Amazon Echo Dot: What the heck to do with it?

[Jayjay1976]

I don't have one myself (yet) but here are a few things I can't wait to try out.

Hey Alexa, set a timer for 20 minutes.
Hey Alexa, remind me to order more cascade hops on Friday.
Hey Alexa, how many grams are in 7 ounces?
Hey Alexa, play "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix.
Hey Alexa, play the Jamil show.
Hey Alexa, call the fire department!

 

[Jayjay1976]

My iphone can do pretty much almost everything it can do plus it's not recording 24/7.

Are you sure?

My wife has an iPhone and sometimes, out of nowhere, Siri will answer a question that one of us asks aloud.
Gives me the creeps.

 

[ifnotuthenwho]

Are you sure?

My wife has an iPhone and sometimes, out of nowhere, Siri will answer a question that one of us asks aloud.
Gives me the creeps.

If you have the “Hey Siri” option on, your phone is listening to every word you say.

 

[Scturo]

I got one, and like mentioned works great with Prime to play music, build play lists. I can control my Fire TV without a remote. And checking traffic and weather is nice.

I’m not too worried about it being hacked. My understanding is that someone would have to physically install a hacking system onto your Dot. And even if someone is able to listen in on my Dot, they’re probably pretty bored by now.

 

[passedpawn]

A year later, the 3 Amazon Echos are in a drawer and gathering dust. I'm not a Luddite, I like tech, but these things don't really do anything new for me.

In addition, somebody this year gave me an Amazon Fire TV thingy that has voice recognition built into the remote. I'm an Amazon Prime member, but I don't have any use for this thing either. I turned it into a tap list controller (see www.taplist.io) for the taps on my back patio. The manual for that Fire TV thing explains several times that you can order pizza from the remote. Odd.

At some point I'll figure out how to use these things for some useful hardware control (e.g., turning the lights off). I have to clap twice for that right now

 

[seilenos]

We got a few of them when they were half-price on Cyber Monday.

They are scattered through the house and we use them as hands-free intercoms. Much better than yelling up the stairs.

 

[str1p3s]

setting timers for mash and boil on my phone was a minor annoyance that i'm glad is gone. i'd have to stop what i'm doing, find my phone, make sure my hands are clean, bring up the timer app and set the timer. then to check the time, i'd have to repeat. obviously not that big of a deal, but annoying. now i just have to ask while i'm doing something else.

i also play pandora on brew day on it, use it when trying to calculate strike water volumes (alexa, how many cups in .37 gallons?), and even while shaking the carboy to oxygenate the wort instead of counting off one mississippi, two mississippi... in my head

my daughter loves playing music on it and asking alexa silly questions. i might get her her own so that i can talk to her in her room upstairs without yelling up there too.

i've thought about getting a smart outlet to pair with it to turn my pump on and off, but my fear is something like "alexa, turn off pump" and she responds with "i don't have the answer to that question" as my pump is running dry until i can get over there and unplug it.

 

[MaxStout]

Give them to friends, then stop over to troll.

 

[Homercidal]

Been watching too much TPB lately. I'm afraid of what Alexa might order if I had one.