What Do I Do with a Dot?
Other
Visited son and family yesterday and as usual came away with gifts and gadgets that he often passes on to me. This time it was an echo dot. He put the app on my phone (?) and when I got home I actually managed to set it up, big smug pat on back!
But what do I do now? I can't do music until other son sets me up with one of his music accounts. I asked it the temperature this morning but apart from that I just feel I have a little spy in the corner!
What do you use yours for?
They can also make calls, which is very useful in an emergency and you cannot reach a phone for example.
Hey Alexa!Sorry, that doesn't help lol! What do I say after Hey Alexa? Will she just ad lib or do I ask specific questions? That's what prompted my initial topic as I don't want to interact just for the sake of it and can't think of anything I want to ask.
By note: After struggling my whole adult life to grasp how hot it will be in centigrade (I learned in Fahrenheit) Alexa gave me the temperature in F.!!!
I personally don't like them as I believe they spying 
listening to conversations because my friends have and notice if they talking about certain items when they on phone ads pop up on items that were talked about
I had heard that but my son assured me it was safe. Tbh I am not sure I will be using it much until I get the music account.
Lynibis You don't to be signed up to your son's account to access music. Try asking - Alexa play 'Young Girl' and see what happens.
I will do that. Isn't it silly but I feel a bit silly talking to it at the moment. Guess that is something else I will get used to.
Lynibis In a couple of months you will wonder how you ever managed without it, even if it's only for basic timers and reminders. Even a soft boiled egg becomes a doddle when you don't have to watch it. The shopping list is particularly useful when you remember something randomly throughout the day. The applications are endless. (smart plugs and bulbs will be your next buy)
Try these too:-
“Alexa, find quick dinner recipes”
“Alexa, what's the weather forecast?”
“Alexa, add milk to my shopping list”
“Alexa, tell me a joke about coffee”
“Alexa, play Ocean Sounds”
“Alexa, give me a baking innuendo”
“Alexa, how long’s left on my timer?”
Alexa, when is sunset?
Alexa, what time is it?
Alexa, set a 10 minute alarm
Alexa, play Radio 4
Alexa, remind me to water the plants (tell her when)
Alexa, who was Speedy Gonzales?
Alexa, add loo paper to my shopping list / Alexa what's on my shopping list?
Alexa, how old was King George V when he died? (Look out, she might answer ask Lynibis!)
Johnny you're a riot. I like the shopping list one. How do I start it, just say Alexa, start a shopping list?
I can imagine asking lots of history questions!
I didn't know it could play radio stations! Thanks for the info.
Get yourself some smart plugs and control some table lamps or lights. I use mine for this and being disabled its so helpful
I can see that is very useful for you neo1 but I fight against anything that means I sit around more. As a society we are so unfit and in the grip of an obesity crisis, I get really annoyed that they then keep inventing things to make us even more immobile. Obviously that view is tempered by the view that those with disabilities need these things to make life more enjoyable and manageable.
PS I remember the days of having to physically change channels, before remote controls lol.
I have a google nest speaker upstairs and an echo dot downstairs sometimes I get confused about which does what but they are generally the same. Sort of stuff I might ask;
Weather
Play a radio station
Read a book
tell a joke
set a timer for something that is cooking
ask the distance between two places
ask it a question i.e. how tall is Jeff Goldblum or how high do airships fly
money conversion
weight conversion
set an alarm
translate something or even teach me a language.
Also list of alexa skills here;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=10068517031
Since getting these 2 speakers I feel technology has moved to a new level its almost like I'm in the star trek universe or something. Being able to have a sort of conversation with a computer even one that is basically responding in a pre-programmed way is very impressive and no doubt over the years the technology will improve until actual AI is being used. It will get to a point where I guess it will predict what you need. Don't get me wrong though I'd never to be stupid enough to order products through it, I see a lot of Amazon food products with huge markups and I'm certainly not going to be ordering anything that isn't the best price through it, nor will I sign up for monthly services that cost money, that cause a constant eroding of your disposable income. Just the free options for me. That is the danger of such products.
I love my Alexa. I have my phone blue toothed to it & listen to all my podcasts & music through spotify on it. I also play question of the day. ( Just ask 'Alexa ask question of the day' Todays question is a history question) You can then listen to the podcast on todays question. I play a couple of quiz games daily.
She can tell you time, date sing happy birthday normally or as a dog. The first things I did was stop the being able to buy over and when I'm getting an order saying what it is but that's more to do with my kids
Lynibis one of them accidentally bought a physiology text beek for me the other year with the money I'd saved up for his birthday luckily Amazon cancelled order 
weather, appointment making, shopping, reminders, cooking recipes while I make dinner it can list steps etc. I find it super useful! Hope you enjoy it
If you are into classic scifi books the HG wells kindle collection is currently free.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0725NMCZ9
It has text to speech enabled so your echo dot should be able to read any of these books to you.
From memory its 'alexa, play my kindle book, war of the worlds' etc.
If you say 'alexa stop' you can resume the book by simply stating as above it should automatically resume where it left off.
Your echo dot and kindle library must be the same account of course, i.e linked to the same email address.
Thanks for that, it is linked to same account. Sci fi is the one genre I can't stand but will wait and see if it does another in the future!
Lynibis Loads of free kindle books on all subjects and they vary quite a lot, worth occasionally going through them and adding them to your library. I don't think I've ever paid for a kindle title but have a kindle library of 100s of titles, admittedly mainly the classics and some obscure titles that the authors were promoting.
Personally I use dot as a bluetooth speaker, to tell me news, to turn on/off lights and the weather
I usually put dots after sentences. These are commonly known as "full stops", or "periods" if you are American.
Lol. I will definitely keep that in mind next time I write a comment, here comes another.
Well, thought I would add an update. I am doing the question a day ( Glitterandgold ) and every morning I get the weather for the day.
Other son has added me to his Amazon music unlimited which is great but CDs and radio now redundant!
Great for answers to competition questions and I am sure I will gradually start to use many of the suggestions you all put forward so thanks a lot!
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