12 December 2017

Alexa



I have a new friend.  Her name is Alexa.  She is a piece of artificial intelligence from Amazon.  Kat won the gadget in a raffle and presented it to Paul at the weekend because she knows he loves high tech gadgetry.  I was very suspicious of this ‘personal assistant’ and gave it a wide berth.

Today I am home alone while Paul and Rick are at doggy school.  And I’ve been playing with Alexa.  She is a hoot.  I asked her to play some music (Beverly Craven’s Promise Me) and straightaway she found the right song.  She told me what the weather was doing in Sydney.  She reminded me to ring a local restaurant.  She told me when my cakes were ready. She knew the answer when I asked her “When did Henry VIII die?” (28th January 1547).  And she is so polite.  I thanked her twice this morning and she said, “No worries” and “Any time”.  It’s like talking to a real person.  “Good night, sleep tight”.  Reminds me of a sleeping doll I had as a child.

She can also tell jokes.  They are really bad.  I tried telling her a joke.
“Alexa, why did the chicken cross the road?”
She replied “Perhaps the chicken saw some tasty corn. I don’t know.”  

This silly little gadget is amusing me.  I love her!



26 comments:

  1. That's hilarious! Sounds like fun!

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  2. I sooo want one of those. I'll spoil myself one day and get one.

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    Replies
    1. I tried to ignore her but she has charmed me.

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  3. I've been tempted, but haven't given in yet.

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  4. I liked her answers to your thanks. Up here in North Yorkshire any thanks are always answered by 'no problem' - it drives me insane.

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    1. She's very polite and clever, I never know how she is going to respond.

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  5. I went to see what it is on YouTube. It looks like fun. Is there an upgrade version where Alexa can do the chores herself?
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. I expect she could be programmed to give Paul instructions to do the chores.

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  6. I have something on my computer called "Ask Cortana" - something similar, but it does mean carting the laptop around if I want any answers.
    Yours looks much easier - unless it's the size of one of those robot vacuum cleaners !

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    1. She's very small and linked to Wifi so doesn't need to be moved around.

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    2. This morning Amazon are selling Alexa, or something very similar as one of their best deals of the day. It's reduced to something like 34GBP

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  7. I have a similar gadget called Sue but she's usually in either "sleep" or "recharge" mode. She didn't even know the capital of Uzbekistan! (Tashkent)

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    1. But can she tell good jokes?

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    2. Yesterday she said - Why did the chicken cross the road? before answering...
      To prove to a hedgehog that it could be done.

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  8. My son had something similar called Siri (sp?), but I think she was from Lithuania and understood nothing.

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  9. We did indeed go through Bainbridge Sue and the falls were roaring. They have a 'screw' there now so that if there is a huge amount of water it makes electricity - it was really spinning round.

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    1. I used to live in a cottage right next to the bridge, we got accustomed to the noise of the falls. I read an article about the Archimedes Screw they've installed.

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  10. Have you seen today's Matt cartoon about Alexa?

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