Whether you call them hacks, easter eggs, or abilities, there are a great deal of useful, interesting or downright amusing things that Amazon Echo units may perform today. Which is good, because you need something to distract you from the truth that you have agreed to co-habitate with Skynet. We all know you can utilize them to play music, set timers when you are cooking, do measurement conversions, or purchase a pizza, but there are quite a few things you probably did not know Alexa had hidden up her proverbial sleeve.
The Magic Door
The Magic Door doesn’t need much explanation other than to mention that it is basically a Choose Your Own Adventure book you perform as a game through your Alexa apparatus. Do you engage the troll? What’s down the garden path? Can you wind up in the party for your princess? Are you going to take the ship throughout the sea? Do you venture into the dark forest? Will you find the wizard? Only you can decide what to do once you inform Alexa to”open the magical door” Is this Alexa skill going to get one to work on time, arrange you a pizza or keep you in shape? Absolutely not. However, it will be a good evening worth of entertainment for a dinner party or a night with friends.
Multi-Room Music
One of the greatest things that all the Amazon Alexa devices were missing until about a month ago was that the capability to beam the exact same signal to multiple devices throughout your house or office. Now that Audio Groups and Multi-Room Music are here, that is a thing of the past. Launch the Alexa program. Hit the Settings section. Find Multi-Room Music. Create a group with all the Alexa devices you would like music played on simultaneously. When you are all set, simply tell Alexa to perform the group name you setup. The only disadvantages of the DIY Sonos setup are that it does not work with Spotify or Sirius and you can only add Echo devices to a single group, but seemingly Amazon is working on all these problems as we talk.
ChuckFacts
Yes, we’re acutely aware of how you don’t want Alexa to offer you more reasons to feel that Chuck Norris is the most badass person being on the planet, but reminding yourself this way is far simpler than trying to dig back into the internet of ten years ago. “A bulletproof vest wears Chuck Norris for protection.” “Chuck Norris can select oranges out of an apple tree and create the best lemonade you have ever tasted.” “Chuck Norris once broke a mirror on the mind of a black cat while standing under a ladder… the next dayhe won the lottery.” We will not go so far as to ensure that brushing on ChuckFacts will get your next round paid for together with your buddies at the bar, but it can’t hurt.
Seven Minute Workout
When you’re working from home, or lounging around on the weekend, it is 1 thing to say you’re going to workout and another thing entirely to actually do it. The 7-Minute Workout may not mitigate all of the damage you did to your midsection over the weekend together with hamburgers and chips, but it’s still better than not doing anything in any way. Most importantly, there’s an Alexa Skill for this! Inform your favourite AI what music you want to obey, then tell her to launch the Seven Minute Workout and bask in the glory of a sweet workout when listening to your favorite workout songs in the background. Empower
Celebrity Alarms
From Clarity to Porchlight, Alexa has more than a dozen different stock alarm seems built in that will make waking up less painful than it’s ever been before. But those sounds are nothing compared to the Celebrity Alarm choices you’ve got access to when you start the program and select a noise manually. You’ll Have access to the latest and greatest from people like Dan Marino, Alec Baldwin and Missy Elliott, but our favourite comes from the boys responsible for both Top Gear and The Grand Tour. If you have never jumped out of bed to the sound of Jeremy Clarkson screaming”WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP NOW!” You have no clue what you’re missing. (For the record, it is sleep, but it is still one of the best ways to get out of bed.)
Drop In
If you’re anything like us, one Echo (or Dot or Display or anything else with Alexa built in) is not enough once you encounter the Amazon Matrix. However, what happens when you’re preparing a helluva meal in the kitchen and you have to allow the rest of the fam know it’s prepared? You just Drop In. That’s right, with the most recent software upgrades you’ll be able to Drop In to some Alexa devices in the home using another Alexa apparatus or the Alexa program like a house intercom. Enable
Voice Calling
Much like the Drop In operation you merely read about, the new Calling & Messaging functionality lets you use any Alexa or the program for a device capable of calling & messaging anybody else on the planet–for free. Call your mom. Send a voice message to a buddy. Let your better half know that you’ve been slaving away over a hot stove all evening. Sync up your contacts into the Alexa app using your phone, and you are going to be free to call or message anyone in your contacts list without ever having to use your handson. Empower
Voice Profiles
Only a few days ago, Alexa finally caught up to Google Home in one very key area–individual voice profiles. You will be absolutely amazed how much a difference it makes in a multi-user household when you can become individually customized music alternatives, flash briefings, and place orders according to who is talking to the lady that lives in the tiny black cylinder. No more locked Spotify accounts and booted up music recommendations. No more orders placed without your approval. The feature is being gradually rolled out to customers and requires some installation (check out the Amazon Help video), but as soon as you get it you will be hearing her say your name in these sweetly sarcastic and digital tones.
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