TheAmazon Echooffers our first serious glimpse into the future of an intelligent home.
It seemed like a silly niche product in an already overcrowded market of Bluetooth speakers.
Soon after, I came to love it.
Play Virtually Any Song Just By Asking
The Echo is a speaker.
But it does so in so many wonderful ways that we need to talk about it.
The Echo can sometimes offer a playlist for your mood, or for a specific holiday.
Alexa, play somemeditation tracks.
Alexa, play someAdele.
Alexa, play playlist _________.
Those were the early days, but now you’ve got the option to use Spotify, too.
Alexa, play songs byLil Johnsonfrom Spotify.
You canfind a full list of commands hereif youd like to explore.
Find New Features
Isnt it nice to know when you get feature upgrades?
This is, by far, my favorite service the Echo provides.
Alexa, turn thebedroom lightsto 50%.
(Want less light in a room?
Just specify a percentage!)
Alexa, turn the heat up to 72.
Alexa, turn video mode on.
This turns the camera on and lights the room for recording.)
you’re free to do much, much more with your home automation devices with integration hubs.
Just add your devices in the Alexa app and play around with the all the fun possibilities.
The same goes for the time.
Its simple and lazy, but incredibly convenient.
Try these commands:
Alexa, whats the weather?
Alexa, what time is it?
(Shell tell you!
Again, you’re free to ask for the time in a specific location as well.
I find this super helpful when scheduling phone meetings and interviews with folks in other time zones.)
Alexa, whats my commute?
Listen to a Book or Article
Unsurprisingly, the Echo integrates with another Amazon company:Audible.
Lets try it:
Alexa, play audiobookAnimal Farm.
(If you have a copy of George OrwellsAnimal Farmin your library, itll play.
Swap for any book you have in your library.)
Alexa, resume my book.
(Whatever book you were last listening toprobablyAnimal FarmAlexa will resume it for you with this command.)
Alexa, go back.
Alexa, go forward.
Alexa, stop reading the book in 30 minutes.
you might find more fun Audible commandshere, but thats not all you might do with books.
Amazon also offers several Kindle books that dont have audio companions but you could hear through voice synthesis.
Alexa, readDump Dinners: The Absolute Best Dump Dinners Cookbook with 75 Amazingly Easy Recipes.
(Yes, if you own this Kindle book, Alexa will read it to you.)
(You should know this command when listening to a cookbook called Dump Dinners.
Itll stop her from reading it.)
Alexa can also read Wikipedia articles.
These commands should suffice:
Alexa, wikipediaLifehacker.
Either option will give you a short description of whatever topic you asked for.)
Alexa, read more from Wikipedia.
No more reading for you!
Alexa, how many tablespoons are in a stick of butter?
Alexa, set a timer for 10 minutes.
Itll be like you didnt even cook.
Just for an idea of its possibilities, check out our IFTTT tag page.
The Echo alwayskind ofworked with it, but its gotten a lot better in recent weeks.
(This command triggers a popular, more complex Philip Hue Light recipe called Party Time.
Alexa, send me my shopping list.
Not everything requires a voice command.
you might also have IFTTTlog the songs you listen to in a spreadsheetfor easy playlist-making later.
Then tell Alexa to trigger them and be amazed.
Adam Dachisis a Los Angeles-based writer and consultant.
Youll find him writing and making stuff over atAwkward Human, including his podcast theAwkward Human Survival Guide.
