Simple Smart Door Lock
I wanted a simple smart door lock, that did not require major “installation”, and which I could use to have Alexa “check” whether my doors were locked at night when I went to bed.
Archives: Solutions
Solution or potential solution to a "problem"
Sleep Tracking Without a Wearable
I wanted a way to track sleep without having to use a “wearable”, because I thought that would be preferable for the “loved one” I was researching this for. Here is the solution I evaluated. It worked well for me.
Making It Easier to Command Alexa
Remembering the specific name of lights in each room can prove difficult, even when we use them daily! Here are solutions to that issue.
Alexa Calendaring
A partial solution to this problem is to create an Alexa Calendar for your parent. Here is a detailed "How to" published by Frank Engelman on Tech-enhanced Life.
Add a Calendar to Alexa for Your Parent
This solution is for people who want to be able to help a parent with appointments; or possibly enter joint appointments into a calendar that they are able to see; or generally facilitate them being able to use Alexa for calendaring issues.
How to Share Photos on Echo Show
We have recently been exploring ways to leverage “shared photos” as another way to encourage remote interactions among family members, and we wanted to find ways that an Echo Show could be used for photo sharing. The good news: there are several ways to do that, and this solution explains how.
Simple Smart Home Lights
This DIY solution describes several different approaches to setting up automatic lighting. It comes out of work I did to set up this type of lighting for some relatives of mine.
Automate Joining a Zoom Meeting with Alexa
In a previous article, I described how to set up a Zoom meeting in your loved one’s calendar for their Echo Show. Using that setup, they can say “Alexa, join the meeting” and later “Yes” to confirm that they want to join.
Gentle, audible reminder to wash hands and flush the toilet
I have a suggestion that involves using an Alexa Routine to prompt your mom when she enters the bathroom.
How to Use an Echo Show that Moves
Amazon recently came out with a version of an Echo Show that you can “move” from a remote place. In other words, you can cause it to rotate its screen under your control while you are elsewhere. I wondered if this might be a feature I could use to help my mother — for whom I am a distant “caregiver” and tech-support person. I got one of the new Echo Show’s (called a Echo Show 10 Gen 3) and tried it out. This solution is about what I learned.