Devices of the home automative nature are generally purchased by home owners and fans of technology in order to make things easier. The clue is really in the word “automation”. Products like the connected Philips Hue bulbs are for those who want to interact with lighting scenes via a mobile app. Then there’s smart appliances and sockets that can all be controlled from a single application. There’s also the very cool Amazon Echo, which besides being a very capable Bluetooth speaker, is also capable of automating some fairly impressive tasks on our behalf, as well as being able to understand a whole host of voice commands.
Amazon has done a great job of progressing the Amazon Echo hardware by fitting it out with a great little personal digital assistant by the name of Alexa. Alexa, for those that may not know, is essentially the Echo’s Siri, and allows the hardware to act on audible user commands. It’s all well and good having this type of functionality built into a product, but sometimes half the battle for users actually stems from knowing what commands can and can’t be given to the assistant in order to achieve a positive output. That’s where this “50 Alexa Voice Commands” video by PhoneBuff comes in.
So, just what kind of things can you ask Alexa to do? You can start off by asking Alexa to give some pretty useful information about herself, such as by asking, “Alexa, how tall are you?” You can also ask Alexa to do some conversion for you on your behalf, such as by asking “Alexa, how many centimeters in 10 inches?” The Echo can also distribute local information by providing local weather information, and giving the lowdown on amenities in the local area. Of course, users are also able to control things like the volume of the retort by simply offering the command “Alexa, volume 7”. For those that are lonely and require some light entertainment, Alexa can even play a mean game of rock, paper, scissors.
And that’s not all, Amazon has been continuously updating Echo’s ability with over-the-air software updates to add more functionality on a regular basis. Echo can now do a lot more than what it was able to a year ago. You can now ask her for local restaurants and business info, ask her to order a Pizza from Domino’s for you, control Philips Hue lights, control WeMo switches, order an Uber, control a Tesla, ask her to read Kindle books, ask her to help you in workouts, control room temperature, stream music from Spotify, turn on or off tv and other home entertainment devices connected to Logitech’s Harmony, and so much more!
The video itself is definitely worth the seven minute investment time, even if just to learn how many calories there are in a single slice of cheese pizza. If you do have an Amazon Echo, or are looking to purchase one, and want some awesome things to do with it, then this video is a much watch:
If you don’t have Echo yet but now want one after watching the video, you can get it from Amazon for $179.
Buy: Amazon Echo from Amazon.com: $179.99
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