Alexa

 

Alexa

Like so many people, we have outdoor cameras to record the comings and goings of visitors. Linked to Alexa, announcements are made – ‘Motion detected at your drive’ - and that is all well and good, except at the dead of night. I’m left hoping that it’s a fox alerting Alexa and not a fly-by-night burglar availing him/herself of our drive. Any self-respecting professional burglar would not remain long within the glare of the security lights, I think.

Foxes and cats set off the lights and the declarations. Birds feasting on pyracantha berries, and even spiders, spinning their webs, will activate the lights, though fortunately not Alexa.

 ‘Motion detected at the doorbell’ and ‘Someone’s at the doorbell’ are two more of Alexa’s pronouncements. I don’t know why it is so, but Alexa uses two accents. The drive announcement is made in British English, the sort of English familiar to listeners to the BBC. The doorbell announcement uses a North American accent that you might hear in California. There is probably a setting to adjust the voices, as there is on TomTom, but we haven’t had time to research that.

Alexa is kept very busy in our house, switching lights on and off, turning on radio and television and reducing or increasing the volume. It is also used as an aide-memoire, for shopping and for reminding us of the many and varied tasks that have to be performed regularly, like cleaning filters or checking the heat pump.

It is very useful for managing pet-related matters. For example, Jellicoe is diabetic and has to be fed every four hours during the day, so Alexa prompts us at 7:30, 11:30, 3:30 and 7:30. As soon as the alarm sounds, Jellicoe starts yelling at me to hurry up and feed him. Herschel understands, too, but is less insistent.  Alexa also reminds us when it’s time to reorder Jellicoe’s insulin.

Because we use Alexa as a timer, the cats are sometimes a little confused to hear it chiming when it’s not their mealtime. However, they’re learning to tell the time and don’t react to it in the same excited way ;-)

Roxy understands the significance of the chimes, too!

When Frankie was very young and practising his Ps and Qs, he would always thank Alexa if one of his questions was answered. We had to make a concerted effort to refer to Alexa as ‘it’ rather than ‘she’ and to explain that it was not human. The first time he heard Alexa’s voice, when he was about four, it frightened him and he ran out and had to be coaxed back into the room. Now, he uses it all the time. Our youngest grandsons, Charlie and Jack, discovered Alexa one day – I can’t remember how – and now they make a beeline for the hub and proceed to ‘play’. They haven’t yet realised how the volume is controlled, so that saves our hearing!

 I must confess that I find it irritating when I give the wrong command and am reproached in a rather patronising voice with, ‘Sorry, I didn’t find that device.’ Alexa also responds to some of our orders with a rising inflection, as if asking if we’re quite sure we know what we want.

One day, machines will rule the world. Woe betide us then.