CSA Online by Andrew Moore-Crispin Amazon Echo $179.99 While Alexa is the default watchword that you use to wake Amazon’s home assistant up in order to issue a command, it can be changed. “Computer” is one of the few options for any Star Trek fans out there. Alexa comes packed with a bunch of features out of the box. She can do simple web searches, keep a shopping list, give you the weather, set timers and reminders, give you a morning rundown of the news and weather or even book stuff to your calendar and more. With a little initial setup and a subscription to Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, etc., Echo can play just about any song, playlist, album or genre you like. “Alexa, play top 40s” or “Alexa, play upbeat rock music,” for example. TuneIn Radio lets you listen live to any of your favourite radio stations. One of the things that can really help Alexa earn her keep is that she can learn new “skills.” Skills are analogous to apps on a smartphone or tablet; the good ones greatly enhance the experience and Alexa’s own usefulness, and also feel like a natural extension of the platform. The Uber and Lyft skills, for example, let you call for a ride, Pizza Hut and Domino’s let you order your favourite pizza by simply saying “Alexa, ask Domino’s to place my easy order.” Jeopardy J6 gives you six new questions every weekday across various Jeopardy categories. Responses in the form of a question, please. While Alexa can do a lot in Canada, she’s definitely more at home in the States which, it bears mentioning, is the only place where you can easily buy one retail. In addition to the Echo – the $180 speaker that’s capable of filling a roomwith sound – there’s the less expensive, but no less useful Echo Dot. This $50 puck-like mini speaker is perfect for a bedroom or anywhere else you don’t need a big, loud speaker. There’s an Alexa app that runs on your computer, tablet or smartphone, but you only really use it to do the initial setup or to change some of Echo’s deeper settings and options. Everything happens with your voice and Echo’s own smarts; it’s rare that you need to touch the app. A Little Help Around the House Look at any spaceship in any bit of science fiction. Do you see anyone typing on a computer? No. They may hit buttons on some array or screen, but it looks nothing like the QWERTY keyboard we’re used to. In the future, it’s all voice commands, all the time. “Tea, Earl Grey, hot.” “Set a course for the Omicron Theta system and engage at warp 5.” “Open the pod bay doors please, HAL.” Let’s forget I mentioned that last one. Proving the point that we live in the future: It’s technology that’s available today. Voice control, I mean. Not replicators, warp drive or sentient computers that turn on us. Today, you can buy a relatively inexpensive little device that connects to your home Internet and any smart gear which you may already have in the house, allowing you to issue voice commands. “Dim the living room lights to 50%,” if you have invested in Philips Hue light bulbs or similar. “Set the main floor temperature to 22 degrees Celsius,” if you’ve got a Nest, EcoBee or other smart thermostat. You can get the day’s weather, find out what’s on your calendar for the day, add stuff to your shopping list or do basic web searches. For example, my assistant just told me that 22° Celsius is 71.6° Fahrenheit…in case you were hung up on that. At present, there are two main contenders for the home voice assistant crown. Google with Home and Amazon with Alexa. 44 | www.snowbirds.org
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