Amazon announces: Echo

[wodin]

I just ordered an Echo, and Amazon says it should be delivered on Monday, I also ordered a WINK hub and two GE Link light bulbs from Home Depot. They say they'll be here today.

I mostly bought the Echo for the shopping and todo (honeydo) lists, so Susie can just tell Alexa what she wants me to buy/do as she thinks of them. Her memory isn't so good anymore and she forgets sometimes, and since she's wheelchair bound it'll be a lot easier for her.

A year or so ago I played around with HomeSeer home automation (way too complicated and expensive) and have a few GE Zwave switches installed. Got my fingers crossed about if Alexa can access them through the WINK hub.

If this works out I can see a use case for a couple more Echos. Now if I could just change the wake word to "Sarah".

[ApK]

Originally Posted by wodin

If this works out I can see a use case for a couple more Echos. Now if I could just change the wake word to "Sarah".

Is that a 'Eureka' reference?!

[wodin]

Yup, eat your heart out Fargo.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by wodin

Yup, eat your heart out Fargo.

Here's one user's report of Echo + Wink.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-...tag=TRE17cfd61

[wodin]

Thanks fjtorres for the link, exactly what I want to do. I tried to K you but MR said I couldn't.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by wodin

Thanks fjtorres for the link, exactly what I want to do. I tried to K you but MR said I couldn't.

S'alright.
I'm just happy somebody found that useful.

Echo is an interesting product.

[wodin]

Well Alexa arrived on Monday, and I've been playing with her since. I was a bit concerned that Susie would resist as she often doesn't take to new technology well. But she seem to be OK, albeit a bit reluctantly. The WINK hub and two GE Link light bulbs came last night and I was able to get it working and linked to Alexa. It works a treat!

I had a bit of a hassle getting both of them set up, neither of them wanted to connect to my router. It took a couple of tries for Alexa, but the WINK hub just wouldn't connect. I finally had to upgrade the firmware as the April fix hadn't been installed on the one I got. What a hassle... had to redirect the DNS server addresses in my router. Eventually I got it connected and linked to Alexa. Now Alexa can control both light bulbs either individually or as a group.

I played around with home automation a couple of years ago (before it was nearly as mature as it is now) and have several z-wave switches installed. Next step is the see if I can de-register them from Homeseer, and register them to the WINK hub.

[ApK]

Tangentially off topic, but does the Wink thing depend on some Internet connection to some third party? I don't like the idea of my lights not working if there is an Internet outage or if the company closes up shop.
Certain members of this site should relate to my dislike of devices that have to phone home to work.

[wodin]

Yup, they phone home. The actual on/off signal to your devices (light bulbs, switches, etc) is a local independent meshed network, at least the z-wave ones. But the WINK hub itself is controlled from your smart phone. I think if your phone is connected to your local wi-fi router it will still control the hub even if the internet connection is down, but I haven't confirmed that.

Of course Alexa needs to be connected to the internet to do anything, and she links to your WINK account which is also in the cloud, so voice control wouldn't work without an internet connection.

[ApK]

Yeah, I'm ok with the way Echo works, but I'm less comfortable investing in a home automation platform dependent on 3rd pary cloud service. I'll have to look into what the wink account is all about.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ApK

Yeah, I'm ok with the way Echo works, but I'm less comfortable investing in a home automation platform dependent on 3rd pary cloud service. I'll have to look into what the wink account is all about.

Wouldn't want to get locked in the house when Sarah is in a snit.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Wouldn't want to get locked in the house when Sarah is in a snit.

That would usually be better than getting locked out of the house.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Wouldn't want to get locked in the house when Sarah is in a snit.

Originally Posted by j.p.s

That would usually be better than getting locked out of the house.

There Will Come Soft Rains -- Ray Bradbury (episode 11)

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

That would usually be better than getting locked out of the house.

Usually but not always...

http://www.tv.com/shows/eureka/h-o-u-s-e-rules-836524/

[wodin]

Originally Posted by ApK

Yeah, I'm ok with the way Echo works, but I'm less comfortable investing in a home automation platform dependent on 3rd pary cloud service. I'll have to look into what the wink account is all about.

I did a bet of research on this, and WINK says that it's dependent on an internet connection, but if the internet is down you can still control your devices manually. So what if a light bulb is turned off by the WINK hub, how can you turn it back on without the internet. So the answer to that is if you turn the power off via the manual switch the bulb defaults to on and turning the switch back to on will turn the the bulb on.