Like Follow Follow 11 useful things you didn't know your Amazon Echo could do

When the Amazon Echo debuted, it could only only play music, tell you the weather, set alarms and timers, read news flashes, tell corny jokes, add things to your Amazon shopping list, tell you the weather and recite basic trivia. Cool tricks, all, but nothing spectacular.

The Echo's Alexa voice assistant was a cool look at how voice commands could control the home.

Today, the Echo family now is now a family of three. Including the Echo, there's also the Echo Dot and Tap. 

With the power of Alexa, an open API and and a willingness by third-party companies to get their smart devices to work with the Echo products, Amazon's magical tube devices have become more feature-packed than when it launched.

There's so much it can do with Alexa and new features are being added every week. We've compiled our favorite things the Echo can do that you may not have known about.

1. Smart home control

A home filled with Philips Hue smart light bulbs.

IMAGE: PHILIPS

One of the most useful additions to the Echo after it launched was the addition of smart home control. Initially limited to a few devices like Philip's Hue smart light bulbs, the the Echo now works with many different smart home brands and devices. SmartThings, Wink, Insteon and Nest are just some of the major ones. You can find the full range of smart lights, outlets, thermostats and more that work with the Alexa here.

Setting up a smart home isn't cheap, but it's so worth it when you can say "Alexa, turn on the lights in the bedroom" or "Alexa, decrease the thermostat by two degrees."

2. Manage your Google Calendar

Everyone uses Google Calendar (no other calendars matter). All jokes aside, as a personal assistant, Alexa's more of a secretary than before now that she can add events and review calendar events.

To activate the feature, launch the Alexa app and go to Settings > Calendar, select Google Calendar and then select "Link Google Calendar account." Log into your Google account and you're set to use these commands:

• "Alexa, when is my next event?"
• "Alexa, what's on my calendar?"
• "Alexa, what's on my calendar tomorrow at [time]?"
• "Alexa, what's on my calendar on [day]?"
• "Alexa, add an event to my calendar."
• "Alexa, add [event] to my calendar for [day] at [time]."

3. Track your packages

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES

Waiting for packages sucks. One day we'll have our ordered packages delivered within minutes by drone, but until that day comes, we're stuck waiting for it arrive by truck.

A recent update to the Echo added the ability to track packages ordered from Amazon and see where they are in the delivery route.

Just say "Alexa, where's my stuff?"

4. Call an Uber

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES

Uber made it easy to use an app to call up a car, and now with Alexa, it's even easier. To set up Uber on the Echo, go into the Alexa app and search for the Uber skill within the "Skills" section. Enable the feature and then log into your Uber account. From there, set the address for your Echo (most likely your home or office) in the "Device Location" section. Once it's all configured, just ask Alexa for a car:

• "Alexa, ask Uber for a ride."
• "Alexa, ask Uber to get me a car."
• "Alexa, ask Uber to request an UberX." (or UberBlack, UberSUV, UberXL, Uberselect)
• "Alexa, ask Uber where's my ride?"

5. Order Pizza from Domino's

IMAGE: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

If there was any doubt that the Echo is a magical tube from tube from the future, let this dispel all doubt. 

Ordering pizza from Domino's is as effortless as saying: "Alexa, open Domino's and place my Easy Order."

To get pizza-on-demand set up, log into your Amazon Alexa account by visiting the website or opening the Alexa app. Then click "Skills" and search for the Domino's skill and enable it. Next, go to Dominos.com and create an account (or sign if you already have one). Set up an "Easy Order" with your preferred pizza and make sure to include all of the related information (billing, delivery address, etc.). 

6. Get sports scores

IMAGE: NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

Sports fans will love Alexa's ability to keep up with all kinds of league-based competitive recreations. Alexa can pull up scores for finished and in-progress games and even upcoming matchups in several leagues, including the English Premier League, MLB, MLS, NBA, NCAA men's basketball, NCAA FBS football, NFL, NHL and WNBA. Here are a few sports-related questions you can ask Alexa:

• "Alexa, what is the score of the New York Knicks game?"
• "Alexa, who is winning the Yankees game?"
• "Alexa, when do the New York giants play next?"

7. Check stocks

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES

Want to keep tabs on securities? No problem! Enable the Fidelity Investments skill within the "Skills" section of the Alexa app and you'll be able to get quotes for stock market updates.

• "Alexa, ask Fidelity to get a quote for Google."
• "Alexa, ask Fidelity for a market update."
• "Alexa, ask Fidelity how Apple is doing today."

8. Do a quick workout

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES

Fitness is important, but not everyone has time to hit up a gym and crush it like a boss. Enabling the "7-Minute Workout" skill within the Alexa app lets you start a rapid-fire workout that'll only take you seven minutes to complete. It's perfect for mornings or right before bed.

Once the skill is enabled, you can start a workout by saying "Alexa, start a seven minute workout." Alexa will then get your blood flowing with short bursts of jumping jacks, wall sits, pushups, squats, step ups onto a chair and more.

You can also find images and tutorials in the Alexa app if you don't know how to do a certain exercise.

9. Talk politics

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES

This year has certainly been a very interesting election year, and Alexa up to date on it all. Enable the NBC News skill within the Alexa app and you can ask her election-related questions like:

• "Alexa, ask NBC News how Donald Trump is doing."
• "Alexa, ask NBC News for New York primary results."
• "Alexa, ask NBC News when the next debate is."

The NBC News skill also gives Alexa intel on top headlines on the election, candidate bios and an election calendar.

10. Read Kindle ebooks or Audible audiobooks

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES

Audio books are great for when your hands aren't free (like when you're cooking). With a simple "Alexa, read me a Kindle book" or "Alexa, read me an audiobook" (Audible audiobooks), the Echo will start reading out a book for you.

There's no need to do anything special. You just need to have ebooks in your Kindle library or audiobooks in your Audible library.

11. Recite Pi

IMAGE: PRESS HERALD VIA GETTY IMAGES

"Alexa, annoy us all to death." Just kidding. Not only is Alexa great at calculations, but she's nerdy, like really nerdy. Try asking her to recite the first 100 digits of Pi and she'll go on and on...

Sadly, Alexa won't go higher than 100 digits of Pi. Nice try, but she's not gonna recite up to 1,000 or a million.

You'll soon be able to buy a HomeKit-powered ‘Apple House'

New homebuyers today have many things to choose from: wood floors or tile, granite or stainless steel countertops, central air or window units. But later this year, you'll be able to decide if you want to make your space a fully Apple-supported smart home, built from the ground up.

Tucked into Apple’s two-hour-long new product presentation at its Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this week was a blink-and-you-missed-it tidbit that hinted largely at where the smart home industry is headed. In fact, three home builders — Brookfield Residential, Lennar and KB Home — are now committed to building homes later this year that come with built-in Apple HomeKit infrastructure. 

HomeKit is Apple's software framework that smart gadget builders use to make their devices iOS-compatible. For customers, the label means the device (say, a smart light bulb) will work seamlessly with the iPhone and Siri.

For homebuilders, though, HomeKit bestows confidence that a set of devices will work within a specific platform. With that knowledge, rather than the owner adding smart home gadgets such as automated locks, cameras, blinds, thermostats and air quality monitors to a home piece by piece, homebuilders can install the devices before you move in and make sure the infrastructure is equipped to handle them.

A Brookfield Residential home in the Los Angeles area. The community will be among the first to offer a built-in HomeKit infrastructure.

IMAGE: BROOKFIELD RESIDENTIAL

“The framework is already in place through the product manufacturers, who have included wireless capabilities in their products for years,” David Kaiserman, president of Lennar Ventures, which builds homes in 20 states, told Mashable. “So we're closely working with a handful of manufacturers — such as Schlage (door locks), Honeywell (security and thermostat) and Lutron (lighting) — who have made the decision to have their products also work with HomeKit. By installing smart products as part of our homes during construction, we are making home automation a reality for many who have been intrigued by it but haven’t been able (or willing) to retrofit on their own.

“As more products launch, like motorized shades or cameras, they can be easily added wirelessly to the system, too.”

Meanwhile, Brookfield Residential — which is launching its HomeKit pilot program later this year in Southern California — is especially interested in offering the concept of a “quantified home” to buyers.

Siri voice commands work with Philips smart lights.

IMAGE: PHILIPS

“Similar to the concept of the ‘quantified self’ for people, our automation-ready spaces will measure its overall performance, health [metrics] like air quality and tell you what’s being used efficiently (and what’s not), with the help of sensors and monitors,” said Adrian Foley, COO of Brookfield Residential California. 

When buying a home or apartment, owners will be able to select from various packages that support HomeKit products and choose between a hardwired infrastructure or one that is wireless (i.e. one that can run “Siri on Wi-Fi” communications). Eventually, it's believed, hotels will be outfitted similarly.

A first look at the Home app.

IMAGE: SAMANTHA MURPHY KELLY/MASHABLE

On Monday, Apple took a big leap forward with its smart home strategy by announcing a dedicated master app — called Home — that will arrive on iOS 10. The hub will serve as a remote control and make it easier for people to manage all of their smart gadgets in one spot, without needing to open up a specific app for each smart item. This was previously the biggest disadvantage of Apple HomeKit, especially when you compare it to the streamlined experience of the Amazon Echo: Although you could use Siri for many interactions, the user experience was still too siloed in individual apps.

The good news, however, is that Apple is making things far more user-friendly for people to control everything in one place. Now, with homebuilders stepping in to take the guesswork out of installation, it could be what the smart home space needs to propel it further into the mainstream.

Challenges ahead

Brookfield Residential’s Summerset community in Ontario Ranch, Calif. Brookfield calls this area a possible location to start unveiling HomeKit-compatible homes.

IMAGE: BROOKFIELD RESIDENTIAL

While living in a fully HomeKit-enabled house certainly sounds like the future, it raises concerns, too. What if you’re an iPhone user and say, your spouse uses Android?

“We wouldn’t imagine a home being completely iOS exclusive,” Foley said of Brookfield’s approach. “We need to be careful not to limit consumers to just [one] platform and will install smart products that are both iOS and Android compatible."

However, in a HomeKit-designed home, the Android user would may need to access several apps — instead of just the singular Home app — to individually control each smart product. 

But that isn't the only issue on the roadmap. 

Considering the smart home industry is still in its infancy — helped along by security cameras and more recently the Echo — splurging for a fully connected home may sound too soon. Are we even ready for an "Apple House?"

“The market is unaware of some of the conveniences of the smart home — and until we are exposed to it, and live with it every day, the true value isn’t realized,” Foley said. “Building technology to advance the health of your home isn’t necessarily on the top of everyone’s list either, but eventually your home will alert you at work if it’s sprung a leak, someone is walking in your backyard or if the air quality is about to bother your allergies — and that will be very powerful.

Planning for the future

A Brookfield Residential kitchen setup that could run on smart home technology in the near future.

IMAGE: BROOKFIELD RESIDENTIAL

Blake Kozak, principal analyst at IHS Technology, believes opting for a HomeKit-equipped home could be a good investment for homeowners looking to eventually turn a profit.

“Homes with pre-installed smart home devices will become much more widespread soon for several reasons,” said Blake Kozak, principal analyst at IHS Technology. “First, builders find that pre-installed smart homes are a selling feature, and many existing homes currently for sale are installing smart home systems to attract buyers. Second, a pre-installed smart home system simplifies things for the end-user because he or she doesn’t have to choose or pay out of pocket for the solution. All that is required is to call a service provider to begin services.

“Finally, smart devices may become a requirement for new home builds. In many condos and townhomes, there are pre-installed intruder alarm systems, so smart home pre-installs isn’t too farfetched.”

Kozak believes the pre-installed systems will start small and relatively basic, with some necessary add-on equipment.

“In order to have remote connectivity (when outside of the home), an Apple TV is required," Kozak said. "New home owners would likely need to purchase additional equipment in order to have a full feature set. Smart home device vendors will continue to work more closely with builders, and it could have an impact on the market through additional device purchases.”

In other words, the incentive for smart device companies to work with builders is high.

“The U.S. smart home market growth has slowed since early adopters are no longer driving demand,” Kozak said. “As a result, device vendors and service providers must find a way to get the equipment into homes that might not otherwise have smart devices."

For now, Brookfield is currently building a smart showhome complex to show off what it can offer. If the Southern California pilot goes well, it will look at other U.S. regions for expansion next year. In theory, an Apple HomeKit home could be coming to a neighborhood near you in the not-so-far-off future.

How to talk to your babysitter about online privacy

My first date night out with my husband after our daughter was born was nerve wracking. Would she be fed? Would she sleep? I constantly checked my phone for updates from the sitter. Nothing.

Then, I logged into Facebook. In my feed I saw three pictures of my adorable baby being snuggled by the sitter. It was reassuring but also worrying. Up until that point all of our baby pictures on social media were accessible only to family and friends.

As a writer who makes her living online I was worried strangers would take photos of my daughter and use them without my consent. It's a safety concern if people in the area know my children are home without an adult present. For some parents, keeping their children off social media is about protecting them from privacy concerns of facial imaging software and data mining. Other parents worry about future backlash, like bullying in school or losing out on future job and college prospects.

As children get older even they are pushing back for more privacy, requesting that their parents not post about them online.

In a recent blog post for Mom.me, Meredith Gordon noted that she doesn’t want her sitters taking pictures of her kids at all, because her children are not someone else’s content.

Our rules are slightly more flexible. I don’t mind a picture here or there but we prefer that names aren’t used.

Discussing these rules with a sitter can be awkward. Caregivers who are Generation Alpha might not have the same concerns about privacy as parents. Laurie Gray, a trial attorney, child advocate and founder of SocraticParenting.com, encourages parents to be up front about their rules and expectations. “The key is to suggest some simple, clear rules, discuss them with your children and babysitter to make sure everyone has input, understands and is on board.” She suggests typing guidelines and posting them on the bulletin board or refrigerator for easy reference by the sitter and children.

Lynn Perkins, CEO and founder of UrbanSitter, suggests firm rules in place before you talk to your sitter. She suggests a range of social sharing options:

1. Never take photos or videos of my kids.
2. It’s okay to take photos or videos of my kids, but for these purposes only:
   • To send me as an update, but photos or videos should be deleted immediately afterward.
   • To capture a memory, which you can keep, but photos or videos should never be shared on social media.
3. It’s okay to take photos or videos of my kids and share them on social media with these exceptions:
   • Do not use my kids’ names or our last name.
   • Do not tag people or locations.
4. It’s okay to take photos or videos of my kids and share them on social media. Be sure to tag me, so I can see the posts.

A good sitter will respect your wishes, Perkins notes.

Gray adds, “Most parents do want their sitter and children to be able to communicate with them, so they don’t want completely cut off access to the electronic devices. What seems to work best for most parents is: 1) Agree; 2) Trust; 3) Verify; 4) Revise the Agreement as needed; and repeat. If trust becomes a significant issue, you may need to look for a new babysitter.”

As for us, I was able to talk to my sitter about our social media rules for our kids and she handled it well. Not only is it a privacy issue, but it’s a safety one that modern parents need to be aware of.