It is no secret that AI for your home is becoming more and more popular as more tech giants enter the world of smart speakers. The list of things that you are able to accomplish with smart speakers is already very long, and that list keeps growing. You can integrate your smart speaker into almost any part of your life.
Amazon, the early pioneer of smart speakers, offers many Echo products that do a wide variety of tasks. These include smart speakers; Echo for your car; Echo Frames, eyeglasses with Alexa; Echo Loop, a smart ring with Alexa; and countless Alexa-compatible devices like plug-ins; light bulbs; surveillance cameras; Fire TV Stick, a device to give your TV smart capabilities; thermostats; smartphones and countless others.
Echo’s features can help you make it through your day with it’s many features. Its features could potentially encompass many areas of your life including communication and entertainment. It enables you to have a smart home, helps you shop, be productive and more.
Communication
Echo enables you to communicate with any room in your house through Alexa. You can “Drop In” to open an instant 2-way conversation with someone in a different room than you, and make announcements across all of your Echo devices. You can even call or send messages to anyone. If someone you know has an Echo device too, you can call them over their Echo and even make video calls to people with an Echo Show.
Entertainment
If you can’t get a song out of your head, why not listen to it? If you’re cooking, cleaning, or maybe just lounging, you can tell Alexa to play it. You don’t have to have a dance party alone though. Ask Alexa to play everywhere and all of your Echo devices throughout your house can play the same song. You can also tell Alexa to play a specific podcast you have been listening to, or read you a book from Audible or Kindle. For the TV show and movie lover, you can ask Alexa to launch your favorite streaming service and play a movie. If you’re alone and need someone to talk to, try out Alexa. You can have her tell you a joke or you can play a game with her.
Smart Home
You can have Echo with Alexa control anything in your home from your heating and air conditioning, cameras, lights, doors, coffee maker, or maybe a Christmas tree this holiday season.
You’re able to dim or change the color of the lighting in your home with smart bulbs or turn on/off lights, your Christmas tree, TV, coffee maker, or just about anything you plug in with smart plug-ins. You can also use smart switches to control lights in your room, but these take a little more time installing.
You can tell Alexa to show you a live stream from one of your (Alexa-enabled) cameras on your TV with a Fire TV stick installed, or over your Echo Show device.
Alexa is able to be programmed with your regular routines. For example, if you’re leaving the house for the day, you could program Alexa to shut off your music, coffee maker, and lights by saying something like, “Alexa, I’m leaving.” Similarly, you could program Alexa to turn on your Christmas tree lights, holiday decorations, and play holiday music when you say something like, “Alexa, make it festive.”
Productivity
Your productivity can be increased with an Echo device. As aforementioned, you can program Alexa to do tasks and routines for you. This can make it quicker for you to get ready in the morning, leave the house, or make supper. You can link your email and calendar and ask Alexa to check your emails, show your events for the day, set an alarm for you to wake up, a timer to remember to switch the laundry, or make a calendar event to meet a friend for lunch on Saturday.
You can also make lists on Alexa such as a shopping list, to-do list, or you can create your own. Items can be added to your lists using your voice, then you can view/delete items on your phone in the Alexa app. This is handy to keep track of what you need to pick up at the store. You don’t need to remember to bring your grocery list with you to the store because you can see it on your phone.
Shopping
Of course, Alexa makes it easy to spend money on Amazon. When you’re running low on essentials like toilet paper, paper towels or dog food, you can just tell Alexa to re-order what you have purchased in the past. If you haven’t ordered the specific product in the past, you can tell Alexa to search for what you need and she will give you options. After you place an order on Amazon, Alexa can tell you where your packages are or if they have been delivered.
More
With skills, you can personalize what your Echo device can do. Skills are like apps for your Echo device. You can get skills on your Echo like Jeopardy, or Harry Potter Trivia, rain sounds, or your favorite news station. Skills make your Echo device unique to you.
There are many smart devices that can work together to make your home smart and allow you to do a number of things just by using your voice. When purchasing smart devices, it’s important to consider your options. Amazon offers many options, there are also other options from Google and Apple and other technology companies. With smart devices, you need to choose a “team.” If you are going to get an Amazon Echo, I’d recommend that you have all of your other products also be Amazon Echos, and not Google, for example. Smart devices work better together when they are connected with each other and can communicate.
Smart home devices can be useful in your every day life. With a smart speaker, you are able to do all the things mentioned in this article, and even more. Smart speakers are truly customizable to fit your individual needs. Your smart home is yours to customize and build just the way you like.