In the never ending quest to Jetsonise our home with smart devices, Alexa is now part of our family (virtually). I keep getting asked what does she do? and why do you need it? After having her in our house for the past 6 months. Do we need her? probably not? but it’s pretty cool and as more geeks develop skills it’s going to get more interesting. Also, having young kids, it’s amazing to watch how they interact and how far we have come since I was little watch the Jetsons and wishing I could live like that – flying cars aren’t here yet and my roomba still has a long way to go.
Anyways, here is a list that I’ll keep updated of skills that I have setup for my Alexa.
| Skill | Does what? | Why? |
| Harmony | Remote Control | Ask Alexa to turn on TV in lounge from your bed |
| Tile | Locates my car keys | Having young kids, my keys go missing. Alexa helps find them |
| Plex | Media Player | Asking Alexa to play ex Machina |
| Melbourne Transport | Melbourne Public Transport | I need Alexa to remind me how late my train will always be |
| HP Printer | Controls my Printer | Print things ie Shopping List or Coloring Picture for the girls |
| Uber | Order an Uber | Handsfree Uber Ordering! |
| NZ Herald | NZ News | Always good to know how things are at home |
| Anova | Sous Vide Machine | Asking Alexa to cook a 62 degree egg for 1 hour |
| Fitbit | Fitbit | Asking Alexa how many steps I didn’t do today |
| Lifx | Lights | Alexa, enable full disco mode |
| Short Bedtime Story | Reads Stories | Outsources parenting and allows me to create own stories with subliminal messaging |