Despite its tiny size, the Amazon echo can completely change the way you run your household. You can have Alexa hanging by your site like your own personal assistant – except her memory is perfect and you don’t have to pay her health insurance.
Alexa has a whole host of features, including several meant to help you reach your goals and be more productive. Here are the top 10 Amazon Echo features you have to check out to lighten your workload.
1. Calendar
“Alexa, what meetings do I have today?”
While you might not always have a pen on you to jot something down on your calendar, Alexa has you covered. You can ask your echo dot to tell you what’s coming up for the next day or week. She can keep you up-to-date on all your appointments so you’re never late again.
2. Reminders
“Alexa, remind me to take my pills at 8 am.”
Keep forgetting to call your mother? Not anymore. You can ask Alexa to remind you about important notes, tasks, or other information. And Alexa never forgets. Sometimes, developing habits takes a little extra help to keep you on track. Alexa can help you with anything from remembering to work out to remember to take pills at a certain time every day.
3. Emails
“Alexa, email Jenny that I’m running late.”
This one really does make it seem like Alexa is your own secretary. You can ask her to open and read your mail, and even categorize it. You can ask her to flag certain emails or archive them. But most impressively, you can ask her to send a reply for you. Imagine how much easier it would be to get through that pile of emails on a Monday morning if Alexa was writing them all out for you.
4. Alarms
“Alexa, set a cookie alarm for 7 minutes.”
No more burned cookies! You can set alarms for everything from your pot of noodles cooking on the stove to asking Alexa to wake you up after a 20-minute power nap. And you can title these alarms too. That way, you can have multiple alarms going at once without getting them mixed up.
5. Questions
“Alexa, how do you spell anchovies?”
Okay, yes, this one seems pretty vague. But that’s only because of how much Alexa can do for you. Remember, she’s hooked up to your internet, so her knowledge base is practically limitless. You can ask her anything from the square root of 5 million to the proper use for a semi-colon.
Alexa can easily calculate problems for you, relay facts, define terms, and even give you help with your spelling.
Shopping Lists
“Alexa, add bananas.”
Nothing is more frustrating than getting to the grocery store, only to forget what you need. Throughout your week, you can easily tell your voice assistant to add items to your shopping list. Not only will she jot them down, but she’ll categorize them as well. And her categories are pretty accurate so far.
Everything you tell her is recorded on the Amazon Alexa app in your account. So while you’re shopping, you can pull up your list and check things off as you go.
Phone Calls
“Alexa, call Daniel.”
This might be one of the coolest features for the Amazon echo. Alexa can access your contacts list and make phone calls for you. You would expect that the calls would be like using your smartphone’s speakerphone, right – where everything is fuzzy and choppy? Wrong! It actually comes out quite clearly, making conversation easy and convenient.
Having Alexa in your kitchen or office with you is incredibly convenient. Aside from the music, entertainment, and the corny jokes she tells, she can actually help you improve your productivity. You’ll find she’s an essential worker in your household in no time.
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