Alexa In Your Life
The first 5 Alexa commands you should use
Here are 5 everyday (and easy-to-remember!) tasks that Alexa can help you with
Some people get an Alexa, play with it for a week, and then, if you ask them “What do you think?” they say:
“The Alexa’s a fun gadget, but I haven’t found it that useful. It’s good for party tricks, but when I try to do anything useful, it never knows what I want.”
Some people get an Alexa, play with it for a week, and then, if you ask them “What do you think?” they say:
“Alexa is great! She helps me every day. I thought I knew how to do all these things by myself or with my phone, but a lot of the time, it’s just easier to ask her for stuff.”
Surprisingly, the difference isn’t that the latter have tuned their Flash Briefings to perfection, mastered IFTTT, remember magical invocations, or just like talking to robots. There are basic, (surprisingly) genuinely useful things that every Alexa comes equipped to help you with.
Try these out, and I bet you a soda that you’ll find yourself in the latter camp if you aren’t already. (For real, hit me up at joy@subcast.com, if you don’t find yourself talking to her more. I’ll really buy you a soda. ❤)
#1 —“Alexa, what’s the weather?”
Getting dressed in the morning, how do you decide if it’s a jacket/umbrella/sunglasses day? Do you look out the window and sniff, open a weather app on your phone, or just try your luck? I put this at #1 because for me, this is my favorite thing to ask Alexa. I ask her the same thing every day, and her answer is always accurate, up to date, and useful — exactly when I find myself in front of my closet, already grabbing things and judging what I’m going to walk out the door with.
I could pull out my phone, but then I’d have to put down one of the 3 shirts I’m already holding. 👗👕👚
(Bonus: She’ll also tell you the weather over the weekend/tomorrow/for the week, which I often use when packing for a trip. 🛫)
#2 — “Alexa, set a timer for {half an hour}”
Of all the things on this list, this might be the the simplest to justify, because a lot of people already use their phone/oven to set timers, and doing it with your voice is often easier… but I’ll illustrate with an example anyways.
Imagine yourself in the kitchen. You’ve just tucked a casserole into the oven, and started chopping garlic for your next dish, when you remember you need to check on the casserole in 15 minutes. So, without brushing off your knife or your hands of garlic bits, “Alexa, set a timer for 15 minutes”
In this, and many other kitchen situations — when your hands are covered in egg, flour, oil, and you’re juggling pans, spatulas — Alexa is there, where you need her, right next to you.
I could pull out my phone, but… no I just wouldn’t take out my phone.
🔥🍲🔥🥘🔥🍴🔥
Other non-kitchen use cases include: timing a power nap (or other life-hacking optimizations), timing housework, timing your showers (gotta conserve water in California!), or all sorts of other ideas if you have kids.
Protip: You can cancel timers! “Alexa, cancel my timer” usually does the trick. She’ll ask if she isn’t sure which one you mean.
#3 — “Alexa, remind me {to call my mother} {this weekend}”
This one’s magical in a special way, because she basically just repeats your words back at you, after whatever time you tell her to wait. I always find it funny, because she just repeats back what I said to her, including saying “my” when I said “my” as in, “That’s not your tea, Alexa, it’s mine that I need to remember to get.” 😒☕️
Often useful if I want to talk to future-Joy. I regularly remind her to get off the computer, start making dinner, or check on soup I just heated up.
Protip: You can cancel reminders! “Alexa, cancel my reminder” usually does the trick. She’ll ask if she isn’t sure which one you mean.
#4— “Alexa, set an alarm for {tomorrow at 7am/every day at 4pm}”
This is what you’d expect. For me, it’s low on the list just because I don’t use it very often it very much. It was set-and-forget. The interaction is lot like setting a timer, and less delightful than setting a reminder (she just makes sounds instead of talking back to you), but if you want to replace your alarm/phone by your bedside, it’s really useful because it will remember recurring alarms.
(Bonus, because she remembers what you tell her forever, you’ll probably also need “Alexa, what are my alarms?” “Alexa, turn off my alarm.” or the nuclear option, “Alexa, turn off all my alarms.” The Alexa team has tuned these interactions nicely, so you probably won’t have trouble managing your alarms.)
#5 — “Alexa, add {peanut butter cups} to my shopping list”
Last, but definitely not least, Alexa has a built in shopping list that, though simple, is still shoulders-above its competition due to the convenience of voice. Add using your voice, and when you’re at the store, read using your phone.
*Open the fridge* “Alexa, add milk to my shopping list” *Close the fridge*
When you’re at the store, open up your Alexa app to check things off.
To see your list in the Alexa app, open the side menu, and find “Lists.” One of the lists will be “Shopping,” which will show you the things you added, with checkboxes and an option to delete them after you’ve checked them off.
These are my favorites! What have I’ve missed? What are other Alexa-built in functions that would compete with these for most-useful every day?
Let me know in the comments below, or at joy@subcast.com.
…Or in a week, let me know I owe you a soda. 😉
Bonus… #6: Get the news
If you want to listen to news, try saying, “Alexa, enable Daily News Radio.” You’ll get a stream of news podcasts, updated every morning. The shows are hand-picked with love, so you’ll always get the best ones. ❤
I’m working at Subcast, where we’re building smart radio on Alexa, to bring the best radio talk shows and podcasts into your life. If you want to to listen to shows that go deeper than your Flash Briefings, check us out at www.subcast.com.
