Amazon Echo For seniors

[bargeahead]

 

[Haertig]

Dang! I just bought tree Echo Dots last night as Christmas gifts for my mom to try in a few different rooms of her house. She's 88.

 

[phideaux]

That is funny,,,
Sorry Haertig, you did't get the silver model....



Jim

 

[Haertig]

I had previously gotten her a Fire Stick, so she would watch old TV shows off of our Amazon prime account. It was a bit painful watching her try to use the remote: (1) Push microphone button, (2) Say "Watch Cheers", (3) Release microphone button. In that order. Sigh. I though maybe just being able to speak to the thing without having to push buttons in coordination might help. Well, I hope Allissa/Ophelia/Alexa will respond to her! Command: "Watch that old TV show that I used to like with, uh, what's his name?, I forget, just a minute, uhmmmm, Norm!" Response: "The normal temperature for today is 38 degrees Fahrenheit"

It should be quite the Christmas gift! No way I'm hooking the thermostat up to it though.

 

[buster]

That is funny. I have seen the ads on TV but I never watched close enough to know what the heck the gadgets are. Hey what the heck are you....answer dumb ass get into the new millennium.

 

[Haertig]

Went to set up one of the Echo Dots for my mom (here at my house), so it will be ready for her place on Christmas. What a cool gadget! I'm still concerned about privacy with the thing. In theory, someone would hack Amazon's code and potentially listen in on you. Additionally, everything you say to it is uploaded and stored. Supposedly you can delete what is uploaded, but I haven't gotten to investigate that part yet. I don't know how realistic my privacy fears are - it's not like you're going to be addressing the thing and saying your social security number. Who really cares if you said "What time is it? Play Magic Carpet Ride." and that got uploaded to Amazon's could storage? But what a cool gadget!!! The built-in speaker is fine for talking to the thing and getting information, but if you want to play music, do yourself a favor and pair it with a bluetooth speaker (or plug the external speaker into the Dot's audio jack).

Note: To set the thing up, it runs it's own WiFi access point (only during setup). And then you connect to that WiFi access point with your phone, tablet, or computer (if it has WiFi built-in). And then run the Alexa App on your connecting device (phone, tablet, etc.) to do setup. Part of the setup is to tell the Echo Dot how to connect to your main WiFi system in the house. I have a separate network, a "virtual LAN", that I connect all these "Internet of Things" to, so that they are separate from the computers on my main network for security reasons. The Echo Dot won't work without WiFi (there's no Ethernet jack on the thing, it's WiFi only). I think probably anybody who even knows what one of these things is, and would consider buying one, would certainly have WiFi in their house already.

 

[phideaux]

I'm still arguing with myself....whether or not I need one of those gadgets.



Jim

 

[buildit]

Need to make it in the Jamaican Nursing home model. It will have popular phrases they are used to in the retirement home like:
"yah, momma", Were ya goin momma", "I ain't dealin wit da **** now momma" and "Shut up momma, da pris iz rite iz on".


Yes, I worked as a contractor in several retirement homes and communities around Ohio. All I can say is if your putting your family member in one don't go cheap. The rooms of dementia suffers I have seen who's families went low end to save money have no idea the conditions which their family members exist in.

 

[Haertig]

I'm still arguing with myself....whether or not I need one of those gadgets.

Of course none of us NEED one of these newfangled thingies. But they're only $29 (on sale everywhere now - got mine at Best Buy). The Echo Dot is the smaller one, at this price. The regular Echo costs more, but it doesn't give you anything much better that I can see. A slightly bigger speaker that reportedly doesn't sound much better. And, I believe you can only use the built-in speaker with the more expensive Echo, you can't connect it to your external stereo or bluetooth speaker like you can with the Dot. I'm not 100% sure of that, but I saw as much reported "on the Internet" (TM). Echo Dot speaker is perfectly fine for voice stuff. For music, you'll want to attach a better speaker (both to the Dot and to the Echo). Ideal would be to pair the thing to your Bluetooth stereo receiver (if you have that).

 

[Tommycourt]

I don't think I need one of those gadgets. I get to tell my wife 3 times before she catches on to me and then she will tell me why didn't you say that in the first place. Oh well.................

Tommy

 

[Haertig]

Note to self: When you leave the house, push the button to turn off the microphone. We usually leave the TV going to keep our elderly dog company. Either the dog learned how to say, "Alexa, play some classical music" or some joker on one of the TV talk shows did (we see this on TV often - they are describing how to use your new Christmas gift!) But we walked in the front door to some soothing classical sounds today. The dog was all mellow too.

 

[winds-of-change]

I'm still arguing with myself....whether or not I need one of those gadgets.



Jim

You don't need one.

Something , that I never would spend the money on but wanted one...a 30oz one,

and some shirts, and other stuff,


Jim

I have one and I love it.