Alexa for the introverted

This is the Echo show, one of the many new voice speakers flowing into the market these days. It’s nice. You can talk to it, and it will show you things on the screen.

Despite the big touch display, voice is the only way to make it do something. You have to talk. So you find yourself saying the same sentences over and over again. Every day, many times per day.

Alexa, what’s the weather later today?

Alexa, play Radio24syv dokumentar

Alexa, play Radio twenty-four seev document-air

Alexa, forget it

Alexa, just play some music

Alexa, any music

Alexa, turn off all the lights

There’s actually just four sentences there. Music. Weather. Foreign-language podcast. Lights. We’ll forget about that foreign podcast for now and reserve that space. That’s basically it. That’s what I use it for.

Imagine if these features were simple, old buttons. Imagine the cognitive load lifting from your cerebral shoulders.

It’s a row of buttons you clip on to the top of your Echo Show. When you push a button, it plays a recording of your own voice.

Here’s the manual.

It’s cheap because it’s simple. A chip to record and store horribly low quality audio, a speaker to play horribly low quality audio, and a few buttons that start the playback.

Obviously, to cover all features in a voice speaker—including searching for unpronounceable podcasts, you’ll need a few more buttons.

Given that there’s no usb ports or Bluetooth, the keyboard would have to connect via voice.

Okay, we’re almost there. We now have a simple row of buttons, and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Wouldn’t it be nice if it could wake you with music, or turn the lights on and off at specific times?

The voice timer can help with that

Place it in the same room as Echo Show, and it will do it’s magic when the time comes.

Voice speakers are great, but voice isn’t always great. It’s slow, it’s noisy, and it interrupts everything going on in your brain. This new line of accessories will help.