Current state of Amazon Echo Devices

The Amazon Echo line of smart speakers has been one of the leading products in the rapidly growing smart home market. The devices, powered by Amazon’s virtual assistant, Alexa, allow users to interact with their homes using voice commands to play music, control smart devices, make calls, and access information.

Since the first Amazon Echo was introduced in 2014, the company has released several new models and updates to its line of smart speakers, with each iteration offering improved sound quality, enhanced functionality, and new features. The current state of Amazon Echo devices is one of continued innovation and growth.

One of the latest additions to the Amazon Echo lineup is the Echo Show 10. This device features a 10-inch screen that rotates to follow you as you move around the room, making it ideal for video calls, watching videos, and viewing visual information from Alexa. It also has improved sound quality and the ability to control other smart home devices, making it an even more versatile addition to the smart home ecosystem.

Another recent addition to the Amazon Echo lineup is the Echo Dot with clock. As the name suggests, this device is a smaller, more compact version of the Echo Dot that features a built-in clock, making it ideal for use in bedrooms or other areas where a clock is needed.

In addition to new devices, Amazon has also made significant upgrades to its existing line of Echo devices. The latest Echo Dot, for example, features improved sound quality and a new, rounded design that makes it easier to use and a more attractive addition to any room.

Finally, Amazon has also been expanding the capabilities of Alexa, making it even more useful for managing and controlling smart home devices. With the addition of new skills and integrations, Alexa can now perform an even wider range of tasks, making it an indispensable tool for smart home enthusiasts.

In conclusion, the current state of Amazon Echo devices is one of continued innovation and growth. With new devices, improved functionality, and enhanced capabilities, Alexa and the Amazon Echo line of smart speakers are well-positioned to remain leaders in the smart home market for years to come.

Amazon Fire TV – What live local or subscription channels are available

Devices such as Fire TV, Google TV, Roku, smart tv’s, gaming devices, and others are offering quality programming. Combine this with services such as Netflix, Hulu, Sling, Youtube TV, you can get close to what cable and satellite offers.

For the longest time, cable and satellite companies had a strong grip at this industry and the prices continued to climb. If you wanted to watch channels such as CNN, TNT, AMC, ESPN, HDTV, HBO, you had to subscribe to cable or satellite. But now we have options.

Amazon Fire TV is a viable option for cord cutters as you can install respective apps to get live TV channels. Amazon is also partnering with more live sporting events.

  • Amazon has partnered with NFL to provide live stream of NFL Thursday Night Football for Prime members
  • Partnered with MLB to stream certain MLB games (barring blackout)
  • Partnered with Paramount+ to stream UEFA football (soccer) games
  • Partnered with NBA and WNBA to stream certain games and subscription
  • Partnered with MLS to stream soccer games

Fire TV #safeathome tips

There has been a reknowned interest in devices such as Fire TV the past few weeks due to more people staying at home. It is for a good reason. We’ve seen more people use Fire TV to leverage on demand content for things such as news, cooking and baking shows, fitness, and educational materials.

Below is a list of such content which are all available on Fire TV!

News:

ABC News
CBS News
NBC News
Fox News
The Washington Post

You can also download YouTube app and get access to many many content. Two news feeds that are usually live are BloomBerg, Al Jazeera and BBC news.

For Fitness:

Peloton
Daily Burn
5 Min Workouts
Daily workouts

For Cooking and Baking

Cooking Channel Go
Baking by iFood.tv
Food Network GO
Baking for Beginners

For educational content:

For ages 2-4 – ABCMouse, RosiMosi, Budge Studios, Nickelodeon, Animal Math Preschool Math Games

For ages 5-7 – Let’s Spell, Thinkrolls, Beeartist, Sight Words, Noggin Preschool, PBS Kids

For ages 7-9 – Prodigy Math Game, Math age 5-11 free, PBS KIDS Games, NASA, IXL, Endless Wordplay, Fun Spanish

For ages 9-12 – Osmo Coding Jam, RV AppStudios: Multiplication Kids, Electronics for Kids

Which is better – Amazon Echo 1st or 2nd

A few months ago, I jumped on a great deal where I could score a 2nd Gen Amazon Echo for just $20 but there was a catch. The catch was that I had to trade in my 1st Gen Echo. On the surface, it made sense as my 1st Gen Echo was purchased on April 9, 2016 so it was coming up 3 years of its use. I did some slight reading on the comparison between the 1st and 2nd gen on the Amazon product site.

Below is from the Amazon product page also noting when I made the purchase #ad.

The 2nd Gen was much more aesthetically pleasing and modern chic looking. You could put different skins on it to make it coordinate your home better.

The height was smaller compared to 1st gen so it didn’t stand out as much. The volume control was no longer a rotating dial, something I miss, but by means of + and – buttons similar to the echo dot.

Below shows the technical details and the innards of the 2nd gen echo #ad.

It touted improved mic, speakers and subwoofers. However, my experience with the mic has been subpar. With my 1st gen, the success rate of summoning Alexa was very high. I don’t recall many instances where I had to repeat myself or feel like I am yelling over background noise to get the 1st gen echo to wake. With the 2nd gen, we’re constantly having to repeat ourselves. I’ve opened a ticket and worked with Amazon technical support and did different things such as factory reset and received a new echo but the issue remains.

Between 1st and 2nd Gen, the 2nd gen has an edge over its appearance but the 1st gen performs better overall.

The 2nd Gen is available at $99.99 on Amazon.com and 1st gen is available through Amazon warehouse deals for just under $70 per below #ad.

Talk to Pikachu with your Echo Device!

Many of us have little ones at our home and it seems we need to be more and more creative to keep them entertained. This week’s Amazon Echo weekly newsletter had a recommendation that caught my eye:

“Alexa, ask Pikachu to talk.”

I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect so I walked myself to my Amazon Echo and gave it a try. It first asked me if I wanted to enable the skill, which I did. Next came something a bit unexpected or maybe not. My Echo allowed me to engage into a conversation with Pikachu! If you were expecting Pikachu to say engage in a meaningful dialogue, you will be disappointed. If you are familiar with Pokemon, the pocket monsters, as they are called, only speak through various tone of their own monster type. In this case, your Echo will have the mic on during the conversation and Pikachu will respond in sequences of “Pika”, “Pikachu”, “Pikapika” and more. My kids got excited and brought their Pikachu toys over and played with it for about an hour.

Another way to make good use of my Amazon Echo!

Amazon update enables control of Fire TV Cube from any Echo device

My Fire TV Cube’s wake word is ‘Echo’ and my living room Echo’s work ware is ‘Alexa’. They are a mere 20 feet from each other and I frequently use the wrong wake word for the intended device. As long as I can remember since we’ve had the Fire TV Cube, we were only able to issue commands through the device itself. This has apparently changed.

Recently, I mistakenly summoned ‘Alexa’ to turn off the TV by mistake. Lo and behold, the TV turned off! We immediately noticed this and tried other commands for the TV such as changing the volume to changing the channels to the cable box and it all worked.

I’m not sure when this feature was rolled out. I read through the ‘What’s new with Alexa?” blog but didn’t notice anything. I may have missed it though.

Did you notice this update? What do you think?

The Alexa Voice Remote (2nd Gen) now works with Fire TV Cube

This is the remote that should have shipped with the Fire TV Cube. Amazon recently announced a new remote that supports power and volume on Fire TV Cube.

This way you can now control your TV’s power and volume using your Alexa Voice Remote. This comes in handy as our experience with using the Fire TV Cube has been mixed. There are times when voice commands work flawlessly but times where it doesn’t hear or react to the action word.

If you order the Fire TV Cube now, Amazon will now send the new generation Alexa Voice Remote which has the power button. But if you are like me who ordered the Fire TV Cube early, you will need to buy the new remote which is now available for $29.99..

Amazon also has a page dedicated to help you set up your Alexa Voice Remote – https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=G47P2QLV6DKLKA6P

Amazon announces its over the air DVR – Fire TV Recast

(Disclosure, I will receive a small referral fee when you make a purchase through this link on this post.)

Amazon announced a new member to its fire tv line up, the fire tv recast. Fire TV Recast fills a void where many companies struggle to capture which is enabling streaming and recording for over the air broadcast.

A lot of cord cutters, people cancelling their subscription to cable or satellite will find this extremely useful. Many streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, Playstation Vue and even Amazon’s own Prime video lack the capability or service to stream live local channels. This product will enable this.

The idea is this. The fire tv recast will plug to an antenna which will receive over the air HD signals from your location. That feed will go into your fire tv recast which can be streamed through to your fire tv devices (stick, tv, cube and show). Here is the kicker, it can even stream to your fire tv app! This will mean you can watch local and national channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, CW, Fox and presumably other local over the air channels) anywhere you have an internet connection. It also has DVR capabilities so you can save and replay TV shows. As this is an Alexa enabled device, you can use voice control to issue commands to open the channel guide or to record a particular show. Did I hear Sunday Football NFL?

The only immediate negative feedback is the price. Compared with other fire tv devices, the starting price of $229 is a bit steep. At $229, you get 2 tuners with 500GB of storage which comes out to around 75 hours of recording. The more expensive option of $279, gives you 1 TB of memory which is around 150 hours of recording.

I wouldn’t be jumping on this at this price point but would be interested in the prices at Black Friday.

Fire TV Cube 3 months review

I was excited when the Fire TV Cube was released as it combined the functions of two of my favorite Amazon products, the Echo and Fire TV. I’ve always envied some TVs that had voice control. In my mind, I thought I could turn the TV off / on, change channels, record, navigate through DVR and change the volume. Wishful thinking. To do that you would need a device that would be able to understand commands cross platforms with the TV, cable box and your streaming device. I didn’t do much research and the price probably didn’t justify the premium upcharge for TVs that had sub-par voice command.

So when the Fire TV Cube was announced, it piqued my interest.

It’s been 3 months since I had my Fire TV Cube and I thought I would put together an extended review of my experience.

[Fire TV Cube Overview]

My family’s TV consumption is probably just avg when compared with the American household. The kids are allows to watch some TV when they return from school to decompress but it will be off through HW, dinner until they shower. It comes back on after dinner for about an hour for some prime time shows that we enjoy together as a family.

[Fire TV Cube Physical Placement]

The Fire TV Cube is roughly the size of a large Rubix Cube.  When summoned, it flashes a blue to green spectrum LED lights on the front top corner of the cube.

Initially, we placed it behind the TV on the right where it protrudes enough for us to see the LED. After a while, we put it in front of the TV where it blocks the TV frame but not the screen. The problem we had was that our entertainment console is very short. We use Ikea’s lack bookshelf which we bought as a floor model and never bothered to upgrade. I’m sure the placement of the Fire TV Cube at your household is much more pleasant. Direct sight of your Fire TV Cube from your viewing angle is a must.

[Fire TV Cube Usage]

When the Fire TV Cube was announced, I didn’t do a deep research as it caught me a bit off guard. I ordered it and it arrived 2 days later so I came to the table with limited knowledge and expectations.

Setup was easy (I have a blog post pending) to discuss this. If you have ATT or a subscription provider that has a more modernized cable or satellite unit, you will be able to change channels using Fire TV Cube. Since we have an Amazon Echo on our buffet in the dining room which is connected to our living room, we changed the wake word of our Fire TV Cube to “Echo”.

The most frequent commands we find ourselves using is the following:

=====================

Echo, turn TV on / off

Echo, volume up / down

Echo, switch to Cable Box

Echo, tune to channel number <xxx>

Echo, tune to <station e.g. ESPN 1>

Echo, play <song>

Echo, what’s the weather

Echo, show my ring

=====================

In order to get the channels to change, we had to customize the settings a bit. There are numerous settings under Fire TV Cube that had to be tweaked in order to get things right. By default, the settings call for the cable / satellite box to be turned on whenever you change the channel.

This doesn’t make sense.

You can change this setting by going to the Fire TV Cube settings using the remote that it came with. You cannot change this setting in your Alexa app.

Sometimes summoning your Fire TV Cube can be frustrating. There are commands which seem to work better than others.

It’s a great start to further make your TV smart. I love being able to walk by my TV and having Fire TV Cube turn it off instead of having to search for the TV remote. My kids love to have it play their favorite cartoons that are on Amazon Prime. There is room for improvement and knowing that it can be further updated remotely is awesome.

One glitch it does have and I can’t seem to figure out is that it is stuck on metric system. i tried to change the temperature of my thermostat but it is set to metric. I checked the settings on Fire TV Cube and metric system is turned off. I have yet to spend the time to fix this.

How to disable Alexa calling and messaging

This past week, there was an alarming incident reported where a family from Portland’s private conversation was sent to a contact through Alexa. Amazon acknowledged the gaffe and claimed that it was due to an unusual sequence of events where Alexa thought it was summoned to send a recorded message to a contact stored within the family’s Alexa account.

Amazon provided this statement:

“Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like “Alexa.” Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a “send message” request. At which point, Alexa said out loud “To whom?” At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, “[contact name], right?” Alexa then interpreted background conversation as “right”. As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.”

I am not surprised this happened. In my family, we have had numerous incidents where our Echo or Echo Dot was awakened by something we said even though we don’t recall saying the wake up word.

As an avid Alexa user, I’ve signed up for Alexa Calling & Messaging and only tried it out a few times. It was not a very useful feature as I had mistakenly called a known and even unknown person! My kids tried to reach me by calling, “daddy” through our Echo but it called my friend Debbie. Another time I tried to reach “home” by calling through my Alexa app hoping to reach my kids on my Echo but it called someone random. Till this day, I don’t know who that person was as I don’t have anyone in my contacts list with just “home” on it.

I then searched all over my Alexa app to see how I could disable Alexa Calling & Messaging. I looked through settings, I could only find drop in settings which I already had disabled. Then I realized that I couldn’t completely disable this feature nor could I remove contacts already uploaded to the Amazon server!

When searching Amazon help, this is what they offer:

Add and Edit Your Contacts to the Alexa App

Sync your contacts to the Alexa app to communicate with friends and family using Alexa Calling and Messaging.

To add or edit contacts for Alexa Calling and Messaging, update your phone’s local   address book and then open the Alexa app. Contacts from your address book who also use Alexa Calling and Messaging automatically appear in your “Contacts” list in the Alexa app, with the same names from your address book.

If you have multiple members within your household, your Alexa contacts are shared across all devices registered to that account. However, in the Alexa app you can only start conversations with your Alexa contacts.

That’s not good enough.

If you want to completely remove yourself from this service and have contacts removed, follow these instructions:

  1. Contact Amazon Help

You will be asked to sign into your Amazon account.

After signing in, navigate to

-> Devices

-> My device or app is not shown

-> Select your issue as ‘Echo & Alexa’

-> Select, ‘Account & Settings’

Note: If you access the contact us page via your computer, you will only have access to chat or receive a call. If you access the contact us page via your phone or tablet, you will have the option to email customer support.

In your message or chat, state the following:

“I want to delete my contacts from my Alexa account and disable Alexa Calling & Messaging feature.”

It should take them a day to respond to your email or immediately if you are using the chat / phone support.

After the confirmation, log onto your Alexa app and it will prompt you to re-register for Alexa Calling & Messaging service which confirms the service is no longer on your account.