Big phones, big problems
Q: My family uses multiple Amazon Echo speakers, but my teenagers have said they feel a little strange calling it by a person’s name. How do we change “Alexa” to something else? -Daniel, Silver Spring, Md.
A: Your family isn’t the only one grappling with the weirdness of Amazon’s decision to give its voice assistant – one of the most widely-used in the world – a human name. A spokesperson told The Washington Post earlier this year that its choice of name was meant to invoke the Library of Alexandria. But if you’re itching for a more neutral way to talk to your Echos, the fix is pretty simple.
Simply ask your Echo to “change the wake word.” From there, it’ll respond with a handful of options like “Amazon” (if you’re the literal type) and “Ziggy” (if you think your life could use a little more Bowie). My personal favorite is “Computer,” which I will always attempt to pronounce like Patrick Stewart.
There’s just one thing to keep in mind, though: as far as I’ve been able to find, there’s no simple way to change the wake words for all your Echo devices at once. If you have a lot – and it sounds like you might – you may want to make those changes via the Alexa app instead. Open it on your phone and tap More – > Settings – > Device Settings. Then tap each of your Echo devices, tap the gear-shaped Settings icon, scroll down to Wake Word and make your choice.
(Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Q: I have a MacBook Pro and my phone is a Pixel 3. My understanding is that I get unlimited Google photo storage on my Pixel until the end of January, at which point I still get storage, but with lesser quality. Is there a way for me to upload my photos on my MacBook by way of my phone so I can consolidate my pictures in one place? Of course, I’d like to do this without paying for extra cloud storage. -Alan Fenster, Tiburon, Calif. A: I love this question because it gives me the chance to 1) offer some practical advice, and 2) rant about Google Photos a little. Let’s start with that second thing.
In case you’re unaware, Google launched a revamped Photos app in 2015, and its main draw was unlimited high-quality photo and video uploads that wouldn’t count against the remaining cloud storage space associated with your Google account. It was a wonderful feature until it wasn’t: For most people who use Android phones, that