Amazon Echo

[jimmyjimjim]

Anyone have one or is getting one?

I got an invite to buy one for $99 some months ago, so took advantage of it, despite not having any need or use for it.

It turns up today.

[jimmyjimjim]

Just noticed it supported wemo (from reading the massive amazon thread on it).

It also seems to do some interesting stuff with calendars.

Found this, which has a list of the updates:

http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/ref=cm_cd_rvt_n...

[jimmyjimjim]

As above, the speaker is surprisingly good. The playback is slightly oriented towards you buying your music through them or using their playlists, but you can still use your own easily enough. And upload your music to the cloud and add to a playlist.

And asking questions like whats the weather today etc - great fun!

The calendar integration is ace - 'what's on my calendar for today, what's my next appointment, etc'

Timers and alarm - 'set the time for <insert oven time here>'...'how long left', etc. Can see this being handy.

I set up the WeMo integration - took no time at all, much nicer than wink..

It tells bloody awful jokes, though.

[jimmyjimjim]

gregf40 said:

It will be interesting to see how the updates develop and what new features they will think of...

Yes, looking at the list of improvements from the early Beta shows some interesting progress.

There's a lot of promise in an already polished product.

Alexa, good night.

"Good night, sleep tight".

[jimmyjimjim]

I've no idea if its available in the UK yet, I'm currently in Colorado.
Just checked it works with WeMo - very nice, much better than using the WeMo app itself!

Primarily using it for shopping lists, weather, calendar, music playback during chores and asking it questions - "Alexa, who wrote 'I'm a believer'?".

Drifting towards it as being a more casual internet interface than even a tablet. It seems to fit in quite nicely as a household assistant. Definitely a lot of potential.

[jimmyjimjim]

There's a few guides on t'internet as to how to do this. Basically create a second account and use that. It's a free app, so you don't even have to faff around with credit cards or prepaid credit.

[jimmyjimjim]

And now available to order without an invite; $180.

[jimmyjimjim]

I still find mine very useful for timing things in the kitchen and keeping track of calendar entries.

[jimmyjimjim]

Of the top of my head, I think you have a choice of Alexa or Amazon.

[jimmyjimjim]

Checked the app - Alexa, Amazon or Echo.

[jimmyjimjim]

Works with my NEST thermostat, for sure.

It's a little limited in that you can tell it to set a temperature, but can't do the more elegant thing of asking it the temperature in the first place and then setting it accordingly.

[jimmyjimjim]

Better it than you, eh?

[jimmyjimjim]

Re-did the smart hmoe skills a little to include a group - "Alexa, raise the house temperature by 1 degree" - "ok". "Alexa, turn on the house light" - "ok".

Looks like it got polished a bit since the last time I looked at it.

[jimmyjimjim]

It's been a long time since I started this thread, and I've only just bought a second amazon device - Fire TV cube, for $70. I need a replacement for an deeply ailing PS3 for media streaming, and with the prime day discount, this looks appealing.

Alexa herself was knocked off the top of the fridge the other day, and would benefit from surgery; her top needs gluing on.

[jimmyjimjim]

I'm impressed with the echo Tv cube. I had an enormous issue getting it working until I eventually worked out that my pi-hole was blocking it. Fnarr fnarr.

It's a lot more snappy than the PS3 it's replacing and I'll have a play tonight to get it on a fixed IP with the correct DNS so the router can go back to blocking adds. It has all of the Netflix/Hulu/Prime/etc we use, which is nice.

It should also control the cable box, so I'll set that up tonight.

[jimmyjimjim]

Right, got the cube set up properly now. There's some confusion with the other Alexa in range, but the cube is set now to be the primary, and I can change the name of the other or move her entirely if needed. I still need to smack a cable hole so I can move it to where I'd like it to be ideally, but that can wait.

Especially as with the voice remote you press the button for the command and there's no ambiguity.

Router now back to normal and IP/DNS fixed on the cube itself, pin code setup properly to prevent purchases but not hinder navigation, and cable box now fully integrated with it.

It's a neat solution. I'm very impressed as before with the speed of navigation. As is usually the case, hulu et al could load faster, but they are much quicker than on the PS3, so I'm happy.

Cable integration is slow...but I'm honestly quick tempted to ditch the cable TV entirely.

So all of my entertainment center is now voice controlled. Neat. The one thing I'd like it to do is play files directly off a windows share, and it looks like there may be some third party apps to allow it to do that; investigating. Unless anyone has tried this with a fire stick and know what to do?

[jimmyjimjim]

And the answer appears to be Plex. Not working with all of my stuff yet, but I'll work out why it isn't in due course.

[jimmyjimjim]

Baron Greenback said:

Origin Unknown said:

"Alexa, how long is left on timer?"

"You have no timers set currently"

Been there, my mental clock has improved since getting echo. So many times I ask for timer left and I get you have 8 seconds left of your 20 mins timer

Ditto.

I also have an Amazon clock paired with the main echo in the kitchen so I get a visual confirmation of 90% of the timers I set. It eats batteries though, use rechargeables.