Amazon Echo Club

[OtinG]

Hey Monkey,

Any news on when/if Amazon will have its postponed summer sale event (I can’t remember what they call it)? I know they postponed the July event due to the pandemic. I think they mentioned having it this Fall, but I haven't heard anything else since.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Hey Monkey,

Any news on when/if Amazon will have its postponed summer sale event (I can’t remember what they call it)? I know they postponed the July event due to the pandemic. I think they mentioned having it this Fall, but I haven't heard anything else since.

Prime Day has been rescheduled for October, probably 05~06 Oct. Then a little more than a month later, Black Friday comes rolling along.

Makes no sense to me to even bother with Prime Day when it's that close to Black Friday. But hey, monkeys don't make decisions for Amazon

[mlewis78]

Amazon hasn't announced the date of Prime Day yet.

They currently have a sale on the Dots (with clock and w/o clock) and the Echo Show 5 with smart plug. I thought I saw a few hours ago that the Echo Shows 5 and 8 had the stand included for a sale price but now I don't see that. The Fire HD 8 is on sale for $60.

I bought the Fire HD 8 Plus when it was on sale a few weeks ago. This was right after I noticed that my Fire HDX 8.9" was not holding a charge and the screen was popped out on the sides.

[OtinG]

I saw the limited sale yesterday, which included the optional swivel base for the price of just the Show 5 or 8.

I like the Show 5 as far as hardware goes with one exception. The Show 5 is nearly deaf. It couldn't hear a stick of dynamite go off 5 feet away. Also I must warn prospective buyers that Amazon still is trying to force the "Tips to try" crap on the Show 5. Even with all Tips and announcements turned off, the screen still flickers on and off every 5 minutes or so, and occasionally it manages to start showing Tips for a few minutes. This makes it much less desirable for a nighttime clock since the constant on and off of the screen, even though quick and only once every few minutes, nevertheless is amplified in a dark room, especially if the Show 5 is next to your bed.

I cannot for the life of me understand why Amazon refuses to fix this. I could understand their pushing ads in our face, they do that all the freaking time on the Fire TV and even on the Echos. But I see no gain for them in forcing Tips. Perhaps as I’ve said all along, their programmers are just too inexperienced, or management of the FW is too hands off, or both. Really frustrating though!

[tubemonkey]

Zoom is coming to Google Nest, Amazon Echo, and Facebook Portal smart displays

Zoom is expanding to a variety of new devices later this year, with the company announcing that the Amazon Echo Show, Facebook Portal, and Google Nest Hub Max will support the widely used videoconferencing app later this year.

It’s a big expansion for Zoom, which has recently started to branch out into its own licensed videoconferencing hardware. And smart displays — with their high-quality directional microphones and built-in touchscreens — are practically designed to be good videoconferencing devices.

Alexa customers will also get a similar experience. Echo Show devices that have been synced with your calendar will be able to automatically start meetings without requiring users to manually input a meeting ID or password, and it’ll support Alexa voice controls, too. Amazon’s rollout will start later this year, beginning with the Echo Show 8.

[DiapDealer]

Why has Amazon made it nearly impossible to ask for the temperature from configured sensor right outside my house? Alexa recognizes the sensor. I can see the temperature of the sensor if I open the Alexa app and go to devices. I've tried getting tricky with the naming of the sensor, but nothing works. Any use of the word "temperature" (with the exception of "indoor temperature" or "thermostat temperature) triggers a generic weather briefing.

I can ask her if my garage door is open. I can ask her if my outdoor faucet is still turned on (plant irrigation), but I can't ask her what my outdoor thermometer (which she 's clearly capable of communicating with) is currently reading!?

[John F]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Why has Amazon made it nearly impossible to ask for the temperature from configured sensor right outside my house? Alexa recognizes the sensor. I can see the temperature of the sensor if I open the Alexa app and go to devices. I've tried getting tricky with the naming of the sensor, but nothing works. Any use of the word "temperature" (with the exception of "indoor temperature" or "thermostat temperature) triggers a generic weather briefing.

I can ask her if my garage door is open. I can ask her if my outdoor faucet is still turned on (plant irrigation), but I can't ask her what my outdoor thermometer (which she 's clearly capable of communicating with) is currently reading!?

Can you use a work around? Maybe a routine, or IFTTT?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by John F

Can you use a work around? Maybe a routine, or IFTTT?

Sure. There's several hundred extra steps I can use (up to and including having the outdoor temperature sent my smart watch every 10 seconds), but knowing the outdoor temperature is not really the point of the exercise. Getting her to tell it to me whenever I ask a very simple question is.

I can make Alexa initiate just about any automated task I want, but I can't make her report (vocally) on the status of this device (and she KNOWS the status of this device). It's maddening. The words "temperature" or "humidty" or "dew point" all seem to trigger the same generic weather report that doesn't use my sensors. Sensors that are all configured and viewable in the alexa app.

[mlewis78]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I saw the limited sale yesterday, which included the optional swivel base for the price of just the Show 5 or 8.

I like the Show 5 as far as hardware goes with one exception. The Show 5 is nearly deaf. It couldn't hear a stick of dynamite go off 5 feet away. Also I must warn prospective buyers that Amazon still is trying to force the "Tips to try" crap on the Show 5. Even with all Tips and announcements turned off, the screen still flickers on and off every 5 minutes or so, and occasionally it manages to start showing Tips for a few minutes. This makes it much less desirable for a nighttime clock since the constant on and off of the screen, even though quick and only once every few minutes, nevertheless is amplified in a dark room, especially if the Show 5 is next to your bed.

I cannot for the life of me understand why Amazon refuses to fix this. I could understand their pushing ads in our face, they do that all the freaking time on the Fire TV and even on the Echos. But I see no gain for them in forcing Tips. Perhaps as I’ve said all along, their programmers are just too inexperienced, or management of the FW is too hands off, or both. Really frustrating though!

I would like them to fix a few things on the Echoes. "Playing on Laptop (or other X device)" so LOUD. It startles me at times, late at night while I am browsing internet, it suddenly blurts it out and always louder than anything that I'd just played on that speaker. I would like it to stop doing it altogether, although I don't mind it when I turn my laptop on.

I hardly pay attention the the Show 5 screen any more and am mainly using it to listen to youtube videos. It's a back-up for the sound on my fire tv cube, but lately my TV sound is working well. It was a fail in the bedroom because the screen kept coming back on when I was trying to sleep.

[John F]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Sure. There's several hundred extra steps I can use (up to and including having the outdoor temperature sent my smart watch every 10 seconds), but knowing the outdoor temperature is not really the point of the exercise. Getting her to tell it to me whenever I ask a very simple question is.

I can make Alexa initiate just about any automated task I want, but I can't make her report (vocally) on the status of this device (and she KNOWS the status of this device). It's maddening. The words "temperature" or "humidty" or "dew point" all seem to trigger the same generic weather report that doesn't use my sensors. Sensors that are all configured and viewable in the alexa app.

That does suck.

When I said work around, I meant a work around that gets Alexa to announce the temperature. I would hope that since there are voice commands, there may also be a skill, and you could use the skill in a routine. Or have Alexa trigger an IFTTT applet that gets the temperature and then notifies Alexa with the temperature. I'm no expert on routines or IFTTT, so I may be completely off base.

As an aside, I was able to work around two recent problems (after trying Amazon tech support) ...

I have a harmony hub, and it stopped recognizing Alexa verbal commands. Harmony does have a skill, so I was able to use routines to recognize verbal commands.

I have a button that when pushed, sends a notification message to my phone. It was working fine, but recently stopped playing the notification sound and not flashing. Using IFTTT, I was able to get notifications on my phone (through the IFTTT app).

Good luck.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

"Playing on Laptop (or other X device)" so LOUD. It startles me at times, late at night while I am browsing internet, it suddenly blurts it out and always louder than anything that I'd just played on that speaker. I would like it to stop doing it altogether, although I don't mind it when I turn my laptop on.

I stopped using my Echo as a BT speaker for my laptop because of that very problem. I now use a dedicated dumb BT speaker for my laptop.

[OtinG]

I saw this hilarious 2 star rating on Amazon for their Children's Echo and Echo Glow combination:

Bill B.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not ready for prime time

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2019
Configuration: Device onlyColor: Kids RainbowVerified Purchase
This is the epitome of a good idea marred by poor execution. A lot of the stock skills (Disney Stories, for instance, which is a large part of why I bought the thing) are clunky or glitchy, and have tons of bugs. It doesn't handle errors gracefully- and leaves me in the position of trying to explain a software bug to a 4 year old who doesn't understand and just wants a Puppy Dog Pals story before bed.

I can't switch profiles and use FreeTime with another profile. The end result is that every time my kids ask it to play music, it cuts off my Spotify, which is hindering my ability to listen at work. On top of that, if they don't specify the song, it has some pretty weird choices for kids' music- most notable recently is "Emotion" by the Bee Gees.

It's as strict as a regular Alexa at interpreting commands- "Read me Disney Stories" gets you the Disney Stories skill, but "Read me a Disney story" gets you the Disney Wikipedia entry read to you- and this isn't really ideal for children.

Perhaps worst of all, the parental controls over skills is pretty spotty. For instance, it lets my kids control our Nest thermostat even in FreeTime, which is unfortunate because I accidentally let them overhear me doing it recently and all it took was one time hearing the command for them to start messing with the temperature. It lets them control our Master Bedroom lights from their room. It also lets them randomly drop in on other Echoes- awkward when Mommy and Daddy are enjoying some "alone time" or when Great Grandma can't figure out why she can hear them coming from her device.

And you don't even want to hear about the time the trigger word was randomly changed on its own. That took thirty agonizing minutes of crying toddler tantrum to figure out (and I suspect I got it faster than most- I do software troubleshooting for a living!)

Honestly, the best I can say is that the year of FreeTime that comes with it is nice- but in the end I wish I had not bought it. Now getting rid of it would feel like a punishment to them, so the tranquility of my home for the foreseeable future is at the dubious mercy of underpaid and overworked Amazon developers...

Alexa, play Despacito.

Amazon Echo's AI (Artificial Ignorance) strikes again. Ummm, don’t the programmers have to be at least somewhat intelligent to create so-called "Artificial Intelligence"?

BTW, I loved the part about mommy and daddy's adult playtime being piped to the kids room. Traumatize the kids...and entertain the jerks at Amazon who review the recordings....

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

I hardly pay attention the the Show 5 screen any more and am mainly using it to listen to youtube videos. It's a back-up for the sound on my fire tv cube, but lately my TV sound is working well. It was a fail in the bedroom because the screen kept coming back on when I was trying to sleep.

Yep, and unfortunately I bought it primarily as an alarm clock for the bedroom. So major fail there. It works pretty well for displaying lyrics to songs though, that is, when Amazon has the lyrics. But it is so deaf that it often takes 3 or 4 loud screamings of the song title to get it to play what I want, and then I usually get some stupid rendition of that song rather than a good one. And true to Echo form, if it can’t find a song then Alexa goes into a lengthy discussion of other crap she can play instead, or she simply starts playing free Spotify garbage I don't care to hear.

The most annoying thing though is when I don't even get the artist command voiced and she starts playing the song by some gawd-awful artist. "Alexa, let me finish b****!"

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by OtinG

BTW, I loved the part about mommy and daddy's adult playtime being piped to the kids room. Traumatize the kids...and entertain the jerks at Amazon who review the recordings....

I keep my Echos turned off until I'm ready to use them. The one in the bedroom is used for music and the one in the kitchen is used for timers and music, so it's no big deal to to reach over and turn them on/off when I need them.

My Show 5 is the one I use the most and I love its touchscreen controls. It rarely needs voice commands because the stations I listen to the most are on the display (swipe left to right --> tap Music --> tap station). Alexa's too finicky for most of the stations I want and invaribly picks the wrong one if I use voice commands. I'm quite content using it as a touchscreen clock-radio. Using voice commands for my playlists in Spotify is just as bad as using it for my radio stations, so I control it with my phone or laptop and select Echo Show as one of the supported playback devices.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by John F

I have a harmony hub, and it stopped recognizing Alexa verbal commands. Harmony does have a skill, so I was able to use routines to recognize verbal commands.

I've got a Harmony Hub too. But it's (knock on wood) worked flawlessly for several years with voice commands via an Echo Dot. I use the newer Harmony Alexa skill, though, and it's not available for use in routines. Only the older "Secondary Hub" skill works for Alexa routines (for me anyway). I use the newer skill because I prefer to not have to use the unwieldy, "Alexa, tell Harmony" syntax.

Originally Posted by John F

I have a button that when pushed, sends a notification message to my phone. It was working fine, but recently stopped playing the notification sound and not flashing. Using IFTTT, I was able to get notifications on my phone (through the IFTTT app).

I've got lots of ESP 8266 modules hooked to various sensors and switches that send notifications to the IFTTT app on my phone. But I'm transitioning to a Home Assistant server on a raspberry pi, so I should be able to go back to sending sms (using the standard phone provider's email to sms gateway). I only used the the IFTTT notifications (via WebHook) since IFTTT has a limited monthly cap on their sms notifications. The PI's sendmail should allow me to get around that cap.

Originally Posted by John F

Good luck.

Thanks. I'll figure something out. I've heard rumors that Alexa will happily report the status (temp) of a sensor if it doesn't KNOW it's a thermometer. I haven't tried it yet, but I was able to do something similar with my DIY HomeAssistant/Alexa-enabled garage door opener project. If she knows it's a garage door, she requires a PIN to be set/used to open the door by voice. I understand it's for security purposes, but I don't want/need it. If someone's in my house where they can talk to my Echo's, I've already got way worse problems than them being able to open my garage door with a simple voice-command (plus the garage isn't attached to my home).