{"id":2787,"date":"2016-12-30T13:30:46","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T21:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pascual.co\/ActiveE\/?p=2787"},"modified":"2016-12-30T13:30:46","modified_gmt":"2016-12-30T21:30:46","slug":"a-little-life-hack-amazon-echo-dot-in-our-tesla-model-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pascual.co\/ActiveE\/how-to\/a-little-life-hack-amazon-echo-dot-in-our-tesla-model-s\/","title":{"rendered":"A little “life hack”… Amazon Echo Dot in our Tesla Model S"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, like many people, we received an Amazon Echo Dot<\/a>\"\" for Christmas.<\/p>\n

I actually ordered one for us when we decided to GIVE an Echo Dot to my Father-In-Law for his Christmas gift. \u00a0I wanted to get familiar with the technology before taking on the role of “Alexa Tech Support” for him. \u00a0We also decided to get an Echo Dot for my techie sister, but I didn’t need to train myself to be her “Alexa Tech Support.”<\/p>\n

As a result, we now own multiple Amazon Echo Dots<\/a>\"\". [As I was writing this post, I realized that Amazon has an affiliate program, so many of the links to Amazon on this post is signed up under that program.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

For those unfamiliar with the Echo Dot, it’s basically a stripped down Amazon Echo integrated high fidelity speaker and voice “assistant”<\/a>\"\" that Amazon created to help stream music and is configurable with many add-on “skills.” \u00a0It’s basically Siri for your home. \u00a0However, rather than wake her with the phrase Siri, you call her by her name “Alexa”, (or configure the trigger word to be Amazon or Echo). \u00a0(On a side note, Google saw what Amazon has done and created the Google Home as a response to Amazon’s Echo. \u00a0However, the Echo Dot is the less expensive alternative, using a basic speaker as opposed to the high end speakers in the original Echo and the Google Home.) \u00a0The Echo Dot’s price point without the integrated speakers make it a less expensive way to get into the genre. \u00a0In lieu of high fidelity speakers, the Echo Dot can be connected via a 3.5mm plug or Bluetooth.<\/p>\n

To get the full audio entertainment possibilities for Echo and its eco-system, it is best to have a full Prime membership and the new add-ons that Amazon now sell (Amazon Music<\/a>\"\" which unlocks a whole world of music, in addition to what is already included with Prime Music) I have yet to take that plunge and am currently working with just Prime Music. \u00a0The base system comes with basic TuneIn included and I find that I Heart Radio can be easily accessed with a free account, the other supported music providers are Pandora and Spotify, neither of which work on Alexa without a premium account, so I don’t use those. \u00a0Now, with the original Echo, the sound quality is superior and the little speakers on the Echo Dot will do for the indiscriminate listener, however, if you wish to use better speakers, that’s entirely possible by just attaching them to the 3.5mm or pairing via Bluetooth.<\/p>\n

With Prime Music, coupled with my own library of albums, I am able to stream music\u00a0randomly by genre or artist by default. \u00a0Such as when I ask “Alexa, play Sting” when she responds by “Shuffling songs by Sting” or a specific album, “Alexa, play The Police,\u00a0Ghost in the Machine” and she responds “Ghost In the Machine, Remastered, by the Police” or my favorite, “Alexa, play New Wave music” and she says “Here is a Station for New Wave music, New Wave.”. \u00a0I believe that the Amazon Music<\/a>\"\"\u00a0that I currently don’t subscribe to just expands the universe of albums available. \u00a0I like to listen to music in complete albums. \u00a0I’m “old school” like that. \u00a0I believe that it’s the way that the artists intended for us to experience their work, so it’s great to just listen to\u00a0albums that I purchased from Amazon directly or the ones provided on Prime Music.<\/p>\n

As I started playing around with the\u00a0Echo Dot, I was amazed at all the little things she can do using voice control. \u00a0The audio entertainment options are pretty good, but I found that I like having Alexa with me as my voice assistant in my office. \u00a0I can keep\u00a0writing and just have her read Wikipedia articles, tell me the weather, tell me a joke, give me my Daily Briefing, give me the latest scores for my favorite sports teams, start or stop my lawn sprinklers, etc.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, my techie sister received her own Alexa, and we were chatting about “her” to my sister and we briefly talked about the possibility of integrating Alexa into the car. \u00a0Considering that Alexa’s Bluetooth capabilities, we thought to give it a try. (Apparently, we were not the only ones thinking about this, here’s a thread on TMC on the same exact thing<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

So, yesterday, I tried driving around with Alexa as my co-pilot.<\/p>\n

So, what did I bring with me.<\/p>\n

1) Amazon Echo Dot<\/a>\"\" (or “Alexa” as we now call her in our family.)<\/p>\n

2) A wi-fi hotspot device<\/p>\n

A) A Novotel Mifi Hotspot<\/a>\"\" that I have that uses 3G<\/p>\n

B) Enable my mobile’s hotspot function for 4G\/LTE.<\/p>\n

3) Re-use an existing Micro-USB\u00a0charging cable in the car.<\/p>\n

That was it. \u00a0Granted the Amazon Echo Dot that I set up in the car was previously configured at home, so we’re skipping that setup, we’re just moving the device from the office to the car. \u00a0(One of the nice things that Amazon has done is when adding an additional Echo device to the home, it already inherits the Skills learned on the account.)<\/p>\n

Step 1<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Since we’re starting out with an already configured Echo Dot, we have to get it ready to reconfigure. So, after we plug it into the car, we press the Action Button for Five seconds until the Orange Ring comes back on and go back to setting it up for the new Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

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