Smart home tech is getting very important and popular among the ranks of assistive technology.
If you read our most previous blog post, you know we touched on the best smart devices for people who are renting. The coolest and probably the most functional device we mentioned are smart speakers. While complex smart homes with multiple devices are impressive, humble smart speakers can be super powerful on their own. These smart speakers are also assistants that can help you stay organized and connected in your everyday life. Some of the most popular smart speakers include Amazon Echos, Google Nests, or Apple HomePods, all with their own special benefits.
Whether you are a lucky new owner of a smart speaker or you have had yours for years, there are a few ways you can use these virtual assistants to improve your life without having to buy any other “smart” equipment.
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Scheduling
There is literally no feeling worse than the one when you’re waking up late, knowing that you’re running late to something important. Imagine getting already for bed, you’re about to fall asleep and then you suddenly remember you have an appointment early tomorrow morning. Or was it for the next day? Or Friday morning? Oh, the uncertainty is unbearable! With a smart speaker, all you have to do is say “Hey Google”, or “Alexa, what’s on my calendar for tomorrow morning?” Once your calendar is read out to you, you can simply ask your smart speaker to set an alarm for a specific time so you don’t have to get out of bed to manually do it or worry about sleeping through something important! Also, it’s important to note that Amazon Echo is capable of integrating with different virtual calendars such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple, while Google Nest and Apple HomePod can only integrate with their own respective calendars. Another awesome feature of all three of these smart speakers are all capable of learning different people’s voices and linking each person with their own individual account filled with their own data. This makes it easier for multiple people to control their music, and shop from their accounts through their smart speaker.
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Reminders and Alarms
We just touched on alarms a bit, but it’s important to emphasize just how helpful smart speakers are for setting alarms and reminders. It was just last night when I was cooking dinner and had oil and spices all over my hands and was putting my veggies in the oven when I simply said “Alexa, set a timer for 15 minutes” and voila! I was ready to continue on to the next step of cooking my dinner. Smart speaker’s are such awesome voice assistants that can really get something done the second the thought enters your mind. Reminders and alarms will ensure that you wake up on time, stay on schedule throughout the day, and make sure you don’t forget about something important. You can also set your reminders to be recurring or one-time-only depending on the situation at hand.
Something many smart speaker owners don’t realize is that you can listen to and reply to your emails with it! Amazon Echo is one smart speaker that has email functionality already built into it, so all you’ll have to do is connect the device to your account. The email providers you’ll be able to connect to include: Microsoft, Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, and Live.com. One the other hand, Google Nest does not officially offer this handy feature, but there are a few workaround ways.
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Weather, News, and More
Whether you want to know who won the big basketball game last night, what the weather forecast is for the weekend, or even how to spell the word “necessary,” your smart speaker is ready to find the answer to any question and report it right back to you. Even cooler than that, you can teach your smart speaker more about your preferences so you’ll get even more personalized information when you ask. For example, if you like to know what the UV index is when you find out the weather forecast, you can train your device to always tell you what the UV index of the sun is whenever you ask about the weather.
Smart speakers have a lot more to them than just playing your favorite songs! The more time you spend using your smart speaker, the more comfortable you will be using it to help you out throughout your everyday life.
