Amazon Echo - no thread yet?

Vaclav

Vaclav

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
12,650
877
Palum_sl said:
I like it a lot. It's my easy sound system and I don't have to have my phone/tablet/PC/TV on or in use. For $100 it's a good deal IMO. $200 I wouldn't have bothered knowing what I do now about the lack of natural language search. That's really my biggest draw - I could be a ton more productive (in a fucking around in leisure time sense) if I could ask it questions I'd have to alt-tab to on my PC, get my phone out, etc. Just dumb shit I use my phone for now around the house. "Alexa what's the hours for Costco today" or "Alexa what is the thickness of the front plate on a Russian T-34-85?" I mean that would be invaluable.
Click to expand...
They've been expanding it, I'd imagine more in depth stuff like that is on the horizon for it. (The IFTT triggers email they sent out in fact makes it sound EXACTLY like the questions you have in the end there)

And yea, I mostly use it as a bluetooth speaker but it's a damn good BT speaker for $100 that can do some of the BT Speaker stuff (like Pandora) without even needing the phone. Frankly, looking at comparable ones cheapest I can find is $130.

Without the coupon I'd be torn though.
 
O

Obtenor_sl

shitlord
483
0
I had early access and developed a SDk back-end and have been working on some small apps, I can turn off lights/on depending on the time of day so I've collapsed things such as "Good night alexa" to setting my NEST for sleep time, turning off all the lights inside the house and turning on the porch light. I got a Pi on the side with an IR control so I'm looking to turn off the TV in the living room. Pretty much making sure shit is off and locked down before I go to bed.
 
Intrinsic

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
14,245
11,695
I'd love to know if I could implement your Nest solution. That's is one of the key things I would love.
 
meStevo

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
<Silver Donator>
6,375
4,652
Yeah, we love ours, but at $180 we're not buying a 2nd. Put them at $99 for the holidays and we're probably in for one.
 
kegkilla

kegkilla

The Big Mod
<Banned>
11,320
14,738
I'm thinking about getting this now that it works with Phillips hue. I already have a pretty good shtick for when I bring home a girl -- I start out with "yo Alexa hit the lights" and she's mildly impressed. "Alexa how bout some music?" and again she's mildly bemused. then "Alexa.... Kill her" and give her a deadpan stare. It's going to be a real hit I'm sure.
 
Qhue

Qhue

Trump's Staff
7,477
4,420
Had a chance to play with one of these. Underwhelming does not quite cover my feeling for this thing. Imagine if you had Siri that you could talk to anytime (which you already can if your phone is charging) only Siri has suddenly gone completely stupid and only knows how to play music and tell time.

We kept trying to ask it questions like "What movies are playing near me" or "What is a recipe for lasagna" or various other questions that you would want to know if you are lazy or have your hands full. Almost nothing worked aside from playing music / NPR reports, the current weather, and the time.

I think the most engaging feature of the damn thing is how its cylon-like LED rotates around to point at you when you say "Hey Alexa"
 
C

Column_sl

shitlord
9,833
7
Anyone been successful getting sound cloud on the Echo?

Can't believe it doesn't have this right out of the box.

Also the fact she has to ask to play a song marked explicit lyrics is pissing me off. I can't find a way to turn that off on the app.

Even stupid shit like Tove Lo gets marked immediately.
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
23,401
33,530
Column_sl said:
Anyone been successful getting sound cloud on the Echo?

Can't believe it doesn't have this right out of the box.

Also the fact she has to ask to play a song marked explicit lyrics is pissing me off. I can't find a way to turn that off on the app.

Even stupid shit like Tove Lo gets marked immediately.
Click to expand...
Mine says explicit but doesn't ask. Are you sure you don't have parental controls on your Amazon acct or something?
 
D

Desidero

N00b
163
2
I can't see myself spending $200 on an Echo, but it was pretty cool to see how it worked with Lambda at the AWS Summit the other day. If it was (a lot) cheaper I'd be happy to play with this and the dev sdk.
 
kegkilla

kegkilla

The Big Mod
<Banned>
11,320
14,738
thinking about picking one of these during the holiday season when they go cheap. anyone have some feedback on it? are they continuously releasing updates to make it more functional?
 
meStevo

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
<Silver Donator>
6,375
4,652
Yup, get an email w/ updates to available voice commands or features about every week or so. Here are the last two.

11/6:

New This Week
Oprah just announced her Favorite Things for the holidays, and Amazon Echo made the list (thanks, @Oprah). Want to hear more about Oprah's Favorite Things or need gift suggestions for the holidays? Just ask:

"Alexa, what are Oprah's Favorites for tech?"
"Alexa, what are Oprah's Favorites for kids?"
"Alexa, what are Oprah's Favorites for travelers?"
"Alexa, what are Oprah's Favorites for the kitchen?"
More to Try
Looking for some new games to play with Alexa? Simply open the Alexa App, select "Skills" from the menu, and tap "Enable" for the skills you want to use.

Movie Quotes Trivia Game
Test your knowledge of Hollywood's great movies by matching five famous quotes with the movie they came from. Just ask "Alexa, start Movie Quotes."

Word Master
Word Master is an interactive way to learn and challenge yourself with words, while having fun with competing scores. Score higher to win! Just ask "Alexa, ask Word Master to play a game."

Animal Game
Play guess-an-animal game with Alexa. Think of an animal and Alexa will guess it by asking questions. Just ask "Alexa, start Animal Game."

What's Playing
What do Adele, Pharrell, Bach, and Beethoven have in common? They're all in the Echo Favorites playlist from Prime Music, featuring Echo's most-played songs. From Sam Smith to Sibelius, it's a wild ride?and it's 100% Echo-centric. To hear the most-popular songs on Amazon Echo, just ask:

"Alexa, play the Echo Favorites playlist from Prime Music."
#AmazonEcho
Thanks @brandoncococurtis for showing us how you use Echo and WeMo to control your lights, fans, and "vinyl". If you use Echo and connected home devices to control your home, share a video on Twitter using #AmazonEcho.

Missed any of our previous updates for Echo? You can always ask "Alexa, what new can you do?", read what's new, and follow us on Twitter at @AmazonEcho.

10/30:

Last week, we introduced Local Search with Yelp. Thanks @dannysullivan for showing us how you're already using this feature for local business hours. This week, we've added new third-party skills for you to try.

To use these new skills, you will first need to enable them in the Alexa App. Simply open the app and tap on "Skills" in the menu, and then press "Enable" for the skill you want to use.

Hear which politicians are trending with Tweet Poll. Just ask:
"Alexa, open Tweet Poll."
Get cooking with Campbell's Kitchen. Just ask:
"Alexa, ask Campbell's Kitchen for a recipe."
Need a Halloween soundtrack to welcome (or frighten) the neighborhood trick-or-treaters? Keep your house haunted with spooky sounds, and have Alexa provide more Halloween fun. Just ask:

"Alexa, play the Haunted House Sounds Prime Playlist."
"Alexa, trick or treat?"
"Alexa, how do you survive a Zombie Apocalypse?"
This week the Republicans hosted another debate. With so many candidates still fighting for the top spot, it's time to lighten the mood. Just ask:

"Alexa, tell me a joke about Ben Carson."
"Alexa, tell me a joke about Jeb Bush."
Missed any of our previous updates for Echo? You can always ask "Alexa, what new can you do?", read what's new, and follow us on Twitter at @AmazonEcho.

----

Dev activity on their blog is pretty steady also.Amazon Mobile App Distribution Blog
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
23,401
33,530
It's worth it for the price of a Bluetooth speaker for sure. I got it in beta though for $99.
 
Intrinsic

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
14,245
11,695
Yeah at $99 I totally think mine was worth it. For $199 it would all depend on how much you actively utilize the features. You just have to know it requires your input. But if you think getting traffic, news, updates, shopping lists, etc... is useful and will actively ask it, go for it.
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
23,401
33,530
We actually use mine a lot for dumb shit. Weather in a specific area, news, play music, etc. It's not something I think you can replace any device with, it's literally permanent voice control for massive amounts of cloud computing with the dictionary depth and language understanding of a 6 year old.

Once it actually supports Z-Wave devices (which I have some of) I think it might become a more integral part of my day.

I also don't have my god damned star trek computer voice pack yet which pisses me off.
 
Vaclav

Vaclav

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
12,650
877
Yea, in the long run it's just becoming a bluetooth speaker that I can search up a song occasionally - great at $99 - not sure if I'd suggest it without the coupon price though. The bonuses are just "toy" level to me in the long run.
 
Intrinsic

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
14,245
11,695
Palum_sl said:
...it's literally permanent voice control for massive amounts of cloud computing with the dictionary depth and language understanding of a 6 year old.
Click to expand...
This is one of the main things that does frustrate me about it and got me out of the habit of using it more often. The language search or whatever you call the technical term for it is like circa 2010 Google. There are some real basic things you can ask it that Google would return a Card for with a one sentence basic info, and Alexa just is like, "I don't understand." Which eventually led to next time going, why bother asking Alexa, and tapering off use. if they added Nest support native use would go up for us. But I know there's 1,000 things that different people would all want so the constant updates they are sending out is pretty awesome and gives me hope they'll keep supporting it and improving.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.