Amazon Echo Club - Page 256

John F · 07-17-2019, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John F

Would routines help?

It may be tedious to enter them, but I think you could set up routines like: "When I say 'Turn on the lights' from the downstairs echo it turns on the downstairs lights".

Looking at routines quickly, it looks like it is doable?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I tells me it's "unable to find any supported devices" when I try to setup a routine based on a device. And if I start a new routine based on a voice command, it offers no option to limit the routine to one echo device. I'll have to check it out when I get home from work and see if that makes a difference (though I've had no trouble configuring any of my devices via an internet connection before). Thanks for the idea. At least it's something I haven't tried, yet.

I was wrong. You cannot tie a voice command to a particular device. Sorry about the mis-information. I mixed it up with Alexa saying something on a particular device.

I did talk to Amazon support, and they confirmed it.

I would still like routines (or something like routines) that is device Echo/dot dependent. I have two separate stereos that I want to control with a routine by saying "start up stereo";. I get around this now by having two different accounts.

John F · 07-17-2019, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OtinG

I tried setting up Routines a year or more ago, but they failed more often than not, and every time I would try to edit or create new ones there would be differences in the way that had to be done. Routines were a moving target, so to speak, and constantly in flux, so I finally got frustrated and quit trying to use them.

My latest failure was user error.

Most mornings I say "Alexa, good morning" and later, "goodbye", and everytime (as far as I recall, barring my internet being down), Alexa does the same thing. Go figure.

"Abracadabra" also worked. I think I had some trouble with "luminos", or maybe it was "crucio", so I stuck with "good morning".

DiapDealer · 07-17-2019, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John F

I would still like routines (or something like routines) that is device Echo/dot dependent. I have two separate stereos that I want to control with a routine by saying "start up stereo";.

Same here. I don't want to have to "turn on the living room TV/Roku" or "turn on the bedroom TV/Roku." I just want to "turn on the TV/Roku" of the room I'm in. But having the lights work that way goes a long way toward appeasing me in the meantime.

I'm not willing to use multiple accounts/profiles. My goal is to make things work as easily for guests as it does for me. "Turn on/off the lights", "turn on/off the TV", "turn on/off the ceiling fan". Except for some very specific activities, I want controlling basic stuff in individual rooms to be a no-brainer. No need to know the individual names of the light/tv/fan (or even the name of the room you're in). Just talk to the lights/tv/fan in that room. Zip, zap, zoom.

ApK · 07-18-2019, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raphi'Elohim

I have a new one sitting in my closet, never opened, as junk

I'll be happy to help you declutter your closet. Send it to me.

tubemonkey · 07-18-2019, 01:43 PM

Day 2 of my Show 5. Still liking it, but I'm not thrilled with very limited supply of clock faces. I want more info displayed. Maybe there are some skills with what I want. So, time to explore the skills...

wodin · 07-18-2019, 02:39 PM

Yes, I like mine too, but I'm just the opposite to you. I'd like mine to show just the clock, in large format, except when I ask for something else.

My ol' eyeballs ain't what they used to be and I'd like to be able to read the time from across the room.

As it is now, most of the time it's showing me a bunch of spam that I can't read anyway with the time in the top left corner; to small to read unless I get up and get closer.

OtinG · 07-19-2019, 12:54 PM

A really cool and useful feature would be to use Alexa to find where you left things. You know, like the sunglasses on top of your head that you search an hour for before realizing they were right above you the whole time. Obviously she cannot do that unless some programmer created a Skill to facilitate that:

"Alexa, remember for me that I left my car keys in [LOCATION]."

Ten minutes later when you cannot remember where the car keys are, "Alexa, where did I leave my car keys?"

Alexa could then answer, "You left your car keys in [LOCATION]."

You would of course have to remember to tell Alexa where they were in the first place.

I haven't even checked to see if there is such a skill, but if not it would make a good one.

ApK · 07-19-2019, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OtinG

A really cool and useful feature would be to use Alexa to find where you left things. You know, like the sunglasses on top of your head that you search an hour for before realizing they were right above you the whole time. Obviously she cannot do that unless some programmer created a Skill to facilitate that:

"Alexa, remember for me that I left my car keys in [LOCATION]."

Ten minutes later when you cannot remember where the car keys are, "Alexa, where did I leave my car keys?"

Alexa could then answer, "You left your car keys in [LOCATION]."

You would of course have to remember to tell Alexa where they were in the first place.

I haven't even checked to see if there is such a skill, but if not it would make a good one.

That's a built in skill. Try it.

Just say, "Alexa, remember my keys are in the living room."
Then ask "Alexa, where are my keys?"

I'm not exactly sure how to make her forget afterwards....

cc_in_oh · 07-19-2019, 03:01 PM

That could be useful - so,

Alexa, remember that this dress doesn't make me look fat.

Then ask, Alexa does this dress make me look fat?

And of course "Alexa, remember that I'm the fairest of them all"

OtinG · 07-19-2019, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApK

That's a built in skill. Try it.

Just say, "Alexa, remember my keys are in the living room."
Then ask "Alexa, where are my keys?"

I'm not exactly sure how to make her forget afterwards....

Cool.

I'm surprised Amazon added something that useful. I quit reading the "What's new with Alexa?" emails a long time ago since about 99.9% of that stuff was of no interest to me. I need to go back and try to catch up on eerything Alexa can do now, though I'm sure I'll fall asleep filtering through the 99.9% of stuff that is boring and useless to me.

ApK · 07-19-2019, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

That could be useful - so,

Alexa, remember that this dress doesn't make me look fat.

Then ask, Alexa does this dress make me look fat?

And of course "Alexa, remember that I'm the fairest of them all"

She's way ahead of you. Never mind the remember feature, just try asking her those two questions.

Also, I found how to delete what you told her to remember....go to the Activity section of the app. Each "Remember" card has a delete button. I first thought it it just deleted the item from the activity list, but it actually makes her "forget" whatever it was.

OtinG · 07-19-2019, 05:14 PM

Clearly the built-in remember skill needs more work. Here is what I did to test it.

Me: "Alexa, my keys are in my pocket."

Alexa: "Your keys are in your pocket, I will remember that."

Me: "Alexa, my keys are now in the living room."

Alexa: "Your keys are now in the living room, I will remember that."

Me: "Alexa, where are my keys?"

Alexa: "Try looking under the couch."

Okay, perhaps a bit humorous, but not much help.

So I again I asked her, "Alexas, where are my keys?" This time she answered, "I suggest you retrace your steps."

I fail to see how any of that is useful. Apparently she made no effort to remember where my keys were. So I tried again, this time being sure to use the word "remember" in the command.

"Alexa, remember that my keys are in my pocket."

Alexa: She acknowledged what I said, asked me to confirm, then said she would remember they were in my pocket.

"Alexa, where are my keys?"

Alexa: She she asked me to confirm if I was asking where my keys were, I confirmed, then she went looking in her memory and said, "Here is what I found, my keys are in my pocket."

She got it right. But then I said, "Alexa, remember that my keys are in my pocket."

Alexa: She acknowledged what I said, asked me to confirm, then said she would remember they were in the living room.

I then asked her, ""Alexa, where are my keys?"

Alexa: She asked me to confirm if I was asking where my keys were, I confirmed, then she went looking in her memory and said, "Here is what I found, my keys are in my pocket and my keys are in the living room."

Apparently Artificial Ignorance rules! Woohoo, another mostly useless skill made even worse through lack of intelligent coding. Geez, for this to work correctly it needs to be smart enough to remember the last place your keys were, not every place. If I have to go to the app, file through a gillion activities and delete the ones I want her to forget, then that is a major fail. Maybe someone with a bit of intelligence will write a good skill to remember where we store things. This built-in one just blows chunks...

Tarana · 07-21-2019, 12:28 PM

Try "Alexa sing me a country song" or Alexa sing me the blues".

ApK · 07-21-2019, 12:36 PM

Amazon is clearly further ahead in making Alexa "cute" than in making her practically useful (in the AI/natural language/semantics sense...she's obvious quite useful as a bluetooth speaker, kitchen timer, etc.)
It's actually not a bad solution to the chicken and egg problem, and if it wasn't for the fact that Google was so far ahead in that area, proving that it could be done better another way, I'd have thought it was an excellent solution.

OtinG · 07-21-2019, 01:14 PM

Well the thing is Alexa needs to be useful and fairly accurate IMO, not cute. I could care less about hearing her jokes. I would much rather be able to get intelligent and accurate answers to questions, useful and practical questions, and be able to tune to my TV channels and music without a long and annoying detour through SPAM City, and activate and adjust my smart home devices without side-stepping a horde of swarming bugs. I'm sure Amazon could accomplish this if their leadership would only get their collective head out of their backside and focus on usefulness for a change. They are likely focusing on cute BS because they think they can sell more devices to the customers who desire cute over useful, who want to be trendy. Eventually they will need to focus on usefulness to compete against Google and others once the market customers shift more towards controlling smart home devices and away from trendy cuteness. The smart home market is gaining speed, and though it is in its infancy I think it will quickly balloon into a mega-market that far exceeds the trendy device market.

07-19-2019, 12:54 PM	#3832
OtinG Old Gadget Guy Posts: 1,913 Karma: 6854865 Join Date: Jun 2018 Device: Oasis 3, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPad mini 6, iPad Air 2020, Alexa Devices	Skill to help us remember where we leave things A really cool and useful feature would be to use Alexa to find where you left things. You know, like the sunglasses on top of your head that you search an hour for before realizing they were right above you the whole time. Obviously she cannot do that unless some programmer created a Skill to facilitate that: "Alexa, remember for me that I left my car keys in [LOCATION]." Ten minutes later when you cannot remember where the car keys are, "Alexa, where did I leave my car keys?" Alexa could then answer, "You left your car keys in [LOCATION]." You would of course have to remember to tell Alexa where they were in the first place. I haven't even checked to see if there is such a skill, but if not it would make a good one.

07-19-2019, 03:01 PM	#3834
cc_in_oh Bob's my uncle Posts: 985 Karma: 17073086 Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: NE OH Device: Kindle	That could be useful - so, Alexa, remember that this dress doesn't make me look fat. Then ask, Alexa does this dress make me look fat? And of course "Alexa, remember that I'm the fairest of them all" Last edited by cc_in_oh; 07-19-2019 at 03:19 PM.

07-21-2019, 12:36 PM	#3839
ApK Award-Winning Participant Posts: 7,390 Karma: 68329346 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: NJ, USA Device: Kindle	Amazon is clearly further ahead in making Alexa "cute" than in making her practically useful (in the AI/natural language/semantics sense...she's obvious quite useful as a bluetooth speaker, kitchen timer, etc.) It's actually not a bad solution to the chicken and egg problem, and if it wasn't for the fact that Google was so far ahead in that area, proving that it could be done better another way, I'd have thought it was an excellent solution. Last edited by ApK; 07-21-2019 at 01:54 PM.

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07-18-2019, 01:43 PM	#3830
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,771 Karma: 158733736 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	Day 2 of my Show 5. Still liking it, but I'm not thrilled with very limited supply of clock faces. I want more info displayed. Maybe there are some skills with what I want. So, time to explore the skills...

07-18-2019, 02:39 PM	#3831
wodin Illiterate Posts: 10,279 Karma: 37848716 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: The Sandwich Isles Device: Samsung Galaxy S10+, Microsoft Surface Pro	Yes, I like mine too, but I'm just the opposite to you. I'd like mine to show just the clock, in large format, except when I ask for something else. My ol' eyeballs ain't what they used to be and I'd like to be able to read the time from across the room. As it is now, most of the time it's showing me a bunch of spam that I can't read anyway with the time in the top left corner; to small to read unless I get up and get closer.

07-19-2019, 05:14 PM	#3837
OtinG Old Gadget Guy Posts: 1,913 Karma: 6854865 Join Date: Jun 2018 Device: Oasis 3, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPad mini 6, iPad Air 2020, Alexa Devices	Clearly the built-in remember skill needs more work. Here is what I did to test it. Me: "Alexa, my keys are in my pocket." Alexa: "Your keys are in your pocket, I will remember that." Me: "Alexa, my keys are now in the living room." Alexa: "Your keys are now in the living room, I will remember that." Me: "Alexa, where are my keys?" Alexa: "Try looking under the couch." Okay, perhaps a bit humorous, but not much help. So I again I asked her, "Alexas, where are my keys?" This time she answered, "I suggest you retrace your steps." I fail to see how any of that is useful. Apparently she made no effort to remember where my keys were. So I tried again, this time being sure to use the word "remember" in the command. "Alexa, remember that my keys are in my pocket." Alexa: She acknowledged what I said, asked me to confirm, then said she would remember they were in my pocket. "Alexa, where are my keys?" Alexa: She she asked me to confirm if I was asking where my keys were, I confirmed, then she went looking in her memory and said, "Here is what I found, my keys are in my pocket." She got it right. But then I said, "Alexa, remember that my keys are in my pocket." Alexa: She acknowledged what I said, asked me to confirm, then said she would remember they were in the living room. I then asked her, ""Alexa, where are my keys?" Alexa: She asked me to confirm if I was asking where my keys were, I confirmed, then she went looking in her memory and said, "Here is what I found, my keys are in my pocket and my keys are in the living room." Apparently Artificial Ignorance rules! Woohoo, another mostly useless skill made even worse through lack of intelligent coding. Geez, for this to work correctly it needs to be smart enough to remember the last place your keys were, not every place. If I have to go to the app, file through a gillion activities and delete the ones I want her to forget, then that is a major fail. Maybe someone with a bit of intelligence will write a good skill to remember where we store things. This built-in one just blows chunks...

07-21-2019, 12:28 PM	#3838
Tarana Wizard Posts: 4,041 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	Try "Alexa sing me a country song" or Alexa sing me the blues".

07-21-2019, 01:14 PM	#3840
OtinG Old Gadget Guy Posts: 1,913 Karma: 6854865 Join Date: Jun 2018 Device: Oasis 3, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPad mini 6, iPad Air 2020, Alexa Devices	Well the thing is Alexa needs to be useful and fairly accurate IMO, not cute. I could care less about hearing her jokes. I would much rather be able to get intelligent and accurate answers to questions, useful and practical questions, and be able to tune to my TV channels and music without a long and annoying detour through SPAM City, and activate and adjust my smart home devices without side-stepping a horde of swarming bugs. I'm sure Amazon could accomplish this if their leadership would only get their collective head out of their backside and focus on usefulness for a change. They are likely focusing on cute BS because they think they can sell more devices to the customers who desire cute over useful, who want to be trendy. Eventually they will need to focus on usefulness to compete against Google and others once the market customers shift more towards controlling smart home devices and away from trendy cuteness. The smart home market is gaining speed, and though it is in its infancy I think it will quickly balloon into a mega-market that far exceeds the trendy device market.

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