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Post by Slinger on Oct 19, 2018 19:58:02 GMT
... Stick to P4 Östergötland Not even Marie's mum who's lived in the neighbouring county her whole life and listens to P4 Östergötland every day can get Alexa to play ball with P bloody 4 Öster bloody götland! I tried it again this morning, and while I can't tell if the correct station is playing it does refuse if I bugger the pronunciation up, so I'm 99% sure I've been successful. I can only get it to work with that one command string " Alexa, play P4 Östergötland from Swedish Radio<iframe width="33.88000000000011" height="3.9399999999999977" style="position: absolute; width: 33.88000000000011px; height: 3.9399999999999977px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none;left: 15px; top: -5px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_98780070" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="33.88000000000011" height="3.9399999999999977" style="position: absolute; width: 33.88px; height: 3.94px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1624px; top: -5px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_6004216" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="33.88000000000011" height="3.9399999999999977" style="position: absolute; width: 33.88px; height: 3.94px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 15px; top: 137px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_89926279" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="33.88000000000011" height="3.9399999999999977" style="position: absolute; width: 33.88px; height: 3.94px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1624px; top: 137px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_58051869" scrolling="no"></iframe> ,” and it does seem to work only when I leave a tiny pause between "P4" and "Östergötland."
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 19, 2018 20:51:16 GMT
Interesting..
If we try that "Alexa, play P4 Östergötland from Swedish Radio" all we get is "nothing is playing right now, what would you like to listen to?". Saying it again we get her to repeat every variant of things that sound similar to Östergötland like but not the actual Östergötland! Then she most often plays Gotland or Västermanland as usual.
The best way for us is "Alexa.. play Swedish Radio" She says "what would you like to listen to?" Us "play Pee 4 Östergötland"
Then we get anything else.
It's as if the Östergötland is corrupted in some way.
I changed the device location / address to Sweden / postcode etc where we are now. Tried disabling / enabling and linking the skill. No difference. Tried not allowing the skill to get the location, no difference until eventually she said "to access local content enable your postcode" or something similar. So she's got some sense..
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Post by Slinger on Oct 19, 2018 21:02:52 GMT
I got the "nothing is playing right now" message quite often, usually when I made a hash of the pronunciation or forgot to take that <beat> after "P4." I also got an error message occasionally that includes what it *thought* I'd said when my pronunciation failed me. Finicky, or downright bloody fussy, is how I'd describe it. REALLY daft question - did you check your pronunciation against that video I posted? I'm not suggesting you're pronouncing it wrong, for all I know the video is wrong, but that pronunciation is what's working for me...sometimes, Swedish Chef inflections and all.
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Post by zippy on Oct 20, 2018 10:51:00 GMT
Is there any reason why I would want to listen to P4 Östergötland or is it just fun finding things that Alexa can't do ??!!
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Post by Slinger on Oct 20, 2018 12:48:30 GMT
Is there any reason why I would want to listen to P4 Östergötland or is it just fun finding things that Alexa can't do ??!! With me, it was the challenge, but I think, from reading his posts, Steve spends time in Sweden and wants to actually listen to that station.
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Post by Slinger on Oct 20, 2018 12:55:45 GMT
Back on track. The only solution seems to be RF switches and an RF/WiFi bridge that's compatible with Alexa. There are several choices, and all of them have lots of reviews moaning about how crap they can be. I'm either going to have to bite the bullet and order a bridge and an RF switch or give up. The latter is not an option, obviously, if you know me. Even if it works perfectly there's a downside, which is adding another link to the chain. As we all know, the more complicated one makes something the more opportunities it has to f*ck up or fail. Bridge and switch ordered to arrive Thursday. We'll see.
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Post by Slinger on Oct 20, 2018 13:24:43 GMT
Just a quick FYI - You can currently pick up a refurbished Amazon Dot (2nd Generation) for £29.99 in white or black...and yes, that's less than I paid a couple of weeks ago. If you fancy "going remote" now would be a good time.
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 20, 2018 14:59:23 GMT
I got the "nothing is playing right now" message quite often, usually when I made a hash of the pronunciation or forgot to take that <beat> after "P4." I also got an error message occasionally that includes what it *thought* I'd said when my pronunciation failed me. Finicky, or downright bloody fussy, is how I'd describe it. REALLY daft question - did you check your pronunciation against that video I posted? I'm not suggesting you're pronouncing it wrong, for all I know the video is wrong, but that pronunciation is what's working for me...sometimes, Swedish Chef inflections and all. Yeah sorry for the repeated derail.. Yes is the answer. When it worked for us we could have even an American accent and no Swedish extra vowels at all, Ö in this case.. but since it's gone wrong nothing works.. Marie's mum was particularly cheesed off with it.. She's the most Swedish Swede you could find And we have no problem with all the other local radios P4 Blekinge, P4 Dalarna, P4 Gävleborg, P4 Göteborg, P4 Halland, P4 Jämtland, P4 Jönköping, P4 Kristianstad, P4 Kronoberg, P4 Malmöhus, P4 Norrbotten, P4 Sjuhärad, P4 Skaraborg, P4 Stockholm, P4 Sörmland, P4 Uppland, P4 Värmland, P4 Väst, P4 Västernorrland, P4 Örebro, P4 Östergötland There's also P4 Plus that's only music. Have fun trying then all
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Post by Slinger on Oct 20, 2018 15:54:24 GMT
I am deleting the Swedish Radio "skill" right now, Steve!
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 25, 2018 18:05:52 GMT
Just gave an Echo to my 83 year old mum for her birthday. She's a widow now and gets a bit lonely. She was overjoyed with it! To be able to ask it to play Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Rod Stewart's oldies, etc etc amazed her. She had a radio but finds classic FM too highbrow in the evening, Radio 2 a noise! Or anything else on the dual.. Plus it's fiddly to tune! It's not dab! Asking Akexa the weather, setting timers and so on without fiddling with dials, buttons, laptops is great she thinks. She said it will keep my brain active being accurate and remembering what to play and ask.. We'll try the intercom call drop in thing later. She doesn't have a smart phone but that's no problem as it can all be set up via the web app.. I can see her having one in every room soon.. nice sounds = company / warm feeling in the house she said. The Echo sounds okay. Not up there V my Sonos, let alone a Sonos stereo pair I've bought our daughter an Echo as a birthday present.. she asked for one, thinking she'd get an echo dot. That's tomorrow. I think Amazon has made enough out of us for now! Pay your taxes now..
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Post by Slinger on Oct 25, 2018 18:34:23 GMT
That's brilliant, Steve. I love stories like that; a proper use of technology. Let us know how the intercom doo-dad works for you.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 26, 2018 10:09:21 GMT
Just a quick FYI - You can currently pick up a refurbished Amazon Dot (2nd Generation) for £29.99 in white or black...and yes, that's less than I paid a couple of weeks ago. If you fancy "going remote" now would be a good time. Dangerous for me being in the same room. What else does a very non techno need to have it working ?
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Post by zippy on Oct 26, 2018 10:51:17 GMT
Unless I'm mistaken all the above relates to audio usage. I think what's really missing in the market now is a dead simple means to make video calls. This for a 90-year-old lady (my Mother) who currently has no laptop/PC or smart phone and not in the least bit tec-savvy. It would have to be as simple to use as a household phone - i.e. no need to log in, select names from a menu, recharge handsets, etc. I believe the French nearly got there a few years back by rolling out videophones (Minitel?), but that all got abandoned.
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Post by Slinger on Oct 26, 2018 11:27:51 GMT
Just a quick FYI - You can currently pick up a refurbished Amazon Dot (2nd Generation) for £29.99 in white or black...and yes, that's less than I paid a couple of weeks ago. If you fancy "going remote" now would be a good time. Dangerous for me being in the same room. What else does a very non techno need to have it working ? Like most of this technology, Mike, it depends what your goal is. If you just want to ask questions, check the weather, ask the time, have your own personal encyclopaedia, etc., then all you need is wireless internet an app on your tablet/phone or PC and away you go. I've just asked Alexa to turn on one of the three lamps in my living room so I can see to type without turning the main lights on, that's when it starts getting a bit more involved.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 26, 2018 11:39:00 GMT
Dangerous for me being in the same room. What else does a very non techno need to have it working ? Like most of this technology, Mike, it depends what your goal is. If you just want to ask questions, check the weather, ask the time, have your own personal encyclopaedia, etc., then all you need is wireless internet an app on your tablet/phone or PC and away you go. I've just asked Alexa to turn on one of the three lamps in my living room so I can see to type without turning the main lights on, that's when it starts getting a bit more involved. Thanks Paul. There are times when I would like to know things right away rather than faff around going to another room, picking up Ipad or laptop. Will mention to step son as he knows this sort of stuff and can sort it out
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 26, 2018 12:25:21 GMT
You can ask Alexa how far it is to Uranus or the square root of 15348. Pretty instant answer. I am trying to set up the voice activated call feature for my mum at the moment.. You can set up a Dot or Echo on only the Alexa web app on a PC. She only has a laptop, no smart phone or tablet. To do the voice calling you need a smart phone with the Alexa app on and contacts you want to call stored. Most of folk her age don't have smart phones. Anyone with vision or finger motor problems won't. Amazon have dropped the ball on this one so far.. Next thought was I'll set up an old Windows phone with it. Ah Amazon don't and probably never did develop any apps for Windows phone. Poor Windows phone... Remember them? Nice phone lousy app availability Next thought was an old Kindle we have.. I'll see how far I get.. If you have the screen version, the Echo show (and a smart phone ), you can make video calls my voice. As long as you have the contacts in your smart phone and the app. You could call another Echo Show or a smart phone I would think and have a 2 way video call. All by voice command If you are blind or partially sighted, any dot or echo would be great for this one set up..
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 26, 2018 13:40:28 GMT
Not fussed about making phone calls with voice activation. Could be useful if, more like when I have a system working. Having more tech makes me wary
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Post by speedysteve on Oct 26, 2018 17:06:08 GMT
Set up the phone call facility - it will call contacts from mum's Echo to devices that the contacts have registered. So phone, echo etc.. You just say "Alexa, call xyz".. Also set up drop in: "Alexa, drop in on xyz".. xyz has to have the 'dropper inner' contact enabled n their app though. To do this I had to de-register my Kindle from my Amazon account and re-register it in my mum's Amazon account's name. Then add myself as a contact and on the Kindle contacts and add the contact in her Alexa app. After that you don't need the Kindle again. Unless you want to add more contacts.. That's one way of doing it all for someone without their own smart phone or tablet I then had to enable my Mum in my Alexa app on my phone for drop in. You can of course drop in on your own various echo devices assuming you have more than one or other friends / relatives anywhere in the world, once enabled. We found we could start an Alexa call or drop in from quite a far distance from the Echo. My mum has hers on the bedside table. It's quite a big bedroom and with a big ensuite and even with the bathroom door shut and not really shouting, she could call me. So if she fell upstairs (she's 83) and couldn't get to the phone downstairs, as long as Alexa was running she could get help.. We had friends who's mum had an alarm call button thing. She'd left it on the chair side table fallen the other side of the room and that was that, they found her 12 hours later. She survived, and she said she was calling out for hours. Alexa has her potential uses.. I can see my mum wanting an Echo or Dot in every room.. She used it last night having woken up at 4am to play some Frank Sinatra for company.. She's also asked it the weather and for a news briefing. Mike, you can never have too much interesting / useful tech..
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 26, 2018 20:32:39 GMT
That sounds very useful if potentially creepy ! My approach to tech is : If I need one that much I'd better buy a spare
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Post by Slinger on Oct 27, 2018 15:26:26 GMT
My RF 433MHz/WiFi bridge turned up and took no time at all to set up on the network. The light switch was a little harder, and with no instructions whatsoever became more a game of press something-rename it-press something else-cross it off the list because it didn't work-press the next something... etc. I finally got there though. Weirdly, to me at least, the wall switch comes with a 4-button remote and the only way to get it working is via one, or more of the buttons. You also really need to rename the remote or you have to use the complete nonsensical name of the thing, plus whatever the default name of the button is, in your voice commands. Remote now renamed "living room" button renamed "light" and "Alexa, living room light on (or off)" is working like a charm. Again, the set up is not something I'd wish on a non-techie and/or someone without the patience of a Saint, and with the amount of swearing and stomping I was doing, I do not qualify for the latter. Overall, it's good progress though. All three lamps and the overhead lights in the living room now answer to my voice so that (lazy sod that I am) I can now turn the main lights off and a lamp or two on when watching the telly etc. without getting out of my seat. A general sense of achievement has been...errr...achieved.
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