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Old 06-21-2017, 12:47 PM #1
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Default Echo Dot

For Father's Day my DS gave my DH an Echo Dot.

It is a very future forward system made by Apple. I cannot quite explain what it is other than it is similar to Siri on my iPhone. Her name is Alexa and by just saying her name, she becomes activated.

Currently she can tell me the weather, tell time and give me a news update.

Plus she can send a voice message to fellow Echo Dot owners. For example, DS sent me a message yesterday to exclaim about the excessive heat in Arizona.

She can also be prompted to turn lights on or off in my bedroom or family room. Remember "The Clapper?"

Eventually we are looking to hook up my cell phone to this device. It means that if I fall, I can call 911 myself just by speaking into thin air!

Great and useful device!
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Old 06-21-2017, 11:35 PM #2
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I have two Echo Dot's. (I bought one for me, aunt asked me to buy her one, cousin ended up buying my aunt the big Echo, aunt gave me back the other Dot. I decided to keep it).

I've been using mine to read Kindle books to me. Alexa will read the books to me, or I can play Audible books. (love the Audible skill). I also use the IHeartRadio skill. I bought a fancy battery to use with one of my Echo's, gives it a little portability. I take that one into the bathroom with me when I take a shower. Leave it on the counter, and I can tell Alexa to change the radio stations, or turn the volume up or down. I love that Echo because if my mom comes downstairs to yell at me I can turn off the music/talk radio to be able to talk to her.

I want to get the Echo's set up so that I can work the tv's with it. Then I can turn on shows on my mom's tv for her and not have to constantly keep going upstairs to help her with it. I also want to connect the security system and thermostat to it eventually.

Right now I have apps on my iPads and iPhone to control the thermostat and security systems, but I would love to make them Alexa controlled someday.


I was just looking at the Echo Show. I WANT ONE!!! (or two?). I would love the Echo Show because then I could put one upstairs so I could check on my mom from down here at night, or hopefully there's an iPhone/iPad app I could use with that too if I'm not at home.

I'm really kind of excited about all these things, I just hope I can afford the money to get things set up with the new Echo gadgets. If I can, I'd get one for my sister so she could talk to my mom when she can't get over here.

I am a bit paranoid about the cameras on the Echo Show. I'm one of those people who puts tape over the cameras on all my computers. I'd probably do that on any Echo Show that I'd put in my bedroom. If I had one upstairs though, I'd put it in a public area of the house like the kitchen. Less of a chance of anyone getting an eyeful accidentally.


edit
my favorite game on the Dot right now is Jeopardy!. Every day except for weekends there are 6 new questions that you can answer (in the form of a question) and I've been doing pretty good with that. I noticed that the questions are usually pulled from categories they use on the shows during the day.
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Last edited by Erin524; 06-21-2017 at 11:38 PM. Reason: edited to add info
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Old 06-22-2017, 10:54 AM #3
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I've seen the commercials for the Echo. It sounds like it will be so helpful and useful for you. Technology is amazing! Who would have thought way back when that we would be able to have something like the Echo. As a kid from the 60s/70s, these things were only in our imagination and a little bit on shows like Get Smart.
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Old 06-22-2017, 11:07 AM #4
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I use siri on my phone frequently, don't have any of the newer speaker artificial intelligence devices yet. I would kind of like one of the Ring video doorbells so we can see who is at the door before answering.
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Old 06-22-2017, 04:57 PM #5
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I remember when I was in first grade (circa 1975), and we would pick out books from Scholastic. I'd gotten a book that talked about video phones, and that they'd be a big thing in just a few years. (book also talked about flying cars).

So when Skype became a thing, and I would talk to my friends on there, I'd remember reading about video phones in first grade. That book's definition of "just a few years" is a off by about three or four decades.

I like the look of the Echo Show, and I kind of want one. I LOVE my Alexa Dot's. (listening to the radio on one of them right now). Love that all I have to do is talk to Alexa to make her do things for me. I also like asking her stupid questions to see what off the wall answers she'll give me.
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Old 06-23-2017, 01:54 AM #6
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I want one of the video doorbells to put in my bathroom. The DH seems to have this thing of tuning out my cries of distress. So the few times I've fall in the shower, or couldn't take in air suddenly... I've found myself pounding on the wall and it falling on deaf ears... at least the DH's ears are deaf to it, the cats end up alerting him. And the way the house is set up, you can hear little thing that happens in the bathrooms... it echoes through the house, not the place to have a private conversation let me tell you. So I really don't understand why it is whenever I need his assistance, he can't hear a word I say or a single knock to the wall... but if I get an alert on my iPhone for one of my apps, that quiet little "ping", he's right there asking who texted me? My mom? My cousin? What do they want? Am I making plans? Hey ask them... That he can hear but not a slew of curses and excessive knocking on the walls.
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Old 06-27-2017, 12:51 PM #7
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DH was so thrilled (me too) with the echo two that he bought a second one to install in our bedroom. He also bought some sort of plug in accessory to turn on the bedroom light and the living room light.

I am not sure of the cost of each echo two. I do not think they are very expensive. Echo two is an Amazon product. It is not dependent on working solely with an Apple phone. I was mistaken in thinking that one product needed the other to function.

Erin is always so technologically-forward. Her ability in how much it cost and what it can do far exceeds own in the cost knowledge and in the abilities of this extremely useful toy. 😊

Funny thing happened last night. It was around 4:30 AM and I had Alexa turn on the bedroom light. When I returned from the bathroom, I asked Alexa to turn off the bedroom light. She said, "OK, "and then nothing! She did not turn off the light. So I asked again and she said OK again. By about the fourth time , it had awakened my husband and he began to giggle at my futility. He asked Alexa to turn off the light and she did!
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Old 07-05-2017, 12:23 PM #8
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I guess Alexa now has a thing for your DH, Cyn!
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Old 07-06-2017, 12:28 AM #9
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I remember when my DH thought he'd set up my computer for me with speech recognition, he went through the whole thing, made sure it was working right, that he could open word and get it to type for him. All of it spot on, was so proud of himself for finding such an accurate program. Then he had me go through it all....

We died laughing over the things it typed, it was like the worst game of telephone ever. It managed to come up with words I'd never even heard of and in far more syllables even then what I spoke, not a single word was correct and it only got worse as I was reading to my DH what it wrote from what I first said when it went off on a whole different tangent then me even repeating what it wrote.

The DH took the headset back and said a few lines... all of them typed up perfectly, I took it back and it was back to playing telephone with a drunken 1980's voice dubber. "The cat sat in the trees" = "Waterflies buzz tangerines of summery flizzants"
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Old 07-06-2017, 11:48 AM #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tkrik View Post
I guess Alexa now has a thing for your DH, Cyn!
😄😄😄

Turns out she has problems with voice recognition other than DH tone. Plus MS has messed with my vocal chords, I am a soft talker.

So we simply moved Alexa's small discs to different locations and problem solved.

I think a refurbished Echo Dot cost about $50. We also bought two outlet plugs so that turning on a light in each the bedroom and living room are now voice command. I just have to train my brain to stop reaching for the light switch.

I really like this device. I am still exploring its capabilities. She is programmed to tell jokes. No matter how many I request, no duplicates.
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