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How the Amazon Echo can immediately change your daily life

Powered by voice-controlled virtual assistant Alexa, the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Show devices can do everything from playing your favourite music via Amazon Music, Spotify and other streaming services, to controlling your smart home tech.

Having your very own personal assistant can free up your time, and make multitasking a whole lot easier, completely changing your life for the better. We asked some Alexa fans how the Amazon Echo has already transformed their daily routine…

You can try out what the Amazon Echo and Echo Show offer without owning a device in this amazing first-of-its-kind interactive tour that lets you experience the magic of having an Alexa device and showcases some of 15,000 skills she has to offer.

07:00 — Meditation

In our busy lives, we often forget to take time out to relax, especially when we’re rushing to get to work. Mindfulness is set to be a big trend for 2018 and Alexa is here to help with your potentially life-changing meditation routine.

Ask Alexa to launch ‘One-Minute Mindfullness’ and you’ll be guided through a 60-second breathing exercise to help you to relax and clear your mind, helping to set you up for the day.

“It’s like getting a nice little daily pep talk from a personal trainer before I’ve even left the house”.

07:30 — Decide what to wear

Dressing appropriately for the day is never straightforward, thanks to the good old British weather, but Alexa can help to make sure you don’t end up overheating on the train or getting soaked in the rain on your way to the station.

Rather than having to fire up the relevant apps on your phone, you can simply ask Alexa for today’s forecast to make it easier to choose the best outfit, whether you’re off to work or getting ready for a night out. You can also add the Met Office forecast to your Flash Briefing in the settings on the Alexa app. Or just try asking the all-important: “Alexa, will I need an umbrella today?”.

“I tell her good morning and she tells me the weather, and then runs me through the news all while I’m getting in the shower”.

08:00 — Get organised

One of the best things about the Amazon Echo is the way it helps you to multitask. Rather than having to check your emails or your diary in the morning to figure out where you need to be, you can simply ask Alexa while you’re getting ready.

Once you’ve synced your calendar to the Alexa app, you can just ask “how does my day look” and you’ll get a full run-down of everything that’s in the diary for the day so that you’ll never miss a meeting or a catch-up with friends again.

“Using Alexa to check my calendar while I get ready in the morning has actually cut a few minutes off my morning routine, so now I can leave earlier and get on the tube when it’s less busy”.

11:00 — Get Alexa to help with the shopping

Heading to the supermarket on a busy Saturday isn’t exactly a treat, so ordering your weekly shop online is definitely the way forward. But why stop there when you can make it even easier by getting Alexa to do all the hard work?

Both Ocado and Morrison now have Alexa skills so you can add items to an existing delivery or create a basket and then order online, without having to lift a finger. And if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, you can ask Alexa to order Prime-eligible products from your order history. And if you simply want to keep a note of things you need to buy you can ask Alexa to add it to your shopping list instead of scribbling it down on a piece of paper that you’ll inevitably lose.

“I love the shopping list! Now I just tell Alexa to add it to the list as soon as something runs out”.

13:00 — Get Alexa to help with lunch

While you can now order food online and through smartphone apps, Alexa can make it even easier.

One simple voice command can re-order your favourite dish straight to your door, with Domino’s Pizza and Just Eat delivery already available for the Echo, and more options sure to follow in future.

“Being able to order a pizza just by asking to be fed is basically the best thing ever”.

14:00 — Make a hands-free call to your friends

It can be hard to make time to chat with friends when you’ve got a million and one things to do. That’s where hands-free calls can be a lifesaver. Alexa makes it even easier to keep in touch with friends and family who also have an Echo device.

You can simply say “Alexa, call Ed’s Echo” to make a free call — and the recipient can choose to “Answer” or “Ignore” it. If you want to see their face, you can make video calls using the Echo Show. There’s also an option to dictate a short message to Alexa, which will then be read out to your contact at the other end. And don’t worry, there’s a handy ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature.

“It’s really handy for cheap calls, just like Skype but without having to open up my laptop”.

16:00 — Quit smoking

If you made a resolution to cut out the cigarettes in 2018 then the Amazon Echo could be seriously life changing, especially if you’re finding it hard to make it through to the end of the day without a sneaky ciggie.

You can choose from a number of skills that can help you to kick the deadly habit by offering up motivational snippets to curb your craving. Tell Alexa to launch the ‘Stop Smoking’ skill and she’ll give you some plain-talking facts as to why you shouldn’t light up.

“If I’m feeling the urge to smoke and I’m home alone, it really helps to have someone there to tell me why I shouldn’t.”

18:00 — Save time in the kitchen

If there’s anywhere that hands-free control can really make a big difference, it’s the kitchen. Whether you’re a foodie who loves concocting culinary creations, or a utility cook who likes to spend as little time in front of the hob as possible, Alexa has your back.

Asking Alexa to set a timer is so much easier than navigating to the timer function on your smartphone clock, especially if your hands are still covered in cake mix. The Echo is also incredibly useful for those simple cooking questions like “how long does it take to boil an egg?”.

“I probably use the kitchen timer on the Echo more than anything else. It’s also really good for quick conversions between metric and imperial”.

19:00 – Keep kids occupied

One of the Amazon Echo’s many skills is ‘toddler taming’, with the kids finding Alexa’s straight-talking manner endlessly entertaining.

Not only can they use the Echo for playing tracks from Amazon Music or Spotify Prime, they can also ask all kinds of questions, whether that’s information they need for homework, or just joking around. Providing the kids with a list of Alexa Easter Eggs can keep them entertained for hours. And don’t worry, you can set a PIN code to stop the kids from ordering things from your Amazon account.

“My seven year-old loves bossing Alexa around and asking her to play lots of Little Mix or asking her questions about her homework. She also likes to tell her she got the weather wrong and her jokes are rubbish!”.

23:00 — Get a good night’s sleep

Carrying on the wellness theme from your morning meditation, getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis really can be a game changer.

White noise can help you drift off more easily, but playing soothing sounds from your smartphone or tablet still means staring at a bright screen right before you go to sleep. Simply ask Alexa to open your favourite soothing sounds, whether that’s thunderstorm, rainforest or bird sounds and you can drift right off. You can even set a sleep timer to turn off the speaker.

“I started a ‘no smartphone before bed’ rule for the new year and have been listening to thunderstorm sounds on Alexa instead. Already sleeping so much better.”

Head over to Amazon for more information and details about the Amazon Echo and Echo Show and discover even more amazing skills they can do.