Amazon Echo Dot, My New Gadget

When my daughter came over this weekend for the eventful trip to the emergency room, she also brought us a new gadget. Since Robin is the epitome of a Gadget Girl, she usually at least knows about all of the new gadgets, even if she doesn't have all of them (yet).
So, maybe you are wondering what an Echo Do is........ well, I am glad you asked ! It is a little round box that talks with you. Even more than that, it answers questions, tells you the news and weather, who is winning the election, and even plays music.
Alexa is Amazon's answer to SIRI, but instead of activating her through your iPhone, she has her own little box that she lives in. When you talk to Alexa, she lights up with pretty colors on the top.
Robin connected the box to our home stereo system, and now I can say things like , "Alexa, play Don Williams", and the stereo will start playing Don Williams songs until I say , "Alexa, stop."
It also connects to my Pandora, Amazon Music, Spotify, and several other online radio services, and once you connect your account on the Echo Dot app, then you can just ask Alexa to play whatever you want from there, too.
If you ask about the weather forecast, latest news, or things like that, then Alexa will give you that information as well.
I have not actually explored what all she can do yet, but I do have to admit, it is a pretty interesting gadget !

http://www.pcmag.com/review/343443/amazon-echo-dot

 

It is not a radio, @Patsy Faye , it is more of a controller. You know how the TV boxes like Apple TV, or Amazon Fire TV, or Roku work to run the television, well this is kind of similar to that.
I am such a non-techy kind of person, so I am not even sure if I am explaining it correctly, but what the Echo does is more like a bluetooth connector and when it is connected with my stereo, then it controls what the stereo plays.
Since I have the Echo Dot app on the ipad, then that connects with my Pandora account and links it to the Echo.
So instead of opening Pandora on the ipad and playing it with headphones, I can just ask Alexa to play Pandora, and it plays through the speakers on the stereo, kind of like it would when I connect the output from the iPad to the input on the stereo, except no connector cord is needed because it works like bluetooth.

 

Youtube is a great place for news, @Denise Happyfeet ! I have a whole list of people that I subscribe to on Youtube, both for news and for health information, as well as more low-carb recipes to try; so you can find just about everything on Youtube if you look there.
I check the new videos that they put on my page, which always changes depending on what I have been researching, and it also shows new things from any of my subscribed channels as well.
It also has videos I have watched recently, so if i had to stop partway through, I can just go back when I have time to finish watching it.
At night, where I used to just waste my brain watching tv shows or movies, I now watch the longer youtube documentary types of videos that go for an hour or longer, so I am educating myself instead of just vegetating along.

 

I had to look that one up to see, and it does appear that the Amazon Echo can order pizza. What I have is the Echo Dot, but my understanding is that it is about the same thing minus the speaker, which comes built-in with the regular Echo.
From what I read, you just set up your Domino's pizza profile and connect it with the Echo, and then you can ask Alexa to order for you, and also to check on the delivery status.
If you have smart lights and appliances, you can also control those with the Echo, similar to Apple's new home system. We haven't tried any of that yet, and since we don't order pizza or have any smart appliances, it is not high on the list of priorities.

 

So far, I have not done anything else but play music with the Echo, but I do kind of like it. When I want music, I say to Alexa to play whatever singer I want to listen to, like "Alexa, play Lobo", and then it will play songs by Lobo until I tell her to stop. If I don't like the song, I can say "next song", and it stops playing that song and goes to another one. I can ask her to turn the volume up or down, and when I don't want music, I just say "Alexa, stop".
I know that it will do a lot more things than I am doing with it, but maybe not anything else that I am interested in doing. But it is very handy to play music.
I think that she will also read books, but I will have to check that part out. I have never much cared for audio books, but I remember @Ina I. Wonder was talking about those because of her eyesight bothering her when she reads.