Boo and I first bought our Amazon Echo two years ago. We've enjoyed it so much that we've purchased two Amazon "Dots" for two other rooms in our homes. As you've heard on the show, my friends at Technology By Design installed the equipment and software to control our house through the Echo by voice commands. AND, quite frankly, I also enjoyed tracking Santa.
Smart speakers remain really popular gifts and that gave Alexa some trouble this Christmas.
In fact, Alexa took some unscheduled time off after a busy Christmas.
Amazon Echo devices were apparently popular Christmas gifts and thousands of the voice-activated virtual assistants plugged in for the first time on yesterday, crashing servers. Most of the trouble was centered in the United Kingdom.
Instead of Christmas music users received a message saying, "Sorry, I'm having trouble understanding you right now." The devices work by sending voice commands to a server where a computer deciphers them and then responds accordingly. There has been no official response from Amazon so far.
According to one user, the waiting list for an Amazon Echo Dot speaker is two months, leading some users to ask why the company wasn’t prepared for the mass use on Christmas.
Don't forget that one of the cool features of YOUR new smart speaker is that you can tell it to SET A REMINDER TO LISTEN TO NEED TO KNOW WITH JEFF ANGELO on 1040 WHO ON iHEARTRADIO.