Amazon Echo Tips And Tricks: Create Custom Responses, Heads Or Tails And More

People have been using Alexa and their Amazon Echo home speakers for some time now, but not all of them know that the voice assistant and the audio device can do so much more than just play music, tell the time or inform users about the weather. Alexa and the Amazon Echo can do more than that.

Here's a quick look at some of their under-utilized capabilities that will prove useful in certain situations.

Custom Responses

Echo users can set Alexa up to give certain responses to certain questions. Those who want to impress some friends and family members, for example, can set Alexa up so that she will response in the affirmative when she is asked “am I the smartest person in the world?” or something like that.

This is done by going to Amazon's Blueprints page, clicking on “Custom Q&A,” then clicking on “Make Your Own.” Users will need to input a specific question, add another way to ask the same question, add what Alexa's answer should be, then click on “+ Add Q&A.”

Heads Or Tails

There are some decisions that [hilariously] can't be made that easily, such as choosing what to eat for lunch. Most people flip a coin to choose between one of two options: “Heads” stands for this, and “Tails” stands for that. Those who don't have a coin in their pocket can't do this. Thankfully, Alexa can, whether a coin is present or not.

Simply go to the Alexa app then download a skill called “Heads or Tails.” After this, all users need to do is to ask Alexa to “flip a coin” to get her to respond. Pretty neat, right?

Use Alexa as a Movable Speaker For the TV

Finally, with the Amazon Echo, gone are the days when people will have to stand up to adjust their TV's volume levels especially when the remote is lost. Users can use the Echo as an additional speaker that can be placed anywhere, Cnet noted.

This is done by placing the Amazon Echo near a Bluetooth-enabled TV, then saying “Alexa, connect.” Alexa will search for a device it can connect to. Users will then need to go the Bluetooth settings on the TV, connect to the Echo, and set it up so that the sound goes out through the Amazon-branded smart home speaker.

Those whose TVs don't have Bluetooth can also do this by connecting their Fire TV to the Echo.