Voice In Canada Flash Briefing #477

Alright, welcome to this week. Today, I want to tell you about a feature that is going to be released on all third-party devices, at least the option is there, for any third-party device that has Alexa built in, to take advantage of what is known as the “Announcements Feature.”

So first of all, what is the announcements feature? Well, when you say to Alexa, “Alexa announce happy birthday”, what happens, is every single device that is on your account, so if you have multiple devices in your home, all in the same account, every device will announce in your own voice, as a voice recording, what you just said, happy birthday.

And if you say particular phrases, common ones, things like happy birthday, time to leave, dinner’s ready, there are actually some pretty neat sound effects that just kind of increase the overall experience, make it a little more fun.

So, this was available on the Echo devices. The news here is that Amazon has now allowed any other company that is making a third party device that has Alexa built in, to support that announcements feature.

Meaning, that now when you give that command, “Alexa announce something”, it will be broadcasted through any device. So it could be a smart Thermostat, a smart TV, other manufacturers’ smart speakers, sound bars, et cetera.

There are actually some pretty neat sound effects that just kind of increase the overall experience.

And so, typically, if you’re doing this announcement, the whole point of it is to get everybody in the house to hear what it is your saying, and so the more devices that this can be heard on, the better as far as the purpose of the announcement function.

So, pretty cool, I think this is a pretty neat little feature and hopefully, you will find that useful. Alright, I want to finish off today again with a very quick shout out. This one goes out to somebody with the name LL Buckler on the Amazon skill store.

And, this person left a review for me and the flash briefing. Five stars and it reads, “Great flash briefing on using Alexa. Being legally blind, voice first is very important to me. Everything I can learn about the technology is a plus. CNIB now considers me an expert because of the information I have learned from you on your podcast and flash briefing. Thank you. Lloyd.”

Hey, Lloyd, thank you so much, and that really… it warms my heart to hear that, that I have been able to help you to become more knowledgeable, and then you can go on and share this knowledge with others that will benefit from it.

So I really, really, really appreciate that review. Thank you so very much. And if anybody else would like to leave a review, again, you go to VoiceinCanada.ca, click on the red button, and you’re off and running.

Alright? Have a great day. I’ve got a great podcast for you tomorrow, and I will tell you all about it then. Take care.

Useful Resources

Listen on your Echo Device! Easy as 1-2-3!

Voice in Canada Skill Logo1. Open your Alexa app and click on the Menu button > Settings > Flash Briefing.
2. Click on “Add Content” and search for “Voice in Canada”.
3. Click on “Voice in Canada” and the Enable button.

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