Alexa Articles

Video / Updated 09-08-2023

Alexa works as a smart-home controller, so it can recognize and work with multiple devices from multiple manufacturers. An Alexa device such as an Echo or Echo Spot is an example of such a controller. Devices Alexa can control (like thermostats, speakers, TVs, and so on) just have to be compatible. You must make sure you get smart-home devices that are compatible with your controller, so be sure to buy items that are Alexa compatible. Smart-home devices are all the rage. Using apps on smart phones or simple voice commands from Alexa, you can control light bulbs, thermostats, garage door openers, security cameras, and so much more. To get your Alexa device to connect to and operate smart-home devices, you'll be using either your home’s Wi-Fi network or a direct Bluetooth connection. In most cases, the connection procedure involves two steps: For a Wi-Fi connection, use the manufacturer’s app to give Alexa permission to connect to the device. Enable the manufacturer’s device skill to update Alexa with the voice commands needed to operate the device. How to set up a smart home with Alexa If your smart-home device is Wi-Fi-friendly, go to your mobile device app store and install the manufacturer’s app. Then follow these steps to get your Wi-Fi smart-home device set up in the app: 1. Plug in and, if required, turn on the smart-home device. 2. Open the smart-home device manufacturer’s app. 3. Initiate the procedure for setting up a new device. Look for a command named Add or Add [manufacturer] Device (where manufacturer is the name of the company), or just a big plus sign (+). The setup routine will tell the device to broadcast its Wi-Fi network. 4. Open your mobile device’s Wi-Fi settings and look for the device’s Wi-Fi network. 5. Tap the device network to connect to it. 6. When the connection is complete, return to the device app. The app automatically detects the new network and uses the connection to set up the device. This usually involves giving the device a name. You’ll often have to set up an account with the manufacturer, as well. 7. The app will usually ask for your Wi-Fi credentials, which enables the device to connect to and operate over your network. Having the device on your network is also how Alexa discovers and operates the device, so this step is important. 8. If you see a notice asking whether you want to upgrade the smart-home device firmware, by all means tap Yes or Allow or Update or whatever button answers in the affirmative. With your smart-home device installed, you can view it and rename it if you so desire in the Alexa app. Just tap the Devices icon to open the Devices screen, and from there, you can change the settings for your device. Discover Smart-Home Devices Using an Alexa skill If you’re not using an Alexa device that includes a smart-home hub (such as the Echo Plus and second-generation Echo Show), then you usually need to upgrade Alexa to work with your smart-home device. You upgrade Alexa by enabling the device manufacturer’s Alexa skill. This not only lets Alexa discover the device but also upgrades Alexa with the voice commands that enable you operate the device. 1. Install the manufacturer’s app and use it to get your smart-home device on your Wi-Fi network. 2. In the Alexa app, tap Devices. 3. Tap the Add button (+) that appears in the top-right corner. 4. Tap Add Device. The Alexa app displays icons for some popular brands and some device categories. 5. Tap the category that fits your device, and then tap the manufacturer. The Alexa app prompts you to perform the duties I outline in Step 1. You’ve done all that, so proceed. 6. Tap Continue. The Alexa app opens the information page for the manufacturer’s Alexa skill. 7. Tap Enable. At this point, what happens next depends on the skill, but you’ll usually have to perform one or both of the following: Use the smart-home device app to give Alexa permission to access the device. Link Alexa to the user account associated with the smart-home device. 8. When you’re done, tap Close (X) to return to the skill page. 9. Tap Discover Devices. The Alexa app uses the manufacturer’s Alexa skill to search for available devices. 10. Tap Done. With a manufacturer’s Alexa skill enabled, you can discover new devices by following steps 1 through 5 and then tapping Discover Devices, or you can ask Alexa to run the following voice command: “Alexa, discover my devices.” Control Smart-Home Devices with Alexa Devices Alexa can control are any Alexa-compatible plugs, lights, thermostats, garage door openers, security devices, speaker, TVs, and so on. There are actually three methods you can use to control a smart-home device: Voice commands: This is how you’ll operate most of your smart-home devices, and the rest of this section takes you through the most common voice commands for a selection of smart-home devices. Alexa app: If you have your Alexa device microphone turned off, you can still use the Alexa app to control your smart-home devices. Tap Devices, tap the device type (or All Devices), and then tap the device you want to mess with. The screen that appears contains the controls you can use. Alexa device with a screen: Swipe down from the top of the screen to open the status bar, and then tap the icon for the device type (such as a bulb icon for your smart lights, plugs, and switches). Note, too, that after you issue a smart-home device-related command to an Alexa device with a screen, you see some device controls on the screen for a few seconds. Turn smart plugs on and off with Alexa A smart plug is an electrical outlet that you can control with voice commands. The smart outlet plugs into a regular electrical outlet for power and then you plug a non-smart device — such as a lamp or coffeemaker — into the smart outlet. Voilà! You now have voice control over the dumb device. Note, however, that “control” here just means turning the device on and off using the following voice commands: “Alexa, turn [device name] on.” “Alexa, turn [device name] off.” Replace device name with the name you gave to the smart plug using either the manufacturer’s app or the Alexa app. Work with smart lights and Alexa Another easy and relatively inexpensive way to get your smart-home feet wet is with a smart lightbulb or two. You can buy a smart bulb for less than $20, and installing it is as easy as changing any regular lightbulb. You can also get smart bulbs that change brightness without a separate dimmer switch and that can display different colors. Here are the voice commands to use to turn a smart lightbulb or light switch on or off: “Alexa, turn [device name] on.” “Alexa, turn [device name] off.” For dimmable smart lights (or smart dimmer switches), use any of the following voice commands: “Alexa, brighten [device name].” “Alexa, dim [device name].” “Alexa, set [device name] brightness to [number] percent.” For smart lights that support different colors, use these voice commands: “Alexa, set [device name] to warm white.” “Alexa, set [device name] to cool white.” “Alexa, set [device name] to [color].” (For example, “Alexa, set Chill Room to blue.”) Control smart thermostats with Alexa A smart thermostat gives you voice control over not only the thermostat mode — for example, switching between heating and cooling — but also the temperature setting. You can also interrogate a smart thermostat to learn the current temperature setting. After you’ve installed a smart thermostat, you can control it using the following voice commands: “Alexa, set [device name] to cool.” “Alexa, set [device name] to heat.” “Alexa, set [device name] to auto.” “Alexa, set [device name] to off.” “Alexa, set [device name] to [number] degrees.” “Alexa, increase [device name] by [number] degrees.” “Alexa, decrease [device name] by [number] degrees.” “Alexa, what is [device name]’s temperature?” “Alexa, what is [device name] set to?” Keep an eye on things with Alexa and smart cameras Smart cameras come in both outdoor versions and indoor versions. Outdoor cameras are usually called security cameras or surveillance cameras. You can also get a smart doorbell that has a built-in camera that activates whenever someone rings the bell. If you have an Alexa device with a screen, you can show the smart camera’s feed right on your screen by saying the following voice command: “Alexa, show [device name].” To turn off the camera feed, issue the following voice command: “Alexa, hide [device name].” Other Types of Smart-Home Devices That Work with Alexa Here’s a quick summary (in no particular order) of what’s out there that’s Alexa-friendly: Smart speakers: Echo isn’t the only smart speaker game in town. Big-time audio companies such as Bose, Denon, and Sonos have their own smart speakers that have Alexa built in. Smart locks: These are door locks that you can control with your voice. Smart sprinklers: You can control and schedule garden and lawn watering with a smart sprinkler system. Smart TVs: This is a television or remote that you can control by voice. Smart appliances: These are kitchen appliances that you can operate with voice commands. Amazon’s new Alexa-friendly microwave is the latest addition to this category. Smart vacuums: Why push a vacuum yourself when you can have a robot vacuum that you control via voice?

Article / Updated 07-28-2022

The Amazon Alexa equivalent of apps are called skills. Like a mobile device, Alexa can do a few things out of the box, such as playing music or audiobooks, telling you the time or the weather, and making voice or video calls. But if you want to know how to use Alexa to perform more specialized tasks, then you need to add the appropriate skills from the Amazon Alexa skills list. It's pretty much the same as adding new apps to your smart phone. What kinds of skills can you add? Well, more than 50,000 skills are available in categories such as Business & Finance, Education & Reference, Games, Trivia & Accessories, and Smart Home, so the sky is pretty much the limit. Want to hail an Uber or Lyft ride? There are skills for that. Want to know what’s on TV tonight? There’s a skill for that. Want to play an adventure game or challenge you and your family with some trivia? There are skills for those, too. How to find top Alexa skills The skill equivalent of an app store is Amazon’s Alexa Skills list, which you can access in one of two ways: On the web: Use your favorite web browser to surf to www.amazon.com (or your local Amazon domain, such as www.amazon.ca for Canada), and then choose Departments→Echo & Alexa→Alexa Skills. In the Alexa app: Choose Menu→Skills & Games. By default, the Alexa app doesn’t show skills that were designed specifically for children. To see those skills, you need to adjust your settings. Choose Menu→Settings→Alexa Account→Kid Skills, and then tap the Allow Kid Skills switch to On. (If you don’t see the Kid Skills item, it means that feature hasn’t been rolled out in your location just yet.) Whether you’re using the web or the app, you see a few featured skills upfront, and you also get a search box to locate specific skills. However, when you’re just starting out, it’s usually best to examine the various skill categories, which are listed on the left side of the web page. In the Alexa app, tap the Categories button to see the list. Select a category to see what’s available. If something looks interesting, select the skill to open its info page, which gives you a description of the skill, voice commands you can use, user ratings, and any permissions that are required (such as allowing notifications or giving your address for a delivery skill). You may also see these two phrases, which require a little explanation: In-Skill Purchases Available: The skill offers extra features or content that you can purchase while using the skill. Account Linking Required: The skill requires access to a third-party user account. For example, if you want to use a ride-sharing service such as Lyft or Uber, both of which offer Alexa skills, you must give the skill permission to access your user account on the service, a process called account linking. How to use Alexa Skills If you locate a skill that looks fun, entertaining, or useful, go ahead and give it a try (hey, it’s free, remember?). To use a skill with Alexa, you must enable it. Enable an Alexa skill with a voice command To enable a skill with your voice, use either of the following commands: “Alexa, enable [skill].” “Alexa, open [skill].” Here, skill is the so-called invocation name of the skill: a word or phrase unique to the skill. How in the name of Jeff Bezos are you supposed to know a skill’s invocation name? That’s available on the skill’s info page, in the Skill Details section. Alexa tells you the skill is enabled and then invokes the skill. The first time the skill runs, you usually get a brief introduction and some suggested commands or tasks. If the skill requires permission from you to access information on your Alexa device, you can’t enable the skill with a voice command. Instead, you have to use the Alexa app. Enable an Alexa skill using the Alexa app You can also enable a skill using the Alexa app, as shown in the following steps: In the Alexa app, choose Menu→Skills & Games. Locate the skill you want to enable. Tap the skill to open its information page. Tap Enable. If the skill requires extra permissions from you, you see the Skill Permissions dialog. If you see the Skill Permissions dialog, set the permission switch or switches to On or Off, as desired, and then tap Save Permissions. Alexa enables the skill. 30 Cool Alexa skills to try With more than 50,000 skills available, finding a useful, fun, or entertaining skill is a true needle-in-the-proverbial-haystack exercise. Who has time to comb through either a haystack or Amazon’s Alexa Skills list? If you’re just not sure where to begin, let me help. Here are 30 ready-to-enable skills that you can take for a test drive. Top Alexa skills for daily living AnyPod: A podcast skill that enables you to add podcasts to your library, sync your listening history to your Alexa device, and much more. Invocation name: anypod. Lyft: Enables you to use Alexa to hail a Lyft. Account linking is required. Invocation name: lyft. Mastermind: An all-purpose AI-driven assistant that you can use to send text messages and emails, make phone calls, search the web, and tons more. Invocation name: mastermind. Uber: Enables you to use Alexa to hail an Uber. Account linking is required. Invocation name: uber. Top Amazon Alexa skills for news, weather, and information Big Sky: A weather skill that goes well beyond the default Alexa weather report. Account linking is required. Invocation name: big sky. CBC: News, music, or a specific Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio One station. Invocation name: CBC. Curiosity: This skill asks you to choose between two topics and then tells you interesting facts about the topic you chose. Invocation name: curiosity. Feels Like: Tells you what the current temperature in your location feels like, meaning the wind-chill temperature in winter and the humidex in summer. Invocation name: feels like. Learn Something Radio: Plays daily new episodes from some of the web’s most learned brands, including NPR, 99% Invisible, and Freakonomics Radio. Invocation name: learn something radio. NPR News Now: News stories from National Public Radio, delivered via Alexa’s Flash Briefing. Invocation name: npr news now. SAT Word of the Day: Presents a new word each day, spells the word, and uses it in a sample sentence. Invocation name: s-a-t word of the day. TED Talks: Gives you audio access to all the TED Talks. Invocation name: ted talks. The Daily Show: A satiric takes on the day’s news stories, delivered as part of your Flash Briefing. Invocation name: the daily show. This Day in History: Tells you the top historical event that occurred on the current day of the year. Invocation name: this day in history. Translated: Translates short phrases from English into more than three dozen languages, from American Spanish to Welsh. Invocation name: translated. Top Amazon Alexa skills for health, fitness, and safety 7-Minute Workout: Daily workouts that aim to improve strength and aerobic fitness in just seven minutes. Invocation name: seven-minute workout. Burglar Deterrent: Protects your home when you’re out by playing realistic audio for activities such as talking, cleaning, and cooking to make it seem as though someone’s home. Invocation name: burglar deterrent. Mayo Clinic First Aid: Provides first-aid instructions for common injuries and illnesses. Invocation name: mayo first aid. What to Expect: Daily tips and advice during pregnancy. Invocation name: what to expect. Top Amazon Alexa skills for inspiration Headspace: Provides guided meditations, including a new guided meditation each day. Invocation name: headspace. Inspire Me: Inspirational quotations from famous people (who do the talking instead of Alexa) that you can invoke at random, by speaker, or by topic. Invocation name: inspire me. Top Alexa skills for cooking (and drinking) The Bartender: Delivers cocktail recipes. Invocation name: the bartender. Meat Thermometer: Say a type of meat (such as “steak”) and how you want it cooked (such as “medium rare”), and this app tells you the internal temperature to shoot for. Invocation name: meat thermometer. MySomm: A wine-pairing skill. That is, given a food, the skill suggests a wine to go with it. Invocation name: wine gal. Top Amazon Alexa skills for fun and relaxation Akinator: Think of a real or fictional character and this skill guesses the name of that character after asking a few questions. Invocation name: akinator. Alexa Things to Try: Gives you a daily Alexa tip and news on the latest Alexa features as part of your Flash Briefing. Invocation name: flash briefing. Amazon Storytime: Plays professionally narrated short stories for kids aged 5 through 12. Invocation name: amazon storytime. Ambient Sounds: A collection of sound loops to help you sleep, relax, or block out noises. There are a few dozen sounds in all, including thunderstorms, windy trees, and fireplace. Invocation name: ambient sounds. The Magic Door: An interactive adventure game. Invocation name: the magic door. The Wayne Investigation: An interactive mystery game where the choices you make as you investigate a mystery affect the outcome of the story. Invocation name: the wayne investigation. Many of these skills are only available in certain countries. If you don’t see the skill either in Amazon’s Alexa Skills list or in the Alexa app, it means the skill isn’t available where you live.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 08-16-2021

Alexa isn’t difficult to set up. But after the initial startup chores are complete, perhaps the most common question people ask is, “What do I do now?” It’s a reasonable question, especially if you’re looking at an Echo, Echo Dot, or Echo Plus, which give you no hints about what your next step is supposed to be. As a way of helping you answer the “Now what?” question, this Cheat Sheet takes you through a few important initial tasks and customizations, as well as a fistful of voice commands to make Alexa do some useful and fun things.

Article / Updated 07-29-2019

With Amazon Alexa in the house, you now can issue a voice command to order up whatever music you feel like hearing, all without moving an inch from where you are. Playing music is one of most popular Alexa skills. How to play music through Alexa The first thing you have to decide is how you want to play your music through Alexa. You have two choices: Use a music service provider. This is a third-party service that supplies you with music, sometimes for a fee. Examples include Amazon Music and Spotify. Use your mobile device music. If your music is stored on a smartphone or tablet, you can stream that music through your Alexa device using a Bluetooth connection. How to link Alexa to a music provider like Spotify Alexa doesn’t have access to music on its own. Instead, you need to connect Alexa to whatever music provider service you use. The services supported by Alexa depend on where you live, but common providers include Amazon Music, Spotify, and TuneIn. Some music providers require you to have a special type of account or subscription before they’ll let you connect to Alexa. For example, you can only connect Spotify to Alexa if you have a Spotify Premium subscription. Before Alexa can use a music provider, you need to give Alexa permission to access your account on that provider. This is called linking your account, and you need to link each music provider you want to access through Alexa. (The exception here is Amazon Music, which is automatically linked to Alexa when you log in to Amazon using the Alexa app.) Follow these steps to link a music provider to Alexa: In the Alexa app, choose Menu → Settings. The Settings menu appears. Tap Music. The Alexa app displays the Music Services screen, which looks similar to the following figure. If the service you want to use requires permission to allow Alexa to access your account, you see a link to the right of the service. In the figure, for example, you see “Link account on Spotify.com” next to the Spotify service. Tap the link to the right of the service, and then follow the instructions that appear. In most cases, you need to log in to your music service and then tap the link or button that authorizes Alexa to access your account. When the link is complete, tap Close (X) in the upper-right corner of the app. The Alexa app displays a notification to let you know that you can use Settings to change the default music provider. If you want to change the default provider, tap the notification’s Go to Settings. Set up a default music provider, like Spotify, for Amazon Alexa When you connect the Alexa app to your Amazon account, you get automatic access to Amazon Music, which Alexa sets up as your default music provider. Here, “default” means that when you ask Alexa to play, for example, a song or an artist, Alexa retrieves that music from the default service. Note, too, that just because you set up one music service as the default, it doesn’t mean that you can’t ever use some other service. For example, if you’re using Amazon Music as the default provider, but you also have your Spotify account linked to Alexa, you can still play something from Spotify by including the service name as part of your voice command. For example: “Alexa, play Camera Obscura from Spotify.” If you’re cool with using Amazon Music as your default provider, there’s nothing to see here, so feel free to move on to the next section. If, instead, you want to use a different provider as the default, you need to follow these steps to set up that provider as Alexa’s default music service: In the Alexa app, choose Menu → Settings. The Settings menu appears. Tap Music. The Alexa app displays the Music Services screen. Tap Choose Default Music Services. The Alexa app prompts you to choose a default music library and radio station service, as shown in the following figure. Select a music service under the Default Music Library section. Select a music service under the Default Station Service section. Tap Done. The Alexa app updates your music settings. Voice commands for controlling music on Amazon Alexa Okay, now it’s time to get down, get funky, or get wherever you end up when you listen to your favorite music. Alexa has an extremely long list of voice commands for playing and controlling music. Some notes to bear in mind as you work through these commands: Not all these commands will work on all music services. Almost all of them work as advertised on Amazon Music, but your results will vary if you try them with another provider (such as Spotify). Except where noted, all these commands work on the default music service. To run a command on another service that you’ve linked to Alexa, follow the command with “on [service],” where service is the name of the music provider (for example, “on Spotify”). You can replace the word song with track or You can replace the word music with How to play music by song, album, or artist Here are some commands to order up music by song title, album title, or artist name: “Alexa, play the song [title].” “Alexa, play the song [title] by [artist].” “Alexa, play the album [title].” “Alexa, play music by [artist].” “Alexa, play popular songs by [artist].” “Alexa, play the latest [artist] album.” “Alexa, play that song that goes [lyrics].” (For example, “Alexa, play that song that goes ‘Who let the dogs out.’”) “Alexa, play the song I just bought.” How to play music by genre To get Alexa to play songs from a particular music genre, use the following command: “Alexa, play [genre] music.” For genre, there are dozens of possibilities, but here are the most popular: Acoustic Electronic Metal Alternative Folk New age Blues Gospel Opera Broadway Hard rock Pop Children’s Hip hop R&B Christian Holiday Rap Classic rock Indie Rock Classical International Soundtracks Country Jazz Vocal Dance Latin World Easy listening Meditation How to play music by mood and/or activity One of Amazon Music’s most interesting features lets you request music to suit a mood (such as mellow or upbeat) and/or an activity (such as relaxing or running). Although no definitive list exists, Amazon claims that it supports more than 500 moods and activities. Here are some commands you can use: “Alexa, play [mood] music.” “Alexa, play [activity] music.” “Alexa, play music for [activity].” “Alexa, play [mood] [activity] music.” For the mood, you can try just about any mental state, including angry, chill, energetic, feeling good, happy, joyful, laid back, mellow, relaxed, romantic, sad, or upbeat. For the activity, try describing just about anything you’re currently doing, including cleaning, cooking, eating dinner, going to sleep, meditating, partying, reading, relaxing, running, studying, waking up, working, or working out. This feature generally works only on Amazon Music. Also, not every mood, activity, or mood/activity combo works. Alexa tries to match your request with an existing playlist that’s been created by Amazon, and if no such playlist exists — for example, if you ask for “energetic going-to-sleep music” — then Alexa will tell you it can’t find any music to satisfy your request. How to play and control playlists Alexa offers a few commands for creating, populating, and playing custom collections of songs, otherwise known as playlists: “Alexa, create a playlist named [title].” “Alexa, add this song to a new playlist named [title].” “Alexa, add this song to the playlist named [title].” “Alexa, play my playlist named [title].” “Alexa, shuffle my playlist named [title].” How to get information about music If you want to know information about a song, album, or artist, Alexa can help. Here are a few commands to try: “Alexa, who sings this song?” “Alexa, who sings the song [title]?” “Alexa, who is in the band [artist]?” “Alexa, what year did [artist] release [song or album]?” How to discover new music on Alexa If you’re in the mood for something new, here are a few commands you can use to listen to music that’s new or outside of what you normally play: “Alexa, play new music.” “Alexa, play new music by [artist].” “Alexa, play new [genre] music.” “Alexa, play the song of the day.” “Alexa, play [artist] station.” “Alexa, play some music.” “Alexa, play more songs like this.” “Alexa, play songs similar to this.” “Alexa, play songs similar to [title].” “Alexa, play songs similar to [artist].” “Alexa, play some other music I like.” “Alexa, play songs I haven’t heard.” “Alexa, play [artist] songs I haven’t heard.” How to rate music on Alexa Alexa can make better recommendations if you tell it which songs you like and which ones you dislike. Here are some commands that’ll help: “Alexa, thumbs up.” “Alexa, I like this song.” “Alexa, thumbs down.” “Alexa, I don’t like this song.” How to play popular music on Alexa If you want to hear the most popular songs, here are some commands that will get you there: “Alexa, play the top songs.” “Alexa, play the top [genre] songs.” “Alexa, play the top songs from the [decade].” “Alexa, play the top songs in [country].” How to control the volume of music on Alexa To get the music volume just right, here are some commands you can use: “Alexa, volume up.” “Alexa, increase the volume.” “Alexa, raise the volume.” “Alexa, louder.” “Alexa, volume down.” “Alexa, decrease the volume.” “Alexa, lower the volume.” “Alexa, softer.” “Alexa, set the volume to [number from 1 through 10].” “Alexa, volume [number from 1 through 10].” “Alexa, mute.” “Alexa, unmute.” How to control playback of Alexa music While Alexa is playing music, you can use the following commands to control the playback: “Alexa, stop.” “Alexa, pause.” “Alexa, play.” “Alexa, resume.” “Alexa, next.” “Alexa, previous.” “Alexa, turn shuffle on.” “Alexa, turn shuffle off.” “Alexa, turn repeat on.” “Alexa, turn repeat off.” “Alexa, skip back [number] seconds.” “Alexa, skip forward [number] seconds.” “Alexa, restart song.” “Alexa, restart album.” “Alexa, restart playlist.” How to access Alexa via the Amazon Music app If you get your jams through Amazon Music, not only can you access your music via any Alexa device, but you can also access Alexa via the Amazon Music app, which is available for iOS and Android. This means you can use all the preceding voice commands to control the Amazon Music app. Here are the steps to follow to get started: Install and then start the Amazon Music app. The app asks you to sign in to your Amazon account. Type your Amazon email address (or mobile phone number, if you have a mobile Amazon account), type your Amazon password, and then tap Sign In. If you have two-step authentication turned on, enter the code you were sent and then tap Sign In. Tap the Alexa icon in the bottom toolbar. The first time you access Alexa, the app asks your permission to use your mobile device’s microphone. Tap Allow Microphone Access. Tap OK (iOS) or Allow (Android). The Amazon Music app is now ready to accept voice commands. Either say, “Alexa,” or tap the Alexa icon, and then say your command. If you want, you can play Amazon Music content through your Alexa device. Here are the steps to follow: Tap the Menu icon (the three vertical dots) in the upper-right corner of the Amazon Music app. Tap Connect to a Device. The Amazon Music app displays a list of available devices, which includes any Alexa devices on your network, as shown. Tap the Alexa device you want to use for playback. Your Amazon Music content now plays through your Alexa device. The downside to playing your Amazon Music selections through an Alexa device is that you forgo the ability to use Alexa in the Amazon Music app. To get Alexa back on the job in the Amazon Music app, you must disconnect from the Alexa device. To do that, choose Menu→ Connect to a Device, and then tap the Disconnect button next to your Alexa device. How to play third-party music through Alexa devices If you have a third-party music provider linked to Alexa, you normally ask Alexa to play music from that provider either by specifying the provider name in the voice command (for example, “Alexa, play the Chill playlist on Spotify”) or by setting up that provider as the default. However, there’s a third method available: You can use the music provider’s app to select your Alexa device as the playback device. For example, in the Spotify app, if you choose Settings → Devices→Devices Menu, you see the Connect to a Device screen, which offers a list of available devices that you can use for playback. This list will look similar to the one shown here, which you can see contains a couple of Echo devices and a Sonos speaker. Tap the Alexa device you want to use and then any music you crank up in the app will play through your Alexa device. How to adjust Alexa's music quality Amazon Echo devices come with a feature sure to warm the cockles of audio-geeks’ hearts everywhere: an equalizer. If you’re not an audio aficionado, an equalizer is a device for adjusting the sound quality by controlling different sound components. Real-world equalizers bristle with obscure settings, but Echo devices mercifully support only three: Bass: This component controls the lowest tones in the music. Treble: This component controls the highest tones in the music. Midrange: This component controls all tones in the music that lie between the bass and treble tones. You can use Alexa to control each of these settings as follows: “Alexa, increase the bass.” “Alexa, increase the midrange.” “Alexa, increase the treble.” “Alexa, decrease the bass.” “Alexa, decrease the midrange.” “Alexa, decrease the treble.” “Alexa, set the bass to maximum.” “Alexa, set the midrange to maximum.” “Alexa, set the treble to maximum.” “Alexa, set the bass to minimum.” “Alexa, set the midrange to minimum.” “Alexa, set the treble to minimum.” “Alexa, set the bass/midrange/treble to [number from –6 through 6].” “Alexa, reset the equalizer.” If you happen to have the Alexa app open, you can also use it to make equalizer adjustments. Choose Devices →Echo & Alexa, tap the Echo device you want to adjust, and then choose Sounds→ Equalizer. Use the Bass, Mid, and Treble sliders to adjust the settings as needed. If you have an Echo Show or Echo Spot, you can mess up, er, sorry, mess around with the sound quality by opening Settings and then choosing Sounds→Equalizer. Use the Bass, Mid, and Treble sliders to adjust the settings to taste.

Article / Updated 06-14-2019

Amazon Alexa isn’t the surveillance nightmare that some privacy advocates say it is, but neither should you take your privacy for granted. After all, you’ve invited a dedicated listening device into your home, a device that, moreover, sends recordings of your voice to some cloud and stores them there. Is Alexa always listening? Is Alexa recording everything you say? There are steps you can (and should) take to protect your personal data. Make sure your Wi-Fi network is locked up tight The first step in securing Alexa is securing the network that Alexa uses to access the Internet: your home Wi-Fi network. A secure Wi-Fi network is necessary because of a practice called wardriving, where a black-hat hacker drives through various neighborhoods with a portable computer or another device set up to look for available wireless networks. If the miscreant finds an unsecured network, he uses it for free Internet access (such a person is called a piggybacker) or to cause mischief with shared network resources. The problem is that wireless networks are inherently unsecure because the wireless connection that enables you to access Alexa from the kitchen or the living room can also enable an intruder from outside your home to access the network. Fortunately, you can secure your wireless network against these threats with a few tweaks and techniques: Most of what follows here requires access to your Wi-Fi router’s administration or setup pages. See your router’s documentation to learn how to perform these tasks. Change the router’s administrator password. By far the most important configuration chore for any new Wi-Fi router is to change the default password (and username, if your router requires one). The administrative password is the password you use to log on to the router’s setup pages. This password has nothing to do with the password you use to log on to your Internet service provider (ISP) or to your wireless network. Changing the default administrative password is crucial because it’s fairly easy for a nearby malicious hacker to access your router’s login page and all new routers use common (and, therefore, well-known) default passwords (such as “password”) and usernames (such as “admin”). Change the Wi-Fi network password. Make sure your Wi-Fi network is protected by a robust, hard-to-guess password to avoid unauthorized access. Beef up your Wi-Fi router’s encryption. To ensure that no nearby mischief-maker can intercept your network data (using a tool called a packet sniffer), you need to encrypt your wireless network. Some older routers either have no encryption turned on or use an outdated (read: unsecure) encryption called Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). The current gold standard for encryption is Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2), so make sure your router uses this security type. Check your network name for identifying info. Make sure the name of your Wi-Fi network — known as its service set identifier (SSID) — doesn’t include any text that identifies you (for example, “Joe Flaherty’s Network”) or your location (“123 Primrose Lane Wi-Fi”). Update your router’s firmware. The internal program that runs the Wi-Fi router is called its Reputable router manufacturers release regular firmware updates not only to fix problems and provide new features, but also to plug security holes. Therefore, it’s crucial to always keep your router’s firmware up to date. Create a separate Wi-Fi network for smart-home stuff. If your router supports multiple networks, set up one network for your regular web access and a second network for your smart-home devices. Home-automation gadgets tend not to be very secure, so by shunting them (and Alexa) off to a separate network, you keep your regular network safe. If you create a second Wi-Fi network for your Alexa and smart-home devices, the Alexa app and any device manufacturer apps will be able to work only with their respective devices if the smartphone (or tablet) running the apps is also connected to that network. Change Alexa’s Wake Word In 2018, an Echo device surreptitiously recorded a conversation between a wife and her husband, and then sent that conversation to one of the husband’s work colleagues. Did Alexa have a grudge against the couple, or was it all just a series of unfortunate events? Happily, it seems to have been the latter (Alexa, so far as we know, can hold no grudges). Amazon’s explanation for the bizarre occurrence was that the following equally bizarre series occurred: Alexa heard a word in the conversation that sounded like “Alexa,” the default wake word, so it began recording the conversation. Alexa subsequently heard a phrase in the conversation that sounded like “send message.” Alexa then asked, “To whom?” As the conversation continued, Alexa heard what sounded like the name of a person in the couple’s Contacts list. Alexa repeated the contact’s name and asked, “Right?” Alexa heard a word — such as “Yes” or “Right” — that it interpreted as confirmation, so it stopped recording and sent the conversation as a message to the contact. Each of these steps is improbable on its own, but for four of them to happen in a row seems so unlikely that it induces belief. It did happen, though, and the only other explanation is malice aforethought on Alexa’s part. Assuming that Alexa is not a sociopath, what can be done to prevent such an alarming privacy breach? Amazon says it’s working on ways to ensure that this series of events doesn’t happen again, but in the meantime, you can see that it all started with the Alexa device “hearing” the default wake word: “Alexa.” So, a good first step is to change the wake word to another word that you’re less likely to say. There are three other possible wake words — Amazon, Echo, and Computer — and you choose one of them by following these steps: In the Alexa app, tap the Devices icon. Tap Echo & Alexa (or All Devices). Tap your Alexa device. Tap Wake Word. The Alexa app displays the Wake Word screen, as shown. Tap the wake word you prefer to use. The Alexa app warns you that it will take a few minutes to update your device to the new wake word. Tap OK. Alexa updates the wake word. Note that until the update is complete, you won’t be able to use your Alexa device or the voice component of the Alexa app. Stop Alexa from listening (and watching) It’s unfortunate that Alexa doesn’t offer a way to specify a custom wake word. The problem is that the default wake word choices — Alexa, Amazon, Echo, and Computer — aren’t that unique, so it’s easy to invoke Alexa by accident. Letting you specify an unmistakable wake word — such as, say, “Beelzebub” or “rutabaga” — would go a long way to prevent accidental Alexa wakeups. Also, you should be aware that your Alexa device really is listening to everything you say. The device maintains a constant audio buffer — a one-second-long recording — that it monitors for the wake word. Therefore, to prevent inadvertent wakeups or to prevent that creepy feeling of knowing the device is listening to you right now, if you know you won’t be using Alexa for a while, you should turn off the device microphone. You do that by pressing the Microphone Off button. Another good reason to mute your Alexa device when you’re not using it is the so-called dolphin attack that researchers demonstrated recently. Broadcasting audio at a frequency too high for humans to hear (but within the range of dolphin ears, hence the name of the attack), the researchers were able to surreptitiously make Alexa devices dial phone numbers and take photographs. If you have an Alexa device with a screen, it means you also have an Alexa device with a camera. However, device cameras are notoriously hackable, meaning some creep could gain access to the camera to watch you or take photos. When you mute your device, you also turn off the camera. But when you have the microphone on, it’s not a bad idea to be paranoid and turn off the camera if you don’t need it: Swipe down the from the top of the screen. Tap Settings. Tap Device Options. Tap the Camera switch to Off. Trash sensitive Alexa recordings When you say Alexa’s wake word, your Alexa device begins recording everything it hears until your interaction is complete. You may think Amazon just deletes those recordings after Alexa is done with them, but that’s not the case. In fact, Amazon keeps your Alexa recordings indefinitely. Why would Amazon do such a thing? For the simple and innocent reason that Amazon uses your old voice recordings to improve your Alexa experience. Alexa “learns” your voice and your preferences, and that makes your Alexa interactions better every time you use it. That Amazon has recordings of you asking for the time, the latest Death Cab for Cutie song, or breaking-wind sound effects may seem like no big deal. But as you get more used to having Alexa around, you may expose more private or sensitive information in your conversations, such as medical problems, legal issues, and financial preferences. If having those types of recordings stored indefinitely in the cloud somewhere gives you the heebie-jeebies (and it should), then you should delete your Alexa recordings. You don't have to delete everything. That’s probably not a good idea anyway because it would almost certainly mean that your Alexa experience would get much worse for a while as Alexa relearns your voice and preferences. Fortunately, you can be selective about the recordings you delete. Here’s what to do: In the Alexa app, choose Menu →Settings. Choose Alexa Account→ Alexa Privacy. Tap Review Voice History. The Alexa app displays the Review Voice History screen, which by default shows your recordings made today. Use the Date Range list to select the recordings you want to review. Your choices are Today, Yesterday, This Week, This Month, All History, or Custom. If you go with Custom, use the controls that show up to select the day, month, and year for the Start Date and End Date you want to review; then tap Show. Each recording shows when the interaction occurred and on which device. Importantly, in most cases you also see the text of your Alexa voice command. If you want to hear the recording itself, tap the interaction’s Show icon (the downward-pointing arrow) and then tap the Play button. The figure shows a typical list of recordings. Choose how you want to delete the voice recordings: To delete individual recordings, select the check box to the left of each recording and then tap Delete Selected Recordings. To delete all the recordings in the current date range, tap Delete All Recordings for [range], where range is the current Date Range value from Step 4. When the Alexa app asks you to confirm the deletion, tap Yes. The Alexa app deletes your voice recordings. Configure Alexa not to use your personal data By default, Amazon Voice Services (AVS) uses some of your Alexa-generated data to improve and enhance Alexa. There are two types of data that Amazon uses to make Alexa better: Voice recordings: When Amazon is developing a new feature for Alexa, it uses some of its customers’ voice recordings to “train” Alexa on that new feature. The more diverse that collection of recordings is, the more likely it is that the feature will work well for a broad range of users. Text messages: When you use a voice command to send a text message through your Alexa device, AVS transcribes that recording into text to ship to your recipient. AVS also uses your messages to analyze the accuracy of its transcriptions. If you’re uncomfortable having your Alexa data used in either or both ways, you can configure Alexa to not include your data when it’s improving Alexa. Here are the steps to follow: In the Alexa app, choose Menu → Settings. Choose Alexa Account → Alexa Privacy. Tap Manage How Your Data Improves Alexa. The Alexa app displays the Manage How Your Data Improves Alexa screen, shown in the following figure. If you don’t want Amazon to use your voice recordings, tap the Help Develop New Features switch to Off. The Alexa app asks you to confirm. Tap Turn Off. If you don’t want Amazon to use your text messages, tap the switch that appears beside your name in the Use Messages to Improve Transcriptions section to Off. Shut down Alexa’s communications Alexa’s communication features enable you to send messages, make voice or video calls, and drop in (with permission) on other Alexa users, or have them drop in on you. It’s undoubtedly convenient to be able to perform these tasks hands-free, but they do open up some security and privacy concerns: Messages are received as an audio file. That’s sounds benign, but it may be possible for an attacker to fool Alexa into “playing” an audio file that contains malicious code. Enabling Drop In on your Alexa device means someone in your Contacts list could initiate a voice or even a video conversation with you without warning. Alexa requires access to your contacts, but if an attacker could somehow manage to access your Alexa device, then your contacts’ information would also be compromised. You can get around these concerns by turning off Alexa’s communications features and revoking access to your contacts. Turn communications off If you don’t use (or rarely use) your Alexa device to send or receive messages or drop-ins, you can make your device both more secure and more private by disabling all its communications features. Here’s how it’s done: In the Alexa app, tap the Devices icon. Tap Echo & Alexa (or All Devices). Tap your Alexa device. Tap Communications. Tap the Communications switch to Off, as shown. If you only want to disable the intrusive Drop In feature, leave the Communications switch in the On position and instead tap the Off option in the Drop In section. Revoke access to your contacts If you’ve shut down Alexa’s communications features permanently, then you should also revoke Alexa’s access to your contacts because you no longer need them. Revoking access to contacts causes two things to happen: Alexa no longer imports new and changed contacts from your mobile device’s Contacts app. The previously imported contacts are deleted from Amazon’s servers. Here’s what to do: In the Alexa app, choose Menu → Contacts. Tap Manage Contacts, which is the three-dots icon in the upper-right corner. Tap Import Contacts. Tap the Import Contacts switch to Off, as shown. The Alexa app asks you to confirm. Tap Disable. The Alexa app stops importing your mobile-device contacts, and your previously imported contacts are deleted from Amazon. Secure your Amazon account Because everything Alexa does is tied to your Amazon account, your Alexa experience is only as secure as your Amazon account. Therefore, it’s vital to ensure that you’ve got your Amazon account locked down. Fortunately, that requires just two things: giving your account a strong password and turning on Amazon’s Two-Step Verification feature. Give your Amazon account a bulletproof password Your Amazon account’s first line of defense is a strong password. First, get a bulletproof password figured out, and then follow these steps to change your existing Amazon password: Surf to your country’s Amazon domain and sign in to your account. Click Accounts & Lists → Your Account. On other Amazon domains, you usually click Your Account →Manage Your Content and Devices. Click Login & Security. Click the Edit button beside the Password setting. Amazon displays the Change Password page, shown here. Type your current password. Type your new, strong password in the two text boxes. Click Save Changes. Amazon applies the new password to your account. Turn on Amazon’s Two-Step Verification A password made of steel is a necessary security feature, but, sadly, it’s not a sufficient security feature. A malicious user may still worm his way into your account with guile or brute force, so you need a second line of defense. That line is a feature that Amazon calls Two-Step Verification (which is a more comprehensible name than what the rest of the Internet most often uses for the same feature: Two-Factor Authentication). The “Two-Step” part means that getting access to your Amazon account requires two separate actions: Sign in using your Amazon account credentials. Verify that you’re authorized to access the account by entering a code that Amazon sends via text or voice to a phone number you control. Here are the steps to follow to enable Two-Step Verification and tell Amazon how you want to receive your verification codes: Surf to your country’s Amazon domain and sign in to your account. Click Accounts & Lists → Your Account. On other Amazon domains, you usually click Your Account → Manage Your Content and Devices. Click Login & Security. Click the Edit button beside Advanced Security Settings. Amazon displays the Advanced Security Settings page. Click the Get Started button that appears to the right of the Two-Step Verification label. Amazon asks how you want to receive your Two-Step Verification codes, as shown. Select the radio button for the method you want to use. Most people select Text Message, but you can also select Voice Delivery to get the code through an automated call, instead. Enter the phone number, and then click Send Code. Amazon sends you a test code. Use the Enter the Code That Is Sent to Your Device text box to do just that, and then click the Verify Code and Continue button. Amazon displays some information about using Two-Step Verification on devices that can’t display a second screen to enter the verification code. Click Got It. Turn on Two-Step Verification. Two-Step Verification is now active on your Amazon account. Delete your saved Wi-Fi passwords Amazon’s Wi-Fi Simple Setup technology makes it easier to set up supported devices by automatically connecting them to your Wi-Fi network. That automatic connection works because Amazon stores your Wi-Fi network password on its servers. Amazon has gone to great lengths to ensure your saved network password is safe: Amazon’s Privacy Policy states that it will not share your Wi-Fi password with a third party without your permission. The password is stored in encrypted form on the server. Devices that ask for network access are first authenticated by Amazon. When needed, the password is sent using an encrypted connection. These security steps are reassuring, but you may still feel more than a little uneasy having the password to your home network stored in the cloud. And, yes, Amazon authenticates third-party devices that want on your network, but can you really be sure that no rogue device can also breach your network? To allay these justifiable fears, you can delete your saved Wi-Fi passwords from Amazon and, optionally, turn off Wi-Fi Simple Setup. Here are the steps to follow: Surf to your country’s Amazon domain and sign in to your account. Click Accounts & Lists→Your Content and Devices. On other Amazon domains, you usually click Your Account →> Manage Your Content and Devices. Click the Preferences tab. Click Saved Wi-Fi Passwords. The Saved Wi-Fi Passwords settings appear, as shown. To remove your saved network password from Amazon, click Delete. Amazon asks you to confirm the deletion. Click Yes, Delete Permanently. Amazon deletes your saved Wi-Fi password. To prevent devices from using Wi-Fi Simple Setup, click Disable. Amazon asks you to confirm. If you proceed with disabling Wi-Fi Simple Setup, you’ll have manually add all new smart-home devices to your network. Click Yes, Disable. Amazon disables Wi-Fi Simple Setup. Revoke an Amazon Alexa skill’s permissions When you enable an Alexa skill, you often have to give the skill permission to access some feature, such as your location, or to perform some action, such as display notifications. Some permissions can get a little annoying (for example, when a skill notifies you too often), but others are more of a problem on the privacy side (for example, when a skill asks for your location). If you no longer want a skill to have whatever permissions you gave it, follow these steps to revoke those permissions: In the Alexa app, choose Menu→Skills & Games. Tap Your Skills. Tap the skill you want to work with. Tap Settings. Tap Manage Permissions. For each permission you want to revoke, tap the permission’s switch to Off. Tap Save Permissions. Deregister your Alexa device If you’re selling or giving away an Alexa device, you want to make sure the device is wiped clean of all your custom settings and personal info. You can do this by resetting your device. You also want to ensure that the device is no longer connected to your Amazon account, and that means deregistering the device with Amazon. If you have an Echo Show or Echo Spot, you’re all set, because resetting the device also deregisters it with Amazon. For other Alexa devices, you have two choices: In the Alexa app, choose Devices → Echo & Alexa, tap the device you’re getting rid of, and then tap the Deregister link that appears near the bottom of the Device Settings screen. When the Alexa app asks you to confirm, as shown, tap Deregister. Surf to your country’s Amazon domain, sign in to your account, click Accounts & Lists→Your Content and Devices (or Your Account→ Manage Your Content and Devices), click the Devices tab, click the Action button beside the device you’re getting rid of, and then click Deregister. When Amazon asks you to confirm, click Deregister.

Article / Updated 04-05-2019

Both your Amazon Alexa device and the Alexa app come with a few features that you can tweak or activate to work around vision problems: Alexa devices have either physical buttons you can press to adjust the volume or a volume ring. You can use the Alexa app to adjust the volume for alarms, timers, and notifications. The Alexa app supports the vision accessibility features — such as dynamic type sizes and high contrast — available on your smartphone: iOS: Choose Settings→ General → Accessibility and adjust the settings in the Vision section. Android: Choose Settings → Accessibility→Vision. If your Alexa device’s white text on a black screen is hard to read, you can invert the colors. Swipe down from the top of the screen, choose Settings → Accessibility, and then tap the Color Inversion switch to On. You can operate the Alexa app using a screen reader: iOS: Choose Settings → General →Accessibility → VoiceOver and tap the VoiceOver switch to On. Android: Choose Settings→ Accessibility→ TalkBack and then tap the switch to On. You can navigate your Alexa device screen with a screen reader. You can zoom in on your Alexa device screen. You can configure your Alexa device to play a sound when Alexa starts processing a request and when it finishes processing that request. In the Alexa app, choose Devices --> Echo & Alexa, tap your Alexa device, and then tap Sounds. Tap the Start of Request and End of Request switches to On, as shown. How to navigate with VoiceView If you have an Echo Spot or Echo Show, you can use the VoiceView feature as a screen reader. As you open each screen, VoiceView tells you the name of the screen and you can tap any item on the screen to have the item’s name or text read out loud to you. To activate VoiceView, follow these steps: Swipe down from the top of the screen and then tap Settings. Choose Accessibility → VoiceView Screen Reader. Tap the VoiceView switch to On. The Alexa device switches into VoiceView mode and a voice says, “VoiceView ready.” You may at this point see a tutorial for VoiceView. If so, go ahead and run through the tutorial to learn the basics. When you’re done with the tutorial, you can continue with these steps. While VoiceView is active, how you interact with the screen changes. You need to know about three VoiceView gestures: To hear the name or text associated with a screen item, tap that item. To open a screen item (for example, to run a command), tap the item to select it and then double-tap anywhere on the screen. To scroll a list, use three fingers to swipe down or up. Tap VoiceView Preferences and then double-tap anywhere on the screen. You now see a long list of settings for customizing VoiceView to suit your style. Here’s a quick summary of the settings: Reading Speed: Sets the speed at which VoiceView reads the screen text. Speech Volume: Sets the VoiceView speech volume relative to the Alexa device’s current volume setting. By default, VoiceView uses the device’s current volume (the Match Device Volume option), but you can opt for a quieter playback (such as 75 percent or 50 percent of the device volume). Sounds Volume: Sets the VoiceView sound effects volume relative to the Alexa device’s current volume setting. Key Echo: Specifies how VoiceView confirms what you’ve input when you’re entering text using the onscreen keyboard. By default, VoiceView says each character as you type it and each word as you complete it (that is, it echoes the keys you press and the words you complete). You can also opt to have VoiceView echo just characters or just words. Punctuation Level: Specifies whether and how much punctuation VoiceView includes in its descriptions. Identify Capital Letters: Specifies how VoiceView indicates uppercase letters. Verbosity: Lets you specify which screen elements VoiceView mentions. VoiceView Tutorial: Runs a tutorial that gives you a quick lesson in how to use VoiceView. With VoiceView activated and configured, you can use the gestures outlined in the following to navigate your Alexa device. Navigating with VoiceView Gestures Task VoiceView Gesture Open the status bar. Swipe down from the top of the screen with three fingers. Go to the next page or previous page. Swipe left or right with three fingers. Explore the screen. Drag a finger over items on the screen to have them read aloud. Go to the next item. Swipe right using one finger. Go to the previous item. Swipe left using one finger. Open an item. Tap the item and then double-tap anywhere on the screen. Increase granularity. Swipe up and then down using a single motion. This allows you to step through items either by word or by character. Decrease granularity. Swipe down and then up using a single motion. Go to the next item by granularity. Swipe down. Go to the previous item by granularity. Swipe up. Type on the keyboard. Move one finger slowly over the keys to hear them read to you. When you hear the letter you want to type, lift your finger from the keyboard to enter the letter. Scroll vertically. Swipe up or down with three fingers. Scroll horizontally. Swipe left or right with three fingers. Stop speech. Single-tap with two fingers. Read all from selected item. Swipe down using two fingers. Read all from first item. Swipe up using two fingers. Start or stop media. Double-tap using two fingers. Mute or unmute speech. Double-tap using three fingers. Adjust a slider. Tap the slider to select it, and then swipe right and then left in a single motion to increase, or left and then right in a single motion to decrease. Alternatively, double-tap and hold, and then slide your finger to adjust the control. Enter or exit Learn mode for gesture practice. Double-tap using four fingers. (Currently available on Echo Show only.) Go to the first item on the screen. Tap the upper half of the screen using four fingers. (Currently available on Echo Show only.) Go to the last item on the screen. Tap the lower half of the screen using four fingers. (Currently available on Echo Show only.) How to zoom in on your Alexa device with Screen Magnifier You may find that although you can make out most of the items on your Alexa device screen, the occasional icon or bit of text is just too small to decipher. You can always grab a nearby magnifying glass to get a closer look at the section you can’t make out, but Alexa offers an electronic version of the same thing. It’s called, appropriately enough, Screen Magnifier, and it enables you to zoom in on a portion of the screen. Screen Magnifier is on by default, but you may want to run through these steps just to make sure: Swipe down from the top of the screen and then tap Settings. Tap Accessibility. Tap the Screen Magnifier switch to On. To give Screen Magnifier a whirl, use the gestures listed in the following table. Screen Magnifier Gestures Task Screen Magnifier Gesture Zoom in on the screen. Triple-tap the screen. Pan a zoomed screen. Drag two fingers around the screen. Be sure to keep your two fingers slightly apart for panning to work. Change the magnification level of a zoomed screen. To zoom out, place two fingers on the screen and pinch them together; to zoom in, place two fingers on the screen and spread them apart. Zoom out to normal magnification. Triple-tap the magnified screen. Temporarily zoom in on the screen. Triple-tap the screen, but leave your finger on the screen after the third tap. You can then pan the screen by dragging your finger.

Article / Updated 04-05-2019

If your hearing has deteriorated over the years, or if you have a hearing impairment in one or both ears, hearing Amazon Alexa’s responses and enjoying music and videos can be a challenge. Fortunately, help is at hand. Alexa has a few tools that you can configure to help or work around your hearing issues. Alexa and the Alexa app come with a few features that you can customize or turn on to work around hearing impairments: The Light Ring provides a visual indicator of the status of your Echo device. For Alexa devices with a screen, onscreen messages and icons provide visual indications of the device’s status. Alexa devices have either physical buttons you can press to adjust the volume or a volume ring. You can use the Alexa app to adjust the volume for alarms, timers, and notifications. You can configure Alexa to display Closed Captioning on videos and Alexa Captioning on Alexa’s responses. You can connect Alexa with external speakers or headphones, either directly using a cable or wirelessly via Bluetooth. How to use Amazon Alexa with headphones for hearing accessibility If you suffer from only minor hearing loss, you may be able to compensate by turning up the volume of your Alexa device. However, this may be impractical if there are other people nearby and you don’t want to disturb them, and it may be useless if your hearing loss is severe. In such cases, an often-better solution is to use headphones. Because the sound from the headphones takes a shorter and more direct path to your ear, it can make the sounds sharper and easier to discern — and it has the added advantage of not disturbing anyone within earshot. If you decide to invest in some headphones, here are a few pointers to bear in mind: If you use an in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid, look for ear-pad headphones (also called on-ear headphones), which rest on your ears. If you use a behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aid, you’ll need to move up to full-size headphones (also called full-cup, ear-cup, or over-the-ear headphones), which are large enough to cover not only your ear but also your hearing-aid microphone. With any type of hearing aid, you need to guard against feedback, where amplified sounds from your hearing aid “leak” out and bounce off the headphones back into the hearing aid. The cycle repeats until a painful feedback squeal is the result. To prevent feedback, get headphones that use foam ear pads, which reduce the chance of sound being reflected into the hearing aid. If your hearing aid comes with a telecoil mode (which enables the hearing aid to process sounds sent electromagnetically), be sure to get telecoil-compatible headphones (which broadcast sounds electromagnetically). Consider getting noise-canceling headphones, which virtually eliminate background noises to let you hear just the sounds from the headphones. How to enable Closed Captioning on your Alexa device If you have an Alexa device with a screen, the Closed Captioning feature overlays text transcriptions — which Amazon calls subtitles — of the voice track in a TV show, movie, or video. Follow these steps to enable and customize Closed Captioning: Swipe down from the top of the screen. Tap Settings. Tap Accessibility. Tap the Subtitles switch to On. Tap Subtitle Preferences. Alexa displays a long list of settings that enable you to customize the appearance of the subtitles. The word Preview that appears at the top of the screen shows you what your custom subtitles will look like. Example settings include Text Size, Text Color, Font, and Text Background Color. For each setting you want to customize, tap the setting, use the screen that shows up to adjust the setting to your liking, and then tap the Back button (<) to return to the settings. If you end up with Closed Captioning subtitles that look downright awful, you can start over again quickly by scrolling to the bottom of the settings and then tapping the Reset to Defaults command. How to enable Alexa captioning On an Alexa device with a screen, the Alexa Captioning feature overlays text transcriptions — called subtitles — of Alexa’s responses to your voice commands. Follow these steps to enable and customize Alexa Captioning: Swipe down from the top of the screen. Tap Settings. Tap Accessibility. Tap the Alexa Subtitles switch to On. Tap Alexa Subtitle Preferences. Alexa displays a screenful of settings for customizing the look of the subtitles. For each setting you want to customize, tap the setting, use the screen that shows up to adjust the setting to your liking, and then tap the Back button (<) to return to the settings. If you make a mess of the Alexa Captioning subtitles, reboot by scrolling to the bottom of the settings and then tapping Reset to Defaults.

Article / Updated 04-05-2019

Amazon Alexa is billed as a voice-activated personal assistant, but that “voice-activated” part is problematic if you can’t speak at all or have speech challenges. To fix that, you can take advantage of the many features offered by Alexa and the Alexa app to make Alexa devices accessible to those with speech problems. Alexa and the Alexa app come with a few features that you can customize or enable to work around speech impairments: You can use the Alexa app to perform many Alexa tasks by tapping instead of speaking, including creating lists and adding items to lists, setting reminders, viewing contacts, creating smart-home routines, and adding skills. If you have trouble saying “Alexa,” you can try a different wake word. If you have an Alexa device with a screen, you can use the Tap to Alexa feature to issue Alexa commands by tapping instead of speaking. If you have an Alexa device with a screen, you can swipe down from the top of the screen and use the status bar to set alarms, create smart-home routines, and control smart-home devices. If you have an Alexa device with a screen, you can send text messages by tapping instead of speaking. How to install a text-to-speech app for your Alexa device One way to work around speech problems with Alexa is to use a text-to-speech (TTS) app on your smartphone or other mobile device. A TTS app lets you type some text, and the app then speaks that text for you through the device speaker. Here are a few popular (and free) TTS apps that are available for both iOS and Android: Google Translate Talk For Me Text to Speech! How to use Tap to Alexa TTS apps enable you to interact with screenless Alexa devices such as the Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Plus. However, if you have an Echo Show, you can use its screen to access a few common Alexa features with just a couple of taps on the screen. This feature is called Tap to Alexa, and currently it’s only available on the Echo Show. (Amazon says Tap to Alexa eventually will come to the Echo Spot in the future, so it may be available as you read this.) When you enable Tap to Alexa, you can tap the Echo Show Home screen to display a grid of icons — Amazon calls them tiles — that represent common Alexa tasks: getting the weather or news, setting a timer or alarm, playing music, or adding an item to your Shopping or To-Do list. To get started, you first have to enable Tap to Alexa by following these steps: Swipe down from the top of the screen. Tap Settings. Tap Accessibility. Tap the Tap to Alexa switch to On. With Tap to Alexa enabled, your Echo Show’s Home screen now includes an icon of a pointing finger “tapping” the screen. Tap that icon and you see the Tap to Alexa screen, shown here. Note that you can swipe left to see a second page of tiles. What happens when you select a tile depends on the underlying task. Tapping the Weather tile is the same as saying, “Alexa, tell me the weather,” so you immediately hear Alexa giving you the current weather conditions and forecast. Similarly, tapping the Music tile is the same as saying, “Alexa, play some music,” so you hear a random playlist. Other tiles such as Traffic, News, and Joke also invoke Alexa immediately. Some tiles represent tasks where Alexa requires more information from you. For example, tapping the Timer tile displays a screen that presents you with several options for the length of the timer. Similarly, tapping the Shopping List tile displays a screen that enables you to enter the item you want Alexa to add to the list. The top-right corner of the Tap to Alexa screen is home to the following three icons: Keyboard: Displays an onscreen keyboard, which you can use to send any command you like to Alexa without having to use your voice. Add: Enables you to create your own Tap to Alexa tiles. When you tap Add, the onscreen keyboard appears, which you use to enter the command you want Alexa to carry out. You’re then prompted to select an icon and enter a label for the tile. When you’re done, your new tile appears in the Tap to Alexa screen (starting on the second page) using the icon and label you specified. Manage: Enables you to rearrange the Tap to Alexa tiles by dragging and dropping them. You can also delete a tile you don’t use by tapping the X that appears with the tile. How to use Calling & Messaging Without Speech on Amazon Alexa Alexa’s feature that enables you to speak a text message and have it sent to someone in your Contacts list is convenient and easy. Well, it’s convenient and easy if you can say the “Alexa, send a text” command and speak your message. If you can’t, are you out of luck? Nope, not if you have an Alexa device with a screen. The Echo Show and Echo Spot both support a feature that enables you to send texts (as well as place phone calls) by tapping the screen. First, follow these steps to enable the Calling & Messaging Without Speech feature: Swipe down from the top of the screen. Tap Settings. Tap Accessibility. Tap the Calling & Messaging Without Speech switch to On. With the Calling & Messaging Without Speech switch enabled, when you swipe down from the top of the screen you see a new Conversation icon — a speech bubble — which represents the Calling & Message feature. Here’s how to use Calling & Messaging to send a text by tapping the screen: Swipe down from the top of the screen. Tap the Communication icon (the speech bubble). The Calling & Messaging screen appears. Tap Contacts. Alexa displays a list of the contacts that are eligible for messaging. Tap the person to whom you want to send your message. Tap the Keyboard icon. Alexa displays an onscreen keyboard. Tap your message. Tap the checkmark. Alexa sends your message.

Article / Updated 04-04-2019

Amazon Alexa is a voice service, a cloud-based software program that acts as a voice-controlled virtual personal assistant. In a nutshell, you use your voice to ask Alexa a question or give Alexa a command, and it dutifully answers you (assuming an answer exists) or carries out your request (assuming your request is possible). The key here is that Alexa responds to voice commands. So, what can Alexa do? Some people think an Alexa-enabled device is nothing but a glorified clock-radio. And although it’s true that you can use Alexa to tell the time and play a radio station, the limit with what you can do with Alex and Alexa Skills (like apps on mobile devices) is almost nonexistent: Playing media: You can connect your Alexa device to your favorite music service — such as Amazon Music or Spotify — which gives you voice access to millions of songs. You can ask Alexa to play a particular song, artist, playlist, or genre. If you have multiple smart speakers in your home, Alexa’s multi-room music feature enables you to play the same music in each room that has a speaker. Alexa can also play radio stations, podcasts, and audiobooks; recite the text of a Kindle book; and, if your device has a screen, play shows from Amazon Video. Communicating: One of Alexa’s more surprising features is that you can use it to communicate with other people, even if they don’t have an Alexa device. You can send text messages and place voice calls, but the real fun begins when you and the other person have Alexa devices with screens, because then you can make video calls to that person. If you have multiple Alexa devices at home, you can also use them as either a two-way intercom system or as a one-way intercom for making announcements. Shopping: It wouldn’t be an Amazon product if shopping weren’t involved, so of course you can use Alexa to place orders through your Amazon account, check the latest Amazon deals, and track your shipments. Getting help around the home: We’re all busy, so who couldn’t use an extra hand around the house now and then? Alexa has no hands, alas, but it can help big-time by making it easy to create a to-do list or shopping list; manage your Google, iCloud, or Office calendar; and set reminders for upcoming tasks. Alexa can also set an alarm and run a timer. It’s mother’s (not to mention a father’s and kids’) little helper. Getting news and information: Alexa is always up on the latest news, so all you have to do is ask. You can even customize the news you hear by configuring Alexa’s Flash Briefing feature. Alexa can also tell you the current weather and the latest forecast, give you traffic updates, let you know the scores and schedules for your favorite sports teams, and tell you movie showtimes at nearby theaters. Answering your questions: If there were such a thing as a Swiss Army Knife for information, Alexa would be it. I’ve already mentioned it’s a news anchor, weather forecaster, and sportscaster, but Alexa can also be a calculator, speller, dictionary, encyclopedia, and search engine. Ask a question, and the odds are in your favor that Alexa can find the answer. Accessing skills: Alexa comes with tons of built-in features, but Amazon has set up a system that lets third parties add new features to Alexa. These features are called skills, and there are thousands of them available in Amazon’s Alexa Skills store. There are skills for ordering a pizza or an Uber, playing games or trivia, tracking your fitness or your investments, and so much more. You can even build your own skills without programming! Automating your home: Alexa is smart-home savvy, so it gives you voice control over many different home-automation products, including lights, thermostats, baby monitors, security cameras, and door locks. Having fun: Alexa may seem like it’s all business with its easy access to news and weather, its to-do lists and reminders, and its massive catalog of life-hacking skills, but Alexa has a fun side, as well. Alexa can tell jokes, read limericks, sing songs, tell stories, and play games. Alexa even comes with a large trove of so-called Easter eggs that bring surprise and whimsy to your Alexa conversations. Amazon Alexa and Echo Setup Alexa requires an Internet connection, so make sure your Wi-Fi network is up and running. Here's how to set up Amazon Echo Dot and other Alexa devices: 1. Install the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet. You need a smartphone or tablet that meets one of these qualifications: An iPhone or iPad running iOS 9 or later An Android phone or tablet running Android 5 or later An Amazon Fire tablet running Fire OS 3 or later 2. Sign in to your Amazon account with the Alexa app. 3. Give Alexa access to your device's microphone in the Alexa app Here's how. In the Alexa app, tap the Alexa icon. You'll see some text telling you that you need to give the app permission to use the microphone. Tap Allow. Tap OK (iOS) or Allow (Android). 4. Position your Echo device where it's accessible to your family and within Wi-Fi range. Make sure the device is close enough that you can give your voice commands without having to yell. Depending on the ambient noise in your environment, this usually means being within 15 to 20 feet of the device. For the best sound quality, keep the device at least 8 inches from any wall. Alexa devices require full-time power, so make sure there’s an outlet close enough to the device. 5. Add your Echo device using the Alexa app, where you can give your Echo access to your Wi-Fi network. The Alexa app is really simple to use and will walk you through all the settings you can play with to get your Echo set up just how you want it. Compare Echo Devices and Choose the Right Alexa Device for You With the exception of using Alexa on your phone or tablet, you can’t do the Alexa thing until you get a device that’s Alexa-enabled. That sounds straightforward enough, but that illusion of simplicity is shattered when you see the sheer number of devices that are available. Amazon alone offers no less than a half-dozen different Alexa-enabled devices just in its Echo brand of smart speakers. How are you supposed to know which one to get? To help you make the right Alexa decision, here's a quick look at what’s available from Amazon’s Echo brand so that you can compare features. Echo Echo is your garden-variety Echo smart speaker that’s designed for larger rooms because it comes with two speakers: a 2.5-inch woofer and a 0.6-inch tweeter. It’s fairly big — 3.4 inches in diameter and 5.8 inches high — so you may need to clear a spot for it. Echo Dot The Echo Dot is a smart speaker designed for smaller rooms because it comes with a single speaker and is quite a bit teensier overall than the Echo (about 3.9 inches in diameter and about 1.7 inches high). It’s also half the price of the Echo, which is likely why it’s Amazon’s bestselling Alexa device. Echo Plus The Echo Plus is a smart speaker just like the Echo, but it also includes a built-in home-automation hub, which enables you to connect and operate compatible smart-home devices (such as lights, thermostats, and security cameras) from a central location. The Echo Plus is the same size as the Echo, but its two speakers are slightly bigger — a 3-inch woofer and a 0.8-inch tweeter — for richer sound. Echo Spot The Echo Spot is a smart speaker that’s similar to the Echo Dot, except that it comes with a 2.5-inch screen that enables you to see the weather, news highlights, and song lyrics. The Echo Spot also has a built-in camera, so you can use it to make video calls to compatible devices. The Echo Spot comes with a single speaker and is 4.1 inches wide, 3.8 inches high, and 3.6 inches deep. Echo Show The Echo Show, like the Echo Spot, is a smart speaker that comes with a screen, but the Echo Show screen is big: just over 10 inches along the diagonal. That screen also supports high definition (HD) for great-looking video. The Echo Show also has a built-in 5-megapixel camera, so you can use it to make video calls to compatible devices. The Echo Show comes with two 2-inch speakers and is 9.7 inches wide, 6.9 inches high, and 4.2 inches deep. Echo Auto The Echo Auto is designed to hang out with you in your car. It connects to the Internet via your smartphone. The Echo Auto doesn’t have a built-in speaker, but you can use it to connect to your car’s speakers via Bluetooth or by plugging in an audio cable (assuming your car supports either of these options). The Echo Auto is 3.3 inches wide and 1.9 inches deep.

Article / Updated 01-03-2019

Alexa has an extensive fun side that you can check out to lighten the mood, entertain your kids (not to mention the kid in you), or relax after a tough day. The fun things to do with Alexa and Amazon Echo are seemingly endless. This article presents ten categories of Alexa tricks, each with ten fun things to do with Amazon Alexa. For the math challenged, that's ten times ten, or one hundred, Easter eggs for you to enjoy. 10 Ways to Ask Alexa to Tell a Joke For a virtual personal assistant, Alexa certainly has what seems like a real sense of humor. It’s a decidedly corny sense of humor, to be sure. Want proof? Just make any of the following joke requests: “Alexa, make me laugh.” “Alexa, say something funny.” “Alexa, tell me a blooper.” “Alexa, tell me a joke.” “Alexa, tell me a prank.” “Alexa, tell me a dad joke.” “Alexa, tell me a dirty joke.” “Alexa, tell me a knock-knock joke.” “Alexa, tell me a ‘yo mama’ joke.” “Alexa, tell me a [topic] joke.” Alexa will usually come up with a joke related to whatever you substitute for topic, including just about any sport (or the word sport itself), any science subject (or science), and any holiday (or holiday). Two other fruitful joke topics are “Star Wars” and “Star Trek.” Bonus joke request: “Alexa, tell me an Alexa joke.” 10 Alexa Wordplay Tricks Programmers and nerds of all persuasions love playing with words, so is it any wonder that Alexa — the creation of coders and other Amazonian nerds — is conversant with many different forms of wordplay? Here are ten to have fun with: “Alexa, tell me a haiku.” “Alexa, tell me a limerick.” (Also: “Alexa, tell me a [topic] limerick.”) “Alexa, tell me an oxymoron.” “Alexa, tell me a palindrome.” “Alexa, tell me some Pig Latin.” “Alexa, tell me a puzzle.” “Alexa, tell me a pun.” “Alexa, tell me a rhyme.” (Also, “Alexa, speak in iambic pentameter.”) “Alexa, tell me a riddle.” “Alexa, tell me a tongue-twister.” Speaking of tongue-twisters, if you want to hear Alexa twist its virtual tongue around a term that’s a full 45 letters long, ask, “Alexa, what’s the longest word?” The answer, in case you want to follow along, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. 10 Ways to Get Alexa to Sing Alexa talks a good game, but did you know that it can also sing? It’s true. Sure, Alexa’s singing voice won’t win any Grammys, but it’s pleasant enough, and Alexa’s original songs are often hilarious. Here are ten ways to get Alexa to serenade you: “Alexa, sing me a song.” “Alexa, sing the ABCs.” “Alexa, sing ‘Auld Lang Syne.’” “Alexa, sing in Auto-Tune.” “Alexa, sing a Christmas carol.” “Alexa, sing ‘Happy Birthday.’” “Alexa, sing a love song.” “Alexa, sing the national anthem.” “Alexa, beatbox for me.” (Also: “Alexa, rap for me,” “Alexa, rap for Mom,” or “Alexa, rap for Dad.”) “Alexa, yodel for me.” You can ask Alexa to sing specific songs, although the results might not be what you expect! For example, try asking Alexa to sing “Itsy Bitsy Spider” or “The Wheels on the Bus.” 10 Oddball Things to Ask Alexa to Do The tasks you ask Alexa to do are mostly utilitarian: “Set an alarm,” “Play some music,” “Be quiet.” But all work and no play make Alexa a dull virtual personal assistant. To give Alexa something fun to do, try any of the following ten requests: “Alexa, drumroll.” “Alexa, flip a coin.” (Also: “Alexa, heads or tails?,” “Alexa, spin the dreidel,” “Alexa, roll the dice,” “Alexa, roll [number] dice,” “Alexa, roll a [number]-sided die,” or “Alexa, roll [number1] [number2]-sided dice.”) “Alexa, high five.” “Alexa, make me a sandwich.” “Alexa, pick a random [object].” (For example, you can replace object with animal, actor, card, city, color, food, name, number, occupation, or person.) “Alexa, pretend to be a supervillain.” (Also: “Alexa, pretend to be a superhero.”) “Alexa, rock paper scissors.” (Also: “Alexa, rock paper scissors lizard Spock.”) “Alexa, talk like a pirate.” (Also: “Alexa, talk like Yoda,” “Alexa, talk like a Klingon,” “Alexa, moo like a cow,” “Alexa, bark like a dog,” or “Alexa, make animal noises.”) “Alexa, tell me something weird.” (Also: “Alexa, tell me a thought from the cloud,” “Alexa, tell me a fun fact,” “Alexa, tell me a fun fact about [topic],” or “Alexa, tell me a life hack.”) “Alexa, self-destruct.” 10 Funny Questions to Ask Alexa You can ask Alexa just about anything, and a surprising percentage of the time it will return a legit answer. That’s Alexa’s artificial intelligence at work, but just because AI is serious technology that doesn’t mean all your questions have to be serious, too. Here are ten fun ways to interrogate Alexa: “Alexa, can you do an impression?” “Alexa, can you sneeze?” “Alexa, do you believe in love at first sight?” “Alexa, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” (Also: “Alexa, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?”) “Alexa, how was your day?” “Alexa, what are you thinking about?” “Alexa, what is the meaning of life?” “Alexa, what should I wear today?” “Alexa, where is Chuck Norris?” “Alexa, why did the chicken cross the road?” 10 Ways to Get Alexa to Tell a Story Alexa comes with a collection of stories and poems, which can be just the thing to hear on a lazy or cold night. Use any of the following voice commands to hear a performance by Alexa, The Storyteller: “Alexa, tell me a story.” “Alexa, tell me a funny story.” “Alexa, tell me a [topic] story.” (For example, you can replace topic with bedtime, friendship, love, or scary.) “Alexa, tell me your [title] story.” (For example, you can replace title with Batter Up, Measure Twice, Puppy Love, Sea Time, or Tango Night.) “Alexa, tell me a tale.” “Alexa, what’s your favorite story?” “Alexa, tell me a poem.” “Alexa, tell me a bad poem.” “Alexa, tell me a ‘roses are red’ poem.” “Alexa, tell me a [topic] poem.” 10 Ways to Get Personal with Alexa Alexa sounds friendly enough, but how much do you really know about your cloud-based personal assistant? Do you know its birthday or where it lives? I didn’t think so. Here are ten questions you can ask to get to know Alexa a little better: “Alexa, are you a robot?” (Also: “Alexa, are you Skynet?”) “Alexa, do you have a last name?” “Alexa, do you have pets?” “Alexa, how much do you weigh?” “Alexa, how tall are you?” “Alexa, what are you wearing?” “Alexa, what is your favorite [object]?” (For example, you can replace object with book, color, food, sport, and so on.) “Alexa, when is your birthday?” “Alexa, where did you grow up?” “Alexa, where do you live?” 10 Movie Easter Eggs In the software world, an Easter egg is a whimsical program feature that’s hidden by default and must be discovered. Alexa, you’ll be delighted to know, contains hundreds of Easter eggs. You can get a random one using either of these commands: “Alexa, give me an Easter egg.” “Alexa, give me a hard-boiled Easter egg.” For a more targeted Easter egg hunt, you can try specific topics such as TV and music, which I discuss in the next sections. Movies are another great source for Alexa Easter eggs. There are dozens, perhaps even hundreds, so consider the following ten to be a mere appetizer: “Alexa, open the pod bay doors.” (2001: A Space Odyssey) “Alexa, who’s on first?” (Abbot and Costello) “Alexa, release the Kraken!” (Clash of the Titans) “Alexa, klattu barada nikto.” (The Day the Earth Stood Still) “Alexa, E.T. phone home.” (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) “Alexa, define supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (Mary Poppins) “Alexa, are we in the Matrix?” (The Matrix) “Alexa, what is my mission?” (Mission: Impossible) “Alexa, what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?” (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) “Alexa, what is the Jedi code?” (Star Wars) 10 TV Easter Eggs Alexa doesn’t have a ton of TV Easter eggs, but here are a few to whet your whistle: “Alexa, what is your cunning plan?” (Blackadder) “Alexa, who shot JR?” (Dallas) “Alexa, don’t mention the war.” (Fawlty Towers) “Alexa, Winter is coming.” (Game of Thrones) “Alexa, who loves orange soda?” (Kenan & Kel) “Alexa, who loves ya baby?” (Kojak) “Alexa, this is a dead parrot.” (Monty Python) “Alexa, more cowbell.” (Saturday Night Live) “Alexa, what is the Prime Directive?” (Star Trek) “Alexa, where’s the beef?” (Wendy’s commercial) 10 Music Easter Eggs Music is one of Alexa’s strong suits, so you won’t be surprised to hear that it has dozens of music-related Easter eggs waiting to be discovered. Here are ten to get you started: “Alexa, badger badger badger badger badger.” (“The Badger Song”) “Alexa, how many roads must a man walk down?” (“Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan) “Alexa, do you know the way to San Jose?” (“Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” by Dionne Warwick) “Alexa, I shot a man in Reno.” (“Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash) “Alexa, what does the fox say?” (“The Fox” by Ylvis) “Alexa, hello it’s me.” (“Hello” by Adele) “Alexa, how much is that doggie in the window?” (“How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” by Patti Page) “Alexa, have you heard that the bird is the word?” (“Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen) “Alexa, who is the Walrus?” (“The Walrus” by The Beatles) “Alexa, who let the dogs out?” (“Who Let The Dogs Out” by Baha Men)