Hey, most of us love shouting at the TV anyway – it might as well actually do something. Many modern TVs already have voice control but if you’re looking to link everything together with your Echo Dot in your smart home, the little smart speaker is extremely good at this job. One of the best things to do with your Echo Dot 2023 is still getting it to control things in your smart home. The smaller dot works exactly the same as the larger units and there’s all kinds of things alexa can control. No more legging it downstairs to see if that extra hour has actually turned your dinner into charcoal

Echo Dot (3rd Gen) – New and improved smart speaker with Echo Dot (3rd Gen) – New and improved smart speaker with

turn on the lights” …turn off the lights” …to brighten my lights” …to dim my lights” …stop flashing lights to music”* …start flashing lights to music”* #4 – Controlling your TV with your Echo Dot is awesome Filed under: Extreme laziness / awesomeness

Tell us what you love to do with your Amazon Dot!

Thankfully, the ever-useful Dot is way more forgiving with updates than some other technology companies I could mention. This guide will have stuff you can do whether you’re the proud owner of a 1st, 2nd or 3rd Gen Dot. And we’ll be looking at things to try, interesting things Alexa can do and much more. #1 – Your Dot is great at playing games (like Trivia hero)

Alexa Setup - Official Guide - How to set up your Echo device Alexa Setup - Official Guide - How to set up your Echo device

Trivia hero is awesome. Give it a try. #2 – Set useful timers and alarms Filed under: Practical stuff You can also buy an adapter or an extra hub to control your TV with any Alexa, if you really want to get into it. It never gets old using your voice to turn on lights when you enter a room. And aside from the normal uses, there’s plenty of more adventurous things your Dot can do when it comes to your lighting. Setting alarms on your Dot, or simply getting your Echo to let you know when a timer has expired will save your butt more times than you can shake a smart speaker at. Unless you’re captain super-organized, your Dot might just save you some of these hassle points. As the video below explains, you can control both smart and non-smart TVs with Alexa, with the smart kind being a lot simpler (and free!) to do.The idea of using our voices to play games is still fairly new, and the games available for your Echo Dot are improving every day and getting more interesting as they go. While the Dot can do loads of useful stuff, we’ll get to that in a minute. There are games that are highly suited to Alexa, more than they are games consoles, tablets or computers. When you think ‘smart home’, you might think that this is gonna get expensive! Well, you might be pleased to know that getting your Echo dot to talk to your lights isn’t as costly as you might think. With some products, like smart plugs, weighing in for around a tenner. This 100% voice controlled general knowledge trivia challenge which you can play on your own, or against other people. You’ll be asked a series of questions and it’s definitely cool using your voice rather than a screen to play a game show. Like all the things to do in this guide, Trivia Hero is free. Alexa, remind me to call Dad in half an hour” #3 – Control your lights by talking to them Filed under: smart home integration