've all been playing silly beggars lately. If I leave mine alone, they eventually reconnect.

[Gary C]

33q said:

Set my spot up last evening. Please forgive the pun but I think it is the sweet spot of the echo range.

It is weighty and the sound is pretty good

we fancy these as bedroom clock radio alarms

One problem i see, cant have two in the same room ? or could I set one to respond to Alexa and one to echo ? We get up at different times and would be a pain if the alarm is not reliable.

[B17NNS]

Gary C said:

One problem i see, cant have two in the same room ? or could I set one to respond to Alexa and one to echo ? We get up at different times and would be a pain if the alarm is not reliable.

Can you not just set two alarms and use one spot.

[Gary C]

B17NNS said:

Gary C said:

One problem i see, cant have two in the same room ? or could I set one to respond to Alexa and one to echo ? We get up at different times and would be a pain if the alarm is not reliable.

Can you not just set two alarms and use one spot.

Maybe, but we at the moment both have our own clock/radio on respective tables and I can see falling out trying to shout across the sleeping other for it to snooze (and as I work shifts, we dont have a regular sleeping pattern)

But they do look good. Might just get one.

[B17NNS]

Just tried calling mine 'computer' and it ignored me so you probably can set two with different wake words.

ETA yes you can.

https://www.howtogeek.com/249342/how-to-change-the...

[Watchman]

tankplanker said:

Has this been mentioned yet? Alexa is being updated to allow follow up commands, currently only in the US but hopefully should roll out here soon: http://myitforum.com/amazon-adds-follow-up-mode-to...

That's excellent news.

If they can get them to respond to local-IoT devices too, that would be helpful. For example, it'd be nice to tell one in the lounge to turn on the lights, and for it to turn on the lounge lights. And to tell the one in the bedroom the same thing, only for it to turn on only the bedroom lights.

[robfox]

Watchman said:

That's excellent news.

If they can get them to respond to local-IoT devices too, that would be helpful. For example, it'd be nice to tell one in the lounge to turn on the lights, and for it to turn on the lounge lights. And to tell the one in the bedroom the same thing, only for it to turn on only the bedroom lights.

You can already do that, you just have to set up Smart Home Groups in the Alexa app to tell it where things are. If a group contains an Echo device and other devices (I'm using Hue lights), "Alexa, lights on" will turn on all the lights in the same group. With Hue lights, you can add individual lights or rooms that you have created in the Hue app.

Just remember that you can't give the Smart Home Group in the Alexa app the same name as a room in the Hue app.

[33q]

I’ve put my spare Dot in the workshop

I switch the garage/workshop off using Alex on a TP Link plug so when I switch off the Dot goes off too. So switch off is easy but switch on is not!

I thought I’d try a portable power pack for the Dot. Thinking being that the whilst the power is on the power pack will charge. When the power is off then the Dot will still work and allow the power to be switched back on.

Success...open door command Alexa, power on....happy days

I did first of all try a universal USB power pack but that did not allow charging and power output concurrently. That meant faffing with unplugging etc

[Cotty]

B17NNS said:

Just tried calling mine 'computer' /

Not a good idea if you watch Star Trek a lot.

Edited by Cotty on Tuesday 1st May 13:40

[robfox]

The SmartThings hub has been mentioned several times on this thread. Curry's have reduced them from £99.99 to £49.99, and the accessories are half price too. You can get a further 10% off the sale price with the discount code SMART10.

They were out of stock this afternoon and they're out of stock now, but I was able to order one earlier this evening.

[Watchman]

robfox said:

The SmartThings hub has been mentioned several times on this thread. Curry's have reduced them from £99.99 to £49.99, and the accessories are half price too. You can get a further 10% off the sale price with the discount code SMART10.

They were out of stock this afternoon and they're out of stock now, but I was able to order one earlier this evening.

Thanks for the heads up- I have just reserved one from the Worcs branch (it’s not available in Solihull).

[tenohfive]

Alexa related deal - Harmony Elite bundle (the fanciest controller, touch screen, dedicated smart home buttons) with POP buttons for £159:
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/logitech-smart-ho...

The POP buttons as best as I can see are an oversized smart switch. But for £10 more than the Remote/Hub bundle, my plan is to chuck them on eBay and try and recoup some of the cost of the whole lot. So it should work out cheaper than the (already, very competitively priced) Remote/Hub bundle.

4 hours left on the deal if it's any use to anyone.

[B17NNS]

tenohfive said:

Harmony Elite

Bought this last Black Friday. Good remote.

[SlimRick]

I'm getting frustrated with mine.

I have a dot at work, one in the bedroom at home and an echo in the living room.

The work dot no longer responds to my first "Alexa Stop" command to stop music, but will do it on the second. None of the others have this problem

My echo in the living room no longer controls the heating. I get an " your device does not support this" when I ask it to set the temperature. The other devices work fine doing this.

The bedroom dot sees all other lights except the bedroom light.

First world problems!

[Buzypea]

B17NNS said:

Just tried calling mine 'computer' and it ignored me

You have to say it with an American accent and it works a treat i.e ‘compuder’. I had the same problem but every time that annoying American kid on the Apple advert on TV said ‘what’s a compuder?” my echo would wake. Changed it to echo now.

[LoonyTunes]

B17NNS said:

tenohfive said:

Harmony Elite

Bought this last Black Friday. Good remote.

Does it work with RF as well as IR though?

[tankplanker]

LoonyTunes said:

Does it work with RF as well as IR though?

What are you controlling via RF?

[mel]

Something else I've learnt is that Alexa is not great with young children's speech. I walked in on my five year old daughter who had "Smells Like Tenn Spirit" blasting at full volume, now not that I have anything against Mr Cobain and his mates but it did seem a bit hardcore for the average kid who's just started school so I asked her what she was playing. She looked about as confused as me but told me all she'd said was "Alexa, play Moana on Spotify" it appears that to Alexa an Antipodean Disney Princess sounds awfully like late 80's Seattle Grunge.