Google Home, Alexa and other talking boxes......

[ZekeB]

You got a different model. Replace 'Alexa' with 'Wifehorn' and you are good!

If he had a Tardis he'd have married a gal named Alexa. Unfortunately it was not a common female name back in our era.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Alexa fire stick remote apparently doesn't understand my accent. My voice to text on my phone doesn't either so I'm used to it though.

Don't know if it works with just Fire Stick (I have an Echo dot & a Fire Stick) but voice recognition training helped a lot with the Dot. Don't know if it made any difference with the Fire Stick because I hardly use it*.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer ... G202199330

*Just started using it more the last 2 nights as my beloved Senior cat Sophie has taken to planting her fat butt right in front of the TIVO so my remote doesn't work.

Sophie has canny motivational skills.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Alexa, do my laundry.

Alexa, go up to the pharmacy and get my prescriptions.

Alexa, make me a sammich.



Dammit, this thing is useless!

You got a different model. Replace 'Alexa' with 'Wifehorn' and you are good!

"Kid" is a viable model too. Be sure to get the "Kid" who is old enough to drive. My dad and mom developed 4 prototypes with 70+ years of service.

[Whatever4]

Alexa, do my laundry.

Alexa, go up to the pharmacy and get my prescriptions.

Alexa, make me a sammich.



Dammit, this thing is useless!

You got a different model. Replace 'Alexa' with 'Wifehorn' and you are good!

You obviously don’t know Wifehorn.

[Foggy]

You obviously don’t know Wifehorn.

Yeah, if I try to boss ol' Wifehorn around like that, I could be seriously injured!

I'd be in big trouble mister!

[tek]

hmmm.. someone should code up a Wifehorn version of Alexa ..

I could see that as a hackathon project

[Sam the Centipede]

hmmm.. someone should code up a Wifehorn version of Alexa ..

I could see that as a hackathon project

"Wifehorn. Make me a a sandwich."
... silence ...
"Wifehorn, darling. Make me a a sandwich, please."
... pause ...
"Have your legs forgotten the way to the kitchen? Make your own sandwich!"

Yes, should be a simple project.

[Orlylicious]

Alexa, do my laundry.

Try asking "Alexa find a laundry near me with pick up and delivery" and she will

Alexa, go up to the pharmacy and get my prescriptions.

"One moment please... Amazon bought PillPack for $1 billion, prescriptions are coming. Would you like to be notified when it's available in your area?"

Alexa, make me a sammich.

"Your Prime membership entitles you to big discounts at Whole Foods and they deliver. Shall I set up an order for delivery now?"

Dammit, this thing is useless!

Those were too easy, keep trying, she can do those!

[Sugar Magnolia]

Alexa, do my laundry.

Alexa, go up to the pharmacy and get my prescriptions.

Alexa, make me a sammich.



Dammit, this thing is useless!

You got a different model. Replace 'Alexa' with 'Wifehorn' and you are good!

That would work perfectly! Once he lands in the hospital he's good to go. They change the bed linens once a day, the nurses wake you up hourly for your meds, and they deliver meals to your bed.

[Addie]

That would work perfectly! Once he lands in the hospital he's good to go.

[Sequoia32]

Last night I was watching TV and an ad came on for a program I thought I might be interested in. I just asked Alexa.

What's bringing up bates about?

"Bringing Up Bates's plot is This family based reality program follows Gil and Kelly Jo who are raising their 19 children with Love, Humor, and Christian values. No matter the situation, the family faces it together."

Nope. Not for me. Took less than 30 sec.

[Foggy]

So my Echo Dot arrived and is set up. I didn't understand that the sale price of $25 meant that I was getting a first or second generation Dot, but now there's a third generation - looks a little different.

First generation:0



Third generation:



So, umm ... yeah. What does the third generation do that the first and second don't do?

[Shizzle Popped]

They all do the same things. The 2nd gen had a better microphone system. The 3rd gen units sound significantly better. I have one or two of each in the house.

[Foggy]

OK, cool. Thanks, Shizzle. I will spend some time learning how to use it for my needs.

[Sugar Magnolia]

OK, cool. Thanks, Shizzle. I will spend some time learning how to use it for my needs.

Until it can load my dishwasher and give my cat a bath, I have no "needs" from one.

[Estiveo]

[Foggy]

So I set up "learn my voice" and when it was done, it said "Try saying 'play my music' once."

OK, I am REALLY picky about my music. I like what I like, and I can't stand what I don't like, and I've heard what I like so many times over the years that I rarely play music in my office or my car anymore -- I just like to be alone with my thoughts more often. So I had not planned to use Alexa for music at all.

But I guess I should try it once, since it asked nicely, huh?

"Computer, play my music."

And it started playing GENESIS. Not just Genesis, Genesis from the Peter Gabriel years. Fantastic music, some of it I haven't heard in years. How do it know? I can't turn it off!

.

Edit: Now Oh Well by Fleetwood Mac. How do it know that's my favorite Fleetwood Mac song? This is spooky.

[tek]

How do it know? I can't turn it off!

Resistance is futile.

[Foggy]

OK, now it's been over an hour, and I SWEAR, the first time it plays a song I don't love, KABOOM.

[p0rtia]

"Echo/Computer/Alexa STOP" is your friend.

[RVInit]

OK, now it's been over an hour, and I SWEAR, the first time it plays a song I don't love, KABOOM.

You know you can set up your own playlists, right? I have a couple of them. You can even ask Alexa to shuffle your playlist <name of playlist> and hear your music list played in random order. I lurvs those playlist thingys.

[Shizzle Popped]

If you have multiple Echos you can now set up groups to do the whole house music thing.

My daughter wants to rename her Echos to "Hey, bitch".

[tek]

OK, now it's been over an hour, and I SWEAR, the first time it plays a song I don't love, KABOOM.

I can quit anytime.


To be fair, after I set up the BFTV (having donated the old 50" TV to my parents), I started cruising around on the inbuilt youtube app.. and it does a fairly decent job of finding related things.. where "fairly good" is "maybe 1 in 30" .. which is still fine given all that's out there..

it does not help that I have MY youtubes polluting the search space.. like

(for some reason that may not start at the beginning..)

[Foggy]

You know you can set up your own playlists, right? I have a couple of them. You can even ask Alexa to shuffle your playlist <name of playlist> and hear your music list played in random order. I lurvs those playlist thingys.

Can you do that without a Prime subscription? I know if you pay for Prime you have access to a ton of music, but I honestly don't spend much time listening to music in my dotage. I have to concentrate on stuff!

[Foggy]

(for some reason that may not start at the beginning..)

Because your link tells it to start in the middle.

Your link is

Code: Select all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w7h6XrVWP4&t=654s

The v=8w7h6XrVWP4 part tells which YouTube to play. V stands for video.

The &t=654s tells it "and start with time=654 seconds after the beginning". T stands for time (after the beginning) to start.

If that happens, you can edit the link to drop that second part.