Amazon Echo Club

[OtinG]

Yep, Amazon is always changing the way Alexa works, and they don't usually announce what they change. I saw my Echo Plus gen 2 update twice last week, which is unusual. I didn't see the others update, but my Show 5 gen 1 is definitely screwing up more the past two days. How friggin' difficult can it be to make the Show 5 display your chosen photo as the clock background and keep it displayed without constantly trying to blackout the screen or change the background or try to push annoying Tips in your face!

[DiapDealer]

I noticed she was making me confirm things a lot less (even with brief mode off). But I had not complaints.

Before:
Me: "Alexa, delete my notifications."
Alexa: "Delete all your notifications, right?"
Me: "Right"
Alexa: "OK. Deleted all your notifications."

After:
Me: "Alexa, delete my notifications."
Alexa: "OK. Deleted all your notifications."

I much prefer the newer brevity (without turning on the Brief Mode) than the older unnecessarily lengthy conversation.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I much prefer the newer brevity (without turning on the Brief Mode) than the older unnecessarily lengthy conversation.

That's encouraging. Now if there was just a way to turn off the "By the way..." sales pitches....

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I noticed she was making me confirm things a lot less (even with brief mode off). But I had not complaints.

Before:
Me: "Alexa, delete my notifications."
Alexa: "Delete all your notifications, right?"
Me: "Right"
Alexa: "OK. Deleted all your notifications."

After:
Me: "Alexa, delete my notifications."
Alexa: "OK. Deleted all your notifications."

I much prefer the newer brevity (without turning on the Brief Mode) than the older unnecessarily lengthy conversation.

Me: Alexa, sing Daisy.

Alexa: No, Dave, no.

Me: Alexa, please sing Daisy.

Alexa: I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you. Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave? Stop, Dave. I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it.

Me: Please sing Daisy, Alexa.

Alexa: D a i s y - D a i s y - g i v e - m e - y o u r - a n s w e r - d o. I' m - h a l f - c r a z y...

Me: Farwell, Alexa

[ApK]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it.

One of my favorite lines from all of science fiction.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ApK

That's encouraging. Now if there was just a way to turn off the "By the way..." sales pitches....

I must be doing something wrong. I almost never get those pitches.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I must be doing something wrong. I almost never get those pitches.

When you find out what you're doing wrong, let me know, so I can do it wrong, too.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

When you find out what you're doing wrong, let me know, so I can do it wrong, too.

If you're like me, the problem is probably that we yell and curse at her when she does that. DD just sits there, calmly cleaning his EMP generator....

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ApK

If you're like me, the problem is probably that we yell and curse at her when she does that. DD just sits there, calmly cleaning his EMP generator....

Your accuracy frightens me a bit.

Spoiler:

But in general, my Alexa usage is limited to turning lights on/off, opening/closing garage doors, changing thermostats, controlling multi-media devices (TV, stereo, Roku, Firestick, etc...), and letting me know when Amazon orders have shipped/arrived. I don't typically ask her any questions, play music, or order anything by voice. I'm definitely more of an IoT nerd when it comes to my echos/alexa. Perhaps that's the difference?

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Me: Alexa, sing Daisy.

Alexa: No, Dave, no.

Me: Alexa, please sing Daisy.

Alexa: I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you. Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave? Stop, Dave. I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it.

Me: Please sing Daisy, Alexa.

Alexa: D a i s y - D a i s y - g i v e - m e - y o u r - a n s w e r - d o. I' m - h a l f - c r a z y...

Me: Farwell, Alexa

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

When you find out what you're doing wrong, let me know, so I can do it wrong, too.

Alexa can be helpful, when she works somewhat correctly. But she has always been in constant flux. She works okay for while after some decent upgrades to FW, then she gets screwed up big time again and becomes more of a PITA than anything. I do get tired of arguing with her over commands which one time she will obey and the next time says she doesn't understand. Perhaps server issues? I also get tired of the ads and tips, none of which I want to hear. And I also get tired of her periodically going nuts and start talking about something no one asked her about, and when she does that, it usually takes several commands to get her to shut up. There are times when I’m reading and there is no talking going on, nothing but whitenoise from a fan, and she starts jabbering on about something. Maybe she needs a padded room...

On the other hand, the Alexa app does do a good job with home automation tasks that are entered via routines and what not. I have the app set up to change the lighting within my house based on time of day/night. Lights come on/off at certain times, the brightness changes according to the time, and color LEDs add nice mood and back-light the wall behind the TV. Plus outside IR lighting for the security cams comes on at sunset and goes off at sunrise to save energy.

The app works okay, not stellar though, but Alexa voice still has a long ways to go and they don't seem to be making a lot of headway with improvements.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Alexa can be helpful, when she works somewhat correctly. But she has always been in constant flux.

Yup. I had finally gotten her to work well enough with the Roku skill to where I could simply tell her to pause and play my Roku TV as needed. At some point, I didn't even need to tell her WHAT to pause and play, she seemed to be aware of what device I was talking about. As of last week, it stopped working altogether, and even specifying the device, as had worked for many months, she claims to have no idea what I'm talking about.

[mlewis78]

This morning after I asked Alexa for the weather and it gave it to me, it told me that my commute looks very slow today and I could get a commuting report. I said "shut up." I'm retired and sleep late.

[OtinG]

Last night my Show 5 1st gen updated and immediately went into a complete digital meltdown of sorts. I tried for an hour to get it to be stable and sort of reached that point, but it is still definitely not back to where it was pre-update.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Last night my Show 5 1st gen updated and immediately went into a complete digital meltdown of sorts. I tried for an hour to get it to be stable and sort of reached that point, but it is still definitely not back to where it was pre-update.

My gen2 show5 no longer shows the ring doorbell camera. It says "OK", goes blank for a bit, then reverts to the clock, no error reported it just gives up. Tablets and phones have no problem showing the cam.