Amazon Echo Club

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

What is "Drop in"?

What the monkey said. The good news is that there are three settings: On, Only My Household, and Off. "On" allows anyone to whom you have granted separate access to drop in on you. Sounds a bit risky to me, but "Only My Household" turns your device into a convenient intercom. You can turn the video off separately on devices with a camera.

I'm hoping a future firmware update will enable the skill for the Tap. I didn't expect the hands free feature to be enabled by an update, but was pleasantly surprised when it was.

[mlewis78]

I have the Tap in my bedroom and use the alarm there. Echo is in the living room. Lately when I've asked the Tap to set an alarm for a later time (after it has already gone off), the Echo hears it and the alarm goes off in the living room. The Tap misses it. Sometimes the Tap works for this and sometimes not.

For a long time the bluetooth has been awful on my laptop, so I'm not listening to as much with my Echo connected with bluetooth to my laptop. The sound breaks up and often speeds up. I suppose a new laptop may be a solution. My iphone connects to the Echo with bluetooth and sounds good.

[June]

Hmmm, has anyone else experienced this: my Alexa app suddenly changed language to German - all the 'what did Alexa hear' are in German, even though we speak English and the language is set to English (tried changing it to German and back, no difference). Setting up routines etc is a hassle, since it's been a while since I studied German.

[tubemonkey]

Amazon has big plans for Alexa ads in 2018; it's discussing options with P&G, Clorox and others

...good grief, that's all we need, more ads

Amazon is in talks to let companies promote their products on Alexa, sources tell CNBC.

Ads will focus on sponsorship opportunities within skills or use data about a buyer's shopping history to suggest products.

Amazon is turning to Alexa and asking it to build a big digital advertising business.

The e-tailer has been in talks with several companies about letting them promote products on the best-selling Echo devices, which are powered by the Alexa voice assistant, according to several people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Consumer companies, including Procter & Gamble and Clorox, have been involved in these talks, according to the people.

Some of the early discussions have centered on whether companies would pay for higher placement if a user searches for a product such as shampoo on the device, similar to how paid searches work in Google.

The move by Amazon, which right now does very little advertising on the Echo, could mean big things for consumer companies that are fretting their influence on a voice-powered shopping experience.

[wodin]

I've been paying for content on radio, TV, magazines, newspapers, and indeed just driving around and seeing signs and bill boards by listening to and seeing advertising for lo these many years now. Why shouldn't I also pay for Alexa's services?

[tubemonkey]

"Alexa, call 911"

"I'll place the call after I play this brief 30-second ad from our sponsor"

[issybird]

This exchange just happened in real life.

issy to sister, reading from her feed: "Texas judge interrupts jury, says God told him defendant is not guilty."

Sister: "That's awesome!" (Uh, being facetious just in case that's not clear.)

Alexa: "Absolutely."



Nobody. asked. her.

[CRussel]

ROFLU. 'Texas judge', obviously, triggered it. But sometimes I simply can't figure out what the trigger was.

[orlok]

The TV often triggers Alexa. I went shopping this week and on the shopping list was "buy farts". I played back the recording and it was just some random stuff from the TV.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by issybird

This exchange just happened in real life.

issy to sister, reading from her feed: "Texas judge interrupts jury, says God told him defendant is not guilty."

Sister: "That's awesome!" (Uh, being facetious just in case that's not clear.)

Alexa: "Absolutely."



Nobody. asked. her.

'S awesome

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by orlok

The TV often triggers Alexa. I went shopping this week and on the shopping list was "buy farts". I played back the recording and it was just some random stuff from the TV.

You should try to pick up some of those on Amazon!

[orlok]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

You should try to pick up some of those on Amazon!

We have quite enough of our own, thanks all the same.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

You should try to pick up some of those on Amazon!

Originally Posted by orlok

We have quite enough of our own, thanks all the same.

There's a reason we're called old farts, after all!

[orlok]

Originally Posted by CRussel

There's a reason we're called old farts, after all!

True dat. Although we have plenty of young farts here too, my middle daughter being something of an expert.

[Catlady]

Ewww! Ewww!