Excited to try out that new Alexa device but not sure where to begin? Don‘t worry! Amazon‘s voice assistant technology has practically unlimited capabilities – with over 10,000 skills and counting.
But the sheer number of features Alexa offers can definitely feel overwhelming as a new user. Exactly how do you unlock Alexa‘s full potential? This comprehensive guide has you covered on everything you need to know to go from Alexa amateur to expert-level pro across 11 key steps. You‘ll discover how to:
- Check times, weather and traffic updates
- Stay on top of flights, stocks, definitions and math problems
- Seamlessly stream music, convert units, build knowledge
- Plus set calendar events, automate smart homes and way more!
Let‘s dive in to boosting productivity and minimizing daily frustrations with Alexa‘s extensive bag of tricks…
Step 1: Set Up Time Requests
One of the top questions asked – you‘ll definitely want to know exactly what time it is! But why stop at just the hour and minute? Customize your time check requests by location too:
You: Alexa, what time is it in Melbourne, Australia right now?
Alexa: In Melbourne, Australia the time is 8:25 AM
Checking across different cities is perfect when coordinating schedules across time zones for work calls or planning future vacations abroad!
You can expand time questions even further by also asking Alexa:
- What day/date is it?
- How many days until a future event?
- When are holidays like Thanksgiving or Independence Day?
Kicking your Alexa experience off with a simple task like checking times gets you comfortable asking more advanced questions across her thousands of abilities.
Step 2: Know Exact Weather Forecasts
Early morning weather checks are crucial for perfect outfit selection before heading out the door each day. But periodically getting additional updates from Alexa as forecasts evolve ensures you‘re always prepared.
Begin with a basic weather inquiry like:
You: Alexa, do I need an umbrella walking the dog today?
Alexa: There is a 15% chance of rain this afternoon so an umbrella is recommended. Expect partly cloudy skies, with a high around 60 degrees F and winds 5-10 mph from the northwest.
Then feel free to get more granular details with questions like:
- What is the weather this weekend/next week?
- Will it snow tomorrow?
- How hot will it get on Friday?
Enabling location permissions even allows hyperlocal weather information – super helpful for longer commutes or frequent travelers!
| City | Weekend Forecast |
|---|---|
| New York | Sunny, highs of 75°F |
| Maui, HI | Scattered storms, highs of 85°F |
| London, UK | Cloudy, chance of rain, highs of 18°C |
Stay a step ahead of ole Mother Nature‘s ever-changing plans by frequently tapping Alexa for weather wisdom!
Step 3: Beat Traffic Delays
Nothing spoils a morning commute quite like bumper-to-bumper congestion making you late for work. But with Alexa‘s real-time traffic reporting, you‘ll get instant updates on the fastest routes available.
You‘ll first want to enable traffic features in the Alexa app‘s settings and enter your most frequent start/end points like home & office addresses.
Then try asking:
You: Alexa, how long is my commute to work right now?
Alexa: Traffic to work is heavier than normal this morning via Highway 41. Expected commute time is 35 minutes as compared to an average of 25 minutes. Accident reported at Main St which is likely causing delays.
Armed with traffic intelligence Alexa provides, leaving a few minutes earlier or detouring around trouble spots becomes a cinch! You can customize questions for one-off trips too:
- What traffic is like heading downtown this evening?
- How long will it take to get from the airport to the stadium right now?
- Is there construction or accidents on route to my client across town?
Let Alexa shoulder the burden of tracking down congestion nightmares so you can focus solely on the open road ahead!
Step 4: Never Miss a Flight Again
Business travel venturing through terminals and gates can be hectic enough when everything is on schedule. But when delays or cancellations happen, making contingency plans without warning seems next to impossible.
Thankfully Alexa integrates directly with most airlines to provide real-time flight status updates on command. No more anxiously refreshing airline apps wondering if connections will be missed!
Sample flight tracking questions include:
You: Alexa, is Delta flight 22 still expected to depart Tampa at 10:30 AM today?
Alexa: Delta flight 22 to Atlanta is showing an updated departure time of 11:15 AM from Tampa due to inclement weather at the destination airport. The gate has changed to C20 as well.
Other helpful travel tracking asks include:
- When does my upcoming American Airlines flight land?
- Has my daughter‘s United Airlines plane taken off yet?
- What gate is the British Airways trip to London leaving from?
With Alexa‘s flight updates, navigating terminals is nearly stress-free regardless of snarls airlines throw your way!
Step 5: Monitor Stock Portfolios
Today‘s volatile financial markets require vigilantly tracking investments to capitalize on rallies or minimize downturn losses. But who has time to constantly refresh stock tickers every hour the exchange is open?
Let Alexa take the workload off your plate by enabling stock quote requests in her app settings first. Then get share price updates by simply asking:
You: Alexa, what is Tesla trading for today?
Alexa: Tesla is currently trading on NASDAQ for $189.98 a share as of 10:17 AM Eastern Time
You can customize ticker checks by including the company name or spelling out unique symbols:
- What‘s the current AMZN price per share?
- What is McDonald‘s M-C-D share price at the moment?
Setting a daily reminder ensures you stay tapped into the latest valuations too!
With Alexa keeping you informed on price fluctuations, seizing buy/sell moments at the right valuations becomes effortless.
Step 6: Define Words and Translate Phrases
No matter how extensive your vocabulary skills are, we all stumble across unfamiliar words eventually. But fumbling to grab a dictionary or translator breaks both reading and listening comprehension quickly.
Instead, let Alexa provide definitions immediately so you can make sense of terms without losing focus:
You: Alexa, define the word transmogrify
Alexa: Transmogrify means to completely change the form or appearance of something or someone
Alexa also doubles as the perfect personal thesaurus when better expressing yourself:
You: Alexa, what‘s another word for angry?
Alexa: Some synonyms for angry are mad, furious, enraged and incensed
Learning new languages? TEST translation functionalities too:
You: Alexa, how do you say ‘good morning‘ in Spanish?
Alexa: Buenos días
With Alexa, expanding your vocabulary or translation skills happens seamlessly!
Step 7: Let Alexa Do the Math
Let‘s face it – math is hard. Even specialists rely on calculators to crunch complex equations with perfect precision quickly. But why task your phone when asking Alexa yields the exact same results?
Give her math abilities a try:
You: Alexa, what is 248 multiplied by 7?
Alexa: 248 multiplied by 7 equals 1,736
Alexa handles simple arithmetic, percentages, metrics conversions and multi-step problems with ease:
- What’s 30 percent of 60?
- How many centimeters are in a kilometer?
- If bananas cost $1.29 a pound, what’s the total for 2.6 pounds?
She’ll even attempt trickier mathematical inquiries like:
- What is the value of pi to the 50th decimal place?
- What’s the square root of 2 million?
So whenever number crunching is required, skip the calculator app and say “Hey Alexa” instead!
Step 8: Enable Unit Conversions
Baking the perfect cake means precisely measuring ingredients against recipes. Building furniture from schematics relies on accurately converting millimeters to inches. And determining ideal running pace means converting minutes per mile to MPH.
Thankfully, Alexa simplifies translations between:
- Teaspoons ↔ Tablespoons ↔ Cups ↔ Liters ↔ Milliliters
- Inches ↔ Feet ↔ Yards ↔ Miles ↔ Millimeters ↔ Centimeters ↔ Meters ↔ Kilometers
- Ounces ↔ Pounds ↔ Grams ↔ Kilograms
- Fahrenheit ↔ Celsius
- USD ($) ↔ Euros (€) ↔ Yen (¥) ↔ Rupees (₹) and 200+ worldwide currencies!
Attempt an example conversion:
You: Alexa, how many cups are in a liter?
Alexa: One liter equals 4.22675 cups
With Alexa automating conversions, sticking to recipes or building projects no longer requires memorizing metric/standard formulas!
Step 9: Unlock a World of Knowledge
While streaming music may be Alexa‘s most popular pastime, she also provides endless on-demand learning! Her knowledge spans:
✅ Arts & Entertainment
✅ Sports & Games
✅ Science & Geography
✅ History & Humanities
✅ Food & Nutrition
✅ Pop Culture & Latest Trends
✅ News & Current Events
✅ Languages
✅ Math, Tech & Business
Quiz Alexa across any category:
You: Alexa, who painted the Mona Lisa?
Alexa: The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci
Or try fun questions like:
- How many continents are there?
- Where is the world‘s tallest building located?
- What year did the first iPhone release?
Whenever curiosity strikes or settling friendly debates, Alexa brings facts!
Step 10: Play Music & Podcasts
Aside from Q&A abilities, streaming free playlists or subscription services like Spotify makes enjoying audio blissfully simple.
Get started by:
- Enabling supported streaming platforms in Alexa‘s app settings
- Connect speakers for Alexa device groups/multi-room playback
- Pairing Bluetooth devices like phones if desired
Then start listening by saying:
You: Alexa, play my Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify
Alexa: Now playing Discover Weekly from Spotify
Other streaming requests could include:
- Play more songs like this
- Play today‘s Top 40 Hits playlist
- Play the new Drake album
- Play motivational podcasts
Syncing audio throughout your whole home or mixing personalized playlists suited for any mood or occasion is where Alexa really shines!
Step 11: Add Calendar Events & Reminders
Juggling hectic professional and personal events makes staying on top of schedules near impossible some weeks. But Alexa integration with cloud calendars like iCloud, Google and Office 365 makes both accessing upcoming appointments and setting custom reminders a breeze!
Check existing itineraries by asking:
You: Alexa, what‘s on my calendar for tomorrow?
Alexa: You have one event scheduled – a team sync meeting from 9-11 AM.
Then set spontaneous reminders about additional to-do’s whenever needed so nothing falls through the cracks:
You: Alexa, remind me at 6 PM to email the sales proposal draft before leaving work
Alexa: Okay, I‘ll remind you at 6 PM to email the sales proposal draft
Voila – no more forgetting commitments or scrambling to meet last-minute deadlines!
Thanks to tens of thousands of skills and devices out there extending Alexa‘s capabilities even further, we‘ve really only scratched the surface of all she can help out with in your regular routines!
We recommend exploring suggested “Things To Try” tips within Alexa‘s app or setup guides to continue unleashing her seemingly endless talents. Over time, Alexa will tackle more and more daily frustrations to streamline work and home productivity like a charm.
Stay tuned for additional Alexa content like:
Go have fun customizing Alexa to fit your lifestyle!
Featured Image from Panthere Noire/Shutterstock
