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Harman Kardon’s Alexa-enabled Astra speaker is its answer to the HomePod

Lulu Chang
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Amazon Echo vs. Apple HomePod: Which has better speakers?
The Amazon Echo 4 on a counter.

If you haven't jumped into the smart speaker pool, it’s probably because it’s a tough decision. Choosing a smart speaker isn't just about picking a model with the best sound quality or the color that matches your living room. Smart speakers also have major smart home control properties and can play nicely with some music services, streaming TV channels (if you opt for a speaker with a screen), or home security systems.

A smart speaker opens the door for expanding your smart home portal. Since most of us won’t buy a smart home speaker to work with a Ring Video Doorbell and another to manage Apple’s HomeKit via your iPhone, you'll want to choose carefully. For a lot of buyers, that comes down to a choice between Apple HomePod or Amazon Echo (and if you're short on space it might just be HomePod Mini versus Echo Dot).

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How to get Alexa to answer a Ring Video Doorbell
Ring Video Doorbell Pro with two-way talk

A Ring Video Doorbell is ultra-convenient; it lets you receive packages or respond to deliveries from anywhere in your home -- or anywhere in the world using the built-in camera and the Ring app.

You may also know that you can have Amazon’s Alexa smart speaker devices alert you to a doorbell ring -- and even show you who’s there. But if you want to take this a step further, you can actually have Alexa respond for you if you’re too busy to run to the door from your home office, or if you’re on the phone and can’t respond to the Ring Doorbell notification. Here’s how to get Alexa to answer your Ring Video Doorbell.
Smart Responses include Alexa Greetings
Smart Responses are a feature of Ring Video Doorbells that let you respond in the right way to whoever’s at the door, when you can’t do it yourself. Quick Replies, for example, let you allow visitors to leave a video message on the Ring Video Doorbell that you can view later. Alexa Greetings are a relatively new Smart Response feature where Alexa greets your visitor, takes a message, or provides instructions on what to do with a package.
What to know about Alexa Greetings on Ring Video Doorbell
Alexa Greetings is optional on Ring Video Doorbells and for now is only available to customers in the U.S. with compatible versions of the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. You also must be opted in to Ring’s Protect home security and cloud recording plan. They’ve been rolling it out in stages starting earlier on 2021 so it may or may not be available in your area.

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How to connect Alexa to your home speakers
Amazon Echo Studio in a home theater.

With the right speaker, you can easily make Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant a part of your home theater setup, a great choice for streaming high-quality music playback! Here’s everything you need to get started, and how to link up Alexa the right way.
Step 1: Find an Alexa-compatible speaker

Your first step is to find a speaker that you connect to using Alexa. If you already have a Bluetooth speaker setup that you like, just double-check that it’s compatible with Alexa. Fortunately, this is an increasingly common feature to add to the latest TV soundbars and similar home theater speakers, so it shouldn’t be hard to find the right device for your entertainment system. When in doubt, you can visit Amazon’s list of speakers compatible with Echo devices to get started.

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