Skip to main content

Amazon’s Alexa perks up for NPR’s Weekend Edition

As amazing as Amazon’s Alexa may be, if there’s one thing the Echo’s virtual assistant is not, it’s loyal. In a scenario that rather epitomizes the sometimes overly digitized 21st-century world, NPR discovered that one of its Listen Up segments about the Echo managed to trigger the system in a few listeners’ homes. Because when it comes down to it, Alexa isn’t really listening to you — rather, she’s just waiting for someone to say her name so that she can jump to fulfill a task.

Earlier in March, NPR’s Weekend Edition broadcast a story about how the Amazon Echo and Alexa were turning an increasing number of American homes into “smart” homes. But then, something unexpected happened: Alexa piped up in response to the story. And it wasn’t just one Alexa — it was a whole lot of her.

Recommended Videos

In an update, show host Rachel Martin noted, “Listener Roy Hagar wrote in to say our story prompted his Alexa to reset his thermostat to 70 degrees. It was difficult for Jeff Finan to hear the story because his radio was right next to his Echo speaker, and when Alexa heard her name, she started playing an NPR News summary. Marc-Paul Lee said his unit started going crazy too and wrote in to tell us this — let’s just say we both enjoyed the story.”

Much of this, of course, is a function of the Amazon Echo’s “always on” setting, which has raised security concerns in the past. But while this isn’t necessarily a safety concern, it’s certainly a bit annoying. After all, it’s not just NPR that has the ability to get Alexa to do things her owners don’t necessarily intend. As Quartz notes, TV programs have also been known to catalyze Alexa, and even Amazon’s customer support team is aware of the ongoing issue (which makes it seem like it’s a bit more common than we may think).

So if Alexa is participating this much in our lives unbeknownst to us, it seems that she should be helping out a bit more, right? NPR certainly thinks so. In a cheeky conclusion, NPR’s Martin jokes “Alexa, listen up. We want you to pledge to your local member station. You hear me? Lots and lots of money. Did you get that, Alexa?”

Just make sure your bank account didn’t unknowingly make another sizable donation to your local public radio station.

Lulu Chang
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
The most common Echo Show problems and how to fix them
Amazon Echo Show 10.

If you're looking to add a smart display to your home, the Amazon Echo Show is a great option. Bringing the best of Alexa into the visual realm, the Echo Show allows you to tap into real-time video from your home's smart security system, have video calls with friends and family using Alexa's Drop In feature, stream from Hulu and Prime Video, run photo slideshows, and so much more.

But glitches happen, and the Echo Show is not without its small trail of troubles. Fortunately, many of these issues have straightforward fixes. In this deep dive, we'll be taking a look at the most common Echo Show problems and how you can fix them.
Echo Show screen is flickering
This issue has been with the Echo Show since the first-generation model. What we're talking about are pulsating horizontal lines stretching across the screen. Sometimes, the malfunction appears closer to the bottom of the display, where Alexa's indicator is, or up and down the entire display. Some Echo Show owners experience this infrequently, others all the time. If your own Show is flickering, there are a few things you can try.

Read more
What to do if your Amazon Alexa app is not working
Alexa app on phone.

If you use Amazon Alexa and its quit responding to you, you may have realized by now that there are a ton of thing that could be causing that problem. One big issue is that the Amazon Alexa app itself has potentially shut down communication with you. Instead of getting overwhelmed by the all of the possibilities, letting your Amazon Echo devices sit there useless, and feeling despair, try an ordered list of potential fixes to get things started.

While there are a lot of different reasons for an Alexa to quite responding, if you go through the following techniques one by one, you'll certainly get a resolution to any problems you might be having with the Alexa app. We'll walk you through everything from updating your Alexa device to contacting Amazon for advanced help if no simple fix will work.
Check for a software update

Read more
How to use all Amazon Alexa alarm clock features
Woman in bed looking toward Echo Dot.

Amazon Alexa is a powerful voice assistant. Along with dishing out commands to your smart home devices or updating you on the latest news, Alexa can function as a pretty robust alarm clock. From setting reminders for later in the day to waking you up with music, there's a lot of functionality packed into the assistant.

Before you can start using all these Alexa alarm clock features, you'll need to know how to activate them. And unless you know exactly how to trigger the actions, it can be tricky to figure out how it all works. Here's a comprehensive look at how to use all Amazon Alexa alarm clock features, including setting a one-time alarm, setting alarms on connected devices, and triggering a recurring alarm that activates with music.
A comprehensive list of all Alexa alarm clock voice commands
We'll examine the best commands in detail later on, but here's a look at every Alexa voice command that triggers an alarm (remember to say "Hey, Alexa" before giving each line):

Read more