Home automation! Tell us what you can do with your Google Assistants, Echoes, and Alexas for $2

It's time for you to share some home automation hacks. Whether you have a Google Assistant, an Alexa, or another home assistant, we want to know what cool stuff you can do with it. Never mind telling it to play a song or asking it what else that actor has been in, tell us some hacks, tricks, and lesser-known bits of functionality.

You can enter this bounty with video or text. We're after a minimum of 50 words in either medium.

Task: Tell us some lesser known Alexa (or equivalent) tricks

Format: Written or video

How to submit a written entry:

Hit the 'submit to this bounty' button just below this description - do not use the reply button unless you just want to comment on the thread, as replies will not be counted as entries!
Add a written response and feel free to include images.

How to submit a video entry:

Create your video and post it to your connected TikTok, YouTube or Instagram account.
In your post description, please tag us! We're @JustAbout__ on YouTube, @justaboutcommunity on Instagram, and @justaboutcommunity on TikTok. We'd also love it if you included #JustAbout.
Hit the 'submit to this bounty' button just below this description - do not use the reply button unless you just want to comment on the thread, as replies will not be counted as entries!
Share a link to your post in the box that appears, then expand it so we can view the video on Just About.

Once the deadline closes, we’ll pick 15 submissions, award $2 to each of the winners, and may share them as curated content.

Disclaimer: Geographical and age restrictions apply. Please see our Terms of Use for more information on how bounties are created and rewarded on Just About. One reward available per member.

Take care not to breach copyright. Check our copyright policy before submitting.
Remember to link your social accounts before submitting multimedia assets!
Considering using AI to help? Think twice and first see our approach to AI content on Just About.

Image credit: finnhart on Pixabay

Bounty Rewards

$215 rewards

Reward closed

Created at 10:27am, 6th March, 2024. Page last updated at 2:44pm, 16th May, 2024.
Deadline at 12:00am, 12th March, 2024.

Submissions (5)

FirestormGamingTeam3/9/2024

Won$2

So, for our home, we have four Alexas. One in the front room, one in the boy's room, and my room and the girl's room.

One thing we do is have an alarm go off at 7 am every morning at full volume so that's quite funny, we are also a family who loves music, at Christmas time, we use them to blare Christmas music out around the house.

The funniest way I use it is when say the little lads are in bed and not going to sleep and I suddenly come through on the Alexa "GO TO SLEEP PUNKS" and you hear giggling.

Sturmer3/8/2024

Won$2

Home automation has been quite the journey for me, starting with IKEA lamps and switches. My initial goal was to gain more control over their bulbs, especially to enable a 'night mode' where the lights dim to 10% power at night in specific areas.

Initially, the IKEA hubs didn't offer this functionality, but I discovered their bulbs and switches are ZigBee devices. So, I set up Home Assistant on my NAS server. Opting for convenience, I chose to build it using Docker. However, I soon learned that the Docker container for Home Assistant couldn't directly communicate with the Zigbee antenna via a virtual USB port. To solve this, I installed an MQTT broker to facilitate signal transmission in both directions.

Then, I faced another hurdle: my antenna didn't support zstack. I had to dismantle it, solder some wires, and flash a different firmware. After overcoming these challenges, I realized that the Home Assistant public blueprints for IKEA switches didn't offer the dimming functionality I wanted. This led me to delve into YAML coding, a language unfamiliar to me. Thanks to ChatGPT, I managed to navigate through issues with punctuation and formatting.

It's been a long and winding road, but now, whenever I embark on a nocturnal 'fridge hunt', I enjoy just the right amount of light. This journey into home automation has not only given me the control I desired but also enriched my understanding of smart home technology.

0ffworld3/8/2024

Won$2

I handle my parents' Amazon account. I'm not a huge fan of these devices myself but my sister gifted my parents an Echo Dot a year ago. My parents mostly use it for order notifications but the little thing has many more uses.

When I know my parents are watching a movie in the evening, I sometimes use the Alexa app to send text messages to the Echo Dot and have Alexa read them out. Of course, we use messaging apps on our phones but I find this way of messaging them really funny. 😂

Their home isn't super automated, so this is admittedly a very simple trick but amusing nonetheless.

Josh B3/7/2024

Won$2

My favourite is definitely that it's linked with our smart heating. I love to just be able to talk to alexa and have my heating and hot water boost turned on, especially convenient as we have 3 echo dots spread around the house--no faffing with boilers or even opening the phone app!

But let's be honest, the real best thing about alexa is the 10 second fart countdown!

mar1gold 3/6/2024

Won$2

This might be incredibly obvious to everyone but i like how with google homes you can get multiple, sync them up and then play music from all of them at once. It's good because i'm always scurrying around from room to room (I'm very scatterbrained heheh) and wanting to listen to music but my phone keeps telling me I'm listening to music too loudly on my headphones. Good for ear health and convenience!