It is that time of year. With the arrival of Valentine's Day, it is fast becoming the season of love. And any Amazon Echo device, or an external speaker with Alexa. 9 Great Third Party Speakers Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant Smart Speakers. 9 Great Third Party Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant Smart Speakers Looking for a smart speaker? No need to stick with the big brands, with the functionality, looks, and price of these great third-party smart speakers for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Read More
Depending on how much you want to celebrate with your partner, there is a lot to do to make Valentine special. Alexa, the popular and multifaceted voice-controllable assistant, can help you tackle a surprisingly large number of tasks.
We're rounding up some of the ways you can use her voice to help make the holidays even sweeter, from finding the perfect gift to enjoying a playlist of love songs and more...
As long as you're an Amazon Prime member, you can shop for that perfect Valentine's Day gift with just a voice command 4 Big Problems With Alexa Voice Shopping And How To Fix Them 4 Big Problems With Alexa Voice Shopping And How To Fix Them Amazon Echo Devices Can Order your products with just your voice. Here are some big risks and potential issues you should be aware of before jumping into this feature. Read more.
The feature is available with any Echo device, an Amazon Fire TV, or a Fire tablet. You will also need to make sure that 1-click ordering is enabled for your account. This can be done on the Manage default address and 1-click settings page.
With 1-click settings active, any order will use the default shipping method and payment information on file to make your purchases.
The best way to start is to just say. “Alexa, I want to order” along with what you are looking for. Next, the wizard will review some well-valued products at competitive prices.
Alexa will ask you if you want to buy the product. You can say “Yes” or “Next” To hear the next idea. As a nice touch, you can also say. "add to cart" to save the item to view later.
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Once you find the perfect gift, Alexa will prompt you to provide a final order confirmation.
If you ever want to reorder the same item again, just say “Alexa, reorder [item].” To track the progress of the package, just say “Alexa, where's my stuff?” No need to worry about Alexa ruining the surprise as it will only mention the order date and order number by default.
And this holiday is a great time to take advantage of Alexa's most popular feature:the ability to play and control music. The 50 Best Love Songs To Stream This Valentine's Day The 50 Best Love Songs To Stream This Valentine's Day We've curated a list Of the 50 Best Love Songs Ever Recorded, each one is guaranteed to spark romantic feelings in your partner. Read More
There are a host of different music services available to use with Alexa, including Amazon Music, Amazon's streaming music service, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and SiriusXM.
To enter your Spotify and SiriusXM login and password information, download the Alexa app for iOS or Android devices. In the side menu, select Music video, and books and then choose Spotify or SiriusXM.
After that, you can play any imaginable love song from the different services. SiriusXM even has a station dedicated to playing just love songs, all the time.
Along with asking Alexa to play "your song," voice controls can also turn the volume up/down and skip songs that aren't setting the right tone for your evening.
Another great way to quickly and easily create a romantic setting on the big day is with smart lighting that can be controlled via Alexa. Connected lighting is a simple and easy to use smart home technology.
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If you're new to smart lighting, there are two great starter kits to look at the standard A19 bulb size. The Hue White and Color Ambiance Kit offers four color-changing bulbs and a hub that must be connected to your router.
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Color-changing light bulbs can even sync up to music to create that perfect mood for your date. There are a number of great third-party apps that can do that, and one of the best is Hue Disco for iOS or Android devices. Even though the app gets its name from its Disk capabilities, it's far from its only setup. Hue Disco can even create a themed light show by playing more romantic tunes.
For a slightly more subdued approach, the Philips Hue White Ambiance Starter Kit features two dimmable white bulbs and a center.
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While you can't sync those lights to music, the brightness of each bulb is easy to change with Alexa. That makes it perfect for dimming the lights on a romantic movie. The Best Romantic Comedies on Netflix Right Now The Best Romantic Comedies on Netflix Right now Netflix has dozens of romantic comedies. But which ones are really worth watching? Read more.
After you understand the Hue system with either of the two starter kits, you can easily expand your smart lighting with different bulb sizes and other options like light strips.
And there are even a number of fun Alexa skills. 18 Amazing New Amazon Skills for Alexa. You need to try 18 New Amazon Skills to get better. The list of Amazon Echo skills is growing all the time. Let's take a look at the most useful and silliest abilities of the last few months. Read More You can enable any of these by saying “Alexa, enable [skill name].” You can also do this through the Amazon Alexa app for iOS or Android devices, or even the skills portal on the web.
Here are five skills you should definitely try.
Just say “Alexa, open Love Notes.”
For the romantically challenged, Love Notes hopes to bring something special. After unlocking the skill, there are over 100 love notes for that special someone to listen to over and over again.
Just say “Alexa, ask the three-day rule how to get a Valentine..”
Do you want to find a significant problem before the holidays? This skill is for you. Get a Valentine in 30 Days is from a custom matchmaking company that knows how to bring people together. Each day the skill will give you tips, tricks and advice to help you become a more confident person.
Just say “Alexa, ask Be My Valentine how much you love me?”
If you don't have a special someone to share the day with, Alexa can easily step in to fill the void with the slightly cheesy but cute Be My Valentine skill. Simply open the skill and the voice assistant will shower you with romance and compliments whenever you want.
Just say “Alexa, open Daily Kindness..”
As you can probably tell from her name, this ability focuses on acts of kindness rather than just love. Each day, you can hear a suggested act of kindness to make your world a better place. Paired with Valentine's Day, this skill is perfect all year round to help brighten the day of someone you love, or just a random stranger.
Just say “Alexa, ask Date Night Decision Maker what should we eat?”
This skill can help make your plans for Valentine's Day, or any other date night, a snap. Instead of having to go back and forth with your partner regarding what to eat and where to go, Date Night Decision Maker is here to intervene. You can provide options on food choices, what to do, and more.
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What do you think of our list of Alexa skills and other features to help make the holidays of love even more enjoyable? Is there anything we missed that you found useful?