Your Alexa Cheat Sheet: A Look at Emerging AI Features

You may have noticed that Alexa’s AI abilities keep growing, daily. Amazon’s Alexa can do far more than just set reminders, inform users of the weather, play a podcast, or tell a joke. Alexa can now be set to turn on the lights in your home, warn you of a potential intruder, play Trivial Pursuit, or read personalized bedtime stories to children.

There are even some smart Bluetooth speakers now available that are both waterproof and Alexa enabled. This lets you pair high-quality speakers with all of Alexa’s emerging features for even more flawless sound and fun. Your gatherings and pool parties will never be the same.

With new skills apps being constantly added to Alexa’s repertoire, it’s gotten hard to keep track. Below are some useful pro-tips for understanding just some of Alexa’s newest features. We also cover the latest in Alexa enabled smart-speaker designs. Ready? Prepare to be astounded.

Alexa’s Smart-Home Skills

. Home Lighting: Set your home’s smart lights to turn off, on or dim; or automate home lighting schedules with Routines, using only voice controls.

. Daily Routines: Create Automated Routines to turn lights, your oven, or other smart devices on or off. Or get weather updates and review your scheduled appointments, daily.

. Televisions: Turn your smart TV on, off, change channels, adjust volume, or stream apps, all by voice controls. Or have Alexa record your favorite show using Fire TV.

. Smart Thermostats: Enable cost-saving routines that automatically turn your thermostat up or down at preset times, daily.

. Smart Printers: Pair compatible printers and Echo devices to print using voice commands.

. Lock Your Home: Smart locks connected to Alexa let you lock the doors by voice controls.

. Alexa Guard: Get mobile alerts if Alexa detects the sound of breaking glass or a smoke alarm in your home.

Alexa’s Communication & Information Skills

. Calling: Make hands-free voice calls, video calls, even group calls to any of your contacts who have the Alexa app or an Alexa-enabled device.

. News Updates: Enable news notifications from your favorite news provider. Or receive a quick Flash Briefing of top headlines daily, locally or from around the world.

. Information: Ask Alexa about the weather tomorrow, traffic today, sports updates, the spelling of words, math questions, upcoming sales events, local movie times and more.

. Faster: Select Brief Mode to configure your Alexa and Echo devices for succinct responses.

. Books: Ask Alexa to read you a Kindle or Audible book. You can even tell her to read faster or slower.

. Care Hub: Have Alexa check in on loved ones, so you receive emergency and daily alerts.

. Translations: Alexa is a polyglot. She can translate phrases in up to 50 languages and can be set to bilingual speech commands in English and Spanish, French, Hindi or Japanese.

Games & Child-Friendly Fun

. Trivia: Alexa now offers over 10,000 ways to test your knowledge — from daily riddles to challenging history questions; even trivia games like Song Quiz, Akinator or Jeopardy.

. Games: Alexa’s game skills now include game shows such as Deal or No Deal, as well as card games, memory games, puzzle games, quiz games, and even a Harry Potter Quiz.

. Amazon Kids: By enabling this feature, Alexa will provide child-friendly responses, filter explicit songs, and offer parents a Parent Dashboard to review activities and set time limits.

. Kids’ Games: Keep children entertained with games like Simon Says, Hide and Seek, Speak and Spell, the Spongebob Challenge, Math Machine, or a Bedtime Game.

. Storytime: Narrated stories with sound effects for children include Disney Stories, Bible Stories, Charlie’s Magic Socks and many more bedtime stories. Even bilingual Lullabies!

. Celebrity Personalities: Ask Samuel L. Jackson, Melissa McCarthy or Shaquille O’Neal for weather updates, jokes and more. Note: It may not work on older Echo products.

Cleer Audio Alexa-Enabled Bluetooth Speakers

When it comes to smart speakers, there are so many things to look out for. To start with, we always recommend looking for a speaker that is waterproof and offers an impressive battery life. Of course, high-quality sound is non-negotiable and given as well as user-friendly controls.

In addition to this, we recommend pairing your personalized Alexa features with smart speakers for big, bold sound. Cleer Audio has a selection of smart speakers available — all featuring the innovative Alexa as well as all the features on our checklist. We’ll keep it simple and focus on the Stage and Space smart speakers.

Stage — Smart Bluetooth Speaker by Cleer Audio

The portable smart Bluetooth speaker offers up to 15-hours of playback. It is also IPX7 waterproof rated, giving you a high-quality music experience for any adventure regardless of the elements.

You can, of course, play music, check the weather, and plan a BBQ using your voice with Amazon’s Alexa, while a digital amplifier, dual 48mm drivers and passive radiators work together to bring your favorite sounds to life. The speaker can easily be managed using the Cleer Connect app — and for a more booming sound experience — you can stereo pair two units together for an even bigger sound.

Space — Smart 360-Degree Bluetooth Speaker by Cleer Audio

This 360-degree smart speaker has been designed to impress. It’s easy to set up and operate with your voice, offering rich sound in any space. Featuring Amazon’s Alexa, this smart speaker has 4 far-field microphones to easily pick up your voice and commands. With Bluetooth® and DLNA support, you have the freedom to stream music from your phone or computer with the simple click of a button.

These smart speakers can also be paired for double the sound. For example, two Space speakers, or two Stage speakers, can be paired together under one Alexa control hub. This means that if you and a few of your friends and family have a Cleer Audio smart speaker, you can amplify any pool day or BBQ experience by pairing them to play your favorite sounds.

Work smarter, not harder

When it comes to innovative sound, Cleer Audio certainly leads the way. When you pair the innovative range with Amazon’s Alexa, you can simplify and streamline your every day by investing in smart technology. Isn’t it time that you made your life a whole lot easier?

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