10 Things You Always Wanted to know about Amazon Alexa

If there is one AI smart assistant that has captured the attention in the past couple of years, it has been Alexa from Amazon. Gradually she, as her soothing female voice, alludes to, has been telling us the weather for the day when we get up for what seems like all time, but in reality, it has been much more recent than that

The 6th November 2014 is the first time we got to meet Alexa for the first time and could ask her to tell us a chicken joke and then cluck like she was one (what do you mean you haven’t got yours to do that? Where have you been?

Just like a real human with a slightly creepy vibe, feel free to ask Alexa any range of personal questions such as

• “Alexa, how much do you weigh?
• “Alexa, are you pretty?”
• “Alexa, who is your best friend?”
• “Alexa, how was your day?”
• “Alexa, do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?”
• “Alexa, what’s your favorite color?”

And if you are feeling particularly pushy try: Alexa, where do you live?”

Well for starters, Alexa isn’t blinking yellow. Alexa is an AI. Your Amazon Echo dot or other device containing Alexa might be blicking yellow, but that’s a different matter altogether. As it happens we can help you with that too.

A yellow blinking light means you have a message waiting and asking Alexa to read it will let you know what it is. Generally, when I have got a yellow blinking light it means I have a message telling me to expect my Amazon delivery that day but it can also mean you have a message in your Amazon inbox.

Echo Auto is Amazon’s system for getting Alexa into your car. Much like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Echo Auto provides voice assistance to your vehicle via a device that connects to your Bluetooth. It’s not compatible with all cars however, do be sure you check the list on the page linked above.

If you are looking for how to reset your Alexa device, fortunately, Amazon has made it easy and you can complete the process from within your Amazon Alexa app. Go to Devices and choose the Echo / Alexa device you want to reset and choose Factory Reset. Bye Bye old Alexa, welcome newly refreshed Alexa. Easy.

Well, what can’t she do? Well, she can’t make your coffee for starters, although she could technically boil your internet-connected kettle but Alexa is useful in a who range of manners from keeping you up to date with the news and weather, right down to the latest updates on your Amazon orders.

She can also play games with you, control your smart home (lights, curtains, and so on), and play your music throughout your house. Life is better with Alexa in every room.

It’s important to know you can’t change Alexa’s name to whatever you like. You can’t name her after your recently dearly-departed goldfish or anything but you can change the “wake” word to any other options such as “Echo” or “Computer. Your Echo device will then listen out for this instead.

You do this by again heading into the Amazon app and then Devices before selecting the device you want to the chance Alexa’s name from. Now tap Wake Word and set your choice.

Amazon has also released a new “character” for Alexa and you can masculine her up with the new AI assistant Ziggy, so you can also change it to that now as well.

Ah, the big secret. Amazon has never released where the voice of the famous AI assistant has come from. Indeed in the beginning the general consensus was that the voice was entirely computer-generated, Over time suspicions have been raised that Alexa is actually modeled from a real-human voice with smart money in a Colorado-based voiceover artist called Nina Rolle – or so suggests a new book entitled “Alexa, who are you?” by Brad Stone.