Ask HN: How do you use Amazon Echo?

80 pointsby trappedabout 9 years ago

What are your main use cases and go to questions for Echo? How effective and useful it is?For those who also have Cortana/Siri/Google and Echo which one is most useful?

49 comments

oogaliabout 9 years ago

Initially, my wife and I just used it for weather, music, and to occasionally order an Uber.But we just had a newborn, so I built a custom skill for us to serve as log of our son's activities. So our primary use is now that.Demo:- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CqBmjxOFCQ" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CqBmjxOFCQ</a>- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHaTUm9sQpM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHaTUm9sQpM</a>The first custom skill I wrote that calls out to an API to do CNAM (caller ID) lookups. So when I get calls from a weird number, I can quickly get the corresponding name (if there is one). This was mainly an exercise to see how Alexa/Echo would pronounce various names and abbreviations.

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jordanarsenoabout 9 years ago

I wrote a custom skill so I can say "Alexa, ask the bus stop, when is the next bus?" ... and she responds "x minutes" for the bus-stop outside my house. I use it everyday - such a time saver!

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schappimabout 9 years ago

I live in Australia and imported an Echo.AFAIK Amazon only sells the Echo in the US, and a lot of the functionality is locked to the US, this makes it unusable for certain tasks (like dealing with time, dates, calendars and alarms).The Echo won't let you change it's timezone to an Australian one (hacks like setting a timezone to one of the US military bases around the world no longer work).So with the Echo assuming I'm living somewhere in the US, what do I use it for?- Telling the time. Having said all the above, I do use it for telling the time, but I need to say "Alexa, what's the time in Sydney Australia?"- Finding out the weather "Alexa, What's the weather like in Sydney Australia?"- Controlling the Lights. "Alexa turn on the lights?"- Reporting Revenue from Shopify (I've built a custom app) "Alexa, ask Shopify what were the sales?"I'd love to hear more from others outside the US as to how they use their Echo!

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BrentOzarabout 9 years ago

Kitchen appliance, basically. Timer, play music, listen to news, add stuff to my shopping list.The kitchen is the perfect spot for it because my phone and tablet are usually in the living room or on their chargers in my bedroom, and Siri doesn't work anywhere near as well in a big, noisy area like a kitchen. The microphone is so much more accurate and reliable than the Apple Watch on my wrist (which doesn't say much, because the Watch is so bad at this sort of thing.)

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dcossonabout 9 years ago

I have the echo hooked up to a Harmony Hub[0], it's a universal remote that controls devices via IR or wifi that the echo can trigger via IFTTT. The Harmony Hub UX is annoyingly overdesigned IMO which makes it more complicated than it should be, but it still works pretty well. I can use it to turn up/down the volume of the tv, hit pause on the Apple TV when I get up to do something, turn on/off the fan if I get hot/cold, etc.The TV use is pretty neat since it takes so many clicks to navigate those menus. I'm hoping the echo will integrate natively with Apple TV or Fire TV, it would be sweet to be able to say "Alexa, play the latest Game of Thrones" and have it just start.[0] <a href="http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/harmony-hub" rel="nofollow">http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/harmony-hub</a>

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moritzplassnigabout 9 years ago

Main reason why I bought it was to use my phone less at home.Main use cases: * Managing my shopping list (not necessarily for ordering on Amazon) while I'm in the kitchen and/or cooking * Calendar/Newsflash/Weather in the morning * Timer for cooking/workouts * Ordering an Uber (main reason why I use primarily Uber vs. Lyft because there's no Lyft skill right now) * Switching lights on/off (WeMo)Would use it more if there would be (good/easy to use) skills: * Public transportation arrival/departure times * Controlling my Sonos (I know the workaround but a better integration would be awesome)

ohaziabout 9 years ago

I don't. I think people who do are crazy.

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curiousDogabout 9 years ago

I have the echo. For me, the annoying part is when you play music at a slightly loud volume, it can't hear you anymore. So i have to physically go up to the device (I didn't buy the remote). Other than that, I also use it to add household items to my shopping list.

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WesleyJohnsonabout 9 years ago

Same as was most everyone else has listed: kitchen timer, play music, occasionally ask her the time. A new skill was recently released that lets you control your alarm.com system and I have Vivint (ugh) which is backed by Alarm.com so it works. I've played with that a bit, but not as much I'd like. Oh and shopping list from time to time, but the mobile app is terrible so it's not much fun to use once you're actually in the store and trying to shop.

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jhwhiteabout 9 years ago

I wish there was a seamless assistant from place to place.Home -> Car -> Work. But I wind up using Echo at home, Siri or OK Google in the car (depending on what I'm doing), and nothing at work.I use my Echo to play music. I uploaded my music collection to Amazon Music for $25/year and also have some Prime playlists.I use her to find what day a date is on, like what day is June 16th. (Did this once to double check the end date for something).I use Echo to check the weather before I leave every morning. I ask the time ALL THE TIME. I use her when I'm cooking for unit conversions. And I've set timers with the Echo quite a few times. I've got one going now actually.I also got some Philips Hue lights and use Alexa to turn my lights on and off. I want to get a Trackr since it has an Alexa integration so I can find my keys.I also set up IFTTT and have a trigger for Alexa to call my phone so I can find it when I lose it.Do I like the Echo? YES. I'm considering giving one as a Christmas present this year.

mrcabadaabout 9 years ago

I connected the Echo to my home automation startup API to control my entire home. I can ask her stuff like:- Control the lights, TV, AC, or smart device in the house.- Is anyone in the swimming pool? (I'm processing CCTV cameras)- Who's home? (Geo-fencing and OpenWRT Wi-Fi data)- Where is the people in the house? (I'm doing indoor locationing with RSSI signals)Is fun and I keep adding cool stuff on it.

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jrainesabout 9 years ago

every morning I say, "Alexa, news" and that's pretty much it. Occasionally I ask for the weather (for which I still have to specify the city, because Alexa doesn't understand "Set my home [location] to [current city]". Once I used it to order a whisk, which was pretty cool, I'll admit.If I have a question which I think a voice assistant could answer, I pick up my phone and use the Google app 100% of the time because it is so much better than Alexa it's not funny. It regularly outperforms my expectations, where Alexa regularly underperforms them.

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bilalqabout 9 years ago

I've been meaning to expand Alexa's abilities to be more tailored to my life, but in the meantime, these are the things I use:<pre><code> * Light control through Philips Hue: "Alexa, turn on lamps", "Alexa, dim hallway lights to 50%" * Assistance when cooking: "Alexa, start a 5 minute timer", "Alexa, how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?", "Alexa how many grams are in an ounce?" * Entertainment control through Logitech Harmony Hub & IFTTT: "Alexa, trigger Netflix", "Alexa, trigger FireTV", "Alexa, trigger shutdown" * Getting ready: "Alexa, how's the weather?", "Alexa, will it rain tomorrow?" * Easy music controls: "Alexa, play some music", "Alexa, play songs by Imagine Dragons", "Alexa turn it [up|down]" * Enabling laziness: * When I wake up but don't want to open my eyes: "Alexa, what time is it?" * When I'm already in bed and want to close lights, TV, etc...: "Alexa trigger naptime" </code></pre> Things I wish I could do (and probably could do if I spent the time to make it so):<pre><code> * Control colors/scenes on my Hue lights: "Alexa, set the scene to warm", "Alexa, set the scene to variety" * Use fine-grained controls on my TV and devices: "Alexa, play Daredevil on Netflix", "Alexa, turn down the TV volume by 5"</code></pre>

markbaoabout 9 years ago

I don't do smart home, which seems to be the main use for it – instead, I use a simple remote control to turn on/off my lights, which is way easier for me than saying "Alexa turn on bedroom light" and waiting for it (I've tried this and unplugged the smart outlet the next day).I only use it for two things:• Weather and sometimes news in the morning as I'm getting ready.• As a Spotify player that I can control from my sofa / bed / elsewhere through Spotify Connect, so basically a quasi-Sonos.Other than that, I haven't really found any good uses for it.

guiambrosabout 9 years ago

Nobody said yet, so here's mine: "Guess the Number" [1].My 4 year-old loves it. He learned to count to 100 and got a lot better in understanding higher/lower numbers by playing GTN with Alexa.It quickly became our favorite pastime when outside; we now turns on who'll be Alexa :)[1] <a href="http://echoskillstore.com/Games/Guess-The-Number/76" rel="nofollow">http://echoskillstore.com/Games/Guess-The-Number/76</a>(ps: unfortunately it's buggy as hell. I'm considering developing a new one, just to fix it)

echelonabout 9 years ago

I use it to set alarms, control my lighting, and check the weather. I find it kind of useless for music since it doesn't have a lot of the bands I listen to (it only plays "samples"), and it usually cycles the worst tracks first for some reason. I wish it would integrate with Google Play or have a non-Cloud (ie. local network) API. I've written my own home automation gateway (turn on the tv, set mood lighting, control blinds), but I'm unwilling to open it up to Amazon's cloud.

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epaulsonabout 9 years ago

Weather, kitchen timer/alarm to start something at a specific time, control a few LIFX bulbs, the common household shopping list, a bluetooth speaker. Occasional sports scores.The microphone is really good and I can talk to it from a room over, so it's the sort of thing I can ask it about the weather as I'm walking to the door to put the leash on the dog and not break my stride.I wish the Amazon shopping list had a better API, because I'd like to use that list for things outside of the Echo app.

7ewisabout 9 years ago

Not made by me, but someone in my office created a Lambda function, so we can ask Alexa if a meeting room is free, and it links into the Google Calendar API to check.It then uses a library to say how long until it is free in a human like way.You can also ask it to find if any rooms are free in the building, and most importantly if the pool table is in use or not! As well as that, there is even a web cam above the table that counts the balls, and can tell you who is winning!

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jstxabout 9 years ago

I use it for kitchen related lookups, timers, and music. The music selection sucks, so I often end up just connecting my phone via bluetooth.My only custom use was to write a WOL task that targets my Steam Machine so I can turn it on without leaving the couch. The machine is a frankenstein, so it doesn't have any fancy IR receiver or whatever people typically use to remotely turn on a game console.

philip1209about 9 years ago

I have an Echo Dot in my bedroom. Here's what I use it for:1) Lights - all of my lights are on WeMo switches. They turn on automatically at sunrise (note - they're energy-efficient LEDs), and they turn off automatically at 10:30. Whenever I want them on or off outside of this pattern, I use Alexa.2) Music - I used to use Chromecast Audio on my speakers, but it took so long to connect - get phone, open spotify, find playlist, connect to speakers over network (after realizing phone wasn't on wifi and had to be reconnected), then hitting play. With Echo, I just say "Play <foo> on Spotify" and it works. This functionality is good for mornings when I'm not specific about music, but does not work well when there is a specific album you want to listen to. (Side note - I also use the sleep timer to automatically turn off music if I'm listening to something before sleep).3) Alarm - I prefer using Echo over my phone to wake up in the morning.4) Calendar - I listen to my schedule for the day while getting dressed.

jordeabout 9 years ago

I never got into the habit of using Siri as it requires more interaction and voice recognition success rate with my light accent is somewhere around 75%.Echo on the other hand is awesome and picks up commands way better and knows more answers. My regular use cases are limited to timers, alarms, listening podcasts and dimming lights with Philips Hue.I wrote my own skill to return arriving bus schedules. It was surprisingly easy with Lambda and I open sourced the code with a tutorial: <a href="https://github.com/jorilallo/muni-alexa-skill" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/jorilallo/muni-alexa-skill</a> Disclaimer: code is somewhat sloppy as I wrote it in ~1h based on Amazon's tutorials :)When it comes to skills, the Alexa app is horrible: very flaky and buggy, clearly Cortana (not native) and there's basically no discovery for skills. There's some great reddit threads where people list good skills.

ethankabout 9 years ago

My son uses it to answer random trivia questions. See: <a href="https://twitter.com/ethank/status/730809136972079105" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/ethank/status/730809136972079105</a>Of note: for a great hardware product, it has terrible software.

thebeefytacoabout 9 years ago

I have an Echo as well as an Echo dot.I use it mainly for managing smarthome devices, which is great. I control all the lights with it (Phillips Hue), as well as my AC/heating (Sensibo), remote controls (Harmony), outlets, and just about anything on IFTTT too.It also manages my timers & alarms (which are also linked to my lighting system), music (great speakers on this thing), to-do list, and is useful for other random tasks you might google, e.g. kitchen measurement conversions.It's really useful to me as is, but will get a lot better once custom skills are allowed to run in the background. It can also be kind of frustrating when Alexa doesn't hear you properly or do what you want, but yelling "ALEXA, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" and having it work, is quite satisfying.

sashkabout 9 years ago

I've got Echo sitting on my desk. Sometimes I ask her how much gas left in the car (via Automatic). Weather. Asking to remind me something only to remember next day that that thing is called "timer". When remember what I need to say, I'll ask her to set temperature on my ecobee to one I want.As to Siri - I use it slightly more:<pre><code> - tell my wife I'm on my way. - ask my wife what to buy in the grocery store. - wake me up tomorrow at 5am - delete all alarms </code></pre> and many many more.To sum up: since I don't use Google much, Echo is mostly useless to me. I can't do much with it, and getting mostly "Sorry I could not understand your question."

partycoderabout 9 years ago

For timers and alarms: waking up, setting a time limit to an activity (e.g: reading), cooking, taking breaks or 15 min naps. ("Alexa, set a timer for 15 min", "Alexa, wake me up at 7 am").I live near a stadium and traffic is heavily affected by it, so you can ask when is the next game to have an idea of how much traffic is going to be ("Alexa, when is the next <team name> game").Also, weather. "Alexa, weather forecast".You can connect it with your google calendar. "Alexa, when is my next event".You can also order a cab from Uber, order a pizza from Domino, and other things.In alexa.amazon.com there's a section called "Things to try". That can also answer this question.

n8henrieabout 9 years ago

I use mine much more than I expected. The number one thing I love is Pandora integration -- ours is outside the kitchen, so virtually every day I can holler for it to put on an appropriate Pandora station (with both hands dirty / full of dishes) or for it to set a timer.I also updated a Python script that emulates Belkin Wemo devices so I can control HomeAssistant and various http enabled home automation devices around the house. For anyone interested: <a href="https://github.com/n8henrie/Fauxmo" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/n8henrie/Fauxmo</a>

ilamontabout 9 years ago

In order of use:- Timer- Play specific radio programs or stations- Play music I've uploaded or stuff on Prime- Check weather- Check upcoming calendar appointments- Ask for definitions/encyclopedia entries (the logic is good ... I once asked how old Reagan was at the beginning of his first term and got the correct range)- Checking game times or if a local team is playing that day- Ask about local traffic conditionsI don't use the shopping list feature. I don't like opening the Alexa app, and my wife and I split shopping duties according to destination store.I've looked at the IFTTT scripts but did not see any that looked appealing or useful for us.I would love to see phone/messaging capabilities built into the Echo.

erikcwabout 9 years ago

I use it to play white noise to soothe my newborn (hands free control is a great benefit when the baby is crying!).Other than that, lots of use from the kitchen. As a timer, to listen to music, control my Hue lighting....I also coded up a custom Skill to control my Anova via a little Bluetooth proxy I wrote[1].[1] <a href="https://github.com/erikcw/pycirculate" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/erikcw/pycirculate</a>

payne92about 9 years ago

Primary: fancy kitchen timer.

wkrauseabout 9 years ago

I wrote a skill that lets me ask what tech events are coming up, or are on a given day. Took half a day, and most of that time was spent figuring out aws lambda for the first time and writing the scraper for the event list I was pulling from. Now before I leave for work I can ask if anything is happening tonight.

jackcarterabout 9 years ago

I use it for exactly 3 things:* Weather (do I need a jacket or umbrella?)* Music (I never used Prime Music before)* Checking how long until my train arrives. This is by far the most useful application for me; I use it every morning. I bought the Echo so that I could develop a Chicago train app (CTA Tracker), but there seems to be one for every major city now.

late2partabout 9 years ago

I use it to play music, set timers when cooking or when we need to leave, games for the kids, to spell words, ask what time it is in other time zones/cities, and to help enrich Amazon's passive listening analysis of my life so they can provide me with better shopping experience.

meatsockabout 9 years ago

it's a good solution to listening to the radio for me, it'll tune in any fm or am station by call letters, so i can keep up with news and everything. its great to be able to tune in more than just the local stations. a young relative loves to hear new jokes on echo as well.

darrenkoppabout 9 years ago

It's excellent if you have kids friend's coming over. We used to have to keep track of who had to go home when, but now they just come in, say "set an alarm for <time>" and go off and play.

mpdehaan2about 9 years ago

Hmm, I have yet to explore any of the skills, but need to.I tell it to control my Hue lights, and ask it jokes, and occasionally ask it for the weather - though Dark Sky is a lot better for weather data.So it's not used a ton really.

matchagauchoabout 9 years ago

A typical day:"Alexa, what's on my calendar?" (Integrated with Google cal)"Alexa, how is the commute?""Alexa, when do the Warriors play next?""Alexa, set an alarm for 7:30pm""Alexa, how much wood does a woodchuck chuck?"

dlevineabout 9 years ago

I set a lot of kitchen timers and alarms. I also use it to play music.It seems to work pretty well for my use cases. With alarms and timers, the accuracy is about 100%. With music, it's maybe 70%.

igotsideasabout 9 years ago

Music, timer, weather, lights, alarm, sport scores & schedules.

dominotwabout 9 years ago

Music in bathroom .WeatherSleep music on timer at bedtime.Traffic conditions before I leave for work .News while I brush my teeth.

pbreitabout 9 years ago

Mostly music, timers and weather. I don't use the questioning very much. I'd like to use it for talk radio/podcasts with something like Antenna Radio.

kogirabout 9 years ago

I listen to my flash briefing (news podcasts/summaries) every morning, and occasionally reorder bulk items like paper towels and toilet paper.

veeragoniabout 9 years ago

npr, baby rhymes, control nest, some skills occasionally, as a bluetooth speaker at parties, weather forecast, find nearby places

gourneauabout 9 years ago

I use it with WeMos to toggle lights in my house. I lot more fun than using light switches :)

seereadhackabout 9 years ago

I'm sort of disappointed that no one uses Alexa to practice their poetry declamation.

smackfuabout 9 years ago

One that I haven't seen mentioned: "Alexa, how do you spell X?"

ajaimkabout 9 years ago

All the lights in my apartment and alarm clock.

malloryerikabout 9 years ago

How does it do with non-native accents?

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georgehaakeabout 9 years ago

It fills a spot in my Wish List.

constoabout 9 years ago

Not at all