Amazon Echo Club

[mlewis78]

Amazon is giving me notifications about new movie releases and I can't stop it. I tell her to stop them, but IT doesn't know about that and sometimes tells me to control notifications in the App. I opened the app but can't find anything about that. I don't want to turn off all notifications, just the movie ones. It started when I agreed to it, not knowing there would be so many.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

Amazon is giving me notifications about new movie releases and I can't stop it. I tell her to stop them, but IT doesn't know about that and sometimes tells me to control notifications in the App. I opened the app but can't find anything about that. I don't want to turn off all notifications, just the movie ones. It started when I agreed to it, not knowing there would be so many.

When not using my show5 I just want it to be a clock, but it was only displaying the time for a few seconds every 5ish minutes I had to turn off notifications and go to DND mode to fix it

[DiapDealer]

There's a lot of granularity in your notifications preferences found in the Alexa settings for the account your devices are associated with.

The shopping (and subsequently shipping) notification preferences are separate from "Following" and "News" notification preferences.

My "Following" preference is devoid of any sports, music, celebrities, movies, or financial interests. I'm following nothing. Same for my News notification settings. Anything I ever had in those two sections has been unfollowed/removed. It is extremely rare for me to receive any notifications on my Echo devices other than shipping/delivery notifications.

Turning off "Deal" and "Reorder" Recommendations in the Amazon Shopping notifications subsection drastically reduced annoying notifications for me.

From "Home" in my Alexa app, I go to the "More" tab on the bottom of the screen. Then I click on "Setting" (with the gear icon). From Settings I select "Notifications". And that's where all the individual notifications preferences can be found.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

There's a lot of granularity in your notifications preferences found in the Alexa settings for the account your devices are associated with.

Oh, yes. But does it work? Not so fast.

My "Following" preference is devoid of any sports, music, celebrities, movies, or financial interests. I'm following nothing. Same for my News notification settings.

Alexa drove me nuts with notifications about the Yankees, including five minute notices before every. single. game. As well as every player acquired or traded away or injured. So I did exactly as you said and went the nuclear option and got rid of every single source of potential news or notification. So now?

I get the notification sound and yellow ring. I ask, wearily, because I know the drill:

"Alexa, what's my notification?"

"Issy, you have no new notifications. But there's a notification on a related profile. Do you want to hear it?"

I have no related profile! Moreover, saying "No" doesn't kill the notification. The yellow ring keeps on its endless circle. I am forced to say "Yes", at which she says "OK" and tells me the latest Yankee news. And I have to listen to the whole blamed message because cutting it short doesn't eliminate it.

This is so much worse than before, when at least I didn't have to go through the rigamarole about the related profile. And this is the offseason. I can't imagine what it's going to be like once spring training starts.

[DiapDealer]

I'll look into related profiles. But after saying 'No,' say 'Alexa, delete my notifications.' That should eliminate the yellow ring.

[DiapDealer]

It looks like there's a lot of "Interests" settings in the Alexa profile settings. Might not hurt to check there.

Also: check the following link to ensure there are no extraneous profiles to remove: https://www.amazon.com/manage-your-profiles/

I just created a test profile (in Your Profile and Family settings) in the Alexa app and could only remove it by going to the above link.

[mlewis78]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

There's a lot of granularity in your notifications preferences found in the Alexa settings for the account your devices are associated with.

The shopping (and subsequently shipping) notification preferences are separate from "Following" and "News" notification preferences.

My "Following" preference is devoid of any sports, music, celebrities, movies, or financial interests. I'm following nothing. Same for my News notification settings. Anything I ever had in those two sections has been unfollowed/removed. It is extremely rare for me to receive any notifications on my Echo devices other than shipping/delivery notifications.

Turning off "Deal" and "Reorder" Recommendations in the Amazon Shopping notifications subsection drastically reduced annoying notifications for me.

I went into the app and think I cancelled the movie notifications. Not sure. It still has "movies" when I go into notifications. I turned off each of four things (starting with Send toi Echo Devices. But when I go back to notifications/following it still has movies.
From "Home" in my Alexa app, I go to the "More" tab on the bottom of the screen. Then I click on "Setting" (with the gear icon). From Settings I select "Notifications". And that's where all the individual notifications preferences can be found.

I went into the app and found "following." It showed movies and I turned off the four possible things it does. Went out and back in and under following it still says "movies". Hope I stopped it.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

I went into the app and found "following." It showed movies and I turned off the four possible things it does. Went out and back in and under following it still says "movies". Hope I stopped it.

That should be just "suggestions" on that screen. Depending on the device you're using the Alexa app on, you should be able to get rid of those too, if you really want. On my Android device, I had to slide left or right for the delete icon to appear.

[mlewis78]

I haven't heard any more "following" (movie releases) since I made that change in the app.

[Catlady]

Can anyone tell me what the problem might be with smart plugs that lose network connection? I am using several Kasa mini smart plugs to turn on lamps at sunset. Two of them have been unreliable because they lose the connection.

The one that has the problem more frequently is plugged into a power strip with another smart plug that hasn't ever lost connection. The second plug with problems is in a different room and had been working fine until the last week or so; now it's losing the connection too.

I've reset and deleted and reconnected, but it keeps happening just often enough to be annoying. I don't seem to have any issues with other devices on my home network. I've tried looking for a solution online, but I'm not finding anything about why this might be happening. Any ideas? Thanks.

[DiapDealer]

There are several different models of the Kasa Mini smart plug. Are all of the ones having trouble the same model? I ask because I fought with some Kasa smart bulbs forever. They constantly lost their connection and had to be reset. I tried everything I knew (as one who is intimately familiar with network administration) to no avail. Turns out the KL-125s had a radio that was notoriously flaky. I replaced those three bulbs with KL-130s and never had another problem.

If all of your minis are the same model, make sure the firmware on the problematic ones is the same as the firmware on the ones that work. Use the Kasa app to update the firmware if the problematic ones aren't running the latest.

I have a mixture of Kasa HS103 and HS105 smart plugs and haven't noticed any real issues.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Can anyone tell me what the problem might be with smart plugs that lose network connection?

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Turns out the KL-125s had a radio that was notoriously flaky.

Modern consumer electronics are among the most cheaply made, fragile artifacts in the history of human tool making. Sometimes the connections in stuff can barely hold up against the force gravity while sitting still. I'm more and more amazed at how far the race to the bottom can continue to go.
But at least they are cheap.....
If DD's suggestion doesn't solve it, just get another plug. Even another specimen of the same model might solve the issue, and while it's possible the plug itself is not the problem, replacing it is probably the most time and cost effective thing to try, unless your time is valueless.

[tubemonkey]

Amazon plans to charge for Alexa in June—unless internal conflict delays revamp

Report claims Amazon is struggling to build a subscription version of Alexa.

“If this fails to get revenue, Alexa is in trouble.”

A quote from an anonymous Amazon employee in a Wednesday Business Insider report paints a dire picture. Amazon needs its upcoming subscription version of Alexa to drive revenue in ways that its voice assistant never has before.

Amazon declined Ars' request for comment on the report. But the opening quote in this article could have been uttered by anyone following voice assistants for the past year-plus. All voice assistants have struggled to drive revenue since people tend to use voice assistants for basic queries, like checking the weather, rather than transactions.

Amazon announced plans to drive usage and interest in Alexa by releasing a generative AI version that it said would one day require a subscription.

This leads to the question: Would you pay to use Alexa? Amazon will be challenged to convince people to change how they use Alexa while suddenly paying a monthly rate to enable that unprecedented behavior.

article continues

[tubemonkey]

How quaint. Amazon charging for services that used to be free. Who would've figured. LOL

If 'Remarkable Alexa' becomes a paid thing, look for the free basic version to now include ads.

You: "Alexa, what's today's weather forecast?"

Alexa: "Mostly cold with a 35% chance of rain. To bundle up properly, head on over to REI for their sale on the latest in weather-proof fleece. To get the temperature and a detailed forecast, say 'Alexa, continue ad'. Otherwise, have a nice day. Goodbye."

[issybird]

Or they'll bundle ad-free with Prime, and then start charging more for Prime.

I'm quitting Prime next month when my subscription re-ups. I'll miss it, but not to the tune of $139.