Alexa Cast | An Unofficial Journey of an Amazon Echo User

Today is Prime Day in cases you didn't know. If you're not sure what Amazon Prime is, it's a program where you get free shipping and so much more. More Information (aff link) Speaker Groups You can set up different speakers to be a group. I set up an "Everywhere" group where every device is set to it. Then I set up my notifications to be announced "everywhere." This way instead of having my notification only be on the device on my desk, if I'm in the kitchen I will be notified on the device in the kitchen (and living room, etc). Alexa can even send notifications to your phone (great if you're not home).  In the app, you can have it turn on the "yellow circle" if you miss the notification.   Prime Deals on Amazon Products MORE INFORMATION (AFF LINK)

While Amazon Prime Day is October 13th there are also some really cool deals in the Smart Home area and plugs, cameras, echo and other devices are having their prices slashed. Expect to hear a little more from me over the next few days.  CHECK OUT THESE DEALS

Amazon Announced some new products and new features. New HardWare Echo Show 10 Third Generation: The screen now swivels and follows you.  13-megapixel camera. Brushless motor - silent Check it out on Amazon New Fire Stick Latest release of our best-selling streaming device - 50% more powerful than previous gen for fast streaming in Full HD. Includes Alexa Voice Remote with power and volume buttons. Less clutter, more control - Alexa Voice Remote lets you use your voice to search and launch shows across apps. Plus, control power and volume on your TV and soundbar with a single remote. Home theater audio with Dolby Atmos - Feel scenes come to life with immersive Dolby Atmos audio on select titles with compatible home audio systems. Tens of thousands of channels, Alexa skills, and apps - Including Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, and HBO. Subscription fees may apply. 500,000+ movies and TV episodes - With thousands included in your Prime membership. Live TV - Watch your favorite live TV, news, and sports with subscriptions to SLING TV, YouTube TV, and others. Free TV - Access over 20,000 free movies and TV shows from apps like IMDb TV, Tubi, Pluto TV and more Check out the new Fire Stick TV Echo Dot Fourth Generation The new spherical version has a better speaker, an optional clock, and a kids version. Check out the Echo Dot on Amazon   Luna Amazon's cloud gaming service where it's easy to play great games on devices you already own. More information New Amazon Alexa/Echo Features Group Calling - makes it easier to call a group (family, friends). Alexa call (name of group) Zoom Meetings and Amazon Chime - Just say, “Alexa, join my Zoom meeting,” or “Alexa, start my Chime meeting,” to join a video meeting on select Echo Show devices. Video Effects - Cause you need bubbles in your 10 AM meeting... Care Hub - Stay in touch with aging family members so they can say Alexa, call for help and have it come to you. Gaurd Plus - Play dog or siren sounds if someone breaks in. Subscribe and have Alexa call for help. Increased Privacy - Alexa, delete everything I've said. Food Planning - Plan meals for the week by adding items to your Whole Foods Market or Amazon Fresh cart, and once your delivery arrives, ask, “Alexa, what's for dinner” to see personalized recipes based on what you just had delivered. Sound Detectors - Example: create a Routine that turns the light on in the bedroom to help you wake up when Alexa detects the sound of a baby crying, or one that turns on white noise when your partner starts to snore at night. Netflix- Coming soon Music Sharing - Alexa, share this song with (name). They can listen through the Alexa App Reading Sidekick - Let Alexa teach your kids to read. Alexa Profile For Kids - She switches to recognizes and switches to "kid mode" when she detects a child on all devices.

Originally I thought I was going to be able to take this Echo with a screen and watch YouTube, Apple+ Amazon Prime, and all the other video items I do on a Fire TV stick. While you can it's not as easy.    The video on the Echo Show is more for video calls. They do make it easy for the Food channel (which is great if you have the unit in the kitchen). It also has what appears to be a Hulu app. If you want YouTube you have to open a browser (so again, not as easy as a Fire TV system).    I do like it when I ask to see my calendar it puts it up on the screen. This is the same with my grocery list, flash briefing items, and more. I purchased this for the kitchen but it ended up in my bedroom. At first, I thought I was going to have to manually turn the brightness down, but it turns out if you turn the lights off in your room, the Echo Show can figure this out and it dims automatically, and makes the clock much bigger.    There are other things you can have scroll on the screen. I have uploaded some photographs to my Amazon account and these can be rotated throughout the screen. If you had someone in a nursing home, you could set this up to share images on their screen (assuming you are controlling their account).    I also was amazed at the sound quality of the speakers in the Echo Show 8. It has some bottom-end for such little speakers and it has some volume. All in all, I'm happy with it, and already thinking of getting another one.    Originally I was going to get an Echo Spot, but for just a little more money the Echo Show is a much better deal I feel.    If you like the show tell a friend or consider donating to support the show.

I love reminders. I have a Monday morning meeting. I have it setup (via the app) to remind me every Monday 10 minutes before the meeting. That reminder is announced in my office. What if I'm not in my office? I might miss the alarm.    Reminders On All Devices To get started, open the Alexa app on your phone and select Reminders & Alarms from the menu. Tap Reminders and select Add Reminder. Then type what you want Alexa to remind you about, as well as the date and time you'd like the announcement to be made. Tap Announces From and select All Devices. Now when you set a reminder, Alexa will broadcast it across all your Echo speakers.     Drop In On Your Entire House Dropping in on all devices can be helpful when you're out of the house and need to quickly talk to someone at home (you can do this through the Alexa app), For example, if you want to have a discussion with your family about what to have for dinner. When you're out, you have no idea what room of the house someone is in, so take the guesswork out and drop in on all of them.    Just say, "Alexa, drop in on all devices" to get started.    Shopping On Amazon? Do consider going to www.alexacast.com and using the links on the site.

Thie Fitbit Versa 2 is an amazing piece of technology. It's a smartwatch that elevates every moment. Use your voice to create alarms, set bedtime reminders or check the weather with Amazon Alexa built-in. Take your look from the gym to the office with its modern and versatile design. See your stats with an always-on display mode. In addition, get Fitbit pay, daily sleep quality scores, apps, notifications, 24/7 heart rate and store 300+ songs for an experience that revolves around you. Check it out at https://amzn.to/2yVABmP

Alexa Helps You Remember Anything You can now ask Alexa remember things for you. All you have to say is "Alexa remember ______" and she will make you confirm and that's it.  So this could be birthdays, shirt sizes, where the extra blankets are, what wiper blades to use on the volvo, etc.  I don't see where you can edit these, so I'm not sure if you accidentally say Grandma's birthday is March 17th when it's really April 17th. I don't see any place in the app to update these.  Alexa Follow Up Mode There is also now the ability to Alexa more questions without having to say her name.  You can turn this on by going into the app, clicking on your device and turning on "follow up mode." This appears to keep her "listening" for about five seconds after she answers you.  So you can say, "Alexa add eggs to the shopping list, and she would reply and you could then add, "Add Milk to the shopping list" without having to say, Alexa before each item. New Houses Will Come Equipped with Alexa Lennar (the largest homebuilder in the US) announced Wednesday that standard features in its new homes will include built-in Wi-Fi, smart locks, doorbells, thermostats, and lights — all controlled by Alexa, Amazon’s voice-activated digital assistant. Each house will come with two Alexa-enabled smart speakers, an Echo Show and an Echo Dot. New homeowners will also get a free visit from an Amazon technician to help set everything up and teach them how to use it.

Comments? 888-563-3228 Alexa just rolled out the ability to use all the Amazon Devices as a one-way intercom. Simply Say Alex Announce that dinner is ready and she will announce it on any Amazon Device. iHome iAVS16 SMart Alarm Clock with Alexa Enabled Today I'm reviewing the iHome Smart Alarm Clock the iAVS16 https://youtu.be/QrwihUQSx6w I found the iHome Smart Alarm clock (with Alexa) at Best Buy (FYI it's $25 cheaper at Amazon) and it sounded pretty darn good. Then I found out it was Alexa Enabled and it had my attention, throw in that is has a built-in phone charger and I was sold. And as they say, "But wait there is more" the iHome app really takes advantage of your Spotify and other services integration. I can finally do what I've been trying to do and that is wake up to a Spotify playlist. For me, this was super cool. Other features as this unit is more than likely going to end up in a Bedroom is there is a light bar that you can set up. There are even smart buttons you can program. That's right you can press one button on the alarm clock and it will play your best Barry White playlist and set the mood with the proper lighting. Oh yea. Setup Is Easy You download a free app, connect the app to your wifi. Then you fire up the clock and the app connects the clock to your wi-fi and you're ready to roll. Likewise, you connect your music services to the iHome app and now you can program your music services to buttons on the top of the unit. Not So Great Surprises You can also program it to control smart devices*, but there is an asterisk there. Those devices have to be using Smart Outlets from iHome. There was one other pet peeve. On their website, it states the display is dimmable. It took me a while, but I figured out that the Snooze button is What Does it Sound Like? If you use to have a dot it's 8 million times better. You can adjust the bass and treble from the app, and I didn't know just how much bass I had until I went downstairs and heard all the bass pumping upstairs. If you're worried it won' t wake you?  Then you would have to be deaf. It will blast you out of the room. Want a warning shot? There is even an option to having soft soothing sounds play before the actual alarm. There is a Difference Between an Amazon Device and an Alexa Enabled Device While the iHome iAVS16 Smart Alarm Clock does everything I want it to do, when I went to try the "Announce" feature it stated that this feature was not available on this unit yet. I've never heard of this, but apparently, there is a difference between an actual Amazon Dot/echo/show and something that is Alexa enabled. Conclusion I've been wanting to wake to a Spotify playlist since music came to Alexa. While you can set music on an alarm in the Alex app, it wouldn't connect to a Spotify playlist and this does. The sound is great, and I have the bonus of a phone charger all in one. I don't have to ask Alexa what the temperature is outside or what alarm is set as they are both on the front of the display. You can buy it at Amazon.com (currently $125)   Watch the video at https://youtu.be/QrwihUQSx6w Thanks To Everyone Who Has Been Shopping At Amazon Through Our Affiliate Banners We appreciate it Amazon.com (aff link)

Alex is Getting Brief Mode is Coming This is an experimental feature not available everywhere. Settings > Alexa Voice Response (at the very bottom) Alexa Can Fart On Command Just say, "Alexa Fart." Yep, this should be a big hit with the kids. Taking Another Look At Alexa Routines Launch the Amazon Alexa app on your phone, tap the hamburger and select Routines. Routines can be triggered by a phrase, or set to turn on at a specific time (repeat options for multiple days are available).  Then you put in what you want her to do (so it's a big if this then that statement For me I say, "Alexa, kill the lights," and all of my smart lights go out and she tells me the weather (as I plan on using this when I get ready to leave). I did find I couldn't use it with things that she already had built in. For example, "Alexa, I'm outa here" already had a built-in response.  There are other ways I could do this. I could assign the lights to a room and ask her to turn of a room or scene. You can also have her tell you the traffic and news.  Alexa Owners Get a Discount on TuneIn Live Alexa customers in the U.S. TuneIn Live, as the premium live audio subscription is called, will offer play-by-play calls from thousands of live sporting events, plus access to premium news stations, talk shows and other content. The subscription content comes from TuneIn partners like MLB, NBA, NHL, and the NFL, as well as news stations like CNBC, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, Newsy, and others. he broader TuneIn service also pulls in content from over 120,000 owned and operated as well as partner radio stations, and 5.7 million on-demand programs The skill can be enabled on Alexa device with the command, “Alexa, open TuneIn Live.” TuneIn Live is available as of today, Major League Baseball’s 2018 Opening Day. This isn't the first time there has been a discount applied to Alexa users. The Amazon Music Unlimited Echo Plan lets Amazon Echo owners access all the benefits from Amazon’s on-demand music service on a single Echo device for $3.99 per month, instead of $7.99 per month for Prime members, or $9.99 per month for non-Prime members. When you open the skill, try asking Alexa: - Play the Yankees game - What games are on? - Listen to the Golden State Warriors - Turn on MSNBC Speaking of Discounts, there is a discounted version of Prime  Amazon announced this morning it will offer a low-cost version of its Prime membership program to qualifying recipients of Medicaid. The program will bring the cost of Prime down from the usual $10.99 per month to about half that, at $5.99 per month, while still offering the full range of Prime perks, including free, two-day shipping on millions of products, Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Photos, Prime Reading, Prime Now, Audible Channels, and more. The new program is an expansion on Amazon’s discounted Prime service for customers on government assistance, launched in June 2017. For the same price of $5.99 per month, Amazon offers Prime memberships to any U.S. customer with a valid EBT card – the card that’s used to disburse funds for assistance programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program (WIC).

Today we are joined by William Nut from aelxa.bio which is one of our partners who is supporting our mission to help users make the most of Alexa, and follow her captivating evolution, through meaningful news, intuitive guides, trusted recommendations and much more. It's “the book” on Alexa, if you will, and they'd be delighted for you to join them on their journey along the next great technological phenomenon. Check them out at alexa.bio Mentioned on the Show School of Podcasting here is a video demonstrating the School of Podcasting Skill Castbox Stitcher Anypod

Today I talk about how I can control my Amazon Fire TV with my Alexa Device, and I try out Firefox on Fire TV

Amazon Music News: Goodbye Music Storage - Hello Hits By Location - Waking Up to Music Amazon quietly announced this week it’s retiring its Amazon Music Storage subscription plans, with plans to completely disallow playing or downloading songs from the service starting in January 2019. So in the past, you could upload your entire music catalog into Amazon and have it available to play (and for Alexa). There’s a long grace period before access to your music is permanently disabled, however. The tracks you’ve already uploaded to Amazon Music will still be available until January 2019. The shutdown affects both the free storage plan, which allowed for 250 songs to be stored in the cloud, as well the paid plan – originally $25 per year – which offered cloud storage for up to 250,000 songs. MP3 files you purchased from Amazon will stay available. If you are an Amazon Music Unlimited or  Prime Music customers you can now ask Alexa to "Play the top songs in (your city" or the "hits in (your city).  Another feature is "Play More Like This." So you could say, "Alexa, play songs similar to Billy Joel" or "Play songs like Piano Man." We all know about settings alarms with Alexa, now you can have the alarm be music. The new musical alarm feature supports Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, SiriusXM and iHeartRadio. Users can, through voice commands, set daily alarms for a specific song, playlist, or radio station. You could say, "Alexa wame me up at 7:30 AM to Good Morning Good Morning by The Beatles. On Amazon Music, users are supposed to be able to ask Alexa to set a musical alarm based on just a couple lyrics. Here is the example from Amazon: “Alexa, set an alarm at 7 a.m. to the song that goes ‘I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride.'” I personally can get the lyric thing to work. Amazon Unlimited Music is (currently) .99 for three months then $7.99. If you have Amazon Prime you have access to 2 million Songs. Amazon Echo Buttons Get a Game The Amazon button got lost in the shuffle of all the different devices being launched at the same time earlier this year. The buttons pair to an Echo device via bluetooth, serving as gameshow buzzers. Trivial Pursuit Tap is one of the first third-party applications to take advantage of the little plastic discs, turning the smart home speaker into a makeshift, at-home, Alexa-based gameshow. Users can connect up to four of the Buttons at once, assigning different colors to each player. I think this is one of those things that once you see it in action, it could become very popular. A package of 2 buttons goes for $20 FireFox Comes to Fire TV I haven't tried this yet, but Amazon announce that firefox will now be available on which allows you to search the web (including YouTube) Full Story Things To Try With Alexa Alexa, open Fireplace Sounds." Alexa, sing a Christmas rap Alexa, sing a Christmas carol Alexa, read “The Night Before Christmas Alexa, play Christmas Sounds. Alexa, tell me a holiday limerick Alexa, tell me a football joke

Support the show by going to www.alexacast.com Being Careful Checking Your Orders with Alexa Currently, when I ask Alexa for an update on my orders she tells me when an item should arrive including the item's name. This may not be a good thing as at times Alexa needs to whisper sometimes (and she hasn't been programmed for that). You can go into your app and turn of the ability for her to announce the name. Go to: Settings > Notifications >Shopping Notifications (from there you can set product names on/off News: Alexa is headed for the workplace.  The WSJ reports that Alexa for Business will also give enterprise users the opportunity to build apps and skills for calendar management, meeting room scheduling and ordering supplies. The introduction of Alexa for Business also presents an opportunity to let users access business information on their phones or outside of the building using the Alexa app on their phone. In the future, you may be able to schedule a virtual meeting with the sales team that is delivered to everyone's device. You could drop into your manager's office (or vice versa). Full Story Alexa Control Hulu, NBC, Bravo on Fire TV This feature lets you ask Alexa to “watch,” “play,” “pause,” “rewind,” “fast forward,” and more. It can also take you to an individual show, network, or specific genre of programming. Before, Alexa could control Amazon’s own video content in this fashion. But now the same voice commands work with third-party apps like Hulu, NBC, Bravo, and others that quietly launched voice support last week, including Showtime, Sony PlayStation Vue, and CBS All Access. Showtime Anytime will add the functionality soon, Amazon says. Echo Dot and FireStick Best Selling Item on Amazon Echo Dot and Amazon Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were not only the best-selling Amazon devices during this sales holiday, but they were also the best-selling products from any manufacturer in any category on Amazon. It is estimated that there were millions of Alexa Devices sold over the holiday weekend. Alexa will be arriving in Australia and New Zealand at some unspecified point in early 2018. Full Story

There are some great deals on Alexa enabled items where you can save up to $50. These end on Cyber Monday 11/27 at midnight. Echo Dots are $29 (normally $50) The New Echo with Improved sound is $79 Echo Plus that comes with a philips bulb is $120 For all the great deals see http://amzn.to/2iSR2oD (aff li

See full notes at www.alexacast.com/32 This week we have Alexa take a look at Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for? When was the first Thanksgiving? Give me a Thanksgiving Haiku? Tell me a Vegetable Joke? MOre great conversions (Gigabytes to Megabytes) It's Turkey Time! Am I Naughty or Nice (multiple answers) Christmas Facts Skill Who is hosting Saturday Night Live Alex Let's shop Oprah's Favorite Things? Canada Now Gets Alexa!

What's Up Alexa? Today we learn a way go get a quick update (alexa, What's up) How to get a 7-day forecast (Alexa what's the 7-day forecast?) Best Buy Deals Use the Best Buy skill to: - Hear and purchase deals from Best Buy's Deal of the Day - Research products and get recommendations - Learn about our return policy Alexa asked me if I wanted to buy each deal. On days where there are a lot of deals, this could be very annoying. More information A Love Song Alexa, sing me a love song." Support the show at www.alexacast.com

How to Make Music Groups Work I was having an issue after creating a music group (Go to Smart Home in the Alexa App > Groups > Add Group I talked about this in a previous episode that you can use Spotify with this feature, but you can use the following: Amazon Music Unlimited (Individual plan or Family plan) Prime Music Amazon Music Some third-party music providers I found out one of the third party features is iHeart Radio and Pandora Once enabled, say, "Play [music selection] on [group name]," to play your music on the selected devices. Amazon has a TON of built-in playlists for those on Amazon Prime. I might start checking these out.  The bad news is Alexa won't play one of your custom playlists.  Using Alexa Routines I was excited when I heard about Alex routines. This is where you could say one command and Alexa would do multiple items.  For example, I have one called "Start My Day" it turns on my bedroom light, give's me the weather, and plays my news brief.  This is good, but that's just about everything Alexa will do. She can control smart home devices, tell you about traffic, weather, and the news. I was really hoping she could tell me my calendar and then start a random song from a playlist.  You can have routines set up to be voice activated or be activated by a timed event. For example, you could have it kick off weekdays a 7:30 am.  Alexa Has a Spooky Song As Halloween is tomorrow, ask Alexa to sing a spooky song.

See http://alexacast.com/19 for Full Show notes

One of the great things about the Amazon Echo is it is constantly getting smarter. Today we talk about two new features being added to the Amazon Alexa platform. Amazon Echo Custom Lists Comes to Alexa Alexa comes built in with a shopping list and a todo list. Now you can create your own lists. For example, you can create a list for a certain store (i.e. Walmart). You could have a certain project (packing for vacation). To use the new feature, you’ll say, “Alexa, create a list.” And Alexa will then prompt you to the name the list. The list, once created, is saved in the Alexa companion mobile app for easy access. Alexa Now Recognizes Different Voices Amazon will is rolling out customized voice detection. That means users in multi-person homes will be able to get individualized experiences, based on voice recognition. So each user gets their personalized shopping list, music selections and the like. At launch, the feature is compatible with Flash Briefings, shopping, Amazon Music’s family plan and Alexa to Alexa calling, adding the name of the specific user to incoming calls. Using the mobile app, users select “Your Voice” in settings and then walk through a series of demo commands to familiarize the software with your voice. Full instructions can be found on Amazon’s help page. Support the show by clicking this affiliate to shop at Amazon http://amzn.to/2zmkGbv

Today we get some insights on Recipes, and we have a skill to make housework chores more fun, and we have new ways to ask for music.

Today we talk about Echo Connect, Buttons, Echo Spot, and the new cheaper Echo.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Please use the banners at alexacast.comClick to view: show page on Awesound

Today we hear about Sirius XM Using the Echo Show as a baby Monitor Study on Smart Speaker OwnersFor more information go to alexacast.com/25Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today I play with the Nutrionix skill which allows me to tell Alexa what I ate and it will put it into the Nutritionix app.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today we hear about the newest addition from Amazon. An Alexa device with video callingClick to view: show page on Awesound

There are some new updates coming to Alexa, and there are ads going away. Today we play with the Mylestone app, and use Alexa as a dictionaryClick to view: show page on Awesound

Today we look at the new Amazon Echo LookClick to view: show page on Awesound

Today there is a new ay to get Alexa on your phoneClick to view: show page on Awesound

See alexacast.com/18Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today we have some Valentine's Day Fun, and we have Alexa Find our Phone. See alexacast.com/17Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today we have Alex help us with:Share Black History FactsFind a McDonalds (and a 1.3 start Taco Bell)Flip a Coin (for those of you who don’t carry cash.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today I found a fun way to start the day. Say "Good Morning" to Alexa. Also with the Super Bowl ahead, ask Alexa for A Football joke.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today I add the YNAB tool to my ExhoClick to view: show page on Awesound

Today I talk about how muc heasier the Amazon TV is when it is Alexa enabled and we play with Alexa Deals, and TimersClick to view: show page on Awesound

Today I share my experience with using the TP-Link Smart OutletClick to view: show page on Awesound

Today I look at the Chefling Skill. Ful notes at alexacast.com/12Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today we hear Dave use the Echo to read kindle books. I kind of had some issues, and we get Alexa to share her New years Resolutions. Our website is alexacast.comClick to view: show page on Awesound

Today I play with a couple of Skills aimed to motivate you.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Alexa can work with a super smart water bottle that works with your smart phone, fitbit, and Alexa. It's $99. Looking to start a podcast use the coupon code alexa at the School of PodcastingClick to view: show page on Awesound

Today we hear how to find out what is new with Alexa, and how to enable skills and play jeopardy with Alex. Looking to start a podcast use the coupon code alexa at the School of PodcastingClick to view: show page on Awesound

Today I talk about connecting Alexa to your calendar. See alexacast.com/6Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today I talk about a battery pack for the Echo. Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today I talk about the Phillips Hue Starter pack and how fun it is to turn off and on your lights with your voice. See alexacast.com/4Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today with the Twitter Read, Alexa Deals, and we have some fun.More information atalexacast.com/?p=62Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today we talk about how you can setup your Flash briefing to give you just the news you want, when you want it. See alexacast.com/2Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today I share why I purchased an Amazon Echo, and some things you can do while you wait for it to arrive.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Today I go over the models and the pros and cons of each. See alexacast.com/buyersguideClick to view: show page on Awesound