Idea of the Day - A new idea each day. Some Don't Suck!

Our Latest Posts About: Amazon Echo

Amazon Echo Voice Messages

Sunday, March 19, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Wouldn't it be great if you could use your Amazon Echo to leave voice messages?

As I mentioned in a previous idea, I think anything with a microphone, speaker, and Internet access would be a perfect replacement for an intercom or even a landline phone that can not only communicate between Echoes in different rooms, but any Echo (or phone line) in the world.

That said, even without direct calling, the Echo is also perfect for creating voice messages to yourself... your family... or anyone with an Echo for that matter.

Amazon Echo... Live. Live Original Programming.

Monday, August 31, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Streaming music is great. Live streaming music with a real disc jockey... is even better.

I've been streaming music for years, but there's something special about live radio that can never be captured by automated playlists.

Live programming is what's missing from Amazon Prime too... something that transforms the audience into a genuine community, who are all sharing the same experiences at the same time.

I'm sure a lot of surveys and studies show that there is a definite trend away from live programming in favor of automated programming and on-demand services, but deep down there is still a huge demand for live programming.

Without live programming, Disc Jockeys, and talk show hosts like Howard Stern, Sirius and XM radio never would've caught on.

Live program... [More]

Continue...Amazon Echo... Live. Live Original Programming....

Re-Live Classic Radio With Amazon Echo

Thursday, August 13, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Wouldn't it be great if you could listen to Abbott and Costello and other classic radio shows?

Yesterday, I wrote about the idea of using the Amazon Echo to play podcasts. This not only opens the door to new broadcasters, but it also has the potential to give people a chance to re-live the Golden Age of Radio.

It's a shame that most of the shows from the Golden Age of Radio haven't been heard in decades. Before TV came along, the biggest names in show business were on the radio, and just about everyone tuned in every day to hear their favorite shows.

Just think of the possible shows... Just imagine asking "Alexa, play..."

Bob Hope
The Lone Ranger
George Burns
Abbott and Costello
Milton Berle
Blondie
Bing Crosby
Batman
The Life of Riley
Buck Rogers
Al Jolson
... [More]

Continue...Re-Live Classic Radio With Amazon Echo...

Amazon Echo... Podcast Player

Wednesday, August 12, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

The Amazon Echo should be able to play podcasts.

Today's idea is my fifth Amazon Echo improvement idea, and it's is a no-brainer. When I think of things that are perfectly suited for an audio-only device, the first thing that comes to mind is podcasting.

A podcasting option is easy for Amazon to implement. All they need is a way to subscribe to a podcast with the App or using the Amazon Music website. This should take seconds.

Once you've subscribed, all you would need to do is say "Alexa play the most recent Adam Carolla podcast". That's it. All your favorite podcasts should be just as easy to access as your Prime Playlists or other music stored in your Amazon Music collection.

New to Podcasting?

The word "Podcast" is a combination of Pod as in iPod... an... [More]

Continue...Amazon Echo... Podcast Player...

Amazon Echo as a Baby Monitor

Tuesday, August 11, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Baby monitors are remote microphones and speakers... just like an Amazon Echo!

Continuing my series of Amazon Echo ideas, today's focus is on the idea of using an Amazon Echo as a baby monitor.

This idea is a variation of a previous idea... using Amazon Echo as an intercom. This one would be super simple to implement. All you need is an Amazon Echo in the baby's room to pick up the sound, and you can listen from a second one in your own bedroom or from the Amazon Echo App.

As a bonus, you could ask the Echo to play lullabies, relaxing music or nature sounds to help your baby fall asleep.

Amazon Echo as an Intercom. Room to Room Communication, Even Across the World.

Monday, August 10, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Hey kids... dinner's on the table!

As my third Amazon Echo idea, naturally I'm focused on the kinds of things you can do with sound, so to me a natural progression is to have a feature to let you use the Echo as an intercom system.

There are several ways they can implement this. If you have more than one Echo in your house, the easiest thing is for the Echo to automatically consider all of them as one common group, and simply allow any of the Echo devices to broadcast a message to every other device in the same network.

A more advanced method would be to allow you to assign names to each independent Echo unit, so you could start a private conversation with a specific room.

Taking it one step further, it should be possible to create a Buddy List option of people you may... [More]

Continue...Amazon Echo as an Intercom. Room to Room Communication, Even Across the World....

Amazon Echo Mail. Send and Receive Voice Messages.

Sunday, August 9, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Here's another idea for improving the Amazon Echo... Echo Mail

Since the Amazon Echo is focused on sound, why not use it to send and receive voice messages? It wouldn't be particularly hard for Amazon to implement this.

Basically all they have to do is create a "Buddy List" feature inside the App, where you create a list of people you intend to communicate with. Each person on the Buddy List would get an invitation. Once they accept the invitation, you could send and receive voice messages from them using a voice command like "Alexa, record a message for Sam". Alexa would respond "Start recording after the tone... say 'End of message' when complete".

At this point the Echo would start recording until you say "End of message", or until you stop talking for more than 10 s... [More]

Continue...Amazon Echo Mail. Send and Receive Voice Messages....

Amazon Echo Should Actually... ECHO. Get Answers In Your Own Voice.

Saturday, August 8, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

You can ask the Amazon Echo just about anything, and it gets the answer from the cloud. But what if you wanted to ask it something a bit more personal?

I love the concept behind the Amazon Echo. Among other things, it's a wireless speaker, a personal assistant, and an Internet search engine, but I think it can do a lot more. Since it has several high quality microphones, it stands to reason that those microphones should be able to capture your own voice, and play it back later, like a voice recorder, only better.

Unlike a traditional voice recorder, the Amazon Echo should be able to store your recordings in the cloud, then transcribe and index whatever you said, so you can find it later. Like all Amazon Echo commands, all you need to do is start each recording with the wak... [More]

Continue...Amazon Echo Should Actually... ECHO. Get Answers In Your Own Voice....

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* Note: The ideas on "Idea of the Day" were posted without any formal research into existing inventions.

In some cases, patents may already exist for these ideas, in other cases, there may not be any existing patents and you are free to develop and explore the viability of developing and patenting the ideas.

The authors make no claim that any of the ideas are safe, practical, or suitable for any particular purpose. You are responsible for the results of trying, developing, patenting or using any of the ideas on this site.

For some people, our ideas are just an interesting read, but our goal is to encourage you to take action. If you see an idea that you like, do something with it... Take action.

- Joe

Idea Of The Day. A new Idea Each Day. Some Don't Suck.