Say “Alexa, turn on whisper mode” or check here: How to enable whisper mode
Author: james
Set alarm for BBC Radio 2
“Alexa, wake me up at 7am to BBC Radio 2”
Also works for other radio stations 😀
Update: due to the TuneIn skill being removed this will no longer work until BBC update their skill to support alarms.
Match of the Day on Echo
“Alexa, when’s match of the day on?”
and she even asks if you want a reminder just before!
Latest things to do with Alexa November 2018
“Alexa, tell me a waiter, waiter joke.”
“Alexa, why is it called ‘toad in the hole’?”
“Alexa, turn on the living room lights.”
Add your Echo device to a Smart Home Group with other smart devices (e.g. your living room lights) so that Alexa can control them as a single unit. Learn how (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201749240).
“Alexa, play Kisstory.”
“Alexa, are you friends with the Queen?”
“Alexa, how can I create my own story?”
With Skill Blueprints, you can create your own interactive stories with sound effects and fun expressions. Get started at blueprints.amazon.co.uk.
“Alexa, how many beans make five?”
“Alexa, open Brain Ninja.”
“Alexa, what sound does a hamster make?”
“Alexa, open Rainforest Sounds.”
“Alexa, play the latest album by Arctic Monkeys from Amazon Music.”
“Alexa, are you ready to rock?”
“Alexa, which dinosaurs lived in the UK?”
“Alexa, how do you say ‘good morning’ in Japanese?”
“Alexa, open CBeebies.”
Choose from stories narrated by Dolly Parton, Tom Hardy, Jessica Ennis-Hill and George Ezra. To use this skill, you need to allow access to Kid Skills (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GFAFHBBCG76WTBXQ).
Amazon slot types very restricted in UK
Part of developing Alexa skills involves slots. These are broadly speaking categories of words that Amazon recognizes.
Even though Amazon have recently added some new slot types to the UK, we are still a long way behind the US.
Specifically, I’m working on a skill that will allow you to play your local music library, something that’s badly needed since Amazon removed the ability to upload. In the US you have AMAZON.MusicAlbum, AMAZON.MusicRecording, etc slots which will match album names – and this has been available for over a year.
As this post on Alexa dev forum indicates, UK are lagging behind the US for almost 2 years now 🙁
Update: these slots are finally available!
Ask Alexa for weather forecast at a certain time
“Alexa, what’s the weather at 7 p.m.?”
Echo Spot is being launched in the UK
How to listen to Magic FM (UK) on Alexa
When I say “Alexa, play Magic FM” and what I want is Magic 105.4 FM I get a Spanish station!
The magic phrase you want is “Alexa, play Magic Radio UK“.
You might also want to try:
- “Alexa, play Mellow Magic”
- “Alexa, play Magic Chilled”
NOW available on UK Alexa
These key Alexa abilities wereunavailable on the UK Echo, but as of 8 March 2018 they all are now:
- Multi-room audio – correction: this IS available. Thanks Amazon!
- Alexa Calling & Messaging – update: now available
- “Proper” Harmony Skill – update: now available
- Echo Show not available in UK – update: now available
- Control Fire TV with Echo – update: now available
Took their time however, this was first published on August 29th 2017!
How to get Absolute 80s on the Echo
You need to add the RadioPlayer Skill
“Alexa, enable Radioplayer”
then
“Alexa, ask Radioplayer to play Absolute 80s”
as it doesn’t seem to be available on TuneIn