Amazon Echo

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Hey Guys!
Interesting news from Amazon again

Amazon Echo aka Alexa is comming to Germany …
https://www.amazon.de/Amazon-SK705DI-Echo-Schwarz/dp/B01GAGVCUY

Already had some first encounter here :
https://forum.pimatic.org/topic/1089/amazon-echo-alexa

@leader21 said in Amazon Echo:

Amazon Echo aka Alexa is comming to Germany

Another highlight: The Echo Dot will also be available in Germany for 60,- €!
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Amazon-Sprachassistentin-Alexa-kommt-nach-Deutschland-3321290.html

And which one do you prefer? I have asked for an invitation, maybe i am lucky enough to get it, but don’t know which one to buy.

@kenci I prefer Echo Dot for the price tag and the Echo for its versatility. For Echo Dot you’ll need external speakers. Typically the Echo Dot is put somewhere close to your media center or whatever you have for listening to music and watching tv.

Note, invited prime customers will get a 50,- EUR rebate on Amazon Echo. 129,- for the Echo sounds like a good deal.Another thing to mention about the Echo is that it can be used as Bluetooth speaker for your mobile (no battery power, unfortunately - this will be provided with the next generation, the Echo Tap).

I am also planning to tinker with the Amazon Echo. One of my first projects will be to turn the Echo into conference speaker phone. This can be seen as replacement for the very expensive conference spiders you typically have in conference rooms. However, this will require a fair amount of programming.

Some links:

• http://www.androidcentral.com/amazon-echo-vs-dot-vs-tap-which-should-you-buy
• http://www.cheatsheet.com/gear-style/amazons-echo-what-it-can-and-cant-do-for-you.html/?a=viewall

@mwittig are you sure that you can use the internal mics via API? My guess would be that developers have no access to the hardware of the echo itself.

@michbeck100 Not, yet. At least, Audio playback is now supported.

https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-way-to-use-the-Amazon-Echo-Tap-for-conference-callshttps://www.reddit.com/r/amazonecho/comments/4bpwuh/question_echo_as_a_mic_and_speaker_for_phone_calls/
https://developer.amazon.com/public/community/post/Tx1DSINBM8LUNHY/New-Alexa-Skills-Kit-ASK-Feature-Audio-Streaming-in-Alexa-Skills

come on guys, we’re waiting for a plugin-release like hap before echo releases in germany

… btw… i found the amazon-question very nice (german)
https://www.amazon.de/forum/-/Tx3A9KFVPTIS8ZU/ref=ask_dp_dpmw_al_hza?asin=B01GAGVCUY

@xCite86 Just donate an echo and I see what i can do. But this time it will be harder i think. As the documentation states, you need OAuth authentication beween Amazon and pimatic, not to mention that your pimatic must accessible via https. And this is completely missing currently.

What i don’t know if it is possible to define an endpoint address per user. This might be another problem. See https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-skills-kit/overviews/understanding-the-smart-home-skill-api:

• Device cloud: The cloud environment provided by a device vendor that controls and manages the customer’s cloud-enabled devices

@michbeck100 said in Amazon Echo:

Just donate an echo and I see what i can do.

Most of the development can be done without having the Echo devioce in place. There are also services to emulate an Echo device for testing. https://echosim.io/welcome?next=%2F

See also https://arc.applause.com/2016/05/31/amazon-echo-web-browser/

@mwittig Nice. I’ll try that. Let’s see what happens

@michbeck100

maybe the other thread could help

https://forum.pimatic.org/topic/1089/amazon-echo-alexa

Also “applied” for an invitation, lets see… I built an “echo” with a raspberry some time ago but usage was very cumbersome.

Oauth might be the biggest hurdle but we need to solve it also for many other services.

HTTPs access from the outside to pimatic is already working fine for me.

@thex said in Amazon Echo:

Oauth might be the biggest hurdle

There are a couple of libaries which promise to make the use of OAuth easier. See https://www.npmjs.com/package/client-oauth2 for example.

Super good plugin! Thank you so much! Is it also possible to control max?

@michbeck100 would that be possible at all - if you find the time of course

Controlling thermostats is on the list. Comes directly after dimming lights .

Thanks!!!

How do i activate a button in german?

@t1m0 The only commands that work with the plugin are currently “einschalten” and “ausschalten”. These commands also apply to buttons. Please note that currently just the first button of a ButtonsDevice is supported.

ah okay thanks!
i added only one button

      "buttons": [
        {
          "id": "chillig",
          "text": "chillig"
        }
      ],
      "echo": {
        "name": "chillig",
        "additionalNames": [
          "chillig"
        ]
      },
      "id": "chillig",
      "name": "chillig",
      "class": "ButtonsDevice"
    },

but if i speak “echo schalte chillig ein” she says “
She says: the hub is not connected”