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[kitz]

I do agree that assistants can be immensely useful.

Indeed.  There's lot of skills that I haven't yet explored and they are bringing out more each day.   The text and emergency calls are fairly new ones for the echo.  I got my first Echo when they were half price on Prime day, since then I've purchased a Dot which is in the PC room but I'm still discovering new things each day what it can do.   It hasn't leant how to feed the cats yet
 
Having seen my friends new set up with LightwaveRF, that is so on my wish list.  I already use it with a TP-Link smart plug, but I wouldn't mind at least one of the light switches - definitely the entrance hall.  The hall landing would also be useful but since the upstairs landing is on a 4 gang and would need to be 2 way, I'd need to investigate further on that.   Probably cheaper for that one to get a TP-link smart bulb with screw/bayonet adaptor, so Im waiting to see what Amazon do on Black Friday.

My bro was over yesterday to chauffeur me somewhere and he was showing me what he has set up with his Echo, which controls his lighting and heating.  There's an extra app that he has on his phone and it detects when he is on his way home and will automatically switch the heating on so the house is at desired temperature when he gets to his house.  He said it was a doddle to install and has offered to do mine if and when I do buy.

[Ronski]

I purchased a couple of 1 gang dimmers and a link plus for our through lounge dining room, unfortunately it seems that the Lightwave dimmer can't handle the 10 x 7w led bulbs I have, the first switch stopped working after 20 minutes, the next lasted just over a week. Lightwave support were very good replying on Christmas Eve, but apart from reducing the number of bulbs, changing them (different wattage or make) or trying the Gen 2 switch there wasn't much else they could do. I'm rather disappointed that there is no overload protection built in and they just stop working, luckily I can return them.   

I was able to get the Echo controlling the lights and it worked well, one thing to bare in mind is they do need to be dimmable bulbs.

I also spent a while this morning trying to upload some of my music to Amazon, reading various Amazon help files but being unable to find the option to upload. Turns out they removed the option on the 18th December.

http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-music-no-longer-allows-customers-to-upload-their-own-songs/

In the above article they mention a skill named My Media, and this seems to work very well - but you do need a PC or Mac that's on for it to work, not a problem for me as I have a server on 24/7.

https://mymediaalexa.com/#

It doe's cost but it's very cheap at $5 for the year for a basic version, and it does have a 7 day trial.

On another note our Alexa stopped working yesterday (turns out Amazon was having problems), anyway we put the CD player on, and then I overheard my wife asking Alexa to turn the volume down