Computer ...
by Volker Weber
FedEx delivered John's Echo Dot. And yesterday, Hermes delivered Jan's anonymous Fabric Case from my Amazon Wish List. It saves me from looking at the Amazon logo and makes the Echo Dot a bit nicer in my home.
Thank you, John and Jan. Now I need to get some work done, before I talk to Alexa.
Comments
Hatte keine Möglichkeit gefunden, Text mitzugeben....
Als kleinen Dank für die Kaufberatung zum Thema Surface Pro 3 vs. Book.
Und zum Thema Sonos lese ich ja hier auch seit Jahren mit.
Mit dem Echo Dot kann man Spaß haben, weiß ich aus eigener Erfahrung, nutze ich schon länger, geht bei mir aber auch ohne Hülle ;-)
Danke, Jan!
I'm putting this off until the Sonos integration is ready. Or should I just go ahead and get one (or two, or three) of these anyway?
I don't know, Chistopher. Just starting out. Those Echo Dots are rather inexpensive and you can get used to them. It can read you a news summary, tell you which route to take to the office today, tell you what the weather is going to be, even tell you a joke. And then you add specific skills. It currently controls my Wemo switches and it will do the same for Hue lights.
I can put together the Vowe.net Alexa Skill in no time flat if you wish. I can have it read a few of your new stories. It would be my pleasure.
Bruce, very kind of you. A couple of issues though: some entries are English, some are German. And most of the times, you have no idea what is going on if you just get text. So I don't think it would make sense.
Curious about your experience...
I started playing with my Echo and Echo Dot last week. What can I say? Some things work quite well (news, weather) - but you are faster looking at your favorite app. Some things would be faster (listen to specific album on Spotify) than with using an app - but do not really work reliably enough.
I replaced one of our Play:1 with the Echo, but actually, rest of the family asks me to put it back in, as it is just one button you need to press to listen to the kids favorite song, not a clear, loud voice with very specific commands. Especially Spotify integration does not work as I would expect it: It seems to only find albums in your library and otherwise picks some kind of "Radio" mode?!
I like Echo Dots form factor, I like the technology and the capabilities. The setup with Echo Dot and my Play:5 even allows me to integrate it with Sonos (via AUX IN), but the current Alexa skills are of mediocre quality.
Unfortunately, I do not have access to the full Sonos integration yet (there is some "homegrown" Sonos skill, but until now I found it to be to much of work and maybe even not a smart approach). The Sonos 7.2 beta announcement does not say a work about it, so I wait this time. And therefore, also my Echos wait for some more work to do.
@Vowe - understood. I have the same issues with the "German" posts.
curious to read about the difference to Siri and how it feels, when a (pardon, 7) HQ microphone(s) 'listen' to you all day long.
No concerns regarding getting recorded at home all the time?
Hi vowe - this is one of the rare occasions I had a gadget earlier than you :-)
Playing around with a regular Echo and a Dot.
Was not so impressed with the skills in the first place. I do not use Google Calendars - am using Apple Music instead of Spotify etc. So I wasn't sure if I want to keep it.
But only until I connected it to my Smarthome Hub ( ioControl ). This integrates Hue, Homematic and other otherwise proprietary devices/systems - even my Neato Botvac robot.
Alexa's voice recognition is superior to all that I have tested ( read : all :-) ) and it is just astonishing and impressive how easy you can "command" your gadget zoo around.
"Computer, open the window blinds in the kitchen" etc. Hilarious !
@Oliver: Seems we have the same impression re: the general skills. And it seems I need to invest in SmartHome/home automation gadgets, as this is something I do not have and therefore could not test.
Reading vowe.net generates needs, but usually they are fully justified ;-)
