Are you familiar with Virtual assistant technology? Yes? Awesome. Read on. No? OK. If that particular phrasing doesn’t ring a bell, maybe this will, “Alexa. What day is it?” Been asking that a lot lately with all that has been going on. Or what about this, “Hey, Google. What’s on my calendar?” No? Maybe this will do it, “Siri, how many cases of COVID-19 are there in Arkansas?” Yep. Keeping it timely. That question comes out of my mouth more times than I would like of late.
If you recognized any of the above queries, you are probably already using virtual assistant technology already. Amazon Echo and Google Home are two of the very popular home models. In my home, I personally use Amazon Echo. We lovingly refer to ours as, Alexa. Truth be told, we had to. It was that or Echo. You currently only have two options. I do wish we had more, but I digress. If you don’t already know what a virtual assistant can do for you in your home, I’ll give you a few examples of how I use mine.
Alarms, Timers and Reminders: Better than your average alarm clock, Alexa does a great job getting you up in the morning or after a nap. You can even snooze her, if you are one of those people. I am. Multiple snoozes for me! She also gets louder the longer the alarm sounds. You can also choose your alarm type, and there are even some alarms that feature celebrity voices. Not sure they offer Johnny Depp, but they totally should. I would definitely wake up, and I’m pretty sure I’d have a smile on my face.
I also love to use Alexa to set timers when I’m cooking. You can even have multiple timers going at once. She will also tell you how much time is left as well, if you ask her. I love to cook and bake. Whether it is for my family, my friends, students, or complete strangers, I’m in my element when I’m in the kitchen. I promise, I will be sharing some of my favorite recipes here at Joy with Jamie. Stay tuned for that.
Alexa is also wonderful to set reminders with. In my neighborhood, when the pandemic first started, people were going outside at 8:00 PM to howl in solidarity. Weird, but I have to tell you, it was so fun! The first time I howled and someone howled back at me from way across the neighborhood… I felt connected in a way I never had before. Again. Weird I know, but I kind-of am weird. Anyway, I kept forgetting to do this strange ritual, until I used Alexa to help me.
Answering Questions: Alexa can answer questions about just about anything. I use her for finding out the time, the temperature, the weather, when it will rain, and how far it is from one place to another, when I’m planning a trip. Back when I was a little girl, we had this thing called “Time and Temperature.” You literally had to call a phone number to hear them. Don’t tell me if you remember or not. I will be able to guess your age. LOL.
Lists and Purchases: Another of the big reasons I love Alexa is that you can make lists – to do, grocery , gift lists, and more. If you use Amazon, you can even have her order items for you! My mom loves to shop. You could almost say she lives to shop. I have not shown her how to use Alexa’s shopping feature yet, for obvious reasons. Can you say, buried in a pile of boxes!
Music and More: Probably my favorite uses for Alexa is music. I subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited, and for a small price, I can have Alexa play virtually any song I can think of! She also has radio stations, can play from Spotify (another music service), and more. I often have her play Bott Radio Network for me, a Christian radio station that I love. Pretty sure I will feature them in one of the Joy with Jamie “Love This” posts soon, but you can certainly check them out now, if you’d like.
Connecting with People: Alexa can make calls, and people can call you! You can also use her to “drop in” on rooms in the house, like the old intercom systems. You will need multiple units, but you can get a small version for a really reasonable price. You can also tell her to make an announcement, and it will go out to all the units in the house. I have used that many a Sunday morning trying to get everyone out the door for church.
Voice Controls: If you have additional equipment, you can have a virtual assistant like Alexa turn things on and off for you. They can even lock doors! In our house, the big voice control we use is with lights. One of my sons has some smart lights in his room. He just tells Alexa to turn on the lights, and she does! He also has an LED light strip that changes colors that he uses her for.
My son likes to rearrange his room a lot, and during his most recent redo, he wasn’t sure where to put his LED light strip. They ended up attached underneath the edge of his bed, so now his bed lights up! Pretty awesome, if you ask me, but I’m one of those people who would like a car with colored lights underneath. Maybe I need a set of LED lights for my room too!
I could go on and on about how much I love my Amazon Echos and Dots, but I’ll stop here. If you’d like to purchase an Alexa of your very own, please click on the images below. They are called affiliate links (learning new things all the time), and they will help me continue to grow Joy with Jamie if you use them to place an order. Thank you so much, and enjoy your new virtual assistant. Tell her I said hello.
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