Gadgetory

these are the top five hidden benefits of an Amazon echo speaker as we do with these kinds of lists we talked with C net smart home experts Andrew peekaboo get part and Rui El Presidente Crist for their insight by the way we'll try our hardest to avoid the default activation word did you just bleep D let's get to it and number five is messaging / intercom an echo device can double as a speakerphone you sync up your contacts from the app and you'll be able to call other folks who have the app or echo speakers if you've got multiple echo devices around your home you can also use a drop in feature as an intercom and number for early prime day access Amazon Prime days the company's big day which features deals on all kinds of things for Amazon Prime members think of it as a Black Friday like event well if you've got an echo you get access a bit earlier than the rest of humanity this year prime date deals started two hours before the regular time if you shop using an echo device at number 3 sales because Amazon loves selling you stuff you can just ask your device device name what are your deals then your speaker will let you know what's available on a discount it's actually pretty handy I've managed to pick up a Photoshop Elements bundle for around half price and number two cheap music everybody has some kind of music service Amazon actually has two one comes with prime and the other is called Amazon music unlimited normally music unlimited costs a whopping eight dollars per month for Prime members however there's a lower-cost plan that gives you Amazon music unlimited but it's linked to a single echo device and it cost about four bucks per month and at number one it can read Kindle books you probably knew you could listen to audible books on an Amazon speaker but did you know that the echo can read certain Kindle books using text-to-speech you go to the smartphone app then music video and books scroll to the bottom and you'll see Kindle as an option there you will see all the books from your Kindle collection that can be read aloud to you not all books are supported but it's a great little feature you're still here great I'd like to tell you about my favorite Amazon skills I'm a big fan of playing jeopardy on the echo and getting subway reports using the conductor skill if you've got a harmony remote the harmony skill is excellent to control your home theater anyway we've got a full list at cnet.com MI as that colonel see you online