Amazon echo

iammumtoone

Quizzical Squirrel - how does the intercom facility work? I have been thinking about buying another one for upstairs for a while but need a reason to jusifiy it (maybe the intercom is it )

Likewise I don't see the fuss about evesdropping, people can evesdrop in our house if they like, they would soon tune out its very boring!

pink_boots

Hi Quizzical Squirrel. I didn't realise you could use it for audio books. That's really got me very interested. Looks like I didn't know how useful it can be and also it can be an alarm as well. I'm not bothered about eavesdropping either. I live on my own so not much to listen to and getting to the stage where I am starting to talk to myself. Just worried I might start answering myself. It would be useful too for notes, appointments and so forth because memory is getting bad. Frankly it always has been. I have even forgot who I'm talking to on the phone.��

Strider590

iammumtoone wrote: »

I don't see the fuss about evesdropping, people can evesdrop in our house if they like, they would soon tune out its very boring!

That's the problem, people said the same about internet snooping, censorship and filtering. Then when their internet slowed down as a result of all their traffic being funnelled through these filters and legitimate websites got blocked (even the BBC got blocked at one point), they started complaining..... Too late.

For example piracy was used as an excuse, people said "I don't download stuff", well I use torrent sites for totally legitimate reasons (access to old versions of software/etc) and all this blocking was a bit of an inconvenience....... For the 10 minutes it took me to bypass it all.

The long term affect was the power for unknown corporate entities to block websites and access to free information, the ability to control what the general public can and cannot see, the ability to swing politics in their favour, the ability to wipe out competition. It was never about piracy, it was about power, it was about letting the public sleepwalk into something they didn't fully understand.
The media played a huge part in swaying public opinion on this too.

Do not give away your privacy or freedom, because what comes next DOES affect you in ways you could not possibly have imagined.

Tyler_Du

You don't need a fee to play music on an Echo, you have access to most radio stations across the globe, just enable the tunein app and say alexa play <radio station name> from tunein. After a while you can drop the 'from tunein' bit.

iammumtoone

Tyler_Durden_UK wrote: »

You don't need a fee to play music on an Echo, you have access to most radio stations across the globe, just enable the tunein app and say alexa play <radio station name> from tunein. After a while you can drop the 'from tunein' bit.

Yes but a radio station plays the music it decides. The point with dot/echo is you can ask it what to play and it will do so (dependant on your subscription, as said above my limited 'free' subscription doesn't play everything )

vivatifosi

I bought an Echo Dot for a disabled relative who is bed-bound. It gives them a degree of independence that they wouldnt otherwise have. They can ask questions (generally getting a Wikipedia answer), play music through Tune In Radio, switch on lights, get the news headlines and weather... Alexa even tells jokes.

iammumtoone

vivatifosi wrote: »

I bought an Echo Dot for a disabled relative who is bed-bound. It gives them a degree of independence that they wouldnt otherwise have. They can ask questions (generally getting a Wikipedia answer), play music through Tune In Radio, switch on lights, get the news headlines and weather... Alexa even tells jokes.

I am waiting for the cost of echo controlled light bulbs and plugs to go down. I am quite capable of turning things on/off myself it will be just a gimmick to me but to the disabled these things are life changing.

forgotmyname

That is one area where it would be useful to me, we have several sockets that are controlled remotely due to being out of reach. But it only takes a button press.

Not paying £50+ the sockets etc. Just so i can say TV on or shed power on.
3 remote sockets were under £15.

Terry98

forgotmyname wrote: »

Not paying £50+ the sockets etc. Just so i can say TV on or shed power on.
3 remote sockets were under £15.

Prices are quite a bit lower now. Sainsburys are doing a good one for £20 http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/gb/groceries/tp-link-smart-socket-hs100-131117823-p?langId=44&storeId=10151&krypto=CuxFqXnzu7DbaCyUnnmKzXctxWIxIJzYgk24pKVu5qP8dKEesSsBxgtDoG8oSS5c8p7zDRpjsQB4I4W6DTdKYHQXjMjPir2rB7j1fvyeOHh8e5dVNCwS3%2FCvK%2FguuwnJR7gpS7Fz7h5ZZlc%2BKuDfqLAM5sapxq%2FkN5XAtfRsUVg%3D&ddkey=http%3Agb%2Fgroceries%2Ftp-link-smart-socket-hs100-131117823-p and if you are prepared to buy from China they are available for under £10.

chrisw

forgotmyname wrote: »

That is one area where it would be useful to me, we have several sockets that are controlled remotely due to being out of reach. But it only takes a button press.

Not paying £50+ the sockets etc. Just so i can say TV on or shed power on.
3 remote sockets were under £15.

If you buy a £30 Broadlink RM Pro to use with the Echo it will control all your existing remote sockets and any other cheap ones as well.