Alexa Coming to Fire Tablets

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I would say that is 80's pop not rock.

I agree, but Amazon chose which songs get included in the various lists, not me. They also seem to be very confused on shopping items on their website. I've seen underwear show up when browsing electronics, and a lot of other weird items that don't belong in the category that I'm browsing. The Amazon programmers must be the rejects of Silicon Valley.

[HarryT]

Does Alexa do bedtime stories like Siri can?

Originally Posted by HarryT

Does Alexa do bedtime stories like Siri can?

I've never tried it. TM might know. I haven't even tried to have Alexa read a book, but I think they have to be actual Kindle books from your library and they have to have the feature that allows for electronic voice reading turned on.

TM, does Alexa also play Audible books?

[HarryT]

Siri tells wonderful stories. Here's her latest:

Once upon a time, there was a robot chicken. And it went into the woods where it met a three-headed Gollypod and a tiny jumping snail. And they danced all night in the woods until the silver monkeys came out. They fell asleep under banana leaves, and when they woke up, they all had magical flying powers!

Immortal literature, I'm sure you'll agree .

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Like TM said, the Alexa app won't do voice commands on the iOS devices or the Fire tablets. The app seems rather useful, though flaky. I have no clue about the Alexa voice feature as I don't have a Fire tablet that is eligible to install it. The voice command feature on the Echo, Tap, Dot, and FireTV is very well done though. I rarely have to repeat commands, and when I do it is usually because I phrased the command awkwardly. I do have my Dot next to my TV and here lately there have been a lot of Alexa ads on TV so she sometimes gets confused when a TV ad blurts out "Alex, do [such and such]". I have to then say "Alexa, stop"!

Change the wake word to "echo" and that should stop it. I've done that before when she starts responding to the ads too frequently.

Do me a favor and tell your Dot:

"Alexa, order a 6-pack of Echo Dots and send them to tubemonkey"

Originally Posted by HarryT

Siri tells wonderful stories. Here's her latest:



Immortal literature, I'm sure you'll agree .

Well I just asked Alexa to read me a bedtime story. She replied, "Your book library is empty, if you tell me the name of a book I might be able to read you a sample." Interesting that she thinks my book library is empty when I own hundreds of Amazon purchased Kindle books. Not sure what is going on with that.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Change the wake word to "echo" and that should stop it. I've done that before when she starts responding to the ads too frequently.

I thought about doing that. I guess "Alexa" is probably more prevalent in TV ads than "Echo" or "Amazon". I'm guessing "Echo" is the least used by the ads. I have a lot of amateur radios in my radio shack, and occasionally one of those will activate my Echo in that room. But when that happens it is never a word but just static or interference of some kind that triggers her. That is rare, but it does happen occasionally. Never from transmitting though, but from receiving signals.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Do me a favor and tell your Dot:

"Alexa, order a 6-pack of Echo Dots and send them to tubemonkey"

Nice try!!!

....

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Does Alexa do bedtime stories like Siri can?

Originally Posted by jswinden

I've never tried it. TM might know. I haven't even tried to have Alexa read a book, but I think they have to be actual Kindle books from your library and they have to have the feature that allows for electronic voice reading turned on.

TM, does Alexa also play Audible books?

No bedtime stories per se, but she will play Audible books and read eligible Kindle books.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Siri tells wonderful stories. Here's her latest:

Immortal literature, I'm sure you'll agree .

Monkey lit, my favorite genre

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I thought about doing that. I guess "Alexa" is probably more prevalent in TV ads than "Echo" or "Amazon". I'm guessing "Echo" is the least used by the ads. I have a lot of amateur radios in my radio shack, and occasionally one of those will activate my Echo in that room. But when that happens it is never a word but just static or interference of some kind that triggers her. That is rare, but it does happen occasionally. Never from transmitting though, but from receiving signals.

I went with Echo because it's the least used.

Hey, you're so isolated in that room. How do you keep in touch with the world?

Do you pick your radios on the basis of display color? You've got quite a rainbow going on.

Nice try!!!

....

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

[Ricky D'Angelo]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I press and hold the home button, the "O" in the center of the bottom menu. After about a second it beeps and a blue line with a green center appears near the bottom of the screen. Release the button. Alexa is then listening and responds to spoken requests.

Thanks, I had previously downloaded the Alexa app, talked to it a few times (without pressing the "O" button") and then promptly deleted it. Today, I found the Alexa app on my tablet and it's working great. :