Amazon Alexa

Jeremy Levy back with you. This week I’m going to do something a little bit different. I am going to talk about the Amazon Echo that I have in my room. I have learned how to do many things with this device. When I first got the Echo wasn’t sure why I would need this device. I was a little hesitant to try it. After some exploration and finding much enjoyment, I was hooked. I am always finding new things. If you are looking for something other than TV or radio, I would really encourage you to try Alexa and figure out how to use it.Here are some of the things I have found that it can do. It can play music. After I discovered this, I found out that I can request different songs, artists, and even different albums. On top of that, I can thumbs up a song or thumbs down a song. Thumbs up means that you like a song and thumbs down means that you don’t like a song. You can also skip songs that you don’t want. My friend Lucas who I have blogged about and I had a lot of fun with creating our own play lists of our favorite artists. Alexa has a lot of artists and a lot of different songs. Sometimes, though, it can be a little bit frustrating when it doesn’t give you the song or artist that you want.Another thing the Echo can do is play different radio stations. I have a lot of fun playing different radio stations from around the country and even different parts of Colorado. I found out last year that I don’t have to miss any of the Mike Boyle Restaurant Show in Colorado Springs on Saturday mornings anymore. Before I got the Echo, I couldn’t get his show in Colorado Springs on my regular radio because the signal didn’t reach. Another example is that I really enjoy getting up on Sunday mornings and asking for the station WBAP radio in Dallas and listening to Neil Sperry’s gardening show. This is a lot of fun for me.Another thing that Alexa can do is you can play games with it. My favorite game is Go fish the card game. Lucas taught me how to play this game and I really enjoy playing. Another game that he taught me is song quiz. Song quiz is where Alexa gives you samples of songs and you need to tell her the artist and the name of the song to get points. Lucas really enjoys playing country song quiz and he gets all of them correct because he is such a country music fan. Another game it can play is puzzle runner. Alexa gives you 2 different choices and you try and pick the right one. For example, it would ask you 2 different milk shakes Vanilla or chocolate. If you picked chocolate a high sound would play. If that wasn’t the correct one than you would get a low sound and then you would have to try it again. Another thing it can do is United States geography quiz. It would give you a state and then you would need to guess the capital of that state. Another game it can play is Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I haven’t quite figured out how the rules for this game yet. This is something I am going to check into.Another important feature of Alexa is you can ask it questions about the weather. I like asking what the weather in Honolulu is, and what is the weather in Pinnopolis, South Carolina, where Lucas lives.I have heard of washing machines and dryers that can be controlled with Alexa. I have also heard of thermostats and air conditioners that can be controlled with Alexa as well. I look forward to checking out these skills in my new downstairs house where we live.This just touched the surface of all the things the Echo can do. If you know of things I or other blog readers might enjoy, please share it.Thanks for tuning in.