Amazon Alexa is one of the most popular home assistant services that come with an Amazon Echo device.

Devices

Have two of the Echo Dot in my house. One in my kitchen and one in my master bathroom.

A friend of mine has at least 5 of these devices throughout his house

What do use it for?

I listen to:

my daily flash briefing of news stories that I care about and podcasts by asking “Alexa, flash briefing” [all pre-set selection of “skills” I have picked on http://alexa.amazon.com%5D

it as our stereo during dinner parties by asking “Alexa, play jazz”

I ask for:

Weather by asking “Alexa, weather”

Time by asking “Alexa, time” rather than having clocks in every room or glancing at my phone since I rarely wear a watch in sunny Bluffton, South Carolina

Timer in the kitchen is helpful “Alexa, timer 15 minutes”

When trying to figure out what to do with bacon grease, I asked “Alexa, how do I dispose of grease” for an answer from Wikihow.

If that news story has little or no value to me, I say “Alex, Next” to skip forward.

When it acts up or I am done I ask “Alexa, stop”

When do I use it?

When I am preparing a meal or preparing myself for the day in the bathroom (yes, I have one in the master bathroom instead of a radio), I often listen to Alexa. Most often in the morning, but sometimes around dinner time.

More commands

Here is a great list of Alexa commands here, thanks to Ben Smith.