Amazon Echo - no thread yet?

How to Dim Your Hue Lights When Watching Movies in Plex

Whoa! Kinda gimmicky but totally awesome I thought.

Found out recently that while I work for Philips, I don't work on the lighting business side, so I don't get discounts. Damn it! Lol

got a question for you guys who are familiar with the Philips Hue lights

Is there a light switch that works with the hue lights to basically keep the light on so that it can still be toggled off / on with the app, but the bulb will be off? Is this what the Hue Dimmer Switches do? We are wanting to use them as a indicator for rooms being empty / full for patient care in the office, and while things seem to work great with the app, we would like to find a manual wall switch that works so when the doctor leaves the room they can just flip an extra switch and the outside indicator light will be off but can still be turned on by the app. Was messing around with a set of Hues tonight and it seems if you connect them to a socket with an actual switch (or put into a lamp or something) and manually flip the switch or turn it off the Hue app won't be able to turn it back on (which makes sense, but im looking for manual switches that will work with it and get around this)

is the Hue Dimmer Switch what I am looking for to provide a manual off but still allow the app to turn things on without having to turn it back on at the dimmer switch first?

thanks in advance

picked up a dimmer switch today and paired it up

works exactly like you said (as expected) and completely solves that problem I had. Thanks for the quick reply, its much appreciated.

meStevo Prime Day Deal with Alexa Device - Philips Hue Go Portable Dimmable LED Smart Light - $50.81 + $10 Credit

First deal I've seen on the lights.

Be warned, apparently at some point in the transition from the old echo app to the new multi-featured 'Alexa' one, my settings got nuked and my 'auto buy' reenabled. The lady was watching TNG in the background and we started laughing because every time someone said 'Computer' in the show, it would turn on. I wanted to be lazy so I just turned the volume down on the echo instead of resetting the keyword just to watch Star Trek. Long story short somehow Captain Picard ordered a case of toothpaste which is being delivered tomorrow and I didn't even realize how it happened until I got an 'Alexa order credit' today.

Don't lie, you were atching porn and have 100 dildos coming.

a_skeleton_03 said:

I use Alexa with one Echo and 4 dot's. For lights I use Philips Hue only. No switches, all bulbs. Chamberlain is my garage opener. Nest upstairs and downstairs for climate.

There are only two spots where I want a switch but haven't looked into it. One is my electric light fireplace so I can say "Alexa, Flame On" and one for the flood lights outside so I can turn them on with a voice command.

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I just got the Echo and the 3 light color starter. Hooked up the hub and it's working great. This fucker is addictively fun to play with and I am so glad I wait on tech and miss out on fun shit....

Any "Must have" skills besides the Hue lights? Hooked up the Pandora and regular junk already.

I don't think there are any skills I use that are meaningful, to be honest. They are all very awkward to use, you have to 'invoke' them and then certain commands are disallowed from 'operator overflow' - IE if you use a skill to control home automation you have to say "Computer tell abc to turn off the kitchen lights" because it has a backwards 1990s view of interface that requires special context clues to tell it to use a skill rather than just going 'gee this skill controls lights as well'.

It's kinda trashy for most use. It's definitely still years behind Google for asking questions and consistency.

Yeah so far pretty slim. I picked up a tide skill that will give me the highs/lows right nearby, but when I go out I need multiples so it's more of a gadget feature. So yeah, I see what you're saying.

The IFTTT stuff looks interesting so I am reading up on that.

meStevo said:

Alexa now controls Fire TV devices, this probably retires our Kinect.

Today’s the Day: Alexa Integration with Fire TV

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That sounds OK, may have to get a fire TV thing to try with it. Getting tired of my LG smart TV having no updates and not working with random services for weeks until they modernize.

There's a thread on the Echo in the tech forum.

I have one of these and a Google Home. Google Home is more useful for everyday stuff (news, traffic, weather, information questions, fun) but I use my Echo all the time for music (Amazon Prime). I'm no audiophile but it sounds great to me and Amazon's streaming music service is good.

I also take her jokes and tell them at the bar to impress the ladies.