Program questions and answers

[DouglasPHill]

I was reading somewhere about skills but wondering why there isn't an easy way to program certain answers.  When company comes over they often want to know where is the silverware etc etc.  I should be able to tell Alexa to learn something and then give her the question and answer.

[jwlv]

I think you misunderstood what Alexa skills are. Skills are essentially programs that a 3rd party created to perform a particular task.  Think of skills as apps on your smartphone. But skills are voice controlled and used on your Echo device. It is possible for someone or some company to make a skill that can accomplish what you desire.

Think of the Echo device as a computer. When you take a new computer out of the box, it has some basic functions. Echo has some basic functions too. On a computer, if you want to play Angry Birds, you'd have to download and install it. Same on the Echo. Out of the box, the Echo does not have the Questions and Answers ability that you desire. Is there a skill for this? I don't know. You might want to search in the Alexa Skill catalogue (just like searching the App Store on your smartphone). If you find the skill that does what you want, just enable it and try it out. Keep in mind that most skills are free, but not all of them. It is inevitable that companies that create useful skills will want to monetize from their work.

[strayfish]

There's a skill called Debbie Onsite. You ask Alexa to tell Debbie Onsite that X is in the Y, then when you want to know where X is, you ask Alexa to ask Debbie Onsite where X is. Tactfully, Debbie says 'I think you'll find X is in the Y' - just in case you moved it, presumably! It looks a bit unwieldy but your visitors only need to know to say the first part, so if you programme in the answers to a range of objects they might want to find, it should work ok.

[DouglasPHill]

Thank you both.

[scottrods]

There's a skill called Debbie Onsite. You ask Alexa to tell Debbie Onsite that X is in the Y, then when you want to know where X is, you ask Alexa to ask Debbie Onsite where X is. Tactfully, Debbie says 'I think you'll find X is in the Y' - just in case you moved it, presumably! It looks a bit unwieldy but your visitors only need to know to say the first part, so if you programme in the answers to a range of objects they might want to find, it should work ok.

This sounds like something I need to do for my wife when she starts moving my stuff around... Thanks for posting that!

Now... getting my wife to do it... LOL