Alexa is the voice-controlled cybernetic assistant created by Amazon, also launched in November 2014 with its Echo line of smart speakers. His name was chosen to have a strong consonant at the beginning and include an x, making it easier for the attendant to recognize his name and honour the Library of Alexandria.
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What can Alexa do?
The list of instructions [Alexa] can understand seems to grow daily. Amazon calls these “skills,” You can create your skills through Amazon Plans. Once verified by Amazon, you can publish your skills to the Amazon Skills Store for others to use on their Alexa devices. Alexa can do more than we can list in this article, but here are some of our favourites:
- Find recipes and provide step-by-step audio instructions with the AllRecipes capability.
- Commentary on a Kindle book.
- Get movie schedules or sports programs.
- Order pizza and find restaurants nearby.
- Pay your bills with the Capital Single app.
- Order something online.
- Get pregnancy advice.
- Track your Amazon packages.
- Receive detailed news updates (soon in the announcer’s Voice).
- Ask Alexa to read your email.
- Set location-based reminders (“Alexa, remind me to defrost chicken when I get home.”)
- Ask Alexa to make your home safer with features like [Alexa] Guard and Away Mode.
What can I Ask Alexa?
There are many effects you can ask [Alexa]. Skills in the Alexa app let you customize your Echo device to suit your preferences.
The app’s Skills section contains multiple skills categories, including Connected Car, Food & Drink, Travel & Transportation, Music & Audio, Smart Home and many more. First, click Enable Skill if you find one that suits you, or you can ask [Alexa] to enable voice skills.
Some require linking to an existing account or a separate subscription. For example, to use Uber with [Alexa], you must be logged into your Uber account in the Skills section of the Alexa app.
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Here are some examples of what you can ask [Alexa] to do, but we have a completely different feature you can read about as well:
- [“Alexa, wake me up at 7 am.”]
- [“Alexa, ask Skyscanner about a flight to New York.”]
- [“Alexa, ask The Cable for breaking news. “Alexa, what’s on my calendar today?”]
- [“Alexa, what’s the weather like in London?”]
- [“Alexa, pon Taylor Swift de Amazon Music.”]
- [“Alexa, how’s my commute going?”]
- [“Alexa, shuffle my favourite playlist.”]
- [“Alexa, sube el volumen”]
- [“Alexa, will it rain tomorrow?”]
- [“Alexa, lee mi audiolibro”]
- [“Alexa, what’s on the news?”]
- [“Alexa, ask Uber to request a ride.”]
- [“Alexa, open Just Eat and order my last order.”]
- [“Alexa, turn on the coffee pot.”]
- [“Alexa, turn on all the lights.”]
- [“Alexa set the main bedroom to 20 degrees.”]
- [“Alexa, ask Jamie Oliver for a recipe.”]
What is Alexa Inside the Home?
Alexa is the name of our assistant in intelligent homes and works with the Voice.
Although some will use the names interchangeably, [Alexa ]is the artificial intelligence’s name, not the item itself.
We can always use [Alexa] on Amazon’s Echo items.
These devices include the original Amazon Echo, the smaller Echo Dot, the Amazon Tap, the Echo Look, and the latest arrival in the Echo Show product line.
Once you have an Echo device, you can download the[ Alexa ]app on your phone to continue the process and complete the setup.
Amazon recently also offered iPhone owners the ability to use [Alexa] without an Echo device.
You can quickly enter it through the Amazon application. Like Apple’s Siri in the US, Alexa has a female voice.
She only reacts when called, and you can communicate with her using common phrases.
What Benefits does Alexa have within the Amazon Echo Speaker Family?
- These speakers rapidly respond and understand voice commands much better than some speakers on the market.
- With its excellent audio system, seven microphones for listening and a 360º omnidirectional audio grill for talking, the Amazon Echo works very well everywhere in my house. I hear him – and he hears me – almost flawlessly.
- In single voice command, Amazon Echo will tell you not only the current temperature but also changes in temperatures throughout the day and other conditions such as clouds and rain.
- Amazon Echo is the best companion for cooking and baking because it’s hands-free. When the timer runs, you’ll hear a ping-like sound until you can say, “[Alexa], stop.”
- Amazon Echo works with Spotify Premium, too, along with Prime Music.
How does Alexa Works within the Amazon Echo Family?
It is a hands-free speaker controlled by Voice and allows us to reach [Alexa] from anywhere in the room through our voices.
Amazon Echo uses software on your computer to recognize the “Alexa” wake word.
When the Echo hears the word “magic”, it activates, producing the device’s blue light ring.
Then the request to the Cloud is immediately started, where the information from Alexa is processed.
As [Alexa] is based on the Cloud and takes advantage of Amazon web services, voice response by Alexa will get more competent and add more features every day.
How does Alexa Listen to my Voice?
Amazon Echo has a seven-microphone array that uses beamforming and noise-cancelling technology so it can hear you clearly from across the room.
This advanced beamforming technology combines signals from individual microphones to eliminate noise, music playing, and even the voices of other people in the same room to ensure Alexa hears your request clearly, even when you’re listening. You are in a boisterous room.
Understanding what [Alexa ]is, its operation and other features, go ahead now with your virtual assistant at home that will help you to know if you have an umbrella or even control the cooking time of your favourite recipe.