Even the brains behind Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, struggled with that one. The problem is that what’s a logical name to you might not be to your significant other. “I’ve found multiple lights called living room, which one did you want” That was until you realise that the rest of your family doesn’t speak the same dork language as you.Įach device has to have a unique name, and one you can remember without looking at an app or list. With a bunch of Philips Hue bulbs and strip lights dotted about the home turning on the lights was a breeze. Skills added, it was time to weave Alexa’s tendrils into the various devices about my home. In my mind it happens a bit like in the Matrix: plug in, stick in a disc, get the operator to hit a button and hey presto “I know kung fu!” Fire up the Alexa app, wait a bit, tap a few buttons and Bob’s your uncle. Asking for news gives you a Sky News flash briefing: that was the first thing that had to be changed – what would my editor think?Īdding skills to Alexa is easy. Weather, news, timers, and facts are all covered. Out of the box, Alexa has got the basics. A ring of lights lit up and she breathed her first words. After a trip to the local DIY shop for the largest drill bit I could find, I had a hole in the wall, an Echo Dot stuck to it about chest height and the microUSB cable hooked up. So the first job was to start dotting the Dots about the place so she practically is. It’s life, Jim, but not as we know itĪlexa sounds like a person, or a house pretending to be a person, and the more you use it the more you start to think about her being built into the walls. What you don’t realise when you start an Echo up for the first time is that you’re genuinely giving life to your house. The first step to inviting my new sultry-voiced AI partner into my home was to decide where to put her receptacles and what I actually wanted her to do. So what is it really like to turn your house into the starship Enterprise and be able to make like Captain Jean Luc Picard and simply shout “Computer, lights!”? I installed five Echo Dots and one Echo speaker in my house to find out. Now there’s a new breed of AI butler available: the in-home, always-listening speakers – of which, the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot are currently the pinnacle in the UK.
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