Amazon – Tech Savvy Life

Seven Useful Alexa Features for Your Amazon Echo

In case you do not already know, you can control Alexa’s various features right from your desktop, iPhone, or Android smartphone.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
November 3, 2022

This is for the desktop, iPhone, and Android. Screenshots are from iPhone XR

Dilbert and Quiet — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Manage Alexa

In case you do not already know, you can control Alexa’s various features right from your desktop, iPhone, or Android smartphone. This allows you to tweak various setting options for your Echo without needing physical access to your device. You can manage everything from reminders and alarms to connected smart home devices. Refer to the below image:

On your desktop, you can use the Amazon Alexa website to do that, though it’s worth noting that the web implementation is not as robust as it used to be. You will have a better experience using the official Alexa mobile app on iPhone and Android.

Alexa Voice Tempo

If you find Alexa’s speech too fast or too slow, you can ask her to adjust her speaking speed. Simply say “Alexa, speak slower” or “Alexa, speak faster” and she will obey your command.

That will allow you to listen to certain words carefully, or go through everything quickly if you like to get your information fast.

Alexa Brief Mode

Sometimes, Alexa’s answers are too verbose. She might keep saying little things that you will eventually find annoying. Fortunately, there’s a way around it.

Enter Brief Mode, an Alexa feature that makes the virtual assistant keep her responses shorter. When this mode is enabled, Alexa will not speak as many words as she normally does. You can enable the mode by accessing the Alexa website, heading into:

Settings > Alexa Voice Responses

and enabling Brief Mode. See the below image:

On the same page, you can make Alexa whisper her responses by enabling the Whisper Mode option.

Alexa Commute

Alexa can let you know what kind of traffic you will meet on your way to your office. As long as you have specified your To and From addresses in Alexa, you can get your commute’s traffic details. See the following image:

If you have not already, you can configure your To and From addresses in the

Settings > Traffic

menu on the Alexa website.

Alexa Reminder App

It’s easy to forget your important tasks in this busy life. Setting up a reminder for each of your tasks in a mobile reminder app is also cumbersome.

Fortunately, you can use your Alexa assistant as a reminder tool. Simply ask Alexa when you would like to be reminded and about what or type in a reminder, and she will make sure to send you a notification at the specified time. Refer to the below image:

Alexa Security Updates

Alexa offers a security feature called Guard to help you keep a check on your home when you are away. This feature listens to certain sounds, like those of breaking glass and smoke alarms going off.

When Alexa detects those sounds, you get a notification as well as a short audio clip of the sound, letting you know something’s not right at your home.

You can activate Alexa’s Guard feature from the

More > Settings > Guard

menu in the Alexa mobile app. You can purchase the Guard Plus feature for a fee if you would like emergency authorities to be notified when those sounds play at your home. See the below image:

Alexa Echo as a Bluetooth Speaker

Last but not least, you can use your Alexa-enabled Amazon Echo as a Bluetooth speaker. This way, you can connect any of your Bluetooth-enabled devices to your Echo and play your favorite music.

You may want to use this feature when your favorite music app is not supported by Alexa, or when you prefer to play music from your phone or your desktop. You can pair your phone or desktop with your Amazon Echo by simply asking “Alexa, pair.”

Those are some of the Alexa features you can use to make your Amazon Echo device even more useful.

Quote For the Day

I might love my e-reader, but I’d never pass up the chance to browse real books.
Nichole Chase

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Author’s E-Book

You can access the e-book from a Kindle device, the Kindle App for the desktop or smartphone, which is a free app.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong Vietnam: Events and Aftermath

How to Remove Books From Kindle

Kindles can hold a lot of eBooks, but you may want to remove some. eBooks are stored in two places; on the eReader itself and your Kindle Library.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
September 1, 2022

Kindles can hold a lot of eBooks, but you may want to remove some. eBooks are stored in two places; on the eReader itself and your Kindle Library. We will show you how to remove your books.

This is for a Kindle. Screenshots are from Kindle Paperwhite

Dilbert and Inflation — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

When you buy an eBook from Amazon, rent one from your local library, or send one to your Kindle, it’s added to your Kindle Library. This is essentially iCloud storage for your eBooks. When you open the book on your Paperwhite, that’s when it downloads the eBook file to the device’s storage.

Remove an E-Book From Kindle

First, we will remove the actual eBook file from your Kindle. Note that this does not remove the book from your Kindle Library. On your Kindle home screen, tap the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner. Refer to the below image:

Next, select Settings from the menu. See the below image:

Now, go to Device Options. See the following image:

Next, go to Advanced Options. Refer to the below image:

Now, select Storage Management. See the below image:

Next, select Manual Removal. See the following image:

Now, select the Books category. Refer to the below image:

Next, choose the books you do not need anymore and tap Remove. See the below image:

Kindle 8 — Selecting Books and Remove them

Your books will no longer be taking up storage space on your Kindle Reader. It will still be in your Kindle Library.

Remove a Book From Kindle Library

You can also remove books from the Library, which will disassociate them from your account.

Removing eBooks from your Library can be done from the Kindle app on iPhone, iPad, or Android and the eReader itself. First, open the app or go to the Kindle home screen and select the Library tab. See the following image:

Next, find the book you want to remove and press and hold until a menu appears. Refer to the below image:

Kindle 10 — Select a Book to delete/remove

Now, select Remove from Download/Library or Permanently Delete from the menu. See the below image:

Kindle 11 — Removing/Deleting the Book from your Library

Next, confirm you want to remove the eBook, and you are done! The eBook will no longer appear in your Kindle Library. If you want the book again, you will need to re-purchase or send it to your Library again. See the following image:

Kindle 12 — Confirm the removal or deletion