Why I Started Using Alexa

After a long period of ignoring the Alexa feature on my Amazon Fire tablet, I decided to get an Echo Dot for my bedroom.  I had heard so much about the Echo device and desired to experience it for myself.

In addition, there was features on my Fire tablet that appeared to be Alexa connected.  I had no clue how to use these features and the features appeared to be useful for organizing my life.  

First problem I had was that Echo Dot Alexa would tell me Pacific Time Zone time as it believed I still lived in Claremont, California.  All Alexa devices have home address as part of the settings.  Amazon had programmed the Echo Dot with my old Claremont California address.  I had to change the home address on the Echo Dot using the Alexa app.  

I would later learn when I started using Alexa on the Fire tablets that even the tablets were setup with my old Claremont California home address.  I had to change the home address on the tablets too.

The Alexa Dot is by factory setting default connected to Amazon Music.  You can use Alexa as a music disc jockey by asking her to play to play an individual song, songs by a particular artist, songs of a particular group, or a particular era.  This is a task that the Echo device does very well and the quality of the Echo speaker's sound is excellent.  The Echo and Echo Plus is much louder than the Echo Dot and has better speakers and sound quality.

You can add other music services to the Echo devices using the Alexa app.  If you desire to listen to radio stations on iHeart Radio, you can add iHeart Radio to Alexa.  I added iHeart Radio in order to listen to the local Wood FM Talk Radio station.  

In addition you can listen to podcasts on Tunein by adding this service using the Alexa app.  This gave me the ability to listen to some of my favorite podcasts using Alexa like "The Beliefing" by Albert Mohler.  

You can setup Alexa to play a daily news belief from CNN, Fox News, and NBC News using the Alexa app.  This belief can include the weather report.

You can ask Alexa to tell you this day in History information from the History Channel.

Encyclopedia information that Alexa reports typically comes from Wikipedia.

Alexa can tell you the definition of words.  In addition the foreign language word for any English word.  In addition, Alexa is a voice calculator.

The key to proper operation of Alexa is knowing how to properly ask her to do the task you want her to do.  You tell Alexa to play a song, but you ask Alexa to read a book even if the book is an audio book on Audible.  Yes, Alexa can read Kindle books for you.

As far as personal privacy, there is a mute switch on each Echo device and Fire tablet that can turn off Alexa.  Alexa is not the big sister version of the big brother of the science fiction novel titled "1984".

Alexa as a personal digital assistant (PDA) is best done by a Windows 10 computer being part of your Alexa network.  

Alexa can be part of your smart home network.

I will be blogging about my experience with Alexa.  In addition, I will be giving information about how to fully use the features of Alexa.