What Do You Do with Your Alexa?

I don't. We decided that we didn't want people being able to listen in on us.

Same reason I don't have the Facebook app installed on my phone. It listens and then starts producing ads from conversations we had. No thanks.

ETA: while this is about the "echo" Alexa is the "upgrade"
http://coolmomtech.com/2016/01/cool-things-you-can-do-wit...

https://www.pocket-lint.com/smart-home/news/amazon/138846...

Play music (constantly), set timers while cooking, tell her all my shopping lists (so when I run out of something, I say "Alexa, add saltines to my shopping list" and bam, it is on my phone), ask her for dinner ideas and then have her send me the recipe, ask her about the temp outside/weather, have her remind me of things I need to do, order dog food.

I think the shorter list is what DON'T I do with Alexa :)

I figure that "big brother" doesn't need an Alexa if they want to listen in on what is going on in my house - just about every person who has a smart phone already runs that risk. Also, we practice total transparency as we have two kids in the military, one with high security clearance - they have already checked us and every one we know out several times. Having an Alexa seems pretty small in comparison to some of the military questioning we have been through. Plus, I won't live my life "afraid" of technology.

Have fun with it! Your kids will have a blast asking it for joke, to sing them a song, tell them a story, you name it!

ETA** I forgot, I also use it to check store open/closing times a lot! Especially this time of year when I am doing everything last minute. I also ask it how far away a certain store I might not be familiar with is and what the traffic is like to get there.

ETA2** I also forgot that I use it for conversions while cooking a recipe - especially if I am doubling or tripling a recipe and also if there is a substitution for an ingredient that I have ran out of.

Man, I use her alot!

i never use her, don't want google or anyone listening to my house noises...

I'm more familiar with Google Home. With Home, you can - for example - have it near the kitchen, as a fun way for the whole family to get information without anyone having to be antisocial and bury their face in a screen. Home will give cooking instructions, answer encyclopedia-type questions, play music, even tell knock-knock jokes (very clever, lol). I am guessing that Alexa does similar stuff.

Most people I know use it to play music and answer random questions.

It can do a lot more, but you have to buy accessories (eg, smart outlets) if you want it to turn lights on and off, etc.

Our Alexa plays music. I don't know how to use it other than talking to it. My husband is the tech guru...

i ask her the weather, or to play music.
or a joke.
that's about it.
my husband gets a kick out of her, but she's not particularly useful to me.
khairete
S.

I got one for my dad for Christmas so I set it up to see how it works. It will be useful for him because he is very bad at spelling but loves old music. I'm not sure how much he'll use it to Google things but I think he will have fun trying to find oldies on Amazon music (required if you want to listen to music) and maybe playing the "Name that tune" game. I suspect that he'll get a month of novelty out of it and then return it to me but that's ok. My husband had it lying around anyway.

So to answer your question, I think it's a novel gift item that will lose its novelty. It would probably be more useful for someone with a disability that limits their mobility or for someone who is tech-challenged.

Have fun with it! We started with one Echo in the kitchen, which started out as my daughter’s Christmas present last year. The whole family started using it mostly for music. Siblings’ music tastes conflicted so of course they would argue over what to play. Earlier this year, I saw a deal for the Alexa Dot ($30) and Echo ($80), so I bought one Dot each of the kids’ room and have since found more uses for Alexa. Had the price not been reasonable, I would not have bought it. This deal is back again for the holidays.

Here’s a few things we have used Alexa for:
•Stream music from your phone/tablet via bluetooth, Pandora, others.

•Questions: Tell me a joke, what’s the weather in ___ city, what’s the time in London, Sing me a Halloween song, etc. There’s an email I get every month with fun questions or facts you can ask Alexa.

•Alexa App: You’ll need to download to set up the device anyway. I use the app more than my husband does.
o **Setup**: Definitely go into the app and update your settings so that someone else from your contacts who also has Alexa cannot ‘drop in’ (intercom) you. I haven’t tested dropping in on someone outside of my house so I don’t know what safeguards, if any, are there.
o Skills: You can enable skills to allow Alexa do more: daily news, meditation, math games, stories, jokes, daily inspiration and more. Just like apps you’d download for your phone/tablet, some skills work well, others didn’t. My kids & I had fun with a ‘pick your own journey’ story (Magic Door). I haven’t had time to checked if the skills have improved in a while.
o Intercom: “Drop In” feature allows you to automatically connect to the device and start chatting. Alexa makes a sound before it connects. How this has been useful: I’ve used Alexa to call my pre-teens out from their room. I can intercom them from anywhere, inside the home or while driving home from work.

•Smart home: I recently bought smart plug that I named ‘Mommy’s light’. I hooked the lamp on my nightstand to this plug. It has been great in the middle of the night to just say, “Alexa, turn on Mommy’s light” rather than fumble half asleep for the switch. Recently, Amazon has a good special where Echo or Dot is discounted plus you can buy a smart plug for $5.

•Call: If you allow it access to your phone’s contacts, you can use it to call someone. I only used that feature once just to test it out. If someone calls (versus ‘drop in’) your Alexa, Alexa rings until you tell it to answer the call. I haven’t used this much.

•Intercom: If you have two or more Alexa, you can ‘drop in’ in on each other. I thought I would not need an intercom. I thought my voice was loud enough to call my kids from their room. Boy, was I wrong. Put a pre-teen in a closed bedroom with a book or electronic or nothing, they are great at ignoring mom. Enter Alexa, “Hellloooooo… Take your headphones off and come downstairs to eat.”

•Reminders/Alarms: My kids have been asking Alexa each morning to remind them when it’s time to leave to go the bus stop (‘Alexa, set an alarm for 7:20am.’).

•Audiobooks & Ebooks: Let me start by saying that I am not an avid book reader. When I do, I typically prefer a book that I can hold. With kids in sports, activities, homework, etc., I’ve started using listening/reading books to help pass the time.
o Public Library: My recent obsession. With our library card we have free access ebooks and audiobooks via OverDrive apps. In Overdrive, there’s the option to read the ebook using the Kindle app.
o Kindle: You can have Alexa read your Kindle ebook. Since it’s Alexa reading, it sounds robotic and you lose a lot of the voice inflections. Depending on the book, I can still follow along while cooking or whatever. When I am ready to read the ebook on my phone, it knows where I’ve left off based on how far Alexa has read (or Alexa starts reading where I left off in the book).

•Calendar: I have everything scheduled on Google calendar and allow Alexa to read my phone’s calendar. Now when the kids/hubby asks if we have anything today, I tell them to ask Alexa.