Written by a Collaborator
The amazon echo is a handy device and it is one which a lot of us use in our homes and offices these days. It has many handy features such as playing music and helping control lights and such in the home, and it can really be a benefit to our home environment.
The most famous feature to enjoy with an amazon device is Alexa, which is similar to Siri for iPhone, and this service allows us to use voice control for our device and carry out a lot of different tasks. If you are new to using Alexa we have some handy top tips for you today.
Change Wake Word
Alexa is set up to always be listening for a wake word to kick into action, and you can change this easily by heading to your Alexa settings and choosing Wake Word Alexa under General. This will allow you to choose any word you want and allow you to have a little fun with it all.
Control Home Devices With Alexa
The beauty of Alexa is that if you already have things such as a smart heating system and lights and appliances, you can add these all into your Alexa settings and control it with your voice. You can switch lights on by saying ‘lights’, and this is something which not only is handy but will make you feel ultra sophisticated.
Add Some Skills To Alexa
With Alexa there come a set of applications called skills. Skills are used for many things and they can be installed to your amazon echo to allow you to get news, weather, marketing if you install this Alexa skill and much more. Every day you might get a weather alert and breaking news stories and it can keep you in the loop. Also, if you work from home and want to listen to the latest stock market updates or business skills, you can do this too!
Bluetooth Speaker
One of the handy tools which Alexa has built into it is the ability to be a Bluetooth speaker. This means that you can play any music you want from a number of sources such as amazon, radio stations and albums and you can even listen to books with audible.
Change Default Music Player
The default music player when you buy your amazon echo will of course by amazon music, but not all of us have this feature or want it. You can change your default music player easily by heading into the music settings on your device and choosing default music services. This will allow you to listen to all of our favourite hits instantly.
Get Alexa To Understand You
It is no secret that we all have different voices and different accents, and often this can make life hard for us when using Alexa and getting her to understand us. However there is a simple way to get Alexa to understand the way you talk and this involves heading into your app and creating a voice profile. Through this you can ensure that Alexa will always understand you when you talk to her.
Get Alexa to confirm an answer
Sometimes if you are in the middle of something and you have a question, you might you want to ask Alexa some advice to ensure that you are working in the right direction. This could be something such as forgetting how much flour to add to your mix when you have your hands dirty. When you have asked Alexa, if you don’t hear her the first time you can simply say:
“Alexa, can you repeat that?”
And she will repeat the information for you.
Delete History
Did you know that Alexa keeps a record of the things you ask? Well, perhaps you don’t want your partner to know that you asked her how to boil an egg, and this can be solved property easily by deleting the log entirely. To delete the history of chat from your Alexa device you can go to settings, history and then delete voice recordings.
Control from another account
If you have a friend over at the house and you want them to be able to control Alexa as well as you, this can be done easily. All you have to do is ask Alexa which profile you are using at the moment; and once she responds you can ask her to switch accounts. This will allow other members of the family and friends to control her too.
Connect Your Family Prime Account
It is simple to connect your prime account to Alexa and his will allow you to have the whole household connected to Alexa so that everyone can use her whenever they want. To do this you can head to alexa.amazon.com and head over to the settings. Here you will be able to set up your household and this will prevent anyone in the house moaning because they can’t access Alexa.
Place Pizza Orders
Did you know that you can get Alexa to order a pizza for you? Both dominos and Pizza Hut have skills on the Alexa app and this means that you can download them and order your pizza by voice whenever you want one. This will make things super easy for you when you are hungry and you can even ask Alexa to track your dominos order too!
Use Kayak Skill for travel
If you enjoy travelling and you want to be able to control it better, you can download the Kayak app from Alexa and this will allow you to check for many different travel options. For example if you have a budget of £2000 you can ask her where you can travel for this amount of money and you will gain a whole host of suggestions to use later on. You can also ask the weather in certain countries and ask for the best city break ideas.
0
