Alexa for Seniors in easy steps

Nick Vandome

• Publisher: In Easy Steps Limited
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781840789072
• eBook ISBN: 9781840789188

Smart speakers are becoming more and more common in the home. These are devices that use a voice-controlled digital personal assistant to perform a range of everyday tasks. One of the most popular of these is Alexa, which operates on the Amazon Echo smart speaker.

Alexa for Seniors in easy steps shows the Senior reader how to use Alexa to help with everyday tasks, and to give you peace of mind and keep you safe, including:

• Setting reminders and alerts for:
• • taking medication
  • upcoming appointments
  • paying bills
  • daily/weekly/monthly household tasks
  • calling relatives and friends
  • birthdays and anniversaries – get Alexa to remind you to send cards and presents in time
  • ...and anything else you need reminding about
• Making hands-free phone calls if you can't reach the phone
• Setting and controlling smart home devices like smart heating and smart lighting
• Getting the weather forecast, latest news, and sports results
• Playing music and listening to the radio
• Playing games
• Doing shopping online

And much, much more!

Alexa for Seniors in easy steps guides you through setting up your Alexa-enabled device, so you don't have to ask the kids!

Presented in larger font for easy reading – in the familiar In Easy Steps style.

1

Introducing Alexa

The digital voice assistant, Alexa, is fast becoming a fixture in many households. This chapter looks at getting started with Alexa.

About Alexa and the Echo

Models of Echo

Giving Alexa a Voice

Setting Up an Echo Device

Echo Lights

Changing the Volume

Adding More Devices

About Alexa and the Echo

Alexa has become synonymous with smart speakers in the home. These are devices that react to voice commands and can perform a variety of useful tasks: from playing music, to setting reminders, to providing weather reports.

Alexa and its smart speaker are both Amazon products, and the first thing to remember about Alexa and the smart speaker is that they are two different entities:

•Alexa is the digital voice assistant that provides the information through the smart speaker.

•The smart speaker itself is known as the Echo, and this is the physical device that provides a home for Alexa. There are several different models of Echo, and they all operate with Alexa.

The services and information delivered through the Amazon Echo by Alexa are cloud-based, which means that all of the data is stored in an Amazon computer (server) and then delivered through the Amazon Echo when it is requested. Nothing is physically stored on the Echo – it is merely a delivery system. The Echo works through connecting to your home Wi-Fi network: without Wi-Fi it will not function properly.

Echo devices can be bought from the Amazon website.

Alexa can react to different people’s voices, and some of the uses for the Echo and Alexa include:

•Setting reminders for important tasks such as taking regular medication, paying bills, and birthdays of family and friends. This can be done by creating daily or weekly reminders using Alexa or the Alexa app.

•Performing a range of organizational tasks, such as creating appointments and making lists. Appointments will be announced by Alexa at the relevant time.

•Playing music from a range of sources: from the radio to Amazon’s own music library.

•Getting the latest news, weather, sport, and much more in a daily briefing. This can be activated with a single command once it has been set up.

•Calling or messaging family and friends on their smartphones, or anyone wh...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 Introducing Alexa
• 2 Uses for Alexa
• 3 Using the Alexa App
• 4 Adding Alexa Skills
• 5 Questioning Alexa
• 6 Setting Useful Reminders and Alerts
• 7 Listening to Music
• 8 Communicating
• 9 Online Shopping
• 10 Alexa and the Smart Home
• 11 Entertainment
• 12 Help and Security
• Backcover