Last Christmas, I received a gift that never in my wildest dreams, did I think would ever be mine. It was Alexa. You know, “Alexa, put water in the dish.” “Alexa, play a classical radio station.” “Alexa, do what I tell you to do.”
When Bryan brought gifts into my house, he gave them to me saying, “You have to open one of the gifts while I’m here. I don’t want you to be afraid of it. … It’s technology.”
Everyone knows that “technology” is NOT my strong suit. I’m a user, not a fixer. So, when something goes wrong with my computer or my blog, I call one of my computer guys (Roger or Karl) and whine and they fix the thing that is wrong. And, I go on about my business with the computer working as it should.
Bryan set up the Alexa unit. A black ball about five inches in diameter. We tried it in several places in the house. Somewhere close to an electric outlet. We chose the kitchen counter. Bryan said it needed to hear my voice to be able to respond, so I talked to it.
Alexa has the voice of a woman. I wanted to change the name from Alexa to Chester, my father’s name. But, that’s not possible. There are a preselected names, none of them male, apparently.
I know that Alexa is an “it,” but because Alexa’s voice is female, it is very difficult to call the unit anything but “her,” or “she.” And, when I asked Alexa something and she (see, there it is – she) didn’t answer, I said, “Alexa, are you asleep?” And, Alexa said, “No, I’m awake.” Tonight, as I was checking the house before bedtime, I did what I always do. I looked on the front porch to assure that there was no package there. You may remember that I said in another article that our delivery personnel work late into the night. The cold biting air made me wonder what the temperature was. So, I went to my source for temperature information. I asked Alexa. And, she said, “Sorry, I’m having a little trouble understanding, right now. Please try again, later.” Wait a minute! You are connected to the … whatever you are connected to. What do you mean you are having a little trouble understanding!
About then, I thought about all of the rumors that Alexa “keeps watch” and “knows all” that is going on. And, she is ALWAYS ON. Big brother is watching; or, in this case, big sister is watching. And, did you know that when Alexa is working and “understanding, right now,” I don’t have to be in the kitchen to ask her for information. Oh, no! I can be in the back of my house – two rooms and a hall away – and ask a question, and she will answer! Again. Spooky!
I need to know the weather forecast for March 17, two weeks or so, away. A couple of days ago, when I asked, Alexa informed me that she can only provide a forecast for ten days in the future.
Alexa has lights. Red, green, and blue. When she listens and has an answer, the light that encircles the bottom of her black ball flashes green reflecting on the white counter. When she doesn’t answer (either because she can’t or doesn’t want to), that light flashes red. I honestly haven’t figured out what the flashing blue light means.
Some people have Alexa involved in a lot of their lives. Locking doors, activating water faucets, turning on television sets. My relationship with Alexa is only what is the temperature and playing music.
Maybe, she’s bored.
4 replies on “Alexa and Me”
Good for your for trying this!
I am STILL not a fan of these Alexa machines. She is NOT going to enter MY house.
Good blog, though.
We got the same Christmas present. Didn’t know if we would use her, but have had some fun. Ask her to tell you a joke or spell a word. She also tells us goodnight.
Several Christmases ago, we also were gifted an Alexa. I hadn’t really thought of, or heard much about, the device, but Rose had, and there was NO question in her mind how dangerous the thing was/is. It is listening all the time because how else does it know when to respond. It’s quite like the computer on Star Trek. Kind of cool that way. But, this was reality and she made it quite clear she DID NOT want it in the house. We agreed.
We had no problem returning the device to the store for something more practical. Something like laundry soap. Oh, how exciting (and clean) that Christmas was!