Amazon Echo Devices you can do many interesting things out of the box, but if you want to add additional features, you can access the Alexa Skills library. These mini-apps allow you to add new voice commands, connect to third-party apps, and even play games. There is only one problem: many of them are not fantastic. To cut the straw, we have a list of the best skills worth enabling in your Eco.
7 minute workout
Finding time to work during the day is one of those tasks that can seem more overwhelming than it really is. The 7-minute workout helps solve this problem by starting a short, guided workout with a single voice command. Tell Alexa “Start a 7-minute workout” and she’ll guide you through a few simple workouts that won’t take long to finish.
Head space: guided meditation
Meditation can have a profound impact on your health, but for most people it is not easy to do it all on your own. This is where guided meditation apps like Headspace come in handy. Tell Alexa that you are ready to meditate and the service will begin to guide you to relax, concentrate, and focus. You will need to have a Headspace account in the regular app, but once set up, you can start a meditation session without touching your phone.
AllRecipes
Speakers and smart screens are great cooking companions, as they can guide you in preparing a recipe. Which makes AllRecipes one of the most useful skills you can enable. This skill will guide you through the recipes you will find online or saved in your personal cookbook.
Our supermarkets
A useful add-on app in AllRecipes, the OurGroceries skill lets you keep track of the groceries you currently have in your pantry, add items to your shopping list, and remove things as you use them. If you already use Alexa to help you keep track of your recipes and cook, you’re not far behind from tracking your groceries and you’ll never wonder if you have milk in the fridge.
Mixologist
If you want to put together a cocktail, but aren’t sure what you can do with what you have in stock, Mixologist can help. You can find cocktails by name, look for drinks that use a specific ingredient you have (like rum or tequila), or find a random drink that you might not have tried before. It’s a handy way to branch out with the drink menu without too much effort.
Uber / Lift
When you’re getting ready to leave home and need to call a trip, Alexa can get you an Uber or Lyft with a single order. Both applications allow users to request different types of travel (including budget or premium travel) or check the status of the trip. Lyft even allows you to score the driver after you leave. Make sure Alexa hears this five-star rating correctly.
Ask my friend
Alexa is equipped with commands that allow you to send messages or call people, but they can be tricky. It’s fine for day-to-day communication, but Ask My Buddy is designed to simplify things for one simple purpose: emergency messaging. You can set this ability to send text messages or call a specific person when you say, “Alexa, ask my friend to send help.” This is useful if you have someone who has trouble getting home and can only call for help but not reach your phone.
Tone / LIFX
One of the most convenient use cases for a smart speaker is to be able to control the lights with your voice. With smart lighting skills like Philips Hue or LIFX, you can set light brightness levels, change colors, and turn lights on and off with voice commands. Once you turn off the bedroom lights from the dressers under the covers, it’s hard to go back to anything else.
Sounds of sleep and relaxation
If you have a Spotify or Amazon Music account, you may already have access to a library of white noise sounds that you can play in the background or while trying to sleep. However, you do not have to pay for an independent service. Sounds of sleep and relaxation includes a library of ambient noises such as rainfall, cicadas, train rides or a variety of other soundscapes that you can do with an order.
Danger!
One of the most popular game programs in the history of television, Danger has its own Alexa ability that you can use to play along with the episode that is currently airing. Every day of the week, the skill offers complementary questions that go together in the episode categories, so you can play with them.
Very special Skyrim edition
In a similar category of Alexa’s fun skills, Very special Skyrim edition it’s a version of the popular fantasy role-playing game that everyone thought was a joke, until it wasn’t. You can activate the skill and follow missions, fight and explore the land of Skyrim, using voice commands and verbal descriptions. It has the feel of one of those old school text adventure games with a modern twist.
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