Category: Amazon Alexa

Amazon Alexa – Announce Feature (How to exclude a device from an announcement)

Leave a comment

This took a few minutes to figure out.

Basically you are making a standard timed announcement…but FIRST you need to set the Do Not Disturb flag to the Amazon Echo device (or devices) that you want to ignore.

In this example, I want to set up a bedtime alert for each kid. Before 10pm it’s perfectly fine to make an announcement on every device, but once 10pm rolls around, I want to make sure that my wife’s sleep isn’t disrupted in the bedroom. This means removing our Echo from the Announce listing…except that it’s not really an option.

So first, I set the Do Not Disturb flag for the Amazon FireStick TV and Amazon Echo that are in the master bedroom for a duration of 1 minute.

Then I have it play the required announcement. Confirmed, nothing plays in the master bedroom for 1 minute.

Once the 1 minute is up…I can send any required notifications to all devices as normal.

Home Automation

Leave a comment

Earlier this year I bought a couple of Alexa Echo Flex units to play with.

The idea was to get an idea of how home automation is finally starting to evolve.

The notion of home automation isn’t new, but with the evolution of wireless technologies, and the ever evolving world of personal assistants and home tools….well…it get’s very interesting indeed.

It was the Amazon Alexa Flex units that actually really intrigued me. They are smaller units that plug directly into a wall outlet, and as a result they blend directly into the background very quickly and easily. Due to their smaller size the sound quality that comes out is okay for voice command and acknowledgements…but not great for music.

BUT

They do have the option to connect to bluetooth speakers…which changes things drastically.

Next I purchased a pair of Teckin outlets from Amazon. They use the SmartLife application which is pretty alright, and works as an interpreter between the outlet devices and Alexa.

Basically…you tell Alexa what you want and it looks to see what it’s connected to in order to accomplish the demand. I created a group called Living room and Fireplace room and was able to use voice command to turn the lights on and off.

You can get very complex using the SmartLife app…it’s a very interesting tool.

The next add was an Amazon Echo…a bigger unit with much better sound, as well as a pair of Teckin wireless LED lights. So now I can go to bed…say goodnight and all of the lights in the house will turn off…I can even have Alexa arm my security system…

Pretty slick.