OT - Gift Idea for a slightly higher budget

Botch

@gSquared was looking for gift ideas for avid Eggers, I almost posted this there but it's a bit more expensive, yet unique enough to warrant a thread.

 

For the last two days I've been playing with my new Amazon Echo.  For a limited time, it's $99 if you have an Amazon Prime account; I don't know that I'd've paid $199 for it, however.  It's basically an internet radio, 12" tall cylinder, that responds to voice commands and is also a search engine.  It responds to your voice if you call her name first, "Alexa".  I don't have a smartphone and no experience with Siri, Catorna, or those things, and the voice prompts on telephone systems are crap.  I accidently called her "Alexis" a couple times, and she completely ignored me; damn wimmens sure are touchy about you getting their name right...  

This thing, works!!  Here's a few interchanges I've had:

"Alexa, play Level 42".  The wifi-connected speaker then starts playing different Level 42 songs.

"Alexa, what's the weather tomorrow?"  She gives me the weather report.

I was putting something in the oven this morning, music was playing through the Echo, and I said "Alexa, set a timer for 45 minutes".  The music muted, she responded "timer set for 45 minutes!", and then returned to the music.  

I haven't tried it yet, but if you say "Alexa, wikipedia, Glass-Steagall Bill", she'll start reading the wiki entry.  This thing is so "Star Trek"!!!

I've only stumped her once, I asked "Alexa, what is the gas price in Ogden UT?"  She said, "Hmm, not sure what you want, but I've posted an internet search on your laptop".  Cool!  (I asked because gas hit $1.87 in Oklahoma City today, w0ot!!)  

Supposedly it'll give access to over 5 million songs, Its fun to just call out Tower of Power, Level 42, U2, etc and she'll just start playing songs from that artist.  Sound is okay for a tabletop unit, it'll eventually end up in my bedroom.  Oh, it came with a remote, which I didn't understand until I learned its RF and has a mic, it allows you to set alarms, add to grocery lists, etc from anywhere in the house.  Works great!

I could actually see getting a couple of these things, one for the back patio/Eggvironment, one for the woodshop, one for the kitchen.  It's pretty dang neat, and worth the $99.  

FWIW.  

buzd504

I put in a request for one when they sent out the notice for Prime, but I haven't gotten one yet.

Eggcelsior

Agreed on everything. I received mine yesterday. The thing is a blast.

Botch

buzd504 said:

I put in a request for one when they sent out the notice for Prime, but I haven't gotten one yet.

 

Actually, I put out a request too and never got an "invite" to buy one (yet) too.  A buddy of mine on my audiophile forum got an offer but he got cold feet.  He "bought" one, had it sent to me, and I sent him a check.  

I don't understand the "invite" concept at all.  

:-S

Eggcelsior

You request an invite and they email you when your "scratch-off" hits. The notification lasts 1 week and then you need to request another invite if it expires. I actually never received the initial email but I got the warning email letting me know I was on the last day of the week window to order.