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Do you have an Echo? What do you use it for?


Note: This thread is 2838 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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  • Moderator
Posted

The obvious stuff, play music, ask for time, information, weather, word definitions, I think it can play podcasts. The smart home stuff. Drop in - intercom. 

What else do you use it for?

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

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Posted

Companionship?

Carry on my wayward drive

There'll be pars when you are done

Lay your weary wedge to rest

Don't you shank no more 

 

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  • Moderator
Posted

Sorry, the only echo I have is between my ears.

Dave

:callaway: Rogue SubZero Driver

:titleist: 915F 15 Fairway, 816 H1 19 Hybrid, AP2 4 iron to PW, Vokey 52, 56, and 60 wedges, ProV1 balls 
:ping: G5i putter, B60 version
 :ping:Hoofer Bag, complete with Newport Cup logo
:footjoy::true_linkswear:, and Ashworth shoes

the only thing wrong with this car is the nut behind the wheel.

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  • 1 month later...
Posted

I have a new, unopened Echo v2 that my wife's grandmother gave me for Christmas.  I don't need the gubment having any more ears in my house than needed.  Truthfully, I've just never gotten around to setting it up.  My in-laws have one and my three-year-old loves to sit in front of it and say, "Alexa, fart."  Needless to say, it will and she laughs hysterically each time.


Posted

We have a bunch of them. They control our lighting, and play music. We also have fire tablets for Alexa compatibility.

Of course, we have all kinds of other tablets  and on line devices all over the house too 😁

:ping:  :tmade:  :callaway:   :gamegolf:  :titleist:

TM White Smoke Big Fontana; Pro-V1
TM Rac 60 TT WS, MD2 56
Ping i20 irons U-4, CFS300
Callaway XR16 9 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S
Callaway XR16 3W 15 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S, X2Hot Pro 20 degrees S

"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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  • 1 month later...
Posted

primarily for lighting.  I was sold on the whole idea when I realized I could turn on my outside flood lights from our bedroom - something I had repeatedly wished the builders had considered during initial construction.

I've got a number of routines and/or groups set -

"upstairs" turns off everything downstairs for the night and turns on a couple lights upstairs

"home" turns on a variety of lights downstairs (I have a Dot in the garage)

"good night" turns everything upstairs off

"outside" turns on/off everything outside.  

 

I've got a skill setup to voice control the inside temp (connects to my Honeywell thermostat)

I just got new garage door openers and have managed to open one door with my voice, but it isn't reliable.  The skill wasn't created by the opener manufacturer, so I'm blaming that.

Just yesterday I plugged my dust collector (wood shop in garage) to a smart plug and am now able to turn on/off the collector with my voice.  This sounds basic, but when your shop is a multi-use garage where space is a premium, this is actually a really big deal.

I've dabbled in the Direct TV skill, but from what I can tell so far it is lame.  No surprise really, the developers at Direct TV haven't done anything impressive with their primary GUI in over 12 years.

Our six year old grandson loves it.  we have to remind him it isn't a toy


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  • Posts

    • Day 610 - 2026-06-03 Got some work in between lessons today. Rare late day, teaching until 7:30pm.
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Dean seems to be unaware of the fact that most every golfer carries something orders of magnitude more powerful than the highest end desktop computers available the last time he consulted with the USGA in their pockets. While it is quaint that his club puts printouts by the first tee… get with the times, Dean. Look up your handicap index and course handicap in the GHIN app and get on with it. It's a better system than the one that didn't account — at all — for a difference in the playing conditions (via an algorithm, not a judgment). Dean's assertions about the "less precise system because of par" continues to make absolutely zero sense. Right, it still changed tee to tee. Now it just changes differently… and in a way that more accurately reflects the score you need to shoot to play to your handicap. Previously, a 1.1 index would get 1 stroke on a 66.7/122 par-72 course. Now they give four strokes back to the course and must shoot 68 to play to their handicap. 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No. This literally makes no sense, as that part of the differential calculation and the course handicap calculation remains identical. Good! No. Categorically wrong. They should have been adjusting their handicaps all along. Previously it was by subtracting the course ratings. Which… is still basically what's done, with the addition of the course rating being "baked in" to the course handicap calculation. Dean is wrong here, or doing some math heretofore unknown by the world. When par is the same, what determines the difference in handicaps? The course rating, which Dean loves! Sheesh! You had to things when players were in situations like this before, too. This is getting exhausting. He keeps using words like "less precise" and "unfair" but does not seem to understand what they mean. This is like the Princess Bride meme: "you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." The caps reduce upward movement. 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They get a different number of strokes, but it's always been true that when you get 14 strokes you apply a stroke to stroke index holes 1-14, and when you get 11, to just holes with a SI of 1-11. Objection, your honor. Assumes facts not in evidence. Dean's just out here continuing to make shit up about "the inaccuracy of par" and ignoring that with Par (an integer) came the Course Rating, which he agrees is precise and accurate. No. No, this is inaccurate. Also, as noted, you can randomly assign stroke indexes, and so long as all the low numbers or all the high numbers are not clumped together at the beginning or ends of the 18 holes, matches generally work out the same. This is inaccurate. It is an algorithm that looks at scores. That's it. Also, this is better than a system like the prior one where no such thing existed at all. Wildly inaccurate and off-base. Did they do actual testing? No need. They have millions and millions of rounds and ran many, many, many simulations. 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