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# Using Amazon Echo

Throughout the house you'll find various Amazon Echo's. At this point, many of you will already know what an Echo is but for those of you don't ... it's a voice activated "personal assistant" named Alexa which you can verbally ask questions and it will try to answer you with a verbal response.

Below are a whole host of examples of what you can ask Alexa.

# Music & Radio

We have Alexa connected to our Spotify account so you can say:

  • "Alexa, play some classical music"
  • "Alexa, play U2's latest album"
  • "Alexa, play some reggae music"

You can also play many radio stations, we often listen to Radio 4:

  • "Alexa, play BBC Radio 4"

You can control your media with commands like:

  • "Alexa, turn volume up/down"
  • "Alexa, skip song"

# Time and date

  • Set an alarm: "Alexa, set an alarm for 7 a.m." or, "Alexa, wake me up at 7 in the morning."
  • Set a repeating alarm: "Alexa, set a repeating alarm for weekdays at 7 a.m."
  • Set a timer: "Alexa, timer" or, "Alexa, set a timer for 15 minutes."
  • Create a named timer: "Alexa, set a pizza timer for 20 minutes."
  • Set multiple timers: "Alexa, set a second timer for five minutes."
  • Check timer status: "Alexa, how much time is left on the pizza timer?" or, "Alexa, what are -y timers?"
  • Cancel a timer: "Alexa, cancel the pizza timer" or, "Alexa, cancel the 15 minute timer."
  • Ask the time: "Alexa, what time is it?"
  • Ask the date: "Alexa, what's the date?"
  • Ask when the next alarm is: "Alexa, when's my next alarm?"
  • Cancel an alarm: "Alexa, cancel my alarm for 2 p.m."
  • Snooze alarm: "Alexa, snooze."
  • Check dates: "Alexa, when is [holiday] this year?"

# News and Weather

  • Ask for your Flash Briefing: "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?"
  • Check headlines: "Alexa, what's in the news?"
  • Check weather: "Alexa, what's the weather like?" or, "Alexa, will it rain today?" or even, "Alexa, will I need an umbrella today?"
  • Get a weather forecast: "Alexa, what's the weather going to be like this weekend?
  • Get traffic information: "Alexa, what's my commute look like?" or, "Alexa, what's traffic like?"

# Entertainment and Food

  • Find movies in nearby theaters: "Alexa, what movies are playing?" or, "Alexa, what action - movies are playing tonight?"
  • Get information on movies playing: "Alexa, tell me about the movie [title]."
  • Discover nearby restaurants: "Alexa, find me a nearby pizza restaurant."
  • Get operating hours or a phone number for local businesses: "Alexa, find the address for Bank of America" or, "Alexa, find business hours for Harris Teeter."
  • Get IMDb rating: "Alexa, what is the IMDb rating for [movie or TV show]?"
  • Get casting for a movie or show: "Alexa, who plays in [movie or TV show]?"
  • Find out who an actor is: "Alexa, who plays [character] in [movie or TV show]?"
  • Find an actor's latest work: "Alexa, what is [actor]'s latest movie?"
  • Find out who sings a particular song: "Who sings the song [title]?"
  • Get the names of band members: "Who is in the band [name]?"
  • Get album information: "What year did [band] release [song or album]?"
  • Find popular music from an artist: "Alexa, what's popular from [artist]?"
  • Sample music from an artist: "Alexa, sample songs by [artist]."
  • Find a particular album or song: "Alexa, find [song or album] by [artist]."

# Math

  • Convert units: "Alexa, how many [units] are in [units]?"
  • Convert units: "Alexa, how many [units] are in 2 [units]?"
  • Basic math: "Alexa, what's 5 plus 7?" or, "Alexa, what's 56 times 33?"
  • Advanced math: "Alexa, 70 factorial." (Warning: Alexa will list numbers you didn't know existed for about a minute.)

# Definitions and Spellings

  • Get the definition of a word: "Alexa, what's the definition of [word]?"
  • Get the spelling of a word: "Alexa, how do you spell [word]?"

# Sports

  • Check the results of a finished game: "Alexa, what was the score of the [team] game?"
  • Ask if a team won: "Alexa, did the [team] win?"
  • Ask when the next game is scheduled: "Alexa, when do the [team] play next?"
  • Find out the results of your favorite teams: "Alexa, give me my Sports Update."
  • Get Fantasy Football update with the Yahoo Fantasy Football skill: "Alexa, ask Yahoo Fantasy - Football for a score update" or, "Alexa, ask Yahoo Fantasy Football if Colin Kaepernick is playing this week."
  • Get league standings: "Alexa, what are the Premiership standings?"
  • Get Wikipedia information: "Alexa, Wikipedia: [subject]."
  • Tell Alexa to continue reading a Wikipedia entry: "Alexa, tell me more."
  • Ask a general question: "Alexa, how tall is [person or object's name]?"
  • Ask a general question: "Alexa, how many people live in America?"
  • Get a "Game of Thrones" quote: "Alexa, give me a 'Game of Thrones' quote."

# Easter Eggs

  • "Alexa, give me an Easter egg."
  • "Alexa, good morning."
  • "Alexa, tell me a joke."
  • "Alexa, beam me up."
  • "Alexa, set phasers to kill."
  • "Alexa. Tea. Earl Grey. Hot."
  • "Alexa, my name is Inigo Montoya."
  • "Alexa, I want the truth."
  • "Alexa, party on, Wayne."
  • "Alexa, show me the money."
  • "Alexa, what's the first (or second) rule of Fight Club?"
  • "Alexa, surely you can't be serious."
  • "Alexa, are you SkyNet?"
  • "Alexa, party time!"
  • "Alexa, open the pod bay doors."
  • "Alexa, when am I going to die?"
  • "Alexa, what is your quest?"
  • "Alexa, nice to see you, to see you..."
  • "Alexa, don't mention the war."
  • "Alexa, this is a dead parrot."
  • "Alexa, what is your cunning plan?"