Amazon Echo Club

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

I agree. It'd be nice if we didn't have to speak the wake word, but then Alexa wouldn't know we were addressing her.

Amazon should design an on/off feature for the wake word.

You don't need to say the wake word when using the Alexa Voice Remote for Amazon Echo and Echo Dot. You can just press the button on the remote and say "Stop." It's also handy because you don't have to yell commands at the device across the room. At $29.99, it is pricey, though.

Pricey indeed! During BF, Amazon was selling the Fire TV Stick w/ Voice Remote for $30, so $30 for the Echo Voice Remote alone is gouging in my opinion. I refuse to pay Apple prices for a remote.

Anyway, I gave my Echo away, so I no longer have a remote. Sometimes I'll use the app on my phone or laptop to control playback, but it's nowhere near as convenient as the remote.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Dot connected to another Bluetooth device without any trouble. In addition to telling me it can't find the BlueGate RXT (which I can see in the Alexa app), it tells me to go to settings and "forget" the Dot and try again. But the BlueGate doesn't have any settings to show. I can't find any info about a factory reset either. I'm just baffled.

I have a TaoTronics Bluetooth 4.1 Transmitter/Receiver that I'd never tried connecting to Dot in receiver mode. As an experiment, I just hooked that up to a small non-Bluetooth speaker and it connected to Dot without difficulty.

This probably won't help you, but maybe it'll assist someone else. These are the steps I took:

1. Flipped switch on TaoTronics Transmitter/Receiver to "Receiver" and connected it to my non-Bluetooth speaker via 3.5mm audio cable.
2. Activated Pairing Mode on the TaoTronics by holding down the on/off button for a few seconds.
3. In the Alexa app on my tablet, went into Settings, selected my Dot, and then Bluetooth. Chose "Pair a New Device."
4. It took a few moments to search, and I selected TaoTronics when it showed up. Echo connected right away.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Pricey indeed! During BF, Amazon was selling the Fire TV Stick w/ Voice Remote for $30, so $30 for the Echo Voice Remote alone is gouging in my opinion. I refuse to pay Apple prices for a remote.

Anyway, I gave my Echo away, so I no longer have a remote. Sometimes I'll use the app on my phone or laptop to control playback, but it's nowhere near as convenient as the remote.

I was really hoping Amazon would discount the remote during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but that didn't happen (as far as I know).

I have a remote for my Echo, and I use it all the time. I have two Dots now, and I'd love to have a remote for one of them. But $30 is too much.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Amazon should design an on/off feature for the wake word

It's the mic button on the top of the echo and dot.
Or do you mean a wake word for the wake word?
Or maybe she needs neural scanner so Alexa can just read your mind and know your intent with out wake word.
Of course, folks would want to turn that off and on, so it would need a wake word.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

I have a TaoTronics Bluetooth 4.1 Transmitter/Receiver that I'd never tried connecting to Dot in receiver mode. As an experiment, I just hooked that up to a small non-Bluetooth speaker and it connected to Dot without difficulty.

This probably won't help you, but maybe it'll assist someone else. These are the steps I took:

1. Flipped switch on TaoTronics Transmitter/Receiver to "Receiver" and connected it to my non-Bluetooth speaker via 3.5mm audio cable.
2. Activated Pairing Mode on the TaoTronics by holding down the on/off button for a few seconds.
3. In the Alexa app on my tablet, went into Settings, selected my Dot, and then Bluetooth. Chose "Pair a New Device."
4. It took a few moments to search, and I selected TaoTronics when it showed up. Echo connected right away.

Thanks for trying.

This is exactly what I did, except for the end result, when the app message is "unable to connect, try again," and Dot says "your device wasn't paired"! Grrr.

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

So one of the main things I wanted from my purchase of a Dot was to be able control the thermostat in my home by voice from anywhere in the house. So as one example if I'm sitting on the couch reading and starting to feel chilled I could turn up the set temperature without getting up off the couch. Or I could be reading in bed and when I wished to turn the temperature down for the night I could do so without getting out of the bed.

So after a search of Alexa compatible thermostats I settled on this one considering cost, compatibility with my existing furnace, ease of installation, and wanting to be able to control the thermostat from my phone while away from home.

Sensi Smart Thermostat, Wi-Fi, UP500W, Works with Amazon Alexa



I expected to be able to complete the entire project on my own, but have encountered one problem. My current thermostat has only two control wires connected; the red wire and the white wire used to turn the furnace on and off. It turns out that the Sensi Smart thermostat requires connecting the C (common wire) from the furnace as well. My control wiring has three unused wires so if I knew what terminal at the furnace corresponds to the C-wire I could do that myself. Unfortunately I do not have a manual for my furnace and so may need to pay a plumbing and heater contractor.


Other than that I'm really finding the Dot useful. Already I can use voice control on several house lights. Listen to NPR, Pandora, and My Music. Still finding additional uses.

One complaint. I did not sleep well last night so after getting up at my usual 5:00 am and having a light breakfast I decided to try and get some additional sleep. I set Alexa to sound an alarm in an hour. That worked, but I forgot the specific command to stop the damn alarm. Design flaw in my opinion. I think just the command "stop" should tell Alexa to stop whatever it is currently doing.

So saying, "Alexa stop" doesn't stop the alarm? Odd. I just set an alarm for 1 minute and when it went off I said "Alexa stop" and shut it off. Or were you referring to not remembering the wake word which can be set to "Alexa", "Amazon", or "Echo"?

If you have kids or pets, then the word "stop" by itself will likely be heard frequently, so a wake word makes sense to me.

I got this message when tracking a package that was due today:

Delayed
Your package is still on the way, but we expect it to arrive later than expected. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Amazon seems to have no clue where it is. Even the USPS seems to be confused. I suspect it really hasn't shipped yet and thus was never turned over to the USPS. Bite me Amazon! I'm tired of late packages, and we are still 3 weeks from Christmas.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

I was really hoping Amazon would discount the remote during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but that didn't happen (as far as I know).

I have a remote for my Echo, and I use it all the time. I have two Dots now, and I'd love to have a remote for one of them. But $30 is too much.

It didn't happen. I was hoping for a sale too.

Maybe they'll go sale for Prime Day 2017, like they did this year.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by ApK

It's the mic button on the top of the echo and dot.
Or do you mean a wake word for the wake word?
Or maybe she needs neural scanner so Alexa can just read your mind and know your intent with out wake word.
Of course, folks would want to turn that off and on, so it would need a wake word.

I want the ability to turn the wake word off so I can voice commands for song requests over x amount of time without having to constantly say "Alexa" every time I want a different song.

The command would be something like - "Alexa, turn off your wake word for the next 60 minutes". At the end of the set time period, Alexa would automatically re-enable the wake word.

I'm gonna make a request for this feature.

[Yolina]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Bite me Amazon! I'm tired of late packages, and we are still 3 weeks from Christmas.

Things seem to have settled in the UK, it's now back to deliveries being next day
Oh and I *finally* received yesterday a package that had been sent on the 26th using Royal Mail 24h service ...only took 1 week to arrive

[Yolina]

Originally Posted by jswinden

If you have pets, then the word "stop" by itself will likely be heard frequently, so a wake word makes sense to me.

"Maya, stop" and "Maya, don't" are the most used words in my home

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Amazon seems to have no clue where it is. Even the USPS seems to be confused. I suspect it really hasn't shipped yet and thus was never turned over to the USPS. Bite me Amazon! I'm tired of late packages, and we are still 3 weeks from Christmas.

On the other hand, I ordered a Christmas gift from Amazon at about 10 a.m. yesterday; I was offered same day delivery and took it, because the no-rush shipping perk was the useless-to-me pantry coupon.

Lo and behold, the package was delivered at about 6 p.m.

[tubemonkey]

Amazon Add-on Items can be purchased through Alexa by themselves

I didn't know you could do that.

A Reddit user by the name of darkcellmp has discovered that if you ask Alexa to order an add-on item from Amazon, an order will be placed for that single item, even though the order total doesn’t meet the $25 minimum that is usually required when purchasing add-on items. If you’re a Prime member, you won’t be charged for shipping either, since all add-on items are technically eligible for free Prime shipping. So the next time you find yourself needing an add-on item, but don’t want to buy anything else, place the order through Alexa.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Amazon Add-on Items can be purchased through Alexa by themselves

I didn't know you could do that.

I bet that is another case of Amazon's lackluster programmers screwing up, and it will likely go away once the corporate bean counters realize the mistake. What with the raising of the minimum purchase amount for 2-day shipping, and other belt tightening measures they are taking, I seriously doubt they meant for this to occur.

[Catlady]

Is there a way to use Alexa to place an order and still generate a donation through the Amazon Smile program?