The Amazon Echo has several functions or tricks that aren’t so obvious to users at first glance. These tricks not only make using Alexa much easier and convenient, but also way more fun.
Like a pet, you can teach your Echo to do these tricks to impress your friends, entertain yourself, make some of your routines easier for you, and allow you to live out the childhood experience of teaching a pet tricks that you sadly missed out on.
Make Alexa Whisper
One downside to using voice-activated devices is that they can wake up your sleeping housemates due to the noise they create. This can even disturb your neighbours if you live in an apartment with thin walls for example. However, your echo has a neat little trick that allows you to circumvent this. Simply enable Whisper Mode by saying, “Alexa, turn on whisper mode”. After that you can whisper to Alexa and she will whisper back. For example, whispering the question, “What time is it?”, to Alexa will make her whisper the answer to you. It might seem creepy at first but after a couple of whispered responses, I bet you’ll find it very amusing too. It is a cool trick that I find myself using even during daytime just to entertain myself =)
Quickly Make a Music Playlist
Many of us are too busy with other tasks to make a playlist. This is something that Alexa and the Amazon Echo can help us with. Instead of tapping on your phone each individual song that you wish to add to the playlist, you can just ask Alexa to add it for you. Say, “Alexa, create a new playlist.” Next, come up with a name for your playlist like “My Favourite Songs”. To add a song to the playlist, play the song first on your Echo. Then, say “Alexa, add this song to my playlist”. When your playlist is complete, just say “Alexa, play (playlist name)”, to play the newly created playlist.
Make You Amazon Echo Turn Into a TV Speaker
If you have an Amazon Echo beside you and you don’t want to turn up the volume of your TV so as not to wake everyone up, you can use your Amazon Echo as a speaker for your TV. In order to do this, your TV must have Bluetooth capabilities installed or it must be connected to an Amazon Fire TV stick. Your Amazon Echo should also be within Bluetooth distance from the TV you wish to connect it to. If the answer to both is in the affirmative, just say, “Alexa, connect”. After that, go to your TV and look for the Bluetooth settings and pair it with the Echo. When you’re done, simply say, “Alexa, unpair.”
Receive Information About Your Commute
Traffic is something that all of us must contend with, and your Echo can help you with that as well. “How?”, you may ask. Your Echo can help you by giving you info about your morning commute. Before you can do this, however, you’ll need to give Alexa the location of your work so that you’ll get the best info. To do this, open the Alexa app, enter the Settings menu, and enter the Traffic section of the settings menu. Once you’re in, enter the address of your home or whatever place you’re leaving from and the address of your work. Once all of that is set up, say, “Alexa, what’s my traffic?” to get valuable information like the fastest route to your work and how long it will take you to get there.
Set Location-Based Routines
Your Echo can also set routines based on their location. You can set this up by opening the Alexa app menu and selecting Routines. Create a new routine, but select “When this happens” then “Location”. Once those are selected, press either “Arrives” or “Leaves” and choose the address of the location you wish. Once all of that is done, select Next, then Add action.
As you can see, the Amazon Echo is an innovative piece of technology that encourages the innovation and creativity of its users. These are only some of the neat tricks that the Amazon Echo can do. It has other cool capabilities that you may or may not already know, but one of them the ability to control smart devices! If you don’t know what smart devices are, then I suggest that you read our blog on it. You may also visit our STORE to learn how smart devices can make your home better… and smarter!
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