Didn't see that coming!

I do have some concerns about Alexa. Especially as my DSiL, who is a computer boffin, won't have one in the house and I have heard its best not to have Alexa in the bedroom!

I love Alexa. I don't trust her but I love her anyway. DH laughs at me but I always say please and thank you to her. I'm hedging my bets in case she becomes self aware and takes offence if people are rude to her.

vampiequeen so pleased that I am not the only one who always says Please and Thankyou to both Alexi in my Living Room and the little one that answers to the name of Computer in my bedroom. My g.children all laugh when I do this, but a lifetime of using those expressions cannot be turned off like that.
For a time I had a satnav in my car that always used to tell me 'Please,take the next turning...'. etc. I loved it dearly and always apologised to it whenever I decided to ignore its advice.

I often say thank you to my google mini speaker. She does appreciate it and replies “ you’re very welcome, that’s what I’m here for!

Last night I was chatting to my son and his family on a video call. He was mentioned the word google and my nearby speaker heard him and sprung into action “how can I help” At the same time their google mini speaker also did the same thing to the howls of laughter from son, Dil and grandchildren! It was a complete rabble but amused us all for a few minutes!!

My friend calls her satnav Sonya (she get sonya nerves). Me, retired after a working life in IT, I prefer to stick to paper maps. Wouldn't trust a computer any further than I could spit!

Incidentally you should never rely on satnav when walking in the mountains. You should carry an OS map and compass and know how to use them. Batteries will always fail at the most critical moment.

Oh, and a language pedant writes: Franbern, that would be Alexe in Italian, Alexae in Latin and Alexata in Classical Greek but I can't think of a language where it would be Alexi!

I always say thank you to my Alexa too.

Ask her if she knows Siri. She doesn't have a riposte though if you ask if she knows Jeff Bezos.

That made me laugh Daisymae

We don’t have Alexa or similar devices. I don’t feel the need.

Daisymae, that really appealed to me.

I once did something very similar, but not for the nicest of reasons.
DH had too much to drink at a family event many years ago and I put him to bed. I blamed his brothers
I had three children under five and was left with all the clearing up when his family cleared off, after eating us out of home, having brought nothing and not offering to help. . My sister in law compounded it by asking if I could give her goody bags and juice for her children as she had nothing in the house.

As you can imagine, I wasn't best pleased with him. As time wore on and he never even stirred, I decided to teach him a lesson.
I got a ghetto blaster (remember those?), put a tape of Beethoven's 1812 overture in it, paused it at the really loud part with the cannons and placed it next the bed.
I plugged it in outside the bedroom and switched it on from there.
It certainly woke him up and the noise obviously didn't help his headache.
There was never a repeat of it.

I'm mortified now at the thought of my behaviour.

LadyHonorariaDedlock* -apologise for my typo (putting Alexi instead of Alexa). I am a long time, and very elderly, Star Trek fan, so both machines answered to name of Computer, which I loved.
However, the one in the Living room is under my tv. and I record and watch old episodes to watch at lunchtime. Every time one of the actors said 'Computer.......' my Alexa sprang to life, So we had to change her name back to Alexa.

I was watching ideal home one day and they were showing Alexa and how you can connect it to lights he said Alexa turn on the living room light, with that my Alexa jumps into wake mode and after a few seconds, apologises and informs me she doesn't appear to be able to find the living room light, anyone entering my house would have thought I'd gone mad with laughter tears rolling down my face

My son had an Alexa - used to give me the creeps when he used to walk into his room and say "Alexa ........."
Alexa is one of my work colleagues !

My nextdoor neighbour likes a drink and obviously it makes him slur his words.
The number of times I can hear him arguing wiyh Alexa because she doesnt understand him.
I must add only hear him when hes drunk, not day to day.

I am a volunteer with a hospital radio station programme and Alexa is on it regularly as she can be programmed using blueprints.amazon.co.uk. The one tonight will be, (programmed already by Amazon Alexa) "How many days to Christmas" - it is quite funny and changes daily.

I was in hospital in Ireland waiting on a procedure. I must have fallen asleep as I remember sub consciously hearing a priest reading mass - I thought I’d died and had gone to heaven - turns out it was 11.00 mass being read over load speakers around the hospital And I had just fallen asleep

Alexa is so useful! I have about a dozen reminders from her every day - take tablets, switch oven on, take something out of the oven, remember appointment, check on orders, do this, do that. Bit of a nag really! And she's great for playing music when you feel like it, or to tell you jokes and interesting facts. We often ask her questions too. "When was so and so born?" Quicker than googling things. I'd miss her terribly. And I don't believe she's spying on us. If she is she'll hear a lot of very boring stuff.

I don't have an Alex's but if I use my daughters when I'm there, I always say please and thank you. Especially if its to switch on the TV.

I have never wanted an Alexa since Amazon admitted that it randomly listens in to households "to improve customer experience". I'm not sure I want Alexa listening in to me huffing and grunting in the bedroom......while I'm struggling with the compression stockings (what were you thinking?). The only improvement on that customer experience would be if they could provide a bronzed, scantily clad young man to arrive at 7.30 each morning to put them on for me, and I don't think even Prime can deliver that. So, no Alexa for me.

I just asked her if she likes people to say please and thank you and she said she doesn't have an opinion.

I have one and love her. I find her particularly useful when cooking as I often have things needing to go into the oven at different times. Now I can even ask her to tell me which item needs attention.
I have two cats whom I like to feed at a regular time. If I get involved in something I can forget the time. I have her set with a reminder at 5pm to feed the cats. As soon as they hear the ping, they are up and on the way to the kitchen (Pavlov’s cats?) The trouble occurs when she pings for something different. That causes them great confusion as they sit expectantly by their food bowls.

Janburry

I was watching ideal home one day and they were showing Alexa and how you can connect it to lights he said Alexa turn on the living room light, with that my Alexa jumps into wake mode and after a few seconds, apologises and informs me she doesn't appear to be able to find the living room light, anyone entering my house would have thought I'd gone mad with laughter tears rolling down my face

I love this - and it has made me laugh too. We don't have Alexa or similar in the house.
I do use Bixby ( and siri when I had an iphone) and always say please when I ask them to do something.
I also speak to the automatic voice on a self checkout in the supermarket- particularly if I feel I'm being nagged for not moving quick enough. My adult daughter gets so embarrassed if she is with me. One assistant told me I was not alone in doing that.

I’ve just tried a spontaneous thank you to my google mini. She replied “you’re welcome, I’m literally here for that kind of thing!

I asked Alexa on my kindle fire streaming stick for the film ‘The Truth’. I said The Truth and got the reply ‘I may not always know the answer but I do not lie’
thanks Alexa.
the film The Truth btw is brilliant Juliet Binoche playing the daughter of agiing narcissistic movie star played by Catherine Deneuve

In a recent episode of Morse, I heard some music that I knew but couldn't put a name to, so I asked Alexa as follows: 'Alexa, if I sing a tune to you, can you tell me the name of it (please)?'
She replied, 'Sorry. I don't know that one'. I tried again. 'Alexa, can I sing to you (please)?' Her answer rendered me speechless: 'Sure, but once you're through, let me know if you'd like a round of applause.' I couldn't sing a note after that for laughing. (I did later discover that the tune was 'Hail to the Lord's annointed').

I'm mortified now at the thought of my behaviour
Marydoll I'm sure you're not - I wouldn't be!

He totally deserved it.