Home Blog Page 673

You’ll always know where your stapler (or keychain) is with TrackR Atlas

0

How much would you pay to never have to waste time looking for your keys, phone, or remote again?  The people behind the TrackR Atlas are betting that for most of us, that would be $79.  That’s the entry price for a package that will allow for multi-room location services.

With one of these… your phone now will show a map of your home and display the exact location of the missing item.

What is it?

TrackR Atlas shown with a Bravo tag
TrackR Atlas shown with a Bravo tag

TrackR Atlas is a Wi-Fi enabled plug that connects to TrackR’s existing Bravo tags.  TrackR Atlas is designed to address one of the shortcomings of the stand alone Bravo tags – ambiguity.  The previous system required you to wander around with your phone until you got to be about 40 feet from the tag before you could reliably locate the misplaced item.  That’s where the Atlas comes in.  With one of these plugged into the power outlets in your house, your phone now will show a map of your home and display the exact location of the missing item.

That’s not all the folks at are giving us with the Trackr Atlas either – they are building in support for 3rd party Bluetooth tracker devices, voice recognition, and Amazon’s Echo.  With the Echo, finding your keys would be as simple as saying “Alexa, where are my keys” and you could hear Alexa answer, “In the bedroom”.

Another intriguing, and perhaps the most important feature is the “Crowd GPS” that TrackR says will help us find our items even when they are lost out in the wilds of the real world.  The theory is that a Bravo tag on a lost or stolen backpack, bicycle, or even pet could be picked up by a random passerby who happens to also have the TrackR app on their phone.  This would allow your lost or stolen belongings to ping their location, facilitating their recovery.  TrackR’s developers claim that it wont take many adopters to make crowd GPS actually work and their company boasts of having the largest Crowd GPS network, but only time will really tell.

The Bravo tags are already available, and TrackR hopes that the Atlas will be shipping out June 2016.

Lowe’s Iris 2.0: What you need to know.

0

Lowe’s and Home Depot are both predicting that home automation will be the next big trend in home DIY.  To this point, Lowe’s announced the release of their Iris 2.0 system this week and Lowe’s is hoping that home automation products make their way onto our Christmas lists this year.

What’s new?

Lowe’s Iris system 2.0 introduces a new Smart Hub that was developed with Microsoft’s Azure cloud technology.  This enables the new Iris system to offer more personalization, faster performance, and more complex features.

The core of the new system is the new Smart Hub, which now offers Bluetooth in addition to the other new features.  The new Smart Hub is not included with, and must be purchased separate from the available starter kits: the Security Pack or the Home Automation Pack.

Christmas Grinch

Unfortunately Lowe’s is not just adding features with the new update, it is also moving some behind a $10/month paywall.  The previous iteration offered multiple notification options that included sending text messages or phone calls to more than one person.  These are now part of a “premium” upgrade, as is the ability to link multiple types of devices.

Do I need Iris?

Home automation is still in it's infancy, despite existing as an idea for hundreds of years.
Home automation is still in it’s infancy, despite existing as an idea for hundreds of years.

Iris 2.0 does offer some useful solutions:

However, as useful as these solutions may be for some homes, they don’t really qualify as “home-automation”.  Unfortunately, the offerings on the home-automation front are still slightly more novel than useful.  Iris’ solution to smelly cat litter is to turn on the outlet where your air-freshener is plugged in and a ceiling fan.  Worried about busted pipes when you’re on vacation?  Neither am I, but Iris has a solution to shut your water off in this event.

Iris does support the typical home-automation features like lights that turn on automatically when you walk down the hall, or opening your blinds in the morning, but its worth mentioning that even these seemingly simple tasks fall behind Lowe’s new $10/month  “premium” paywall.  In addition to the paywall, Lowe’s decision to utilize proprietary accessories rather than provide compatibility with other products like iRobot’s Roomba or Philip’s Hue lighting makes it difficult to recommend Iris as a good first choice for people looking to automate their home.

Control your Amazon Echo with IFTTT Triggers

0

Now you can take command of your Amazon Echo by triggering Recipes with a specific phrase. Simply say…

Alexa trigger find my phone Alexa trigger Nest to 72 degrees Alexa trigger my lights on

Explore Recipes

Amazon Fire Stick: Long Term Update

0

Despite the device’s apparent success, I find many people still have questions about how good the device actually is.  As with any well-made new product, a quick Google search will return dozens of glowing product reviews and “first impressions”.  What these reviews don’t tell you however, is what’s the experience of owning one, not just using one.

Well, I’m here to answer those questions and tell you exactly what life with the Amazon Fire TV stick is like.  We put one on our living room TV after cutting cable and have been using it for six months.  Prior to getting the Fire TV Stick we were pretty ardent Roku and Chromecast users, so this long term review has the benefit of being relative to other devices that are available, for comparison’s sake.

Most Importantly: Does it work reliably?

The importance of a device working properly is magnified when it’s hooked up to your TV.  For decades the TV was a device expected to work every time – no matter what.  We find ourselves in a time where this expectation is being eroded.  Smart TV development is barely out of it’s infancy and streaming media players for the TV aren’t that much ahead.  The result of this shift in the industry is that “loading” screens, or software crashes are becoming increasingly frequent on our TV, a device where we don’t take kindly to these sorts of interruptions.

With this in mind, I can say that of all the small form-factor streaming media players I’ve used, the Amazon Fire TV stick is easily the most reliable.  With Roku I’ve had to contend with slow connections that drop more frequently than they should.  With Chromecast we’re continually annoyed by lagging streams that won’t pause, or won’t allow you to change programs without resetting your connection.  These problems rarely arise with the Fire TV Stick.

In addition to working in a fashion that lets you forget you’re not watching a traditional TV, the Fire TV Stick also has the best video quality, in my experience.  I’m not saying that the Fire TV Stick’s 1080p is superior to anyone else’s; what I’m saying is that it seems that we actually get 1080p more often than we do on other devices.  My Roku player doesn’t get a connection capable of full 1080p half the time and while Chromecast does get 1080p reliably, it suffers from connection slowdowns that negatively impact your video quality more often than the Fire TV Stick does.  So here, the Fire TV Stick wins out also.

But it’s not perfect.

With all that I’ve already said, people are surprised when I don’t recommend the Fire TV Stick outright.  There are a number of small annoyances that the device does present that prevent me from wholly endorsing it.

  • It doesn’t always power on your TV and change to the proper input automatically.  This may seem trivial but it isn’t — especially with children.  Every other device in my home will automatically turn on the TV and set it to the proper input when you press a button on it: the DVD player, Roku, Chromecast all do it.  For families with kids, the importance of this cannot be understated, but even in homes without kids, this matters.  It’s annoying to have to look around for the TV remote when you really shouldn’t need it.
  • The menu is ever-so-slightly laggy.  Again, this seems like a very minor issue, but it really has a plus-sized negative effect on your user experience.  I cannot explain how many times we’ve started the wrong show because we pressed “over” or “down” twice to get to our selection and hit “enter” so quickly that the device lagged and did not properly read our input.  I know that the Fire TV Stick is not alone in this, I’ve seen Plain-Jane cable boxes with this issue, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying.
  • Searching is horrible.  Again, the Fire TV Stick isn’t alone here.  With almost all of these devices you have to input text by using the arrow keys.  This final shortcoming is why the Amazon Fire TV Stick comes in just a smidgen below the Chromecast in my book.  I’m aware that there’s an app for your phone that eliminates this hurdle, but if I’m using my phone to stream to the TV, why not use a Chromecast.

The Amazon Fire TV Stick offers the best experience for TV users looking to transition into the world of streaming media.  For people in this category who are already Amazon Prime subscribers, this device is a home run.  You won’t be disappointed.  However, if you are a savvy-ish smartphone user looking to make your TV into a more connected device, I might not be as quick to make that recommendation.

Experience Connected Home Coziness with Wi-Fi Thermostats

0

Ever noticed how you can get slightly grumpy if it’s too hot? Or perhaps too much cold leaves you feeling numb to go beyond the comforts of your bed. It’s a good thing how connected home systems have come so far in developing technologies to improve people’s lifestyle and energy usage.

The Smart Thermostat Solution

Wi-Fi Thermostats are Internet-based, programmable heaters or air conditioners (depending on the time of the season). They are more flexible in adjusting their settings at any time of the day and wherever a homeowner may be. This means as you set it at a certain temperature when you’re at home; it changes to another setting as soon as you head out. These both happen while you use your smart phone’s app.

As a connected home gadget, a smart thermostat can also program your temperature preferences and behavior so it will accordingly adjust to your nest set of habits. Maybe you’ve already installed a Wi-Fi Thermostat in your house, or you’re quite hesitant to give it a try. Either way, you might want to check out its features, which you should maximize:

Save on Hundreds of Dollars per Year

They’re also known as smart thermostats as in they almost sound like smart phones these days, although the latter can definitely do much more. As you get busy throughout the day, you won’t probably have enough time to keep checking whether your thermostat’s settings are just right.

Wi-Fi Thermostats can do a good job in alerting you of whether some adjustments were made in your home for the day. Energy experts even mentioned how you can save from 25% to 30% of your total electricity costs due to the accuracy, which Smart Thermostats have. Now this is certainly one of the relieving perks a connected home buyer would want to hear.

Mostly Easy to Use for Greater Control

Fortunately, the latest products have become more agile within a few simple commands. As long as you have online access, you can also conveniently change the coolness or warmth of certain areas in your home. If you suddenly have to organize a party, this connected home solution will be responsive enough as you make some temperature adjustments at about 20 to 30 minutes before you get home.

Some Installation and Usage Reminders

Like any connected home innovation, the Smart Thermostat may have some rooms to improve on depending on its name of manufacturer. For instance, some specific brand users would mention how installation can be a challenge for their devices while others may observe how intermittent Internet connections can lead to an increased lack of response from their products.

If you’re considering owning this device for the long haul, you might want to ask for a few product demonstrations of your shortlisted brands. Read up some realistic reviews and see how much this connected home item can improve your home today.

Echo Now Compatible with Insteon Connected Lights

Amazon has come a long way from being everyone’s book vendor. With Internet of Things up for the grabs, Amazon is competing against various electronics giants like Apple and Samsung. In a major transition into the Internet of Things, Amazon recently launched the Amazon Echo – your personal assistant. Now Amazon has announced that the voice activated smart-speaker will be directly integrated into the Insteon’s connected lights, dimmers and relays. This means that you can now control a number of your Insteon home appliances by just speaking to your Amazon Echo.

This move to integrate with Insteon makes Amazon Echo more useful. You can just direct Alexa, the voice-activated, cloud-connected AI housed within the speaker, to turn an Insteon product on/off and Alexa will convey the command to the Insteon cloud which in turn will relay the necessary command to your Insteon device. You can also ask Alexa to dim your lights to a certain percentage. Just speak into the device clearly, a quick pulse of her light ring and your lights are off, on or anywhere in-between. You can also control devices made by other manufacturers that are connected to the Insteon Hub, specifically model 2245-222. The reason is – they are assembled into groups. You can also group a bunch of Insteon gadgets in the Amazon’s Alexa App and control them with a single command. You can also control Insteon devices from another room through Echo’s official remote.

Many of Insteon’s products offer full support for Amazon Echo voice control, while others, particularly keypads, only offer control over connected lights. The sad news though is Echo’s inability to support Insteon’s Scene feature which enables it to combine an unlimited about of devices. Amazon has said that adding that capability is a high priority. You also cannot operate Insteon’s thermostat, or Insteon connected door locks and garage openers. This is because Amazon currently extends support for Insteon’s line voltage relay devices – the devices that can only be switched on/off. You also cannot carry the Amazon Echo in your pocket, because it needs to be plugged in – because Echo does not run on batteries.

Amazon’s Echo already supports Philips Hue and Belkin’s WeMo. With this new support for Insteon, Amazon’s Echo is slowly becoming the staple of connected homes.

What is IFTTT and why you need it?

Wondering how to setup IFTTT?

The internet is full of useful and fun experiences, but, on the other hand, it can also complicate our simple lives. With so many compatible apps and websites in the world one probably faces difficulty in completing his or her basic tasks or even managing them. Fortunately for everyone, there is now a single web tool on the internet that can act as an ultimate and most popular automation service for you and your entire web connected things. It is known as IFTTT. While the site may have been started since 2010, the company recently has started making improvements and working with other devices.

IFTTT is very simple and easy to use once you get to know all about the ‘channels, triggers recipes and actions’, but its recently added features has taken automating capabilities to a whole new level of experience by introducing three new standalone apps and also a flagship app. You may pronounce IFTTT like ‘gift’ but without its ‘g’ however, it stands for IF This, Then That.

IFTTT is both a compatible mobile and app and a website launched back in 2010 and has the tagline of ‘Put the internet to work for you’. IFTTT allows all its users to automate everything starting form you favorite websites and app to app- enable devices and accessories. For instance, if you own Philips Hue light bulbs, you can make use of IFTTT to turn on a light every time you receive a notification on facebook. IFTTT is currently supporting 116 channels including, many Apple iOs apps and android devices like Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Word Press, Soundcloud, Google Drive, YouTube and much more.

Sign up or register for a free account at the IFTTT. It is just a simple one step process which only requires your username, unique password and your email id. Once done, you will be able see that the website has now automatically set up various recipes for you that will be recommended to you every day through email. You can even create your own special recipes on the dashboard or browse through the already created recipes y if the users of IFTTT. You can also save and hare your recipes on your personal dashboard and once you add a recipe to the dashboard, you have options to edit, turn off and delete that recipe.

IFTTT allows the communication within compatible apps through recipes. These recipes consist of simple conditional statement that can sync with twitter, Facebook and may other social networking sites to create an exciting automated experience for you like saving your staged photos automatically in the Dropbox or texting weather in the mornings.  The most amazing thing about IFTT is how simple the app is to use. Many may think that these recipes may require some programming, however, they do not. You easily create your own recipes by just clicking on the site’s command icons and then typing in what you want. Now what could be easier to just write and then get implemented on? Once you command the IFTTT what do, sit back and relax as IFTTT follows on what it promises to do and give you what you are looking for.

Moreover, the capabilities of IFTTT do not end here. IFTTT and Amazon Echo, have decided to work together, both became very popular among all the users, but the tow have now come together as one because Amazon Alexa now supports IFTTT recipes officially. This mean the users can now do some pretty cool things but just using their voice. Well who would have thought about it back in 2010? IFTTT is a very powerful app that has allowed its entire user to create customized action between services and compatible apps.  If you a fan of IFTTT and own and Amazon Echo at the same time, then you definitely have to give the two a try to work together and take automation beyond what you had imagined. This new compatibility feature of IFTTT with Amazon Alexa has definitely boosted the usefulness of the voice assistant and made it more appealing to the buyers. So if you are one of the many lucky buyers of Amazon Echo, you can now benefit greatly from this new collaboration with IFTTT.

Starting from today, there will be 121 channels that you can easily control using Alexa. If you are not of the creative types but still want to try IFTT with Amazon Echo, no need to worry! There are a number of tips and already created recipes on IFTTT that can be easily within the dashboard.

Tips for getting more out of Amazon Echo

1

The Amazon Echo is a hot device right now. This has taken some by surprise, but as people look to add more smart features to their home they’ve realized the Echo can be a key part of the setup. Anyone who actually owns one can tell you that Alexa, the Echo AI, can be so helpful she’s pretty much addicting. Even so, the truth is that most people who own the Echo aren’t getting full use out of the device.

Anyone who owns an Echo should know how to “wake” it and ask a question, like what the weather’s like locally or how many cups are in a gallon. You can ask Alexa how to properly spell “parallelogram” in case you just can’t remember. Setting up reminders or alarms is another relatively easy task you should already be taking full advantage of. And of course the Echo can play music. While those are definitely useful functions, that’s certainly not the limits of the device.

Amazon has cleverly hidden quite a few nice little tricks in the Echo, but you’d be hard-pressed to just stumble on them. Some are just plain fun, while others can help you get more done, or they just make life a little easier.

Read on and learn how to control the Amazon Echo better than ever, making the most of your investment.

Parrot Mode

You can actually make Alexa repeat everything you say, just like an electronic parrot, but with some limits to adult language. All you need to do is say, “Alexa, Simon says” and then the phrase you want her to repeat, and she’ll do just that. Any words in the phrase that the programmers have labeled inappropriate will be bleeped out, so use this newfound ability wisely.

Add More Accounts

Most people mistakenly think their Amazon Echo can only be connected to one Amazon Prime account. That’s actually not true.

Instead of couples or family members fighting about which account should be used with the new device, adding additional ones is a simple process. All you need to do is get on a web browser and navigate to echo.amazon.com. In the interface, there’s an option to add a household, which links the device to other accounts.

Before the additional accounts can work on the same Echo, the different account owners must download the Amazon Echo app to their own smart device and complete the setup.

Once all of this is done, at any time you can ask Alexa which profile you’re using and she’ll let you know. If you want to switch to a different one, simply say so and she’ll take care of the rest.

Do Some Math

Not everyone’s a math whiz, or maybe sometimes you’re just tired and don’t want to do multiplication or add lots of numbers in your head. Whatever your reason for normally picking up a calculator, Alexa makes things even easier. You can just call out your math question and she’ll do the work, meaning you don’t have to type anything in. Just don’t ask her to do your trigonometry homework.

Remember the Holidays

Nothing’s worse than not remembering when a holiday’s coming up. The Amazon Echo is programmed with some of the more common occasions such as Labor Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving and such. Unfortunately, right now it doesn’t know some smaller or less-popular holidays, but that could change in the near future.

If you ask Alexa when the different holidays are for the year, she’ll reply with the date. She can also tell you exactly how many days until you reach a major holiday, which would be useful if you’re planning a big gathering or other preparations in advance.

Deactivate Alexa

Sometimes you just don’t want any interruptions, even though the Echo is incredibly useful. Considering that Alexa responds to whenever someone says “Amazon” or “Alexa,” she has been known to interrupt while the television is on, there are lots of people in the room, or even if you’re just having a heart-to-heart with your significant other.

When interruptions are just too much, know there is a way to deactivate Alexa. This means no matter what, she won’t speak up at all, even if you need her. Deactivating voice commands just takes pressing the mute button that’s located on top of the device. A red light turns on, letting you know that Alexa is deactivated until you press it again.

Fun Little Tricks

Not only can Alexa feed you with useful information, play music and control smart home devices, she can also be a form of cheap entertainment. People are still discovering all of the fun responses they can get to random questions, so feel free to explore. Among the known ones are: “Alexa, what is the sound of one hand clapping?”, “Alexa, party time”, “Alexa, you are Skynet” and “Alexa, do you know the muffin man?”

If you say “Alexa, tell me a story,” be prepared for a reply that can be pretty entertaining. Just make sure you have a moment, because Alexa might not be as brief as you would think.

New Functions Coming

Amazon keeps toying with its smart home device, adding functions to the Echo on a fairly regular basis. Instead of just wondering if Alexa can do something, trying asking. The worst thing that can happen is nothing, so there’s no real risk. Go ahead and experiment, you might be surprised what you discover.

Phillips Hue – Smart lighting for the connected home

Since its delivery in my office, Philips hue has radically changed my décor, kept my sanctuary safe, helped me relax and focus and above all, lighting has changed. It actually combines high quality LED light with intuitive technology and literally put it in your palm. Hue is a blessing for me since there were very few sockets in my office and this wireless baby has brought clear and crisp hue to my life. The starter pack consists of three bulbs that you can connect to your lamp and Hue Bridge that needs to be connected to the Wi-Fi router, and she can control up to 50 bulbs with a single bridge.

I am a gadget lover and had $200 on hand so I went for it. Hue arrived via Amazon, so she was right on time. I couldn’t wait to get her out of the box and a test run completed. She is incredibly easy to set up, I mean really easy. Just Download the app on your smart phone or tablet from the Apple app store, plug the hue bridge into the Wi-Fi router screw the sexy bulb into your existing lamp holders. Next push the button on the hue bridge and make your room gleam.

Being tech savvy, she lets you control her through your smartphone and tablet. By simply downloading the hue app, I experienced lightning a completely new way. The bulb, bridge and app has changed the way I use light. I can get the hue of my own choice by choosing from different shades of white, blue and cozy yellow, or any other color in the spectrum. Besides looking great, hue is practical, gets dim, flashes, pulses, screws straight into the current light fittings and does anything I want.

41OTc9+TfdL

Apart from simply lighting my place, she has been my best friend, helps me wake up, protects my home, informs me about the weather and simply improves my mood. It is smart and tailored for me. The bulbs are available in E26, E27, PAR16, GU10 and BR30 format and the option of trying LivingColors bloom, LightSrips and Iris is also there.

The light quality of my hue bulbs is far better than what I would get with a $10 LED bulb available online. This baby uses a combination of different colors, and also represents all the shades of white, including reddish white! The brightness is equal to 50-60 watt incandescent. I just use 3 in my office light stand and that is my only room lighting.

THE HUE BRIDGE

Along with the bulb, I got a hue bridge, which acts as its controller. It accepts simple instructions from my smartphone or the Hue website, and relays it to the bulb. It is the heart of the system. Besides just connecting to the hue bulb, it also connects the whole Hue system to the wider world. In other words, with the bridge I can control my lights remotely or link then up to the rest of the web, my own inbox or even my newsfeed. It is really smart.

 THE HUE APP

The actual intelligence of scene control and light fading is contained in the smartphone app, which sends instructions to the light to fade or change colors. If the bulb is powered off, the connection to the app is broken. I can even introduce as many as 500 bulbs to my network using this Philip hue app.

MY HUE PORTAL

I don’t need to be at home to control my light. My Hue Portal is an online control panel that connects me to the Hue, from literally anywhere in the world. So while relaxing at the beach, I can feel the comfort of my home, or simply switch off the light if I feel I will be late for home. The portal keeps my bridge software up to date and also saves my personalized light recipes and scenes.

HUE DIMMER SWITCH

The hue dimmer switch is an accessory that I added to my Philips Hue wireless lighting system. It can be connected to the bridge and allows me to control the lights without even using my smartphone. The best part is that it can also be gracefully placed on my office wall and can be used as a normal wall switch. It is battery powered, so no installation is required.

Just 3 weeks after its delivery, I realized that it is one of the best investments of my life as it has been an enhancement to my office, and is totally worth the price. We are so impressed that we will soon be buying 5 more bulbs; this is the future of lighting.

More time with the Amazon Echo

0

“Alexa, will you compose the audit of the Amazon Echo for me?”

Too bad, Alexa proved unable, or rather, she couldn’t answer my inquiry, yet it didn’t hurt to ask, on the grounds that I realized that one day Alexa would have the capacity to make her own audit by quickly sifting through twelve human-made surveys and consolidating them on the fly into a solitary section and even ratings.

The Amazon Echo is basically a voice-enacted individual aide for your home. Individuals in my house can make inquiries, request that it read books from audible, request games scores, set clocks and even ask it to tell some of the terrible jokes. I set it up as a wake-up timer and have it perused the day’s news from NPR when it awakens them. It additionally is connected to Amazon Prime Music, which implies it goes about as a tenable speaker that will play any music that is accessible in my own Amazon music library or the free music accessible for Prime individuals.

tech-details._V318422491_There’s much to like about Echo, Amazon’s mixing of a characteristic dialect astute individual colleague and an associated speaker. Yet, it strikes me as a trial in advancement and an initial step towards greater things. Is Echo Amazon’s response to Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana, and common dialect access to Google through Android gadgets? My tests affirm that Echo doesn’t generally coordinate either correlation, yet this mixture gadget very well might build up a classification all its own, accepting Amazon can convey on its guarantee to include more administrations and abilities.

Amazon as of now flaunted the vast majority of what the Echo, the new voice-controlled Bluetooth speaker in which the “Alexa” voice aide lives, is prepared to do. What I really like about this product is that rather than pressing a variety of catches and handles onto the Echo, Amazon offloads the client interface to two places: its inherent voice control and the Echo application for cell phones and tablets, which gives me a chance to take control of the gadget utilizing more commonplace, visual interface ideal models, if I ever become weary of woofing requests at a lifeless item.

According to me, one essential advantage of Alexa’s voice acknowledgment is that I can actually train it. Siri and other voice-control frameworks will gain from discourse after some time, however, they do as such discreetly out of sight. With the Echo, I have a more straightforward impact over how the item learns. The Echo application demonstrates to mea point by point history of my collaborations with Alexa and permits me to rate whether it comprehended you accurately.

It makes a brilliant clock, despite the fact that its warning toll is really soft. I can likewise add things to a schedule or a shopping rundown and see the things I included in the application.  I can likewise interface the Echo to my Google schedule and approach it what I have gotten ready for the day. It doesn’t recognize distinctive logbooks, so those with numerous Google schedules will need to pick one.

The Echo is an extremely encouraging bit of innovation. At the point when Siri propelled on the iPhone 4S in 2011, she was constrained in what she could do. She wasn’t the smart connection mindful dear we know today. The Echo’s Alexa is similar to what Siri was a couple of years prior: She just knows a couple traps. But, that is splendidly fine with me at this time. The Echo’s a superior Bluetooth speaker than I expected and utilizing my voice to control music feels instinctive and regular. To me, the price is all worth it.