Try Out These Great Alexa Skills on Your Echo

The Amazon Echo – as well as the Echo Dot and Amazon Tap – are great Bluetooth speakers, mainly because they have Alexa built in, which opens up a whole world of possibilities. Alexa has a slew of skills that are already available, but some are better than others. Here are some of the best Alexa skills currently available. All of these are available on Amazon’s website as well as through the Alexa app.

Uber

Uber has become quite popular, especially for those living in larger cities. As it’s cheaper than owning a car. And now, instead of having to open the app on your phone to book an Uber, you can simply ask Alexa to do so. You can also ask Alexa how far away your Uber is, so you can be ready when it arrives.

Philips Hue

If you own any of the Philips Hue lighting products, this is a must-have skill. It will allow you to control the lights in your home with your voice, and who doesn’t want that? You can tell Alexa to turn off the lights in your living room, or perhaps turn them on in your bedroom. And you can even do this when you aren’t home, as long as you have an Alexa device with you.

TrackR

While you probably won’t ever lose your phone, since it is literally always nearby, TrackR is a good skill to use to find your phone. When you ask Alexa to find your phone, you’ll hear your phone ringing, and it’ll help you find it much easier. This is particularly helpful if your child has taken your phone and left it somewhere.

AllRecipes

Wanting to try a new recipe? Use Alexa to help you out. With AllRecipes, you can find a recipe to use for dinner – especially helpful if you’re not sure how you want to cook that chicken tonight. But that’s not all that Alexa can do, she can also help you prepare and then cook dinner by giving you directions. This is much easier than following along on your phone.

NASA Mars

By enabling the NASA Mars skill for Alexa, you can find out exactly what the Mars Curiosity Rover is up to. You can also ask Alexa to find out how large Mars is, and so forth. It’s a fairly new skill for Alexa, so it’s not as robust as some of the others on this list.

Jeopardy

Ever wanted to play Jeopardy? Well now you can, thanks to Alexa. You’ll be able to see how good your trivia really is with Jeopardy. Unfortunately you won’t win any real money, but it is still a pretty cool game to play with Alexa, and since it’s all done via voice, it makes it a whole lot more fun.

Fandango

With Fandango, you can find out what movies are playing at a nearby theater, and find a movie to watch tonight. You can also search for a specific movie and find out what theaters are playing it along with what times it’ll be playing. It’ll use your Fandango account to sync up your information as well. But you can’t yet buy tickets through Fandango.