Learn the latest things to ask Alexa in this weekly series. Listed below are the 20 Alexa commands that Amazon released this week, growing the reviewed list to 274 unique things to ask Alexa. While duds are rare, I quickly weed out the good from the bad, so you don’t have to. So go ahead, grab your Echo Dot, Echo Show, or other Alexa-enabled device and give these commands a try.
Keep scrolling to see the full lineup or use the table of contents to skip to a command that most interests you.
Table of Contents
- Things to Ask Alexa
- In Case You Missed It
- “Alexa, make a donation to the United Nations Foundation”
- “Alexa, open the pod bay doors”
- “Alexa, follow Future on Amazon Music”
- “Alexa, add ‘Family Dinner’ to the schedule tonight at 7 PM”
- “Alexa, join my meeting”
- “Alexa, speak faster”
- “Alexa, remove milk from my shopping list”
- “Alexa, add the lamp to the living room group”
- “Alexa, what am I holding?”
- “Alexa, cancel my 10 minute timer”
- “Alexa, good morning”
- “Alexa, open 63rd and Wallace”
- “Alexa, give me a prank”
Things to Ask Alexa
Welcome to the fourth newsletter of August. In case you missed it, check out last week’s command list. Otherwise, keep reading to learn the new or newly-updated things to ask Alexa.
“Alexa, let’s TikTok”
Here’s a brand new skill this week.
With all the news surrounding TikTok, I’m surprised to see an Alexa Skill for it. Using Alexa, You can now record new videos, search for videos, and check out the daily challenges and more. This TikTok Alexa Skill is solid, providing a hands-free way to engage in the social media platform.
If you know anyone that’s into TikTok, be sure to let them know about the new Alexa integration. To discover more commands you can try, simply ask: “Alexa, what can I say in TikTok?”
“Alexa, read ‘Have a Nice Day’ by Billy Crystal”
This command starts the play Have a Nice Day, which is a live recording made available via an audiobook. Fair warning: you need to have an Audible subscription in order to listen to the full 106 minute play; otherwise, you’ll only get a short snippet.
While the recording itself isn’t brand new, it’s not well-known either with only 12 reviews to date. For fans of Billy Crystal, this might be worth checking out.
“Alexa, what is Pete’s thought of the day?”
Pete refers to the NFL coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll. With this command, Alexa provides a quote spoken by Pete Carroll himself. You can come back every day to get a new quote, although I’m not sure how many quotes Alexa has in total. I suspect it’s not many.
“Alexa, open My Pet Rock”
Remember as a kid the idea of owning a pet that happened to be a rock? Well now, instead of carrying around an actual rock, Alexa provides a virtual one. With your Pet Rock, you can do things like name it, feed it, walk it, and even teach it tricks. And as a result, your pet gains stats and levels up over time where you can compare it against others to see where it stacks up.
A word of caution: this skill does have premium features, including fancier tricks that you can purchase.
With just over 2,600 reviews and earning a 4 out of 5 stars, My Pet Rock is a worthy skill try. That said, I’d personally ditch the rock and check out Pikachu Talk instead.
“Alexa, play the NBA highlights”
Did you miss the last NBA game? Use this command to play basketball highlights from the most recent games on your Echo Show.
What’s more, you can also receive MLB highlights, if baseball is more your speed.
“Alexa, play the podcast Women Rule”
If you’re looking for a new podcast for your morning commute, why not give this command a try. This podcast highlights successful women bosses all over the world in different industries—from professors and master chefs to corporate executives—and dives into how they made it and, more importantly, offers their advice on how women who aspire to lead can also become like them.
The theme of the podcast is great, something I think my daughter would enjoy (once out of diapers!) and anyone looking to learn success stories from current leaders.
And by the way, Women’s Equality Day celebrating the 19th Amendment is on the 26th. If you have a special woman in your life who isn’t yet registered to vote, encourage her to do so now.
“Alexa, give me a bad poem”
You might be wondering what constitutes a bad poem. Well, you’re not alone. Fortunately though, Alexa seems to have the answer. For instance, when I use this command, Alexa resistes a poem about Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick.
Writer Herman Milvill
once fell ill
and dreamed of a giant fish
-whale
who said “call me Ishmael”
Is this a bad poem? I’ll let you be the judge—throw a comment up below.
In Case You Missed It
While they’re likely new to you, the below commands released from Amazon this week are not considered new to this series. Skip this section if you’ve been following along to the Keeping Up with Alexa series.
“Alexa, make a donation to the United Nations Foundation”
Alexa makes donations easy. Use this command to donate to the United Nations. Learn more about this Donation command.
“Alexa, open the pod bay doors”
I won’t spoil it for you…
Ok, twist my arm.
“Alexa, follow Future on Amazon Music”
Use Alexa to follow your favorite artist, like Future, on Amazon Music. Learn more about the fusing of Alexa and the Amazon Music App.
“Alexa, add ‘Family Dinner’ to the schedule tonight at 7 PM”
While you might expect it to, this command annoyingly doesn’t create an event on your calendar. Instead, it adds a list item.
“Alexa, join my meeting”
You can use Alexa as a meeting and collaboration solution for your business. Find out more about this Productivity command.
“Alexa, speak faster”
Have Alexa respond to you faster than normal. Learn more about this command in its opposite form via Settings commands.
“Alexa, remove milk from my shopping list”
Use Alexa to remove check off items in your shopping list on Amazon, assuming you have the item on the list already.
“Alexa, add the lamp to the living room group”
Here’s a little-known feature: you can update your smart device groups via Alexa. No need to open the Alexa App. Learn more about this Smart Home command.
“Alexa, what am I holding?”
Use your Echo Show to identify things. Learn more about this Smart Home command.
“Alexa, cancel my 10 minute timer”
Don’t need a timer anymore? Easily cancel it with this command. Learn more about timer commands.
“Alexa, good morning”
Do you like to start your day with quick factoids? Then this command is for you. You can even add it to your Alexa routines. Find out more via Information command.
“Alexa, open 63rd and Wallace”
Skip this command. Frustratingly enough, it’s been broken for a few months now.
“Alexa, give me a prank”
Sometimes you’ll get a prank, and sometimes you’ll get a joke with this command. This week, Alexa gives me the same prank as last time.
Looking for more unique things to ask Alexa? Check out the complete Keeping Up with Alexa series and sign up to receive weekly updates.
