Home: Amazon Echo

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Because we’ve been incorporating technology into our home, we decided to add an Amazon Echo. I’m sure we don’t use it to its full capability, but right now it “talks” to our Philips Hue Lighting System, Ecobee thermostat and Pandora account.

For those unfamiliar with an Echo, it accepts voice commands to perform tasks. For example, if I want the lights tuned off, I can say, “Alexa, turn off the living room lamp.” Suddenly, the room is dark. It can also control our Ecobee thermostat and set timers or alarms. In addition, the Echo can answer questions like, “What’s the weather in Los Angeles?” and can respond when one asks for a joke. And though I haven’t tried this feature, the Echo can call an Uber driver. Because our Echo has a speaker, I mainly use it to play music or podcasts, whether it’s from my streaming iPhone or using a Pandora account.

If you’d like to make a leap into the new millennium, incorporate an Amazon Echo into you home.