On November 6th, 2014, Alexa saw the light of day. She moved into our homes, became part of millions of families, and changed profoundly how we interact with technology at home: simply by voice.
We talk to Alexa through our Amazon Echos, Echo Shows, Fire TVs, and many other Amazon and third-party devices.
And Alexa plays our favorite music and entertains us with her wonderful songs. She reliably wakes us up and helps us to fall asleep. She tells us the weather and monitors our indoor and outdoor microclimate, with the right smart devices.
Alexa automates our daily routines, controls our smart lights, and can control almost all devices with a smart plug. She can keep our indoor air pure and humid and help us to have fun washing our hands.
Alexa can control our entertainment system and almost any device that comes with an infrared remote, like our old iRobot Roomba, with the help of Logitech Harmony. We can teach her some tricks to entertain the whole family. And last but definitely not least, she can help us save some money when shopping at Amazon.
“Alexa, what are my deals?” – Voice Shopping with Alexa
Did you know that Alexa can help us to save some money when shopping Amazon? All we have to do is to ask her: Please note, Amazon’s Voice Shopping Terms & Conditions currently do not list any Alexa–exclusive deals. Alexa will come back…
Alexa, sing a Musical – Happy in the Cloud
This beautiful tune must be one of your favorite Alexa songs, because there are 10(!) international versions of Alexa’s Musical spread all over the globe. We’ve selected the English versions from the US, Australia, Canada, India and the UK and…
Alexa, sing a song! A Musical World Trip with 518 Alexa Songs
There is this little-known, wonderful Alexa feature: she can sing. You might have enjoyed some of her songs already, as we are continuously updating Alexa’s English US song list. But, Alexa does not only learn new U.S. tunes; she can…
Alexa Routines 2022: Create Your Personal, Helpful Voice Assistant
There’s this one area where Alexa continuously and rapidly learns new tricks: Alexa Routines. Years ago, we found only a handful of actions in our Alexa app and could initially not even automate our music. Nowadays, we can find 8…
Alexa, Happy 7th Birthday!
Seven years ago, on November 6th, 2014, Alexa saw the light of day. She moved into our homes, became part of millions of families, and changed profoundly how we interact with technology at home: simply by voice. Let’s celebrate Alexa’s birthday and…
Alexa, Play Some Music: All the Alexa Music Commands
Let’s celebrate Alexa’s birthday with an update on the new features she recently brought us to enjoy music on our Amazon Echos. We can finally move the music we hear from room to room and even take it outdoors. Amazon Music Unlimited Spatial Audio (3D Audio) is now supported on all headphones, and Alexa will adjust her speaking volume to the ambient noise at our home.
Alexa, sing the Summer Song!
Our newest Alexa song remix takes us to the beach, where Alexa performs her “Summer Song,” also known as “Sand beneath your toes.” Alexa picked a sandy shaker for the remix, Siri plays the ukulele and Google the xylophone. This…
Alexa, sing: Give it up for Science!
Welcome to our latest Alexa song remix. It’s funky, nerdy, and not at all inspired by “The Big Bang Theory,” we were binge-watching throughout the making. To hear the original song on your Amazon Echos or in the Alexa app,…
Alexa, sing Lonesome Prairie
One of our favorites, but this time with a surprise ending! Alexa rides off into the sunset singing a beautiful lullaby. And somehow we managed to make Chesnut walk at the tempo of the song. To hear the original song…
All the Alexa Timers: Meatballs, Burgers, and Dirty Socks
It’s one of Alexa’s most popular features: Alexa Timers. While we use Alexa Alarms every day, we use Alexa Timers multiple times per day. Time to get a good overview and share some tips and tricks. We’ll compare Alexa Timers…
Alexa, Sing Model of a Digital Intelligence!
Welcome to a “moving” remix of Alexa’s “model of a digital intelligence” song, where Alexa highlights many of her abilities, while remaining humble. To hear the original song on your Amazon Echos or in the Alexa app, say: Alexa, sing…
Healthy Humidity with Venta Airwashers and Alexa, Siri and Google
We are mainly composed of water. The air we exhale is completely saturated with water. But, do you know the humidity of the 2,641 gallons (10,000 liters) of indoor air that you inhale, per day? It starts with a dry…
Breathe! Dyson Pure Cool with Siri, Alexa and Google
We spend about 90% of our time indoors. The last couple of months maybe even more and primarily at home. And while we’re at home, we breathe around 10,000 liters (2,641 gallons) of air, per day. Breathing is the only…
Work from Home with Siri, Alexa and Google: The Silent Listeners
Was it your partner, whispering “I love you” into your – what turns out – active meeting headset? Or your three year old, opening the door to your bedroom/office only to tell you that she pooped in her underwear? Maybe…
Alexa, Wash my Hands! The fun way of Hand-washing
There are many ways to wash your hands! While we won’t tell you why, when and how to wash your hands (folks at the CDC can explain that much better, you’ll find more links below), we will look into some…
Alexa Routines: Immersive Storytelling with Ambient Scenes and Sounds
There are many ways to turn Alexa into a storyteller. We’ll look into some of them, but this post is actually about quality time with your kids, your partner, or yourself. We will create an Alexa Routine, where Alexa magically,…
CES 2020: Alexa, Google, no Siri and quite some Smart Home Announcements
The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is finally over. As one of our 2020 resolutions is to write up all the announcements which are relevant for our posts, here is your timely update. We will update our…
University of Waterloo: This is how Google, Alexa and Siri look like!
There are stories you cannot make up. Thanks a lot to voicebot.ai‘s Bret Kinsella, who found this story in the University of Waterloo News, titled: People too trusting of virtual assistants. Here’s how research works at the University of Waterloo:…
Alexa Alarms, the Smarter Alarm Clock!
But, did you know, that an Alexa alarm has a built-in alarm fallback, which can replace our music and radio alarms with regular Alexa alarms? And those regular alarms work even when there’s no connection to our WiFi or the internet? And did you know that we can activate our still amazing Alexa morning routines simply by dismissing these reliable regular alarms?
Alexa and Philips Hue: Setup, Voice Commands and New Tips and Tricks!
In this post, we will teach Alexa to talk to your Philips Hue lights. You will find all the voice commands to control your lights just by voice! And we’ve also added the Philips Hue Zones (beta) feature, which works now nicely with Alexa and added some brand new Alexa smart light tips and tricks.
Netatmo Weather Station, Rain and Wind Gauge, and Alexa and Siri
This post is a long-term review. We’ll have a look how the Netatmo Weather Station, an additional Indoor module, the Rain Gauge, and the Wind Gauge performed over many years. And, how Alexa and Siri came into the picture.
Every Human Lies – Eavesdropping on Siri, Alexa and Google
They are soon eight and five, while our youngest became three in May. Still, our voice assistants Siri, Alexa and Google delight us continuously with new features. One of the recent ‘features’ came to some of us as a surprise:…
Alexa, sing the No Body Blues
A bluesy remix with a lot of slide guitar. Have nobody or no body, who knows? At least Alexa has many friends over here at smartenlight, while she floats – not at all inspired by “The Big Lebowski” – over…
Logitech Harmony: Who will win, Alexa or Google?
Let’s find out, whether Alexa or Google supports our Logitech Harmony better. We will compare configuration, voice commands, smart displays, and assistant specific smart home features.
Philips Hue: Who will win, Siri, Alexa or Google?
Let’s examine the strengths and weaknesses of Siri, Alexa, and Google by comparing their configuration options, voice commands, and smart home features for our Philips Hue lights. The world leader in lighting and the smart assistants of the biggest tech companies, can it get more “smart home” exciting than this?
Alexa, sing it’s me Alexa!
This Alexa song remix cartoon has by far the most views on YouTube, thank you very much! It’s fresh, and not at all inspired by “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”. To hear the original song on your Amazon Echos or…
How to create your own Easter Eggs with Siri, Alexa and Google
Last year we successfully ducked compiling the endless list of Easter eggs, which are hidden inside Siri, Alexa, and Google. Rather than spoiling the Easter egg fun – which basically every other website sadly does – we tried to keep…
Nanoleaf Aurora: Who will win, Siri, Alexa or Google?
Have you ever wondered, which of our super assistants supports our Nanoleaf Aurora best? Let’s examine the strengths and weaknesses of Siri, Alexa, and Google by comparing their configuration options, voice commands, as well as their smart home features for our Nanoleaf Aurora.
Alexa and Nanoleaf Aurora: Setup and Voice Commands
In this post, we will set up Alexa to talk to your Nanoleaf Aurora. We will cover a quick basic setup, as well additional Alexa features to get the most out of your setup.
AI-News Cartoon with Siri, Alexa and Google – Episode 10 – Halloween Special
Spooky times ahead! This Halloween Episode is full of spooky stories and let’s not spoil the Halloween party before you see it, spoilers are below the clip. Ok, just the Head-lines: Intro (very spooky) – 0:00 The Smart Treehouse Of…
AI-News Cartoon with Siri, Alexa and Google – Episode 9 – Alexa Everywhere
Alexa invites us to her surprise party and demonstrates all the new Amazon products with Alexa inside. Google and Alexa are still crunching Q2 numbers to figure out who has the biggest market share. Siri is now seven years old…
AI-News – Episode 7 – with Siri, Alexa and Google: Anatomy of an AI
We need to name this longest episode ever a tragicomedy. (Actually, it’s not that long, it will take you only about 8 minutes =) Why? Siri, Alexa and Google first entertain us with some figures on how important we humans…
AI-News – Episode 6 – with Siri, Alexa and Google: Google’s Identity Crisis
Oops, we seriously forgot to create a post for this wonderful episode? Sorry! Better late, than never. This time it’s time to get out of the newsroom. Twice! This episode covers: Siri just had her first self-driving car accident –…
AI-News – Episode 5 – with Siri, Alexa and Google: More Smart Speakers than ever
What happens, if there is an upcoming Apple Event, a large consumer trade show (IFA 2018) and many integrations, smart features and devices are announced? We get the biggest AI-News episode ever! Join Siri, Alexa and Google discussing following headlines…
AI-News – Episode 4 – with Siri, Alexa and Google: The House that spied on me
What do you do, when your assistants frequently high-jack your news channel with personal statements? You put scripts in their hands, so that they stick to the screen-play. Does it help? Well, we are not 100% sure! At least we…
AI-News – Episode 3 – with Siri, Alexa and Google: We are all made in China!
What a week! First we thought, we might need another special to cover for “no news – is no news”, but then we realized, there were quite some interesting headlines this week. So many, that our animation software kept crashing…
AI-News – Episode 2 – with Siri, Alexa and Google: The Epic Rap Battle
A fresh glimpse into the news around Siri, Alexa and Google. This time a young fellow invited himself and our assistants could not resist to show off their beatboxing and rapping. You will recognize this guy immediately, he is all…
AI-News – Episode 1 – with Siri, Alexa and Google: Siri’s Nervous Breakdown
Whoa, long time – no read! Well, this is because we were working on this post. Still, not a sunday read here, just a little clip to watch and enjoy! We hope you like this new AI news format, which we’ve…
Easter Assistant Showdown: Who has the Best Easter Egg Hunt? Siri, Alexa or Google?
It’s this time of the year, which lets us think of Easter egg hunts. Not only the real Easter eggs but also the virtual ones, well hidden in our smart assistants: Siri, Alexa, and Google. An Easter egg in computer…
Musical Assistant Showdown: Who will win, Siri, Google or Alexa?
We use our smart assistants mostly for listening to music, but how musical are our assistants actually? How to decide, whether Alexa, Siri or Google fits better to our musical preferences?
How to teach your Logitech Harmony: Alexa, Hey Google turn on Roomba!
It must have been a strange moment for Mr. Colin M. Angle, CEO of iRobot, when he presumably announced summer 2017 his plans to sell the mapping data share maps for free with customer consent of his newest robotic vacuum cleaner (Roomba) models…
Logitech Harmony and Alexa: Setup, Voice Commands and a Candlelight Dinner
This Valentine’s post is a story of appreciation, harmony and ultimately … love. In this post we are going to connect Alexa with our Logitech Harmony Hub, only to find one of the loveliest integrations of voice control. Promise. On top…
Amazon Alexa’s Biography
Let’s start this post with an interview … Me: Alexa, how are you?Alexa: I’m excellent. I’ve got dinosaurs on my mind. If I was around back when they roamed the Earth, I wonder what they would have asked me. Maybe, “Alexa,…
