Like many people recently, I have grown increasingly – shall we say – bored with Facebook. I don’t think it rises to the level of disgust; I’m just bored. It’s reached the point, though, where I don’t really even want to look at it anymore. There are so many more fulfilling things to read. So I just deleted it from my handheld devices. I got rid of Twitter while I was at it, although I have never been a Twitter user anyway. When I want to look either of them – which may turn out to be more often than I think – I can use a browser.

I didn’t make any Grand Announcement on either platform. I’m just kind of fading away. Joanne will still be a regular Facebook reader, so I’m sure she’ll share important events with me.

Just so people at The Facebook Company don’t worry too much about their revenue stream, I’ve kept Instagram on my devices and it still cross-posts all my content to Facebook. So family and friends will still be able to ooh and aah over all my adorable selfies. You’re welcome.

UPDATE A FEW DAYS LATER – I downloaded Facebook again. I still don’t miss Twitter at all.

My Apple Watch Series 2 suddenly stopped working the other day. Got on a chat with an Apple employee, who asked just a couple questions, seemed to actually read my responses, and quickly decided to have me send it in for repair. A box came in the mail a couple days later, I put my watch in it and FedExed it back a couple days ago. I just got an email telling me they’re shipping a replacement today. I guess it was REALLY busted.

Anyway, quick, easy, thorough, and polite. Good job, Apple

While waiting for my replacement, I’ve been wearing my old Series 1 watch. It has the dreaded dim screen with image ghosting problem. Can’t see the screen outdoors, but it’s working okay inside. Also, the battery isn’t always lasting an entire day. It should be obvious why I bought a new one. Better than nothing for the time being, though.

UPDATE A FEW DAYS LATER – The new watch is here. I love it. The process was painless and pleasant – although admittedly less pleasant than never having my watch fail. But still, good customer service, Apple!

Wow, it’s been a long time since I wrote about my Echo Show. Still enjoying it, although I don’t think I’m getting as much usage out of the screen as I could. I’m still not sure what screen-centric things to do with it, to be honest. I think a lot of people agree with me, as the price has fallen dramatically from what I paid.

Be that as it may, I still like it and hope the screen becomes truly useful to me one of these days.

But wait – there’s more! I now have the following Echo devices in my house:

• The [amazon text=Echo Show&asin=B01J24C0TI] in the kitchen
• My original [amazon text=Echo&asin=B06XCM9LJ4] in the bedroom
• An [amazon text=Echo Dot&asin=B01DFKC2SO] in my office/lab
• A brand-new [amazon text=Echo Dot&asin=B01DFKC2SO] in the master bathroom
• A [amazon text=Dash Wand&asin=B01MQMJFDK] in the kitchen
• One more brand-new [amazon text=Echo Dot&asin=B01DFKC2SO] still in its box, which I think will go in the guest room (although the garage is still a possibility)

Don’t laugh about the Dot in the bathroom. I listen to books, podcasts, and music while I’m showering and shaving in the morning. I was bringing my nice little [amazon text=Bose Bluetooth speaker&asin=B076LFBHKJ] into the bathroom connected to my phone for that purpose, but now I can just ask my Dot to play things for me. It’s a little low in the max volume department, but it works. Plus, I can interact with it in the usual way while I’m there.

And I suppose it can be useful while I’m in that particular room for [amazon text=other purposes&asin=B01AFRSQGW] too. Hey, it’s no different from a phone in that regard. Stop judging!

So what are all those Echos doing? A plethora of things:

• Turning lights on and off – In the living room, in our bedroom, and on the front of the house, so far, with more to undoubtedly come. I’m thinking about the lab next.
• Listening to music – I recently bought a trial subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited and I’m generally pleased. I’ll add my thoughts in a future post. I can also listen to any of my Pandora playlists. Choices! Oh, the Show also shows lyrics for a lot of songs. Karaoke night, here I come!
• Listening to Kindle books – I recently discovered you can have Alexa read you your Kindle books. No need to subscribe to Audible (sorry, Audible: I know your quality is better; I just wouldn’t use you enough to justify the price).
• Listening to podcasts – This one is still tough for me. I use the excellent podcast app Overcast on my phone (and therefore in my cars, including on Carplay) and love it. It keeps track across devices of what I’ve listened to and where I am in a given podcast. It allows me to order my podcasts however I like. It allows me to either stream or download podcasts, or any combination of the two. It intelligently speeds my content up if I choose. It’s great. Sadly, it’s not yet available on Alexa. Come on, Marco, Arment! Just do it! In the meantime, there are a couple of podcast apps supported by Alexa, none of which I really like.
• Listening to the radio – I use TuneIn to play a few local stations when I feel like it. Works great. Maybe I should look into its ability to play podcasts. Hmm.
• Kitchen timers – You can have multiple timers at once and I can see them on the screen of my Show or query them by voice. I added an If This Then That (IFTTT) applet to turn on one of the living room lights when a timer goes off, just in case I’m not in the kitchen and don’t hear the timer (I just wish I could get it to flash the light). Works great.
• Kitchen conversions – Alexa knows how many tablespoons in 3/8 of a cup (6). Plus a whole lot more.
• Telling time – When I feel too lazy to look at my phone or watch, I just ask Alexa what time it is. Works great
• News – I have a pretty good news feed set up.
• Jeopardy – I play Jeopardy every weekday. It asks twelve questions and is amazingly good at understanding my answers. Great fun.
• Other games – I occasionally find another game that’s interesting. Try 21 questions.
• To-do and shopping lists – We use the shopping list functionality a lot. When I use up a staple in the kitchen, I just tell Alexa to add it to my shopping list. I use IFTTT to transfer those items to my iOS Reminders app, which I use in the store. IFTTT also copies my to-do items to Reminders.
• Amazon videos – If I know the name of the movie or TV show, I can get my Show to play it for me. Nice company while cooking from time to time.
• Weather forecasts – Alexa gives amazingly detailed weather forecasts, either local or remote. Really useful.
• Controlling my thermostats – I have Nest thermostats and can find out and/or set the temperature both upstairs and downstairs
• Drop-ins – I just started using this capability. I can ask Alexa to drop in on any of the other Echo-equipped rooms in my house and talk to whoever is there. Pretty cool. I haven’t enabled that capability outside of our house and I don’t plan to.

There are numerous other capabilities I’ve messed with but don’t use regularly. For example, Alexa can send text messages for AT&T customers (which I used to be), but it’s fairly clunky, so I only experimented with it.

Oh, Joanne and I also like to tell Alexa to play thunderstorm sounds when we’re going to sleep. There’s something peaceful about hearing a thunderstorm outside when you’re snug in bed, even a pre-recorded one.

Coming up sometime soon – details on my Alexa-controlled lights. I’m using smart bulbs, smart switches, and smart plugs. Each has its own ups and downs.

Are you doing anything really cool with your Amazon Echo?