Newsletter (21st Nov 22): Amazon Broke Music… But At Least Smart Home Deals Have Landed!

Video thumbnail showing me doing air quotes with the text Amazon Upgraded Prime Music

(This newsletter was originally sent to subscribers on 21st November 2022) Amazon just destroyed music… but at least Black Friday is almost here! Today’s newsletter looks at the latest smart home news, our recent videos & blog posts, and more. At the start of the month, Amazon announced that they had “upgraded” Prime Music – … Read more

How To Connect Your iPhone To Amazon Echo

Bluetooth Connection Options on Echo Show 10 Medium

As great as iPhones can be, sometimes getting them to work with other manufacturers can be tricky. After all, Apple products are designed to work with each other seamlessly. Other products? Not so much. Fortunately, for those that want to connect their iPhone to the Amazon Echo, you’ll be happy to know that this is … Read more

Amazon Just BROKE Amazon Music For Echo Owners

Video thumbnail showing me doing air quotes with the text Amazon Upgraded Prime Music

On 1st November 2022, Amazon announced an “upgrade” to Prime Music. Instead of giving you 2 million songs, instead they would give us 100 million songs. AWESOME, right? Well, not really. They nerfed a big feature: the ability to pick and choose songs or albums. Instead, everything on Prime Music is like Spotify Free: shuffle … Read more

How To Only Run Alexa Routines At Night (Or After Sunset)

Sample Smart Camera Alexa Routine Trigger

Routines with Alexa play such an important role in many of our lives. They help us in day-to-day life, making everyday tasks that much easier. From helping us to relax, to keeping our homes and loved ones safe – routines are no doubt useful. But some routines are best carried out at certain times of … Read more

Why Your Amazon Echo Has SSL Certificate Errors (& How To Fix)

An Echo Show showing the Wi Fi signal strength and other details

SSL certificates are one of the most important safety advances of the modern internet, but they also cause a lot of connection problems for smart technology. If your Amazon Echo Show has an SSL certificate error, what should you do? The first thing you should do is update your Amazon Echo Show as well as … Read more

Why Does Amazon Music Stop Playing ‘Due To No Activity’?

Sleep Timer in Amazon Music

One of the best things about having an Amazon Echo is the ability to play your music. You can have it either playing from one Echo or, if you have multiple Echos in different rooms, you can play music throughout your home! So it stands to reason that when you’re, let’s say, cleaning, or working, … Read more

How To Turn Off The Echo Show’s Screen At Night (Or When You’re Away)

The brightness slider adaptive brightness and sunrise effect options on an Echo Show 8

The Echo Show is a fun and useful device, but there are times when you want to dim or turn off the screens in your home. Thankfully this is often straightforward to do, and the gist is: You can turn off the Echo Show screen by using the “Alexa, turn off the screen” voice command … Read more

Echo Podcast & Audio Book Support: Can You Speed Up/Slow Them Down?

Podcast on Amazon Music with play speed

In this digital age, it’s becoming more common for people to listen to audiobooks as opposed to reading actual physical books. Couple with that the fact that most people are incredibly busy, and taking time to sit down and read is becoming less commonplace.  Podcasts, with the wide variety of topics they cover, have also … Read more