JOIN USSimple tips for senior citizens on how to make best use of Alexa-powered Amazon Echo
Internet of Things (IoT) technology gadgets particularly smart speakers have become must-have home appliances in most families in India. Primary reasons include they come in different sizes with pocket-friendly prices and most importantly, they offer the convenience of getting a task done with just voice commands and also control things remotely with a phone.
Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo smart speakers hold a massive market share. It is more popular than Google Assistant, as it supports millions of skills (applications) in addition to offer replies in Hindi.
The user interface is simple and can be understood by all age groups, but some senior citizens tend to believe it's difficult to interact with Amazon Echo speakers. But, it's not. Even my mother had apprehension but has grown to like it for the past couple of years.
Here are simple tips for senior citizens on how to get the best out of Amazon Echo smart speakers
Track your mobile phone
Like the house/vehicle keys, Mobile phones tend to get misplaced at home. Instead of the turning all furniture upside down, users can activate the Find My Phone skill on the Echo speaker. Once the skill is installed, you can just ask “Alexa, find my phone” and the phone starts ringing and you just follow the sound to get back the device.
Ask my buddy skill
This is a very handy tool for senior citizens living alone. This 'Ask My Buddy' skill helps the users to let their contacts know you are doing ok or ask for help.
Just say, “Alexa, ask My Buddy to send help”.
It is a two-step procedure.
First step
1) Create your account on www.AskMyBuddy.net
2) Click on the Register menu item (if you are on a mobile device, tap on the 3 lines in the upper left corner).
3) Enter your information and press the Register button
4) Then on the login page, enter your email and password and press the Log-In button.
5) Tap on the Contacts page to add your friends or family.
The second step is to enable Ask My Buddy on Amazon Echo
1)Open the Alexa application and locate Ask My Buddy.
2)Click on Enable Skill button. This will open your Login page. Enter the email and password used to login to AskMyBuddy.net
3)Press the Log-In button to complete linking
Once both steps are complete you are ready to use Ask My Buddy. Talk to your Alexa device and say one of the following phrases to either send an Alert or to Check-In.
Meditate and relax
While Covid-19 cases are steadily decreasing in India, it is not the case in other global regions, as millions are getting infected and thousands are dying each passing day. It's kind of depressing for most users, particularly senior citizens.
At times like this, it is a good practice to block all the negativity and relax.
With Amazon Echo, users can play calming nature (forest) sounds to meditate or just play the soothing sea/ocean waves to take a nap. Users can activate the Peaceful Meditation skill for your Echo device and say “Alexa, open Peaceful Meditation” to enjoy a moment of relaxation. Or ask "Alexa, play ocean waves on loop".
Listen to the music, radio, and, bhajans
Besides meditation, users can listen to pleasantful songs of the '70s and '80s. Just say- "Alexa, play Raj Kumar Kannada songs" or "Alexa, play Kishore Kumar songs" or play radio, for instance- "Alexa, open Radio Mirchi’’. Also, Amazon's Prime Music has a good database of devotional songs. Users can ask "Alexa, play Gayatri Mantra" or "Alexa, Play MS Subbalakshmi songs"
Listen to your favorite book
Besides music, listening to audiobooks is also a good timepass. Alexa can play audio content from your Amazon Audible library using simple voice commands. When listening to a book, the seniors can control the reading by telling Alexa when to pause, resume, move forward, go back, or change volume. Audible Suno skill offers more than 100 original and exclusive series in both Hindi and English. To start listening, simply say, “Alexa, Open Audible Suno” and choose from a vast slate of engaging content.
Stay updated with current events
Stay up to date with the news briefs from around the world with Alexa. Using the Network18 skills on Alexa, users get access to live news from Network18’s top channels- CNN-News18 and News18 India, along with 12 regional TV channels. One can stay up to date with current events by just saying ‘’Alexa, what's latest news" Also, users can ask for real-time weather.
Set up reminders
Users can set reminders on Amazon echo just by saying- "Alexa, set a reminder to take medication tonight at 9:30 pm". It will promptly notify you at pre-set time.
Soon enough, Alexa will be able to converse with Hindi movie star Amitabh Bachchan's baritone voice. This will surely be loved by not just 80's and '70s born consumers but also later generations. Hopefully, it doesn't bore us like the Coronavirus-related Public Service Announcements.
However, Alexa, for now, can only reply in Hindi and English. Hope, Amazon brings support for Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, and other major Indian languages as early as possible.
Until then, users can activate the Cleo skill on the Amazon Echo smart speakers and start helping Alexa engineers to integrate intricacies and catchphrases of the local language into machine learning models, so that Alexa's digital assistant will serve us in the mother tongue in the near future.
“We at Amazon, strive towards developing various Alexa skills keeping in mind the different user groups and use cases. We understand the diversified requirements and preferences of elders so we ensure the availability of features and skills to cater to their everyday needs. With an aim to provide greater convenience to our customers’ in their day-to-day lives; our devices are extremely simple for everyone to use and to interact with. We are happy to see how Alexa and Echo devices are assisting the senior users and bringing a meaningful change in their lives” said Parag Gupta, Head of Amazon Devices, India.
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