Amazon Echo — The Knowledge of the World at Your Command!

The estimated reading time for this post is 6 minutes

Update June 23, 2015: Amazon is now taking pre-orders of the Echo without requiring an invitation first. Go to the Amazon Echo page to order for shipping beginning July 14, 2015. The current price of the Echo is now $179.

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If you’ve ever wanted the font of all knowledge available constantly, you’ll probably love Amazon’s latest gadget, Echo. Amazon Echo is an always-on virtual assistant that listens for its name and responds to your requests.

Echo is a black cylinder that sits in a room, at the ready, patiently waiting for its name to be spoken. Say, “Alexa” + a command and Echo will respond immediately. Yes, your smart phone can do many of the same things using Siri or Google Now. But once you get Echo, reaching for your smartphone will soon seem like a gargantuan chore.

You can control Echo using your voice, the accompanying app, the Echo website or the remote control. A blue light that rims the top of Echo lets you know when it’s working its magic.

You plug the Echo cord into an outlet and pair Echo with your home Wi-Fi network. Soon, Echo will be accessing the Internet to answer your questions, play music, check your calendar, make lists and much more.

What Echo Can Do

This video demonstrates Alexa in action:

https://youtu.be/KkOCeAtKHIc

 

Play Music and Audiobooks

Echo is a high-quality speaker that can broadcast sound loudly. You can play music through Echo including:

• Amazon Prime Music
• Pandora
• TuneIn Radio
• iHeartRadio

You can also listen to your Audible audiobooks through Echo. Ask Alexa to play a book from your Audible library. Echo uses Whispersync for Voice to figure out where you left off listening to the book (even on a different device) and start playing from there.

You can control the volume, pause or stop the music or book by using voice commands, the app, the website or the remote control.

Act as a Bluetooth Speaker

Connect your mobile device to Echo using Bluetooth (“Alexa, pair Bluetooth”) and use the speaker to stream audio through Echo. You can play:

• iTunes music
• Spotify
• Podcasts

and other apps that play audio.

Answer Questions

You can ask Echo:

Knowledge questions: “What will the weather be like in New York next weekend?”

Trivia questions: “What is the capital of Bolivia?”

Conversions: “How many tablespoons in a milliliter?”

Math problems: “What is the square root of 264?”

I asked Echo a probing question about what happened in the final episode of Game of Thrones. Its answer is in white. Highlight the space below if you want to see my question and Echo’s answer.

I asked, “Alexa, is Jon Snow really dead?” Echo answered, “Yes, Jon Snow is dead.” Time will tell if Alexa is truly correct.

No spoilers at The Wonder of Tech!

Give You Traffic updates

Find out how long your commute to work will be this morning. Enter an address using the app or website and Echo will give you the approximate travel time to get there and alert you to any current traffic conditions.

Give You Calendar Updates

You can link your Echo to your Google calendar to find out what you have planned for the day, if you have anything scheduled on a certain date, and what your next event is.

Create Lists

You can create to-do and shopping lists with Echo. For example say, “Alexa, add peanut butter to my shopping list” or “Alexa, add ‘schedule dentist appointment’ to my to-do list.”

You can view what’s on your lists in the Echo app and website.

Connect with IFTTT

Echo can connect with your IFTTT account (“If This Then That”) so you can set triggers using the Amazon Alexa Channel.

After you’ve connected your IFTTT account to your Echo you can do things like:

• Ask Alexa to change the temperature on your Nest thermostat
• Add your Echo to-do list to Evernote
• Email yourself your Echo shopping list.
• Find your phone
• Dim the lights in the room

See a list of what Echo can do with IFTTT at the Alexa Channel Recipe page.

[note]Don’t miss: IFTTT- Tech to Make Your Life Easier![/note]

Let You Shop

You probably won’t be shocked to learn that you can shop on Amazon using Echo. As of this writing you can use Echo to re-order items you’ve previously purchased on Amazon.

Set an Alarm or Timer

Use Echo as a timer or as an alarm to wake you up in the morning.

Get the News

You can ask Echo to give you news updates. Set up Flash Updates with the news sources and topics of interest to you. Then say, “Alexa, give me Flash Updates” to learn what’s going on in the world. You can learn about US and world news, entertainment, politics, sports, tech and more.

Make You Laugh

Ask Alexa to tell you a joke. No word on which comedy writers they hired for her material but it’s nice to know Echo can give you a smile when you need one.

Things to Try

Check out the Things to Try section of the app to get ideas about what you can ask the Echo. You can see what categories of questions to ask, commands to give and how to phrase your requests.

Review Your Questions

The Echo app keeps track of the questions you’ve asked, along with the responses. You can refer back to the answers quickly. You can also delete questions you might be embarrassed about anyone seeing.

“Alexa, when is my anniversary?”

Alexa or Amazon?

You can change the wake word from Alexa to Amazon. If your name is Alexa you have three choices:

1. Change the wake word to “Amazon”
2. Change your name
3. Do none of the above and go crazy when Echo responds every time someone uses your name.

Voice Training

In my family’s testing, Echo did a fantastic job of voice recognition. Even with background noise it heard and interpreted most of our requests accurately.

You can help Echo understand you better by doing voice training, offered in the app and on the website. You’re asked to speak 25 questions to help Echo understand you. If you feel as if Echo should get to know you better you can repeat individual questions or the entire voice training session.

Turning the Microphone Off

If you’d prefer Alexa not listen to your every word, you can press a button on the top to turn off the microphone. When the microphone is off, you can’t use the wake word to turn Echo back on, you must press the button.

Accessibility

The Echo would be very useful for those who are blind, vision impaired, or have motor skill disabilities. You can use your voice to ask questions, control lights, play music and more, allowing those with challenges more control in their daily lives.

Availability

The day after this article was published, Amazon eliminated the invitation requirement for buying the Echo. You can now go to the Amazon Echo page to order yours. The price currently is $179.99.

The Amazon Echo is not currently available for sale to anyone who wants one. Instead, you can request an invitation to buy one from Amazon in the US. One per customer only, please (which is a shame because I quickly realized that having one for the kitchen would be great in addition to the one in our family room).

You can request an invitation at the Amazon Echo website. The price for Prime members is currently $149 and the price for non-Prime members is $199.

Your Thoughts

Have you heard about Amazon Echo? What would you ask Alexa? Do you like the idea of having a personal assistant ready to help you whenever you ask? What do you wish Echo would do? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!

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Going Home with Tony

I am honored to be the featured guest on the Going Home with Tony show on Thursday. Tune your radio in to his show on June 24 at 5:00 pm CDT to hear Tony Scimeca’s interview with me and to ask me tech questions. Check out Going Home with Tony on TuneIn Radio or his weekly podcast on iTunes.