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[HA Dave]

Amazon has released (at lease in the US) it's intercom feature. This is pretty slick even in a small home (bedroom to kitchen, or living room to basement). Merely ask Alexa to "drop in" on the other echo device you want to speak with. I edited/renamed my echo's so as to make the requests easier to remember.

I will be waiting for more "specials" on the Echos devices... just to better exploit this new feature.

I accidently used Amazon's Alexa (instead of Siri) the other day to make a phone call.... when meaning to request my iPhone to call my wife. I may have to put name tags on these devices. 

But humor aside... it's nice to know that if injured or ill I could call anyone in my phones contacts... just by asking... from anywhere in the home using Alexa... or anywhere (if my phone is near). BTW the phone audio is awesome via Alexa.

[Tuicemen]

The drop in feature is not new however it is to others outside of the US, unless they had there devices setup as being in the US.
This feature although sounds cool it still isn't ready for prime time.
There have been reports of this being falsely activated or activated without even a command being heard.
I've seen many issues with AWS over the last few months which leads me to thing they need to add more servers to handle the expanding traffic.
Even device discovery fails more times then it succeeds for me lately.
At least even though the discovery shows previously configured devices as off line I can still control them with Alexa.

[HA Dave]

..... I've seen many issues with AWS over the last few months which leads me to thing they need to add more servers to handle the expanding traffic.
Even device discovery fails more times then it succeeds for me lately.  

I remember back in the days of AOL 1.0..... it was most reliable in the hours before I went to work (7 AM).

We are in the early days (years) of the technology revolution. Although history may show that the real change/progress occurred in decades yet to come. We are fortunate enough to see the beginning. The spits and spurts of dial-up and the beginnings of the real internet (we haven't even seen Internet 2.0 yet). I know what we have isn't perfect. And maybe... those of us who aren't teenagers today... will never see full interconnectivity. But it's my guess.... many don't really care to either.

My glass is half full.

[dave w]

There have been reports of this being falsely activated or activated without even a command being heard.

Yeah, I have read the same thing. One report said Echo did not always beep when the Drop-in mode became active. Although I would like to use our Echo's as an intercom, I'm a little afraid that some hacker guy sitting in his mother's basement could listen to me sing in the shower. 'Couse he would only do it once, I suppose (based on my wife's critique). 

[HA Dave]

.... I would like to use our Echo's as an intercom, I'm a little afraid that some hacker guy sitting in his mother's basement could listen to me sing in the shower....

I keep telling people. It ain't hackers.... it's a huge bank of NSA computers running specialized algorithms. They don't care who sings... or what they sing. The NSA just wants to know what it means.... and learn how to control it.

[dave w]

I had security clearance at a WMD site...And you make me afraid. <huge grin>

[HA Dave]

I was sent to the grocery tonight to get a last minute ingredient the wife wanted for Easter Dinner. There... I found what I thought was the right item... but not being sure, I took a quick pic with my iPhone [camera] and texted it to the wife with a "is this what you want?" request.

Then.... I realized with the wife in the kitchen she might not hear the text. And not eager to stand and wait to see if she did... I used the Drop in function... remotely via the Amazon app on my phone.

Some women might be taken aback hearing a loud, mans voice, in the next room, when they thought they were alone. My wife included. But the remote drop in from a mobile phones Amazon app.... works great.