For readers who are following IoT deployments in enterprise, I wrote a blog post for bootstrappers on “House Bill 1668, Innovation, and the State of IoT Security” and provided a quote for Evan in an article he did on the C-suite impact for iotworld:
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Use Alexa As An Intercom System
Amazon Echo’s are able to broadcast messages to every device in a house. If you’re like me and you have Alexa then you can wake up everyone in your house at the same time. I’m not sure you want to teach your kids this, but the magic word is broadcast. Or announce. There are a few different phrases you can use to tell Alexa to send an announcement to every Echo in your house. Some of these include: “Alexa, announce that it’s time to get up! (which has an added benefit of adding a rooster noise to your broadcast) “Alexa, broadcast” “Alexa, announce that breakfast is ready” (which means come…
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Install the ask command-line interface for Alexa on macOS
You’ve written an Alexa skill. Now you want to upload it to Alexa and submit for certification. Before you do anything, you’ll want to make sure you have a developer account setup and that you’ve accepted the EULA for the Alexa developer program at https://developer.amazon.com/alexa. To do so, simply go there and click sign in and it’ll take you through the prompts. You’ll need this as when you init your session, you’ll be prompted to link an account through the Amazon website. Once done, let’s get the technical stuff out of the way. First, install the latest version of node from https://nodejs.org/dist/v6.10.0/node-v6.10.0.pkg (it’s a package so follow the defaults to…
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Control Philips Hue From Wink
I don’t like hunting through multiple apps to turn off a light in my house. Therefore, I’ve been trying to get everything centralized in the Wink app. When it comes to managing Philips Hue lights, the Wink can turn them on and off, as well as change the percentage that a bulb is lit, acting as a dimmer. Philips Hue lights run through a bridge, known as the Hue Bridge. This device bridges the Wi-fi network and allows the Philips Hue app to control your lights. Once your Hue lights are configured, open the Wink app and tap on Add a Product. At the Add a Product screen, tap on Lights.…
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Control A Wink From Alexa
One of my favorite options in the latest round of home automationry is the ability to voice control all the things. The Wink has a pretty substantial list of supported home automation devices. The Alexa can control the Wink. Therefore, the Alexa can do all the things, even though integrations with Alexa were not built for most of those devices by Amazon. The beauty here lies in the ubiquity of APIs these days. Alexa has a recipe-style option called a Skill (further humanizing her). Basically, you add the Wink skill, then scan for devices that are connected through the Wink, then viola, tell Alexa to do something to them. To get…
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Connect Amazon Echo To An iHeartRadio Account
The Amazon Echo can’t control a FireTV. I guess they’re different groups at Amazon. And not all the music you want is available on Amazon Prime. Royalties, contracts, etc being what they are, sometimes Amazon can’t find something you want. But, even if an artist or song isn’t available, you can often hook into a channel that fills the void on iHeartRadio. So, let’s connect the two. To get started, you’ll want to log into http://alexa.amazon.com. Then, click on Music & Books and then scroll down to the listing for iHeartRadio and click on the logo. If you haven’t linked an account, you’ll only have the option to “Link your account now”…
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Alexa, Order Me A Pizza
Domino’s is arguably not the best pizza in the world. But it’s pizza. And, if you have an Amazon Echo, you can order it without opening an app, touching a keyboard, or making a phone call. This makes for a great look at using one of the skills options in Alexa to extend the usefulness of an Echo. To do so, you’ll first setup a Domino’s account (aka Pizza Profile). Do that at Dominos.com (avoiding any conflicts with the Noid along the way). Also setup an Easy Order, which is the kind of pizza that Alexa will order each time you tell her to do so. Once done, you’ll need…
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Connect Amazon Echo To Spotify
Do you have a Premium Spotify account? Before you start this, please note that only Premium Spotify accounts can be linked to Amazon Echo. To link your Spotify account to an Amazon Echo, first open http://alexa.amazon.com and then click on Music & Books. Then, click on Spotify under the Music section. When prompted, click on “Link your account” Click Log In To Spotify (unless you don’t have an account, then click “Sign up for Spotify” to setup an account) I use my Facebook account for Spotify, so I’ll click “Log in with Facebook” Then, grant access when prompted. Now, you can say “Alexa, play Halloween mix on Spotify” and you’ll hear…
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Connect Amazon Echo (Alexa) to IFTTT
IFTTT makes the possibilities practically endless for what you can do with an Amazon Echo running Alexa. IFTTT provides workflows that connect Alexa to many of the most popular cloud services on the Internet. For example, Alexa can make a spreadsheet of all the songs you listen to using your Prime account, Email you a shopping list, sync To-Dos to Evernote, find your phone, set reminders on your phone, extend Alexa to manage your TV using Harmony, run Wink shortcuts, print files, manage a Wemo bulb (Belkin), control otherwise unsupported thermostats, control items within apps (e.g. make all your Hue lights a given color), time things (e.g. turn on the air conditioning for an…
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Manage Alarms On Amazon Echo
One of those fun things that Alexa can do is set alarms for you. I usually sleep around 4 or 5 hours a night, so no amount of alarms is enough to roust me out of bed. Therefore, adding Alexa on my Amazon Echo to the extensive list of alarms I have around my house is welcome. Let’s look at some things you can tell Alexa to do for ya’, when it comes to alarms. First, let’s set an alarm for noon: “Alexa, set an alarm for noon tomorrow.” Alexa will then repeat back the alarm she just configured. Now, let’s setup a repeating alarm for every Tuesday morning at 6am:…