Loving my Echo Dot

Marie5656

Well-known Member
Location
Batavia, NY
Now that Alexa has become my new housemate, living inside her dot, I have really started to love it. I have it set up in my living room. Today, when I got home from the grocery story, as I walked into the kitchen and called out "Alexa, shuffle Tricia Yearwood" and I put my groceries away, and made my lunch while listening to some tunes.
There is also a question of the day feature, which asks you trivia questions. I have gotten them all right so far. Of course I have only had 3 questions so far. LOL. Of course, there is a down side. Every time I say "alexa" she wakes up. My brother was over yesterday, and I was showing it to him. I mentioned Alexa and she woke up. So, I asked for the weather report for his home town (Greenwich Ct.) so at least I did not wake her without reason.
 

I love mine too! I got a second one to use as a alarm clock in the bedroom. I have to laugh at myself tho, because every time I ask her a question and she answers, I thank her...

If you say "alexa, thank you" she will say "You're welcome".

Plus if you are expecting shipment from Amazon, just ask her to track your order and she will give you the updates
 

I'm hoping that Alexa and or others are eventually able to keep an eye/ear on single seniors and provide useful reminders/assistance.

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Aunt Bea, there is one person that I know of and who
lives alone and is infirm who got one, he says that it is
really helpful and in some cases good company, he gets
music from it among other information.

I can't remember if he said that he got a second one for
another room in his house.

We did worry at first when he ordered it as there was a lot
about these smart speakers spying on you and reporting
back to Amazon, Google etc., but he says that he never
noticed any of that, no more junk mail than usual.

Mike.
 
OK, Echo just "bleeped" and started flashing a greenish yellow light. So I asked Alexa what the light meant. She said it was a notification from Amazon. She told me that when I see it I needed to ask her to read my notifications. Turns out, she was telling me that my recent order had been delivered.
Slightly creepy, but functional.
 
Another step towards mankind not being able to manage their lives without electronic help. I know, I'm old fashioned...

I understand, Jim. I actually could have lived without ALexa telling me I had a package on my front porch, but then again, something we have to live with. I do kind of like being able to go right outside when a package is delivered, if I am at home. We have never had issues of porch pirates in our neighborhood, but it does not mean we will never have them.
Actually, I see myself using it more to do what I am doing right now...listening to music (a playlist from the 70's right now)
 
I'm glad you're enjoying your devices Marie and they are helpful for you. I'm old-school when it comes to using those new computer gizmos and doubt I'll ever get one, but I always say, 'never say never'. :)
 
I have read that these units listen to you when you are unaware of it. Definitely not for me. As more homes plug everything into the internet, the risk of having everything in your home controlled by Big Brother becomes all too real, and creepy, for me. I'll pass, thanks.

However, as SF must remain a friendly place, for all, I really appreciate and respect everyone who opts to share their home with an overseer, of sorts.
 
@treeguy. I do not know. I am not sure they "listen" as much as people think they do, but I would have to research that. Also, if yoou make your opinions in this thread respectful..I am fine. You are questioning the technology...not mocking ME for having it. I can live with that. LOL
 
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We have a echo dot which we use mostly for music. We have it connected to our old monster stereo we got way back in the day. Most of the time when we're doing other things, echo is turned off (unplugged) along with the stereo. I do enjoy it, you just have to ask echo and it'll play what you're looking for.

I've heard about it listening all the time and that could be true, I don't know. I think there's a lot of information gathering going on in ways we don't know about. That reminds me, I need to get some more aluminum foil to make some new hats .. 🙄
 
I did some reading up on the listening in thing. Yes they do have access to recorded conversations with Alexa. But the article "said" they often use them for QC purposes to help Alexa learn to understand speech patterns better.
The article said that you can go to your settings on the app page and set it to not save recorded conversations. You can also ask Alexa to remove todays conversations.
About listening live, I did not see anything about that, but may look more. Just for curiosity sake.
 
I’ve got my primary Alexa in the kitchen to listen to music, talk to and turn certain lights on and off. I’ve got two of the clocks in the bedrooms to listen to music and also have the ability to also turn the lights on and off. World isn’t so lonely.
 


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