Get the Most out of Your Digital Home Assistant
More and more people are welcoming in the Amazon Echo or the Google Home into their spaces. Everyone knows they make great Bluetooth speakers and can tell you the weather forecast, but they’re also capable of so much more. Digital assistants can do a variety of tasks depending on how much you want them to do for you. For example, if you want your digital assistant to be heavily involved in your daily life, you can use the Echo or the Home as the core of your “connected home.” You can connect numerous compatible devices to these assistants, including other Bluetooth or networked speakers, lights, thermostats, coffee makers, refrigerators, and even microwaves. Of course, therein lies the challenge — you must have compatible devices to make a connected home efficient. And let’s be honest: Many of us aren’t going to buy a connected fridge or Wi-Fi enabled lightbulbs just to get the most out of our digital assistants.
What you can do, however, is make use of what you already have. Here are some ways to put your digital assistants to work without committing to a connected home. Both the Echo and the Home make excellent communication hubs. In the home, they can be used as a local intercom system. Do you have a few Echo Dots or Google Home Minis? If you do, you’re set. You can communicate in any room where another device is present. Your digital assistant can also make outgoing calls. As long as the device has access to your contacts (or the person you’re trying to contact has an Echo or Home), you can easily make the connection. Want to send a text message? No problem! You can dictate a text to anyone in your smartphone’s contact list and send it without ever touching your phone. Aside from communications, the assistants can handle calendars, appointments, emails, and more. You can ask for information relevant to you, like “When is my flight again?” Google Home can recognize your voice, or the voice of anyone in the house, and respond accordingly. There’s no worry that anyone’s calendar or appointments will be mixed up with yours. If you want to learn more, search for tutorials online. We’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to what these digital assistants can do for you.
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Shiny New Gadget of the Month
The cold may be winding down, but you’re still likely fatigued by the high heating bills you were forced to shell out extra money for over the last three months. Luckily, heating technology is improving all the time, reducing electricity costs while
keeping your toes from freezing off. However, it’s important that you don’t get roped in by another “as seen on TV” product that overpromises and underdelivers.
Take, for example, the HeatBuddy: a portable, plug-and-play space heater that ostensibly offers revolutionary heating capabilities in a tiny, low-electricity package. However, it’s another case of “too good to be true” — even a cursory glance at customer reviews reveals this to be a run-of-the-mill space heater, if only a little smaller. Unless you need a very small heater for some specific task, it’s best to skip the $29.99 and keep on researching other options to lower your power bill.
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