Just opening up a discussion on something I have huge curiosity.
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I can't bring myself to pay $20/month for Alexa AI. It is actually the same price as the ChatGPT skill for Alexa, which is available now.
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Prime members will get Alexa+ for free, while non-Prime members can pay $19.99 per month to access the upgrades.
So this is a wash for some (me) -- but I am sure they will upcharge Prime yet again.
Amazon says Alexa+ will start rolling out in the U.S. in the next few weeks and subsequently in waves in the coming months. It will start with households with Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21. If you have an older Echo machine, you'll unfortunately have to upgrade to take advantage of Alexa+.
Probably a wash for most?
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Ah, I missed that. I guess it is free to me since I have Prime, then. It should pair well with the Alexa Speaks App on Hubitat. It should work with the speech as text option.
re device capability - if you go to Meet the new Alexa and scroll down until the navigation bar appears with Capabilities / Eligible devices / FAQs
theres some info on there that says What devices can customers use Alexa+ on?
When you get access to Alexa+ by owning or purchasing an Echo Show 8, 10, 15 or 21, it will be available on all Echo devices, with the exception of certain older generation Echo devices like Echo Dot 1st Gen, Echo 1st Gen, Echo Plus 1st Gen, Echo Tap, Echo Show 1st Gen, Echo Show 2nd Gen, and Echo Spot 1st Gen, where you can continue to use the original Alexa. You'll also be able to try Alexa+ on your web browser, the Alexa app, compatible Fire TVs and Fire tablets. This experience is not currently supported on Alexa Built-in devices and Amazon Astro, however we look forward to expanding Alexa+ to additional devices in the future.
So I guess you just need one and then your other echo devices will work too - I wonder if it is only the newest model of those ~ they aren't clear
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I can’t wait to have my own AI agent that negotiates in my favor with other AI agents for arbitrage.
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My question is if it's worth it ? and do we need it ? Like seriously Alexa simply does what we want it to do . I do not understand the concept of paying it a cost of $19.99 ( that's huge ) per month . . If it enhances my Alexa experience with more advanced capabilities and more better integration, then may be -I’d love to try if it provides enough value, extra services.
But, I’d definitely weigh it against all other options before committing for with an extra fee , I think we all can live without it !
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I think it has been established that Alexa + is included in Amazon Prime? Many of us likely have Prime so this works.
I am hoping it brings some smarts to the Hubitat interface. For example, walking into a room and saying turn on the music. It then tells Hubitat who the person is (so we can figure out what music to play) and where the person is (so we can play music in that room. Examples like that would make the Alexa interface work a little better.
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The text above resoundingly sounds like life here.
Works very well to your request above.
Amazon has numerous existing "learning" modes.
Call it AI and tie them together with a good UI.
Maybe they got it right.
Just updated to Alexa Plus. Wish me luck. First fail, asked to change the voice to one with an English accent. No can do. Asked to change wake word. Got 4 options - Alexa, Computer, Amazon, or Ziggy. Nothing more.
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A few months, I updated ... for about 3 hours. Main issue was that the Echo Show 5 no longer supported the clock display. Since its sole purpose was/is my alarm clock (and general digital clock display), I reverted immediately. Hopefully they will offer more visual control of the displays.
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I left it on for a couple of days. But the Harmony skill no longer worked correctly so I reverted back. I use Alexa to control the TV, change the channels, fast forward, etc., all the time. Alexa would pretend to do so, but nothing ever happened.
I've been away for the past week, but I did use the Harmony skill (in fact I think it was Harmony secondary hub skill) to turn on the TV and change channel since switching to AA+
"she" actually seemed to be more responsive... most of the time before the update it would turn the TV on or off, or raise/lower volume but anytime I asked something like "Alexa, tune the television to 838" she would say "television doesn't support that" and I would have to say "Alexa - tune the [expletive expletive] television to 838" and then she would say "OK" 
EDIT: here I am not a day later to say I too reverted back... she started the same BS with the harmony skill and even after multiple attempts i couldnt get her to do what I was asking. Also have Meross wifi garage door opener and it just kept saying couldnt find a garage door.
Last - i didnt like her tone
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For channel changing, I've found that Alexa — original Alexa, not plus — will use however the Harmony favorites are set up in the Harmony app. When you first install the Harmony skill in Alexa you can add in aliases for the favorite channels. But I've also noticed that with some channels I can say, "Alexa turn on NBC," and with others I have to say, "Alexa turn the TV to NBC," and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason which works.
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Also have Meross wifi garage door opener and it just kept saying couldnt find a garage door.
This is the stuff that drives me crazy because I also have a Meross garage door opener and it works just fine on my setup. Seems like it should work or not work, but I guess I'm just asking too much.
