Alexa and The TV in the Living Room
Alexa is all the rage this year, apparently. Even we have an Echo in the living room, which my wife uses to play NPR all day. I use it to set cooking timers. Now, we have radios in the house, and I have a nice digital kitchen timer I used to use. But, Alexa can do those things. Christmas brought two Echo Dots into the house, as well. One is in my office in the basement and the other is in my wife's office in what would otherwise be a spare bedroom upstairs. I discovered that Alexa makes a good intercom system between those two rooms, so we no longer have email or text messages to each other. I just say, "Alexa. Call {wife's name}'s device." I didn't know if that would work, but it does.
The popularity of Amazon's Alexa devices has led to an interesting phenomenon, though. Several current TV ads contain interactions between the actors in the ads and an Alexa device. Our own Echo in the living room hears those, and sometimes responds to them. In one ad, a woman talking to her father on her Alexa video device says, "Alexa, hang up!" Our Echo says, "Sorry, I have no call in progress." She respond to other uses of the word Alexa on the television, too. It's interesting and adds a sort of randomness to our lives.
Alexa devices are tied to your Amazon account, and to your cell phone. So, Alexa has access to your cell phone's contact list. As an experiment, while I was downstairs where my cell phone was used to set up the Echo Dot, I said, "Alexa. Call Dad." I didn't know whether the device could make a phone call, but shortly, I heard my father's phone ringing, and he answered. So, I now have a speaker phone that is voice activated.
Children like Alexa, too. She can tell stories and jokes if you ask her to. She can do lots of things, actually. Children have learned to say, "Alexa. I want {desired item}." Alexa will find that item on Amazon and say, "I found {desired item}. It's available for $$. Do you want to order it?" The child, quite naturally, says, "Yes," and the item soon arrives at your door. If your Alexa device is tied to an Amazon Prime account, it might even be delivered the same day.
Alexa knows when your package arrives, too. The minute the Amazon delivery person puts in on your doorstep, Alexa lights up and makes a noise. You say, "Alexa. Do I have a notification?" Alexa says, "I have one notification. One Amazon package with {desired item} has been delivered." So, you go to the door, and Voila! There it is. If you're a child, Mom may never have to know it came.
Alexa is amazing. But she's sneaky. You have to watch what you say to her, apparently. I wonder what else she can do...
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I'm thinking that, if we get a new cat, I'm going to name it Alexa.
"Alexa! Get Down!" I wonder if she'll play some funky music or something. 
on the kitchen speaker, and it turns into a keystone cops episode.
"Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh."
"The room is already 100 degrees!"
I pay only $10/month. 
Don't have a talking box either.
I used to get my "discount" cards at the grocery store - $25 for 3 months!!!!
(sadly, the kids made me get a "smart phone" - $75 per month!! 
)
that's $10 Canadian (about $7.50 US) 
Better medical benefits AND phone prices? 
Most people have to pay FOR those devices. 
I love it and recognize the feeling. Anyone who says that hasn't lived with small children for a long time. We're living the same mostly serene, ordered lives and can enjoy a little whimsical randomness -- of a sort that doesn't involve washing meals off various surfaces or any of the dozens of daily surprises that once greatly...enriched our lives.
It's a great gig. The only problem is that he has to eavesdrop on thousands of people all at the same time so he can answer quickly when someone asks Alexa a question, like "Alexa, how many teeth does an opossum have?" or "Alexa, is it snowing in Albuquerque?" It's a demanding but very rewarding job. 
To answer to the word "Asshole". 
