Amazon Echo Club

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by wodin

Alexa on your wrist

Wow! I want one. It'd be nice if it looked a little better though.

That is a cool looking watch and I love the design. But I'll never get a smartwatch because I don't use data plans. Not worth the added expense.

[tubemonkey]

What's new?

New in Flash Briefing

This week brings more than a dozen new Flash Briefing options from TechCrunch, Planet Money, SB Nation, and More. You can now also edit the order in which you hear your Flash Briefing-a top customer request-and see ratings and reviews for Flash Briefing content.

To find, enable, and manage Flash Briefing content, go to "Settings" and then "Flash Briefing" in the Alexa App. Once your Flash Briefing is set up the way you like, just ask:

• "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing."

Find my phone

With TrackR's new Find My Phone skill for Alexa you'll never lose your phone in the couch cushions again. Just ask TrackR and the skill will make your phone ring.

First, enable the skill by saying, "Alexa, enable Find My Phone skill." Then download the TrackR app to your phone and link it to your Alexa account. With the app running in the background on your phone, just ask:

• "Alexa, ask TrackR to find my phone."

To learn more about Alexa skills, go to Enable Alexa Skills.

[tubemonkey]

Introducing Alexa on Fire Tablets—Coming Soon

I'm very disappointed in Amazon. They only plan on adding this feature to 5th and new 6th gen Fires, even though 4th gen Fires run the same software (5.3.1) and have hardware specs better than or equal to the 5th and 6th gen models.

It just got even easier to enjoy endless entertainment on your Fire tablet with Alexa, the cloud-based voice service that is the brain behind Amazon Echo. When connected to Wi-Fi, simply long-press the home button and ask Alexa to play your favorite song, open a game, or read you the latest audiobook—Alexa provides quick access to the entertainment you want. Plus, you can ask Alexa for the news, weather, jokes, questions, and more—Alexa provides natural-language responses, combined with on-screen information on the tablet’s display. Third parties can publish Alexa skills, so you can ask Alexa to play music from services including Pandora and Spotify, and turn off the light or adjust the temperature on compatible smart home devices.

Alexa will be available on the all-new Fire HD 8, Fire HD 10, Fire and last year’s Fire HD 8 tablets via a free over-the-air software update in the coming months. Because Alexa is cloud-based, it gets smarter over time, meaning more Alexa capabilities for Fire tablets will be delivered in subsequent updates.

[Tarana]

You can now listen to the following two audiobooks through Echo for free.

Alice in Wonderland narrated by Jim Dale
Journey to the Center of the Earth narrated by Tim Curry.

And, in case you all didn't know it, you can go back a chapter now and it works! You can also tell Echo to stop in 30 minutes (I just tell it to set sleeptimer which I do for music already).

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Meet Nucleus

Nucleus is a video intercom device that helps you stay close to the people you love, whether they're just upstairs or miles away. Nucleus owners can also enjoy Alexa features like skills and voice control of smart–home devices. To order a Nucleus two–pack, so you can have them in multiple rooms, just ask:
"Alexa, order Nucleus."

I just dropped the hammer on the single click button for a two pack of these. Being Alexa enabled, I'm going to have to rethink my Echo deployment strategy. Right now I have two Echos and a Dot, but don't have enough rooms for five Alexas.

I'm pretty sure that the music quality of Nucleus is sub standard, so that will be a factor on where to deploy Echos and where to put Nucleuses (Nuclei?). Also Nucleus is like the Tap in that it requires a button push to get Alexa's attention, or indeed it's primary function of being a video intercom. Bother, bother... I hate important decision like this!

[Tarana]

I'm actually thinking of it for my sibling going into assisted living. Would be a lot easier for him to stay in contact.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Tarana

You can now listen to the following two audiobooks through Echo for free.

Alice in Wonderland narrated by Jim Dale
Journey to the Center of the Earth narrated by Tim Curry.

And, in case you all didn't know it, you can go back a chapter now and it works! You can also tell Echo to stop in 30 minutes (I just tell it to set sleeptimer which I do for music already).

Thanks. Where did you get this info?

Edit: Nevermind. I just found it

[tubemonkey]

Amazon Alexa Skills Selection up 3x in Just 3 Months—Alexa Now Has over 3,000 Skills

New Alexa skills available today include Food Network and GE Appliances—recently added skills include Twitter Reader, Hyundai Genesis, Find My Phone, TP-Link Kasa, Patrón, KAYAK, Food Tracker, and more

Alexa skills coming by the end of this month include Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football, Bloomberg, and What to Expect; Pregnancy and Baby

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 13, 2016-- (NASDAQ:AMZN)—Just over a year ago, Amazon launched the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) and the Alexa Voice Service (AVS), making it simple and free for developers to build new capabilities for Alexa and integrate Alexa into their own products. Today, there are tens of thousands of developers building Alexa skills, and over 3,000 Alexa skills now available to customers, increasing by 3x since June. Also today, Amazon announced new skills including Food Network and GE Appliances available now, with Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football, Bloomberg, and What to Expect When Expecting all coming by the end of this month.

“We’re thrilled to announce that developers have launched over 3,000 skills on Alexa-enabled devices such as the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot,” said Steve Rabuchin, Vice President, Amazon Alexa. “When we launched the Alexa Skills Kit over a year ago, our goal was to enable developers to build compelling voice experiences for Alexa customers. The response from both developers and customers has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’re excited for what’s ahead.”

[tubemonkey]

Amazon accidentally announced a cheaper Echo Dot. Then it deleted the tweet.

Amazon’s Echo Dot, an innovative device that gives traditional Bluetooth speakers the power to respond to voice commands, has been sold out since July. Now it looks like a new, much-cheaper version may be on the way.

On Monday, the Amazon Echo Twitter account seemed to announce it: "Introducing the all-new Echo Dot. Add Alexa to any room — now for just $49.99." The original Dot, unveiled in March, cost $89.99.

But the link included at the end of the tweet simply pointed toward a "sold out" page on Amazon, with no mention of the new version. A little while later, the tweet was gone. But this Twitter user caught it:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Amazon accidentally announced a cheaper Echo Dot. Then it deleted the tweet.

The new 2nd Generation Dot is on their website this morning.
It says, "This item will be released on October 20, 2016.
Pre-order now."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015TJD0Y4...2-f17b15eddce1

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by jswinden

The new 2nd Generation Dot is on their website this morning.
It says, "This item will be released on October 20, 2016.
Pre-order now."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015TJD0Y4...2-f17b15eddce1

And a six pack: buy 5, get 1 free!

[ApK]

Originally Posted by jswinden

The new 2nd Generation Dot is on their website this morning.
It says, "This item will be released on October 20, 2016.
Pre-order now."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015TJD0Y4...2-f17b15eddce1

I guess that answers the question of if that tweet was legit.

According to customer service, the differences between this gen 2 Dot and the "limited edition gen 1" that I was privileged enough to pay $40 more for is the 2nd gen has volume buttons rather than a twist ring, and is slightly thinner. That thinness may suggest a difference in the speaker, I don't know.

But hey, Tubemonkey, it's down in your price range now!

ApK

[Catlady]

It's in my price range now too; I don't mind spending $50 for a new shiny toy, even if I don't use it much. In fact, I was tempted when it first came out and might have bought it at the higher price except I wasn't allowed to, not having an Echo.

I won't preorder, though; I'll wait and see what the reviews are.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by ApK

I guess that answers the question of if that tweet was legit.

According to customer service, the differences between this gen 2 Dot and the "limited edition gen 1" that I was privileged enough to pay $40 more for is the 2nd gen has volume buttons rather than a twist ring, and is slightly thinner. That thinness may suggest a difference in the speaker, I don't know.

But hey, Tubemonkey, it's down in your price range now!

ApK

Adding up the stuff Amazon excluded from Echo Dot 2, the price is $65.

• $50 -- Echo Dot 2
• $10 -- 2-year warranty
• $5 --- 4 ft audio cable

Another con is the missing twist ring volume control. Twisting the volume is quite a bit faster than using buttons. I thought I was going to jump on this immediately. Now I'm left wondering what else Amazon has done to cut costs. I certainly don't want a weaker speaker (hey, that rhymes)

[tubemonkey]

Here's the press release:

Introducing the All-New Echo Dot—Add Alexa to Any Room for Less than $50

The new Echo Dot is hands-free, voice-controlled, and powered by Alexa—play music, turn on the lights, get information and the news, set alarms, and more

Connect Echo Dot to external speakers to enable voice control of your home entertainment system, or use it on its own to talk to Alexa

ESP (Echo Spatial Perception) makes it easy to have multiple Echo and Echo Dot devices throughout your home, ensuring that Alexa responds intelligently from the device closest to you

Echo Dot is just $49.99—also available as a six-pack (buy five, get one free) or a 12-pack (buy 10, get two free)

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 14, 2016-- (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today introduced an all-new version of the groundbreaking Echo Dot for under $50, so you can add Alexa to any room in your home. Just like Echo, Echo Dot gives you access to all of Alexa’s capabilities—she can answer questions, play music, turn on the lights, set timers, give sports updates, check the weather, access over 3,000 Alexa skills, and much more. The all-new Echo Dot is available for pre-order at www.amazon.com/echodot and will begin shipping next month.

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