82 AUGUST 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 378
I
fyou find something that Amazon Alexa
can’tdo, don’t panic, as there’s probably
aSkill that canhelp youout. Think of
these as apps forAlexa,and you’ll
understand. Skills do everything from
giving youcontrol of your smart home
devices (see page 84)togiving youtravel
updates. We’ll bring youour list of our
favouriteones here, but first we’ll cover
howtoinstall and manage them.
INSTALLINGAND
MANAGINGSKILLS
All Skills aremanaged through the Amazon
Alexa app. Open it up and tapthe menu icon
at the topleftofthe screen, then select Skills
and Games. Here,you cantap the Search
icon if youknowwhich Skill youwanttolook
for, or youcan tapCategories to browse
through the various options.
Skills arerated by other users, just as in
the Google Play store, so youcan quickly find
out which ones aregood and which should
be avoided. To install aSkill, just tapitand
select Enable to use. If required, you’ll be
promptedtoenter anyaccountdetails, but
manydon’t need anyadditional information.
To manage the Skills that youhave
installed, go back to the main Skills and
select Your Skills. Youcan select aSkill
that younolonger want and tapDisable
Skill to remove it.
TOPALEXASKILLS
Nowthat youknowhow to find and install
Skills, here’s arundown of our favourite
ones to getyou started. Just type the
name of the Skill into Alexa app’s search
featuretofind them.
1 SkillFinder
To help youget started, Skill Finder is aSkill
that helps youfind and install other Skills.
That mightsound abit strange, but Skill
Finder has been developed by Amazon and
it’stheretohelp youdiscovermorethings
that your Echo devicecan do.
Oneofits topuses is to giveyou the Skill
of the Day, so that youhavethe option to
try out loads of newfeatures (you can
decline to install anySkill).
Test commands:
Alexa,tell Skill Finder to givemethe Skill
of the Day.
Alexa,tell Skill Finder to givemethe
newest skills.
Alexa,tell Skill Finder to givemetop skills.
2 FindMyPhone-TrackR
Areyou alwayslosing your phone? Fear not,
as with the TrackR skill youcan find your
handset. First, youneed to download the
TrackR app on your smartphone (Android or
iOS) and then createafree account. Next,
go back to Alexa and install the TrackR Skill
and verify your account. Then youcan use
the Skill to ring your phone so that youcan
find it when youlose it.
Test commands:
Alexa,ask Tr ackR to find my phone.
Alexa,ask Tr ackR to ring my phone
(your phone will start ringing).
3 NationalRail
With the National Rail Skill, youcan ask
Alexa forupdates to train schedules,
estimated times of arrival, and youcan
also plan anew train journey. This is aSkill
that youcan open –that is, youstart the
Skill with the command ‘Alexa,launch
National Rail’ –and then youfollowthe
voiceprompts foroptions. Thereare direct
voicecommands, too.
Test commands:
Alexa,ask National Rail to check my
commute.
Alexa,ask National Rail to plan ajourney.
4 ScienceBuddy
ScienceBuddy is afreeSkill that can
help your kids learn moreabout science.
Each time youlaunch it, youget 10
questions with three multiple choice
answers to pick from. It’saneat and
engaging waytolearn abit more. Just say,
‘Alexa,launch ScienceBuddy’.
5 AmazonStorytime
Amazon Storytime is afreeapp that will
read your children ashort story,performed
by afull cast of professional actors. All of
BESTAMAZON
ALEXASKILLS
One of the best things about Alexa is the wayyou can expand its capabilities
using Skills. Here we showyou howtoget started, and pick 10 of our favourites
