Like a personal assistant in your browser: ChatGPT’s MyGPTs and Claude’s Personal Projects let you tailor a bot to your needs. It’ll remember what you’ve said so you’re not starting from scratch each time. You can make one for work, scheduling, workouts, recipe ideas — whatever floats your boat!
Clever uses for your Amazon Echo and security steps you can’t skip
Amazon’s Echo line is the reigning champ of the smart speaker world. Compared to virtual assistants like Google and Siri, Alexa works with far more gadgets and responds to significantly more commands than the competition.
Maybe you’re new to Alexa and all she can do, or you need some new ideas to bring new life to your smart speaker. Here are 20 ways she can make your life easier — or just make you and the family laugh.
First, let’s talk about security
Never keep any smart device that hears what you say in private places like your bedroom or bathroom. If you’re working from home, keep it out of your office space, too — or switch off the speaker during work hours. You don’t want to risk anyone or anything overhearing confidential info.
You need to adjust a few privacy settings, too. With a few taps, you can instruct Alexa to delete your records and disable voice purchases automatically. Tap or click here for all the steps.
Now, on to the fun stuff!
1. ‘Alexa, call (contact)’ or ‘Alexa, call (number)’
Alexa recognizes names and spoken numbers and can make calls for you. To make this work, first, register your contacts in the Alexa app. On your smartphone, open the app and follow these steps:
- Tap Communicate.
- Tap the contacts icon.
- Choose the menu icon, and then Add Contact.
- Type a name and phone number, and then select Save.
Once your contacts are registered, ask Alexa to place the call for you.
Note: There are certain numbers Alexa can’t call, including 911, toll-free numbers or international numbers outside the U.S., Mexico or Canada.
2. ‘Alexa, move my 8 a.m. meeting today to 1 p.m.’ or ‘Alexa, cancel my 10 a.m. call’
10 smart speaker pro tips: Find your phone, better sleep and more
Smart speakers like the Google Nest, Google Home and Google Mini are fun devices that can act as amazing hubs for other smart tech you keep around your home. But they have many cool functions beyond that.
Google Assistant speakers can do things you might not be aware of but you’d love to use if you only knew how. And the devices are getting new abilities all the time. Tap or click here to learn about functions coming to Google Assistant that you’ll love.
5 terrific Siri tricks you'll use time and time again
Siri means a secret in Swahili and in Norse, a beautiful woman who leads you to victory. To those of us in Appleland using the voice-controlled personal assistant, it stands for “Speech Interpretation and Recognition Intelligence.” And when you put Siri to work, she can move productivity mountains.