Alexa - what do you use yours for?

BlueBelle

Never had one can I carry on living without one ?

Ditto. I've never had it and no plans to get.
cf I don't have any sight problems other than spectacles at present . I understand that it would be very useful for people with sight problems.
I've always thought that using Alexa would make me lazy but I have to say that I quite fancy a "Bot" that would do all the housework.
Then I wouldn't feel lazy at all.

When I wake up in the middle of the night and can't see the time I whisper "Alexa, what's the time?" and she tells you the time with a whisper! Quite amusing.

Great minds Kitty 😀

After you have added items to the shopping list do you simply ask alexa to read it out and you write it out?

We take one away with us, too, Kate for DH's tinnitus.

We have 5 Alexas and recently took one on holiday and linked it to the Internet there as we can’t bear quietness especially as we both have tinnitus.

I sometimes play Spa Music if I want a relaxing background noise. If I am stuck on a crossword question such as the capital of a country it gives me the answer.

Just found it will read my kindle books out loud. Not all of them, but many.

teaching the kids their times tables

Blue Bell, I understand what you are saying but I didn’t buy my two Alexas. They were a gift from my son. When I get engrossed in my iPad selling stuff on eBay or writing my many blogs, I totally forget the stuff simmering on the cooker so find Alexa an easy option. I’ve just set Alexa up to listen to the Archers. Haven’t listened for over 50 years but have decided to give it a go when cooking. I’m aware that big brother is all around but I haven’t joined Only Fans.

How do I stop Alexa from listening to my conversations?
To prevent Alexa from listening to your personal conversations, you can turn off the microphones. Simply press the microphone off button on your smart speaker, like an Amazon Echo™ or Dot®. A red light (normally a blue light) will appear on the device—that's how you know the microphones have been disconnected.
By the way if you look up something like a dishwasher on your I-Pad almost at once you get dishwasher adds on Facebook . Your I-Pad did not " hear" about didhwashers .

My GC asked it to singt the Dog Song - oh dear! But they loved it. It is to the tune of Colonel Bogey - I knew entirely different words!

At the moment mine is mainly being used as a better loudspeaker than my laptop!

I don't have one but DS and DiL use theirs all the time. They add things to their shopping list while cooking, use as a timer, also while cooking, and play music. Sometimes my young grandson tells it to turn the music up louder or change it when he wants something different. Personally I wouldn't want one but I'm techno;ogically inept..

We use Google Home. The most useful thing is that if you put something in a safe place you can tell it to remember where the safe place is. Then when you want the item, you can just ask where it is.

MiniMoon

If I've mislaid my phone I ask Alexa to call it. I'm not worried about it listening in, just mundane, everyday life is spoken of in this house. In the Alexa app on your phone you can delete all your conversations.

I'm not worried about any of our devices listening in - they'd switch off through boredom fast enough.

What do people talk about that they don't want overheard?

Yes my grandchildren do the same. Alexa has quite a repertoire 🤪

I use it for Reminders, Shopping Lists, Alarm , Music , Quizzes - most of this you could do on your iPhone I guess. The only advantage is you don’t have to use your hands. You can just talk to it. If you’re half asleep, you can just stay ‘stop Alexa’ and it will stop. No buttons to press.

No thank you. I would never have one in the house. They can be subject to security breaches, hacking, putting private data at risk and Amazon collects and stores voice recordings conversations to ‘improve functionality’. So, I’m wary. Yes I do have a smartphone, but I don’t have the microphone switched on.

I have never had one and always resisted the temptation. I live alone and I have a cat, I just feel that talking to a machine is the final step on the road to mad cat lady.

It will read kindle books aloud! More expressive than VoiceOver though still artificial.

Alexa can talk you through CPR

We have several of them. We use them to play Apple Music on as the speaker is so good. We have smart lights, smart plugs and a Ring door bell. After a burglary when we were actually at home we set up some smart door monitors and they alert us to when the back door is opened. They also tell the person entering that the police have been called. They can be set up to notice changes in temperature to alert you in the event of a fire; they can automatically send a message to your phone.

Most people don't know how to get the best out of their smart devices so they don't look like much other than a convenient timer but there is a lot you can do if you take the time to learn about them.

Wouldnt be without my Alexa as it is the only way I can get Planet Rock all day.

Temperature and weight conversions
Shopping List
Spotify
BBC Sounds
It’s handy but a bit creepy — there have been occasions when it’s said something weird completely out of the blue. I don’t entirely trust the privacy they claim

I bought my Mum one and set it to remind her to take her tablets. We also.linked it to plugs so she could turn lights on and off as well as the TV.
She loved it to help with crosswords...

kittylester

I forgot - the grandchildren ask it to fart. This isn't compulsory!

Alexa had to get 'broken' for a time in our house because my grandchildren were also asking it to fart, and it obliged every time!