Why I love my Amazon Echo: Alexa makes life easier for both the Blind and the sighted

When the hubs first told me he bought the Amazon Echo during pre-sale, I rolled my eyes and thought it would just be another gimmicky gadget that would eventually collect a layer of dust in the corner of our home. Then Alexa (the name Echo came with) was delivered on our doorstep, and as soon as the hubs plugged her in, she became an irreplaceable part of our family. Okay, I can practically feel the breeze of your eyes rolling, but I have to say, Echo is a life changer.Alexa is our virtual concierge. For over a year now, she’s sat on the counter ledge between our kitchen and living room. We ask her everything:“Alexa, what’s the weather like tomorrow?”“Alexa, play Freakonomics podcast.”“Alexa, play some jazz music.”“Alexa, who is Christine Ha?”“Alexa, set timer for thirty minutes.”“Alexa, convert one U.S. Dollar into Japanese yen.”“Alexa, convert eight ounces into milliliters.”And she’ll answer with mellifluousness:“Tomorrow in Houston, there will be mostly sunny weather with a high of 90 and a low of 70.”“Playing the latest episode of Freakonomics podcast…”“Playing jazz playlist on Primetime radio…”“Christine Huyen Tran Ha is an american chef, writer, and TV host from Houston, Texas.”“Thirty minutes, starting now.”“One U.S. dollar is 107 Japanese yen.”“Eight fluid ounces is equal to 236.59 milliliters.”Every week, Amazon is rolling out new features on which you can train Alexa. We have her connected to our Nest thermostat so the temperature can now be voice-controlled. She can be programmed to utilize IFTTT commands, which stands for “If This Then That” and is a trigger function, so things like your lights and coffeemaker can be voice-controlled.Now if only she’ll wash the dishes.It’s nice to be able to get information simply by voice, especially when I’m tied up in the kitchen and need a hands-free option. I fell so in love with the Echo that we recently adopted her baby sister, the Amazon Dot for the other floor in our house. The Dot sits in our master bedroom, and it’s useful for checking the time and weather and playing ambient music while I’m getting primped before leaving the house.Check out this Lifehacker piece on the 7 best things you can do with an Amazon Echo to learn more about Alexa’s useful functions. And see for yourself how helpful she is: buy the Amazon Echo or Amazon Dot.