5 ms·

I thought the subheader was a sarcastic dig. Playing music is virtually the only thing Alexa seems capable of doing, and even then only semi-reliably.

manyxcxi 10y ago
You obviously don't have one, and if you do, you've horribly wasted your money. Even on day one it launched with more use than that. I can set or check my thermostat, control any light or group of lights in my house, get an Uber to pick me up, have the morning news headlines read to me while I'm making breakfast, check traffic on my way out the door, add notes to my to-do list as they cross my mind, and add things to my shopping list with my face still in the refrigerator. Those are all things that come out of the box with no custom code. With the additional skills I've personally written I have it tell me releases and showtimes at my nearest theater, I can ask if the garage door is open or closed, and a few other half cocked ideas. The Alexa skills kit is quite easy to get your head wrapped around and the limit really is your imagination.
- gcb0 10y ago
  pretty much what i could do with a cell phone (had i not disabled voice input), but you lose all that when you leave the house/room?
  - eclipxe 10y ago
    It's different.
  - spdustin 10y ago
    And I and the rest of my family can do it from anywhere in four rooms without me or my phone being present. It's wonderful.
- jgalt212 10y ago
  > control any light or group of lights in my house Alexa has nothing to do with that. The hard/expensive part is making all the lights in your house accessible via remote control.
  - TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
    From the user pov, that's just engineering. Users want stuff to work. They don't care about the engineering behind it. In fact they want to see as little engineering (friction) as possible. Alexa is the part that makes the engineering fun and useful. And it's much harder to build a system like Alexa than it is to build a 433MHz dimmer system for your lights. Alexa is actually the new Windows. MS, Apple, and Google are following not leading now, and they should all be worried Amazon got a successful and popular consumer hardware product into this space first.
    - jgalt212 10y ago
      > Alexa is actually the new Windows. That's one of the bolder and inherently unprovable statements I've heard in quite a while.
  - manyxcxi 10y ago
    Alexa has a lot to do with it, my wife doesn't use the app for our home automation hub, and when I'm home I don't either. Pulling my phone out, unlocking it, firing it up, getting to the right section. Even with everything optimally placed it takes just as much time as me walking into the other room and turning the light off. So all that home automation I installed was going mildly unused because your phone as a control when you're in the house is just kind of not worth it unless you're talking upstairs vs downstairs. As soon as Alexa got integration with HA products our usage immediately changed- especially my wife. She went from just plain not using the home automation to using it for everything. I installed all of our home automation gizmos, configured the hub, grouped all the rooms, etc. I know how much Alexa has to do with any of it working, but it has everything to do with them being used.
  - _JamesA_ 10y ago
    Hard/expensive is relative. The Samsung SmartThings hub[1] is $99. GE Link[2] and Phillips Hue[3] Zigbee light bulbs are $15 at Home Depot. Z-Wave replacement outlets[4] and switches[5] are less than $50. And there are a ton of other Z-Wave and Zigbee compatible devices available. Alexa has been an awesome addition to my home automation. Instead of reaching for a remote control or a smartphone app I can just say "Alexa, turn on the <insert name here> light". [1]: https://shop.smartthings.com/#!/products/samsung-smartthings-hub https://shop.smartthings.com/#!/products/samsung-smartthings... [2]: http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Link-60W-Equivalent-Soft-White-2700K-A19-Connected-Home-LED-Light-Bulb-PSB19-SW27/205404345 http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Link-60W-Equivalent-Soft-White... [3]: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-60W-Equivalent-Soft-White-A19-Hue-Connected-Home-LED-Light-Bulb-455295/206633282 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-60W-Equivalent-Soft-White... [4]: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Z-Wave-Enabled-15-Amp-Scene-Capable-Receptacle-with-LED-Locator-White-Ivory-Lite-Almond-R02-DZR15-1LZ/205298666 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Z-Wave-Enabled-15-Amp-Sce... [5]: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Decora-Z-Wave-Controls-15-Amp-Scene-Capable-Switch-White-Ivory-Light-Almond-R02-DZS15-1LZ/205298583 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Decora-Z-Wave-Controls-15...

manyxcxi 10y ago

You obviously don't have one, and if you do, you've horribly wasted your money. Even on day one it launched with more use than that. I can set or check my thermostat, control any light or group of lights in my house, get an Uber to pick me up, have the morning news headlines read to me while I'm making breakfast, check traffic on my way out the door, add notes to my to-do list as they cross my mind, and add things to my shopping list with my face still in the refrigerator. Those are all things that come out of the box with no custom code. With the additional skills I've personally written I have it tell me releases and showtimes at my nearest theater, I can ask if the garage door is open or closed, and a few other half cocked ideas. The Alexa skills kit is quite easy to get your head wrapped around and the limit really is your imagination.

gcb0 10y ago
pretty much what i could do with a cell phone (had i not disabled voice input), but you lose all that when you leave the house/room?
- eclipxe 10y ago
  It's different.
- spdustin 10y ago
  And I and the rest of my family can do it from anywhere in four rooms without me or my phone being present. It's wonderful.
jgalt212 10y ago
> control any light or group of lights in my house Alexa has nothing to do with that. The hard/expensive part is making all the lights in your house accessible via remote control.
- TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
  From the user pov, that's just engineering. Users want stuff to work. They don't care about the engineering behind it. In fact they want to see as little engineering (friction) as possible. Alexa is the part that makes the engineering fun and useful. And it's much harder to build a system like Alexa than it is to build a 433MHz dimmer system for your lights. Alexa is actually the new Windows. MS, Apple, and Google are following not leading now, and they should all be worried Amazon got a successful and popular consumer hardware product into this space first.
  - jgalt212 10y ago
    > Alexa is actually the new Windows. That's one of the bolder and inherently unprovable statements I've heard in quite a while.
- manyxcxi 10y ago
  Alexa has a lot to do with it, my wife doesn't use the app for our home automation hub, and when I'm home I don't either. Pulling my phone out, unlocking it, firing it up, getting to the right section. Even with everything optimally placed it takes just as much time as me walking into the other room and turning the light off. So all that home automation I installed was going mildly unused because your phone as a control when you're in the house is just kind of not worth it unless you're talking upstairs vs downstairs. As soon as Alexa got integration with HA products our usage immediately changed- especially my wife. She went from just plain not using the home automation to using it for everything. I installed all of our home automation gizmos, configured the hub, grouped all the rooms, etc. I know how much Alexa has to do with any of it working, but it has everything to do with them being used.
- _JamesA_ 10y ago
  Hard/expensive is relative. The Samsung SmartThings hub[1] is $99. GE Link[2] and Phillips Hue[3] Zigbee light bulbs are $15 at Home Depot. Z-Wave replacement outlets[4] and switches[5] are less than $50. And there are a ton of other Z-Wave and Zigbee compatible devices available. Alexa has been an awesome addition to my home automation. Instead of reaching for a remote control or a smartphone app I can just say "Alexa, turn on the <insert name here> light". [1]: https://shop.smartthings.com/#!/products/samsung-smartthings-hub https://shop.smartthings.com/#!/products/samsung-smartthings... [2]: http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Link-60W-Equivalent-Soft-White-2700K-A19-Connected-Home-LED-Light-Bulb-PSB19-SW27/205404345 http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Link-60W-Equivalent-Soft-White... [3]: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-60W-Equivalent-Soft-White-A19-Hue-Connected-Home-LED-Light-Bulb-455295/206633282 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-60W-Equivalent-Soft-White... [4]: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Z-Wave-Enabled-15-Amp-Scene-Capable-Receptacle-with-LED-Locator-White-Ivory-Lite-Almond-R02-DZR15-1LZ/205298666 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Z-Wave-Enabled-15-Amp-Sce... [5]: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Decora-Z-Wave-Controls-15-Amp-Scene-Capable-Switch-White-Ivory-Light-Almond-R02-DZS15-1LZ/205298583 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Decora-Z-Wave-Controls-15...