While the Google Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max don’t continually push updates to the home screen the way Amazon’s Echo Show can, it does push out a summary of “For You” content when it first sees you in the morning (assuming you have Face Match enabled). Turn off headlines on Google smart displays and end at 9 a.m.) so you can snuggle into bed or rise and shine in relative peace. Consider scheduling Do Not Disturb to start a little earlier and end a bit later than you normally would (say, start at 9 p.m. When Do Not Disturb is turned on (tap on your Echo Show in the Alexa app, then tap Do Not Disturb to set a schedule), your Echo Show will still sound alarms and timers and Alexa will respond to questions, but no headlines or any other content (save the clock) will appear on the home screen. That’s a shame, because while you will see coronavirus stories in Trending Topics, you’ll also find (badly needed) “Good News” stories.Īnother option: If you’d rather not disable news and trending topics headlines completely, you can suspend them during certain hours using Do Not Disturb. You may also want to keep swiping and deactivate Trending Topics, as well. Scroll down to News and switch off the toggle.Swipe down from the top of the home screen, then tap Settings > Home & Clock > Home Content.
The Echo Show offers a fairly granular level of control over what appears on the home screen, handy for toggling specific elements on and off at will, meaning (for example) that you can lose the headlines without sacrificing such innocuous updates such as trending recipes, sports scores, or upcoming calendar events. It’s worth noting a Google Home device will let you make unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles for free.Turn off headlines on your Amazon Echo Show
The minimum you can pay is £10, with the option of auto-renewing when funds run low. For the past week or so, the tasks are announced and then the routine goes silent. This used to be run through the Show 5, but is now run through an Echo Dot, since I relocated the Show 5 too far away from the BT speaker. For example, a world subscription costs £12 for unlimited calls to 63 destinations, while the UK subscription provides 400 minutes of calls for £6 per month.Īlternatively, you can “pay as you go” using Skype Credit. After that, the routine has Alexa ask him if he's succeeded and reminds him to check in with me. The one obvious omission is Australia, for now at least.īeyond the two months, Skype is rather hoping you’ll sign up to one of its subscription deals. Those calls cover 34 countries, which include almost all the biggies: UK, USA, Canada, India, France, Italy, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand… the list goes on.
What’s free, what’s notĪs soon as you sign up, you’ll be given 200 free minutes of calls to landlines and mobiles – 100 minutes per month for the first two months. And yes, that is clumsy, especially if you’re leaving a message on an answerphone. If you get a call on your Echo, you should say, “Alexa, pick up”.Īnd when it’s time to end a call, say “Alexa, end call”.
How to pick up and end Skype calls on an Echo device In the UK, though, you won’t get anywhere by saying “Alexa, call 020 7907 6000”. If your contact isn’t on Skype, then you need to read out the number. Or you might prefer to say, “Alexa, Skype Barry Collins”. So long as Barry is in your Skype contacts list, it will contact him on whatever device he’s using. The first is to say, “Alexa, call Barry Collins on Skype”. There are two main ways to make a call on your Echo device. How to make Skype calls on an Echo device Once you’ve done that, you’re all set up.
If your username and password are saved in the phone, you just need to press Accept to show you’re willing to accept the many conditions. Right now, there’s probably just one link there: to add a Skype account.Ĭlick on this and you’ll see a page like the one above appear.
Head to the Alexa app on your phone (or visit ) and click on Menu. The first step is to activate the feature on your Echo. Here’s how to make Skype calls on Amazon Echo devices. It’s quite easy to set up, but there are a couple of gotchas to beware of. Skype has just announced that you can make calls using its service on Amazon’s Echo hardware.