Anybody used and know of any decent Alexa skills - they seem a bit like Android Apps in that 95% seem to be completely useless.

 

I've used them to connect it to Hive. Apart from that, I haven't looked into any others. I do know there are Alexa apps wish show you available Skills. 

 

I also get emails from Amazon that have 'How to' sections, and 'Have You Tried?". 

My boy always adds the Fart Noise skill to any Alexa he finds

2 hours ago, Aspman said:

My boy always adds the Fart Noise skill to any Alexa he finds

 

Thanks for that very useful suggestion

 

 

the initial novelty ("sing me a song"...."what's 1345 divided by 17.3"... "who lives in a pineapple under the sea?") has worn off - my kids liked the magic door "what shall we do next" stories, but after a while they're getting a bit samey (the stories, not the kids)

we use it mainly as a voice activated internet radio using TuneIn, but sometimes it is useful for solving arguments when you're too lazy to get your phone out and do a google.

 

if more of the people who I actually ever call (and that's a low number anyway) had one, i might activate the call/message function, but it doesn't seem worth it just now. We don't have any sort of "active" items in the house (hive, lights, TV etc) that would benefit from voice activation.

 

 

I can recommend the philips Hue Skill and the Nest skill.

 

Try the 'Meow' still too, it confuses the hell out of my cat Barney haha