Oh no ... BiL has bought DH an Alexa ....

[MrsExpo]

.... and now I am being ignored because I’m less than thrilled and just don’t “get” why we need this thing in our house. Either justify my reaction, or convince me I’ll love it (preferably with reasons .... because right now I’m appalled ...... ) Either way, AIBU?

We have 6 -one in each bedroom, one in the kitchen and 2 in the family room that act as stereo speakers. We have Amazon Prime so I can just say “Alexa, play the Killers” or “Alexa, play indie rock” and it plays. We can tell it to turn off the lights as we have smart bulbs, and to change the colour and brightness of the lights. I can ask it when my package will be delivered, to add things to a list, 10 minute timers, etc. I’d be a little lost without them now. They’re not necessary for a nice life, but they make it a little more convenient. If you want to have a bit of fun, say “Alexa, do a fart”.

You can make quizzes on it. I used it for revising.
Look at Alexa skills. There is just so much it can do. Good speaker for the price so often use it for music. Hands free skyping is good on it too. Alarms, timers. There is also plenty of already programmed games and quizzes available. We played few with DH. It's fun.
There is just SO MUCH it can do

Asking dc sum & times tables by asking Alexandria & expecting them to answer first, (she repeats '5x9 is 45' so they should win

@Graphista turns out I don't have a calendar set up but I can still set reminders for tomorrow, 4pm etc. She says she's going to send me a link when I enable notifications

Audible - if you just say play audible she'd start the book you were last listening to

Routines are great- you go into the app & select routine & you can schedule it to a certain time to announce something or set up a series of events

So if you say 'Alexa, good morning' you could have it turn on lights, (if you have a smart bulb or smart plug for lamps, play radio & make an announcement). Or you could schedule those things for a set time

Don't think it takes up much room with the app but not too sure

I have one echo and two dots and prime music. Its amazing. I can (*handsfree) play pretty much any song in the world.
Great when cooking.

Also use for weather, timers, spelling, announcements and fun for kids.

Love ours, we have four!

Music
Radio
Timers
Shopping lists
General knowledge
Are shops open or closed (pre lockdown)
Heating (juice or nest)

We take one away on holiday for the music!

Brilliant things!

@Bubblysqueak. My 3 yo does this (shouts at car radio) as her whole life there has been an Alexa at home.

Just the two of us in a fairly standard sized house, no kids and DH rarely goes out. Think I’ll just let him play with it until he gets bored and then quietly unplug it ....

Are you talking about your adult husband or your five year old child?

@hesgotit can it do heating. .oooh I didn't know this, I have a Nest.

@CottonSock yep you can link that as well! I love it!

I also use it for traffic to my work!

CottonSock. Glad I'm not the only one, DH looked at me as if I was nuts..

We have the google version, 2 minis and the home hub. The minis are in the bedroom and front room we use them as speakers, to play stuff on the tv (we have a chrome cast too) ask it stuff etc and the home hub (has a screen) is in the kitchen and is used as a digital photo frame, it's handy for displaying recipes on when cooking, playing YouTube videos etc. I wouldn't say we use them a lot but they are handy things to have.

I hate Alexa. Mainly because my DH speaks to her in his twatty Alexa voice. I’ve never heard him speak to anyone else in that voice, just Alexa. Drives me insane. The closest I can describe it to is that it’s like a voice on a TV advert or an enthusiastic TV presenter. So weird

Thank to this thread I have been shown by dh how I can use my voice to ask my phone to set a timer.

We use ours as a speaker in the kitchen. It’s handy to check recipe conversions too.

I’ve considered having them in other rooms but I’d rather not have the data gathering happening elsewhere!

Our three are used for music, alarms, shopping lists, switching lights/heating etc on and off, and routines.

We have a bedtime routine that switches lights and the telly off, switches on stair and bedroom lights, and closes the bedroom blinds, and a morning one that puts the kettle on, reads the news and the weather then plays music.

Love them.

We have 2 dots and love them too
Ds 8 plays games and quizzes on his

DH and I did an experiment at Christmas, we loudly and frequently discussed buying something that we would, we thought, never ever buy. A pram as it happens. We made a point of never typing it in anywhere, just talking in front of Alexa to see if we got any targeted ads.

We didn’t, but a month later DD, who had been adamant she didn’t want children announced she was pregnant.

Have to hand it to Amazon, that’s a heck of sales tactic.

*@Apostergasnoname

Sorry, *@Aposterhasnoname