The intelligent voice assistant Alexa from Amazon offers you many ways to make your everyday life easier. The system can be played over the loudspeakers of the Amazon Echo or Echo Dot, answers questions or carries out actions. The areas of knowledge that your Alexa has mastered are called skills . You can personalize the skills of your Alexa with a wide variety of skills. We will show you which skills are particularly helpful in the following tips + tricks article .
In this guide we will explain how you can activate skills for Alexa..
Information & news
Alexa is a great way to get you informed quickly. Here are our recommendations:
- Wiki Germany : Quickly ask Wikipedia - this works in no time with this skill. Practical: Alexa only gives a summary of the content and does not read you the full article.
- Tagesschau in 100 seconds : The Tagesschau news overview in 100 seconds provides you with a short summary of the most important news of the day.
- ZDFheute Xpress : The alternative to the daily news . With ZDFheute Xpress, Alexa also keeps you up to date with a news overview.
- Weather online : The integrated Alexa weather forecast is not enough for you? Then try the weather online skill and receive current forecasts, for example with commands such as, "Alexa, ask WetterOnline for the weather report."
- heise online : Of course we also have an Alexa skill. Here you can find out the most important things from IT, science, media and politics.
Health & fitness
Amazon also offers you a collection of health & fitness skills for Alexa. Here are the most useful:
- Pollen count : Practical for those of you who suffer from allergies. Enable the postcode of your location in the settings and receive daily reports on the current pollen count.
- Brushing your teeth : If you have children, this skill could be very helpful. Because it helps you to motivate the little ones to brush their teeth and to stick to the correct brushing duration.
- Noises to fall asleep : you have trouble falling asleep? This skill can help you get a grip on your problem. Because it plays nature and environmental noises through your loudspeakers, thus creating a relaxing atmosphere.
- TK Smart Relax : TK Smart Relax offers you relaxation, meditation and mindfulness exercises that are played via Amazon Echo. At the same time, you can let relaxing noises play in the background.
mobility
With Alexa you can order rental cars or taxis, search for public transport connections or find out the status of your flight:
- Car2go : Save your address and have available cars in a certain area announced. You can even reserve them directly. DriveNow offers the same service for its vehicles.
- Sixt : With the Sixt Skill, vehicle classes can be filtered and rental cars can be booked directly.
- Would you like to find out when the next subway or bus leaves? If you live in Berlin , Hamburg , Leipzig or in the Rhine-Neckar area , you can have Alexa announce the next departures or connections. You are sure to find a skill for your region on Amazon.
- Or maybe you need a taxi? The agencies myTaxi and taxi.eu each offer a skill with which you can order a taxi directly to your home using voice control.
- Alexa will inform you of the departures at the train station of your choice using the official Deutsche Bahn skills . And if the journey continues, Alexa will inform you of your current flight status .
Useful
Here we have a few more useful skills that can make your everyday life a little easier:
- Bring! : Go shopping with a shopping list? Not with Alexa! With "Bring!" tell Alexa what else needs to be bought. When shopping, you can then conveniently open your shopping list with your smartphone and have an overview of all the groceries you have noted.
- Waste calendar : never miss the waste collection again. With this skill you can configure your personal garbage collection calendar.
- Handy Finder : You have to leave the house quickly, but cannot find your smartphone? "Handy Finder" equips Alexa with a call function that helps you search.
- Night light : Night light enables you to switch on the echo light for a maximum of 90 seconds with the commands “Alexa, start night light” or “Alexa, start night light for one minute”. This is how you will surely find your way back to bed.
Smart home
There are now many platforms that allow you to remotely control your smart lamps, thermostats or entertainment electronics . If you use one of these platforms, there is a high probability that there is also a suitable Alexa skill. iOBroker users can voice control their devices with ioBroker SmartHome . 97% 5-star ratings speak for the quality of the application. Symcon customers will also find a suitable option for Alexa . If you have thermostats and lamps with your Fritz! Box, you can also operate it with Alexa . But that is far from exhausting the cornucopia of smart home skills. Also homee , CloudMatic or Open HAB are good alternatives.
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