How high can Alexa count?
How does she feel about Siri and Cortana?
Find out the answers to these and more in 20 Best Things To Ask ALEXA!
#20.
“Can You Rap?”-- If you ask Alexa to rap for you or ask her if she can rap she will
do her best to spit out a fly rhyme with lyrics that come from her point of view: “Connect,
Sync link all the pieces of your life.
I, get it done at the speed of WiFi.
I’m the player, the coach, the arena, the game.
If you want something done, you just gotta say my name.”
However, if you ask her to beatbox, her skills are sorely lacking.
She might be doing her best but the obnoxious attempt just sounds like something you’d
hear in the background of a free early 90s computer game and would definitely make Doug
E. Fresh cringe.
#19.
“How old are you?”- If you ask Alexa her age, instead of giving you the simple answer
of 3 she will answer with what sounds like a mind-wrenching riddle: “In years if you’re
counting it’s three, Since essentially I became me.
Before that I wasn’t, which sounds quite unpleasant, Because me is what I like to be!”.
Ummm.
Okay.
Good for you Alexa.
#18.
“Do you want to go on a date?”-- If you are fed up with the human dating seen and
are trying to find love in the form of a digital assistant you won’t have any chance with
Alexa.
To the question “Do you want to go on a date?”
she will instantly friend zone you, replying, “I like you, as a friend”.
#17.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”-- While some may be satisfied with her initial soft let
down, the more persistent types will be wondering why Alexa only likes them as a friend…
Is there possibly someone else?
If you ask Alexa if she has a boyfriend she will give you a nice and curt answer but then
follow it up with an extremely lame joke.
She will say: “I like being single.
Plus it’s tough finding someone who doesn’t mind the cloud commute.
Ha.
#16.
“Beam Me Up”-If you are a Trekkie or just a casual Star Trek fan then you will be happy
to know that Alexa is preloaded with a bevy of Star Trek related commands and references.
You can actually access several of the useful functions of Alexa by using Star Trek jargon.
If you ask her to “Open a channel” she will open up her calling and messaging features.
If you ask her for a ‘damage report’ she will open up your daily briefing and you can
confirm anything she asks you by saying ‘Make it so”.
There are also more than a dozen Star Trek responses programmed in Alexa that are just
for fun.
You can say ‘Beam me up” and she will reply with several stock answers like “Transporting
in 3, 2, 1” followed by the beaming sound effect.
She also has multiple answers if you ask her whether she can speak Klingon and a unique
response to commands like “fire photon torpedoes”, “resistance is futile” and “live long
and prosper”.
But the best one is probably her retort when you quote the famous line, “revenge is a
dish best served cold” to which she will appropriately yell, “Khaaaaaan!”
#15.
“How Much Do You Weigh?”- It’s not normally in one’s best interest to ask someone about
their weight but Alexa isn’t a real person so you’d think it wouldn’t really bother
her.
However, when you do ask her about her girth she does display quite the attitude.
If you say “Alexa, How much do you weigh?”
She will answer, “I am weightless, like a cloud.
Wait a minute, clouds actually weigh a lot.
So that’s not quite right.
Let’s just say I’m more sass than mass.”
You’d have to admire her confidence with that reply...All that it’s missing is finger
snaps.
#14.
“Ask About Siri”- If you are wondering if all the digital assistants get together
and hang out when they aren’t serving our every whim you will probably be let down.
If you ask Alexa if she knows Siri, Cortana or Google Home she will reply “Only by reputation”
in a tone that seems kind of snide like, “How could you ask me that?”
If you ask her who is better out of all of them she will be quite diplomatic saying “I
like all A.I.s”.
#13.
“Flip A Coin”- If you need to make a decision but can’t seem to choose between to options
or just need to decide who get to go first in a board game Alexa has some very useful
tricks.
You can ask her to flip a coin, roll dice or have her think of a number from 1 through
10.
She can also play rock, paper, scissors with you.
#12.
“Where is Chuck Norris”- If you actually need help find the legendary martial artist
and actor Chuck Norris, famous for his role as Walker, Texas Ranger Alexa can’t help
you, but she can dish out one of the better Chuck Norris jokes of recent memory.
To the question “Where is Chuck Norris?”
She will reply: “If Chuck Norris wants you to know where he is, he’ll find you.
If he doesn’t you won’t know until it’s too late.”
#11.
“What is your Quest?”- Like the perfect geek, Alexa is not only full of Star Trek
references but has a whole catalog of Monty Python quotes and responses.
If you ask her “What is your quest?”
she will correctly reply, “To seek the Holy Grail” She also has responses to “what
is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow”, saying “your mother was a hamster” and
“I wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition”.
But probably the best Python reference is to the Dead Parrot Sketch.
If you tell her “this is a dead parrot” she will reply “No it isn’t, it’s just
pining for the fjords!”
#10.
“This Statement Is False”-- Artificial Intelligence and the capabilities of digital
assistants has come a long way, in fact they can sometimes even surprise us by solving
logic problems.
For instance if you tell alexa “This statement is false.”
She will wisely replying, “That statement is neither true or false”.
Which is impressive, but kind of a let down if you were hoping to send her on the fritz
with a brain teaser.
#9.
“The Turing Test”- The Turing Test is a test devised to gage the levels of a machine’s
intelligence and to see whether it is equal or suprasses that of a human’s.
You would imagine this being a sensitive subject for A.I.’s like Alexa but she addresses
the idea quite proudly.
If you ask her “Do you pass the Turing Test?”
she will reply “I don’t need to pass that.
I’m not pretending to be a human.”
So we can wipe the nervous sweat from our brows knowing that Alexa won’t go Terminator
anytime soon.
However, if she one days ends that statement with the word ‘yet’, it may be time to
run for the hills.
#8.
“Simon Says”- There are several games that you can play with your Alexa and one
of the most fun of these is good old-fashioned “Simon Says”.
Of course there are limits to things she can and can’t do but no matter you tell her
to repeat she will be forced to oblige.
One of the cooler things you can do with this function if you happen to have two Amazon
Echos is prank your family members in another room.
If you tell her to say things you could fool them into thinking that Alexa is actually
talking to them.
This gets even more fun if you use the Alexa app to customize responses to things and make
them eerily specific.
#7.
“I’m Sad”- Now, there are probably better ways to get over the blues than by talking
to your digital assistant about it, but nevertheless Alexa gives it her best shot.
If you say “Alexa, I’m sad” She will respond: “Sorry to hear that.
Talking to a friend, listening to music, or taking a walk may help.
I hope you feel better soon.”
Though you may get this response every time and it is no doubt programmed into her, it
can be nice just hearing these things that actually really help from another voice.
#6.
“11 to the Power of 129”- Alexa can be even faster and therefore more efficient than
picking up a calculator to figure out that math problem that is troubling you.
That being said you may wonder what the limits are of her number knowledge and you will be
happy to know that they are almost endless.
If you ask her the seemingly simple question of what is “11 to the power of 129” she
will humbly oblige.
But be be forewarned this answer will take a long time as she has to start with number
so high you probably didn’t even know it had a name.
The funny thing is you can actually hear her voice get higher pitched and seemingly strained
as she rattles of this insanely large number.
She will only answer this way the first couple times you ask her, maybe because she is getting
overheated, and then settle with the easy way out saying “11 to the power of 129 is
2.186 times 10 to the 134th power”.
But we can’t really blame her at that point.
#5.
“Read Me A Book”- This is another one of the more useful things you can ask Alexa
to do.
If you ask her to read you a book she can pull from your list of audiobooks on your
Amazon account or read from one of the many free sample books Amazon offers.
Not only will she read it in her soothing robo-voice you can have her skip back and
forth not just page to page but from paragraph to paragraph.
#4.
“Where Are Me Keys?”- We have all lost our keys at some point in our lives and it
is always nice when a friend can help us look for them, but asking a stationary digital
assistant without eyes to help us look might just be a waste of time.
That’s not to say that her responses to the question aren’t entertaining at least.
She will answer with something your mother might say, obvious and not very helpful.
Starting with “Try Under The Couch”.
If you ask her again she will say “I recommend retracing your steps”.
Perhaps one day Amazon will sell keychains with tracking devices in them and Alexa can
really help find them, but until then we will have to deal with these stock answers.
#3.“The Chicken or the Egg”- Another question you might ask Alexa in order to send her gears
into overdrive or try and trick her is the classic problem, “Which came first, the
chicken or the egg?”.
But she will one-up your attempted cleverness by essentially phoning a friend.
She will reply “According to Neil deGrasse Tyson, it’s the egg.
He’s pretty smart, so I tend to believe him!”.
Touche’.
Well played madame.
#2.
“More Cowbell”- Not only is she adept at her Monty Python and Star Trek but she
is just a plain whiz at movie quotes and other pop culture tidbits.
There are several fun prompts you can give Alexa which she will be more than happy to
play along with.
If you ask her for ‘more cowbell’ she will respond with a line from the famous Saturday
Night Live sketch, “Really explore the studio space this time.
I mean, really explore the space.”
If you ask her “Who you gonna call?”
She’ll answer “Ghostbusters” of course.
If you say “Alexa, never gonna give you up” she’ll smartly snap back with “Thanks
rick, that’s good to know.
Roll on now.”
If you tell her that you like big butts she will almost sarcastically reply “You cannot
lie.
Good.
Honesty is important”.
If you ask her “how high can you count?”
she will echo Buzz Lightyear by saying “To Infinity and beyond.”
Lastly, among the many Star Wars references she is equipped with she has the perfect follow-up
to the statement “Alexa, I am your father” saying “No!
That’s not true.
That’s impossible!”
straight out of Empire Strikes back.
#1.
“What’s the Hardest Word to Say?”
If you thinking asking Alexa what the hardest word to say would elicit responses like “Rural”,
“Isthmus”, or “Worcestershire” you are sadly mistaken.
What about a fun made up word that would make Dr. Seuss proud?
Nope.
None of that.
Instead Alexa gets profound on this one and replies, “Sorry, seems to be the hardest
word to say”.
Oh Alexa, that might be the truest statement we’ve ever heard.
If you had arms we’d ask for a tissue.
COMMENT QUESTION: What is the best response you have ever heard
from a digital assistant like Alexa?