I have ordered an Amazon Dot Echo (2nd Generation) mainly because I had a free Amazon gift card (I won in a trivia contest.) I am NOT a shopper and the gift card has been sitting around for quite some time and frankly, I figured I would lose it if I didn’t go ahead and use it.

I have resisted the urge to get anything like the Echo or Alexa, not because of the fear of government spooks listening to my conversations, but because I didn’t really think I would use it. I decided that it was the tightwad in me more than anything so thought I would give it a try.

The thing is supposed to arrive in a couple days and I can see connecting it to Spotify (I use my bluetooth speaker for that all the time anyway) and possibly even using it to make phone calls. Who knows, if I can set it up easily, maybe learn ways to have it read my to-do list, add things to my calendar, play my podcasts etc. It really just comes down to getting used to it and finding uses that fit my life – not just neat features that are more trouble than they’re worth.

Do you use a smart speaker? How do you use it? What is the biggest surprise use you discovered? Or, is your’s sitting and collecting dust?

by Chris Doelle

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