Latest news with #EchoShow15
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Yahoo
These 5 Easy Amazon Alexa Tricks Make for a Smarter Smart Home This Summer
With summer now very much around the corner, you've got better things to do than worry about your smart home. But with garden parties and the pool calling your name, there has never been a better time to make sure that your accessories are working for you, not against you. Smart home devices bring a lot of convenience to our day-to-day lives, but that doesn't mean they can't be improved. Amazon's Alexa" target="_self is one of the most popular choices, and you can tell it to turn the lights on or off, play your favorite music, set a timer for you while cooking in the kitchen and more. But you don't have to use the same Alexa as everyone else, and you can really upgrade your experience with just a few customizations. If you've got a smart speaker like the Echo Dot, an Echo Show 15, the powerful Echo Studio or the rotating Echo Show 10, there are plenty of ways to make Alexa feel more helpful and less like just another gadget. A few small changes can seriously improve your experience. From making hands-free calls to connecting Bluetooth and Wi-Fi or even using Alexa in the kitchen, there's a lot worth setting up. It might take a little effort to get everything just right, but once you do, your Alexa devices will feel like they're working for you instead of the other way around. Best Amazon Alexa Devices of 2025 See at Cnet When you ask Alexa to do something, such as play a song or turn on the lights, Alexa will say something like, "OK, turning on the lights." This is to help you determine why Alexa did something if it wasn't what you asked. If you don't want Alexa repeating what you just said, you can change that setting so that it plays a short sound instead of a voice response. To do so, open the Alexa app's More menu and select Settings > Talking with Alexa. Then toggle on the switch for Brief Mode. When you set up your Amazon Echo, the music service defaults to Amazon Music. If you use Spotify, Apple Music or another streamer, you may want to link your Echo to that instead. Go to Settings > Music & Podcasts, then link to a service. On the same page, tap Default Services and switch to your preferred music provider. Now the Echo will play from the music streaming service of your choice when you say, "Alexa, play music." Note that you can select defaults for family or personal listening. 'Alexa, Play Beyoncé': All the Alexa Music Commands You Need to Use See at Cnet If TV commercials keep triggering your Amazon Echo when they say "Alexa," you can change the wake word to something less likely to trigger the speaker. The other traditional options are Computer, Echo and Amazon, but there are several newer wake word additions you can use like Ziggy and Hey, Disney. If you want a change, just say, "Alexa, change the wake word" and make your selection. You can also open the Alexa app, go to Settings > Device Settings. Select your device, then tap the Settings icon and select Wake Word to make a choice. Unfortunately, you can't come up with your own name for the speaker, like "Tallulah" or "Digital Overlord." Best Smart Speakers for 2025 See at Cnet You don't always have time to search Amazon for something you're out of, like toilet paper. That's why it can be helpful to set up voice purchasing on your Amazon Echo, so Alexa can order products for you. To get started, you'll need to turn on voice ordering and 1-Click ordering. Open the Alexa app and navigate to Settings > Account Settings > Voice Purchasing > Purchasing controls > Select who can make purchases. For instance, you can set up a voice code or profile so that only you can make purchases when you type in a four-digit code. If you have multiple people in your house, you'll want to set up voice profiles for each member who uses the Echo speaker. This will help Alexa learn your voice and distinguish you from others in the house. To create voice profiles, go to Settings > Your Profile & Family > Voice ID and follow the onscreen prompts. You can make sure your voice profile is correctly set up by asking, "Alexa, who am I?" The voice assistant will say, "I'm talking to [your name]." If you have favorite customizations and settings, share them in the comments. Now that you've updated these six Echo settings, here are five creative uses for your Amazon Echo device, five essential tips for your new Echo device and CNET's roundup of every Alexa command you can give right now.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Yahoo
Amazon ends little-used privacy feature that let Echo users opt out of sending recordings to company
Amazon is ending a little-used privacy feature that let some users of its Echo smart speaker prevent their voice commands from going to the company's cloud. Beginning on March 28, Amazon is ending the 'Do Not Send Voice Recordings' option that kept audio from being sent to Amazon's cloud and had it process locally on the device instead. In an email sent to customers who'd been using the option, Amazon said it made the decision to 'no longer support this feature' as it expands Alexa's capabilities with generative artificial intelligence features that rely on being processed in the cloud. While the change may sound alarming to some privacy-minded users, it was not widely used or available. It only worked on three devices: the 4th generation Echo Dot, the Echo Show 10 and the Echo Show 15 — and only for customers in the U.S. with devices set to English. Amazon said less than 0.03% of customers use it. People still have the option to prevent Alexa from saving voice recordings. Those who'd been using the 'Do Not Send' feature as of March 28 will automatically be opted into the 'Don't save recordings' option, Amazon said. 'The Alexa experience is designed to protect our customers' privacy and keep their data secure, and that's not changing. We're focusing on the privacy tools and controls that our customers use most and work well with generative AI experiences that rely on the processing power of Amazon's secure cloud," Amazon said in a statement.
Associated Press
19-03-2025
- Associated Press
Amazon ends little-used privacy feature that let Echo users opt out of sending recordings to company
Amazon is ending a little-used privacy feature that let some users of its Echo smart speaker prevent their voice commands from going to the company's cloud. Beginning on March 28, Amazon is ending the 'Do Not Send Voice Recordings' option that kept audio from being sent to Amazon's cloud and had it process locally on the device instead. In an email sent to customers who'd been using the option, Amazon said it made the decision to 'no longer support this feature' as it expands Alexa's capabilities with generative artificial intelligence features that rely on being processed in the cloud. While the change may sound alarming to some privacy-minded users, it was not widely used or available. It only worked on three devices: the 4th generation Echo Dot, the Echo Show 10 and the Echo Show 15 — and only for customers in the U.S. with devices set to English. Amazon said less than 0.03% of customers use it. People still have the option to prevent Alexa from saving voice recordings. Those who'd been using the 'Do Not Send' feature as of March 28 will automatically be opted into the 'Don't save recordings' option, Amazon said. 'The Alexa experience is designed to protect our customers' privacy and keep their data secure, and that's not changing. We're focusing on the privacy tools and controls that our customers use most and work well with generative AI experiences that rely on the processing power of Amazon's secure cloud,' Amazon said in a statement.
