I love watching Home Automation videos on the internet. The biggest issue I run into is when a YouTube chooses to say Alexa during the video either while demoing the system or evaluating a product. It is HORRIBLE in my house. Whenever the YouTuber says ‘Alexa, Turn on the Kitchen lights’ or ‘Alexa, What’s the weather?’, the always listening Echo devices spring into action and start rattling off unwanted actions or information. This is especially annoying when it’s late at night and I’m watching YouTube on the Roku devices on the big screens with loud speakers.

Thankfully there is an easy fix. TWO actually. One for the Home Automation Enthusiast watching the videos and one for the Home Automation Video creator. For the Viewer, it’s super easy to change the wake word on your local device to one of the lesser used wake word.

Alexa, change the wake word to Amazon (or Computer).

That’s all that’s needed.

A more preferred method would be for the Video creator to just change their wake word first before filming. This way we can consume all the videos on your channel without having to mess with our configurations in the house. We also won’t have to mute or click off your video if the house starts going crazy. It really should be considered proper filming etiquette. Show the viewer that you care about their experience. 🙂

For my YouTube channel, I will be changing my wake word consistently when filming my Home Automation videos. Please check out my video above and consider subscribing.

Happy Automating

–Carlo