Alexa has stolen the hearts and minds of the tech world in a way we haven't seen since the iPhone in 2007. It all started several years ago with Amazon's Echo, a smart speaker with a built-in audio-control interface named Alexa. Say that name—the "wake word"—and the speaker comes to life, follows commands, and replies to queries. It's been compared enough to the shipboard computer on Star Trek's USS Enterprise that Amazon eventually allowed "computer" as a wake word (along with the existing options of saying "Amazon" or "Echo") to get Alexa's attention. Amazon is also making follow-up commands easier.

There are now more Alexa-enabled devices than ever, from the Echo itself to the Amazon Echo Dot, the more portable Amazon Tap( at Amazon), and the Amazon Echo Look. There are even Amazon Echo Buttons that work with your speaker and the Amazon Echo Connect, which turns your speaker into a landline phone.

It's also supported in the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote media hubs and is moving into many others, including appliances and vehicles. It's all due to the power of Alexa.

Think of Alexa as the cloud-based brain behind the Echo, akin to Siri, Cortana, or the Google Assistant. It gets smarter and more powerful as Amazon adds features—Echo owners get a weekly newsletter spelling out those new options.

Alexa Skills

Features are one thing. Skills are another. Think of them as the third-party apps you can add to Alexa, like you add apps to a smartphone.

Amazon's opening up of Alexa to all developers created a boom in skills. Over 30,000 entirely free skills are now available—up from 1,000 back in June 2016. That's some straggering growth, which has prompted third-party ways of navigating skills (Amazon's setup is not easy), such as Alexa Skills Store. And, you can always say, "Alexa, what are your new skills?" for a rundown.

With so many to choose from, which skills are worth your time? There is a lot of useless fluff to be had with any collection of that size—and the syntax of how you verbally interact with some skills is vexing at times. However, there are also a number of aural diamonds in the digital rough. We've combed through them for this look at the best skills currently available on Alexa.

To enable a skill, you can ask your Alexa device to activate it, or click through while you're signed into your Amazon account and click "Enable."

News and Information

Enabling certain news apps makes them a part of your Flash Briefing, a collection of quick news updates from favorite sources. To organize your Flash Briefing, navigate in the Alexa app to Settings > Flash Briefing, where you can remove content from a Flash Briefing or edit the order in which it's read.

CNN Flash Briefing

Getting the latest news with the built-in Flash Briefing feature on Alexa is an excellent way to hear the day's news as you drink your coffee or drive to work. This skill lets you add CNN's headlines and breaking stories to the briefing.

Invocations: "Alexa, what's in the news?" or "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?"

BBC

Sick of "biased" news outlets in the US? Get your world news from a source I think it's safe to say we all trust (because of the English accents): the BBC World Service. This skill also becomes part of your Flash Briefing, and is brought to you by the fine folks at TuneIn.

Invocations: "Alexa, what's in the news?" or "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?"

The Daily

Your favorite news podcast can now play through Alexa during your daily flash briefing. Michael Barbaro's news vignettes can play for 15 minutes a day, five days a week bringing you the episodic journalism from The New York Times.

Invocations: "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?" Alexa, what's in the news?"

NPR News Now

Get five minutes of NPR News, updated hourly, as part of your flash briefing. NPR's reporting brings you national news, local weather, and everything in between from its stable of smooth radio voices.

Invocations: "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?" Alexa, what's in the news?"

This Day in History

The History Channel presents this skill to give you a rundown on the big events that happened on any day in the past.

Invocations:"Alexa, launch This Day in History?" or "Alexa, ask This Day in History what happened on _____" with the day of your choosing. (Follow up with "Tell me about another event" or "Hear more about this event.")

Opening Bell

If you're into the stock market, forget the ticker symbols. This skill lets you ask for a company, by name, to get the current stock price, as well as how much it's changed percentage-wise. (Note that the data may not be real time.)

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Opening Bell for Apple" (or Microsoft, Google, Tesla, or any publicly traded company)

Twitter Reader

Link your Twitter account to this skill in the Alexa app; it'll read your Timeline, Retweets, Likes, Mentions, and even list out trending topics. If you want more about a trend, ask "Alexa, tell me more about trend number 5," (or whatever). Play with it and you may never need to "read" Twitter again.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Twitter"

"Alexa, ask Twitter for trends."

"Alexa, ask Twitter for my Mentions."

"Alexa, ask Twitter has anyone Retweeted me?"

"Alexa, Ask Twitter for Tweets I liked."

Census Data

The United States census takes place every 10 years and collects a metric butt-load (that's totally a thing) of data about the country as well as individual states and all sorts of demographics. Ask Census Data for things like population, median incomes, poverty rates, etc. for states and you'll get some interesting stats. For some reason, the skill is tagged by the developer as "may not be suitable for all ages." So don't let the kids ask about income levels.

Invocations: Every query has to start with "Alexa, ask Census Data...," such as "Alexa, ask Census Data, what is the population of Oregon?"

Today's Word of the Day

There are a slew of "word of the day" skills on Alexa, many of which you can integrate right into your daily Flash Briefing. This one, however, is a personally curated list of words with examples—and the highest rated such app to date in the Skills store.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Today's Word of the Day."

TED Talks

You can access the entire TED Talks library from the comfort of your Echo device. You can play the latest TED talk, play random TED talks, or search for talks by topic or by speaker name to find talks on particular ideas. You can also play by keyword, for instance to search for talks that are funny, inspiring, persuasive, courageous, etc.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask TED Talks to play the latest talk"

"Alexa, ask TED Talks for something funny"

Alexa, ask TED Talks to find talks about nature."

TV Shows

This one is for those of you still at the mercy of the TV schedule (have you not heard of a DVR?). TV Shows can tell you when any show airs and on which network (but not the channel)—even if it's streaming on Netflix or Amazon Video. It'll even throw out a TV Guide-esque show summary. Use it to find shows that have already aired or those coming soon.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask TV Shows when is _______ on next?" or "Alexa, ask TV Shows what time is _________?"

Big Sky

Big Sky does the same thing as the Dark Sky app on your smartphone (by using the same data): it gives "hyper-local" weather forecasts, better than what you get with the built-in weather functions. To make it work, however, you must create a Big Sky account, provide your home address—or any location for which you want to know the weather, pick Fahrenheit versus Celsius, and link it to the skill. Narrow the query down to weather in a certain time frame ("in two hours" or "tomorrow before noon") as needed.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Big Sky." Ask for "more details" if needed. Or ask any question you can think of as long as you start with "Alexa, ask Big Sky...."

Personalized

Alexa Things to Try

The easiest way to personalize your Alexa experience is simply to ask. This official Amazon skill lets you ask Alexa for a useful daily tip on new and existing features you've not yet enabled. Enable this skill and when you say "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?" you'll also get suggestions on things to try. If you have an Amazon Echo Show( at Amazon), you get the automatic suggestions on the screen periodically, but this is an especially good skill if you have a screenless Echo.

Invocations: "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?" will add the daily tip to all the other customized info in your daily flash briefing.

Ask My Buddy

Remember the classic "I've fallen! And I can't get up!" commercial? A hilarious memory for a serious subject, as medical alert services have waxed and waned over the years. You see fewer of them in the age of smartphones, but if a smartphone isn't an option, there's the Echo. With Ask My Buddy, get a spoken-word lifeline to personal responders.

Link the free account you set up at askmybuddy.net (it'll come up when you click the Enable skill button); once the account is registered, you'll get a welcome email. Log into the account to add contacts (responders). You can then ask Alexa to alert responders one at a time by name, or all of them at once if you're deep in trouble.

The responder gets an SMS text and a phone call with an automated voice telling them you asked for the alert to go out. It's no substitute for calling 911—and it won't call 911 for you—but it can't hurt to have it set up for your loved one. Once you're a member of Ask My Buddy, you'll get a monthly email newsletter with news and tips on using the service.

Invocations: "Alexa, Ask My Budddy to alert Fred" (substitute the name of your responder) or "Alexa, Ask My Buddy to alert everyone."

Have I been pwned? For Alexa

';--have i been pwned? is a website for checking to see if your usernames or emails have been part of any major data breaches. This skill lets you check that data by speaking your username or email when requested to receive a verbal report.

Invocations: "Alexa, open have I been poned?" (Say it phonetically.) Then spell out an email or handle. Assuming she can handle your enunciation—not easy with longer email addresses—you're in business. Say "clear" to clear all text you've entered, "backspace" to go back one character, and "done" when finished.

Find My Phone

This skill from Trackr, maker of small Bluetooth device trackers for your keys, requires a Trackr account and the Trackr app be installed on your iPhone or Android device. Set it all up and link the account to the skill—you can do the Alexa integration in the mobile apps (a PIN is required for some security). You can then ask Alexa either to find the phone (she'll reply with the last known address for the device) or to ring the phone (it's not accessed via a phone call—if you want that try the CallMyLostPhone skill). You have to open the app to stop the ringing.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask TrackR to find my phone" or "Alexa, ask TrackR to ring my phone."

Interview Prep

Got a life-changing job interview coming up? Ask the Interview Prep skill to toss you a few queries of its own from a database of prep questions, for many different jobs. Use them to practice; your prep may make all the difference in landing the gig.

Invocations: "Alexa, Ask Interview Prep for a question."

Mastermind

Mastermind can send and receive your texts, and will even initiate phone calls for you and announce caller IDs as calls come in. It connects not only your Android phone (iPhone support is coming), but also your PC and Chromecast($29.98 at Walmart) to Alexa if you want to link them all. Some of them have special Mastermind apps. The skill will allow voice control to start Bluetooth on your phone, start media apps, read saved stores, even ring your phone and tablet when lost. It's almost too much to handle. This could be the beginning of skills that will cost you, as a Mastermind account is currently free—but in closed beta testing. To jump the line costs $15.

Invocations: Too many to list, watch the video.

Entertainment and Games

The Magic Door

The Magic Door takes the story-telling interactive adventure up a notch on Alexa, providing multiple magical world settings. Adventure options include brewing potions, helping princesses and gnomes, saving trapped monkeys, and more. This is one of the most reviewed and highly rated skills on the service.

Invocations: "Alexa, open the magic door"

Question of the Day

Not only do you get asked new trivia questions every day, with multiple-choice answers, you earn points if you get it right. Correct or not, you'll bolster your knowledge on the topic at hand. To activate, you must provide the developer with your name, email, and ZIP code.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask question of the day."

Jeopardy!

Do you wish you had a way to test your knowledge of answering clues with questions? Or that Alex Trebek would stop by the house? This is as close as you get: the mythical extra "6th clue" of all Jeopardy! categories are presented to you to answer in the form of a question. Get enough right and Alexa will even tell you to try out for the show. It updates every weekday.

Invocations: "Alexa, play Jeopardy!" (If you don't hear or understand the question, say "Repeat" or "I don't know.")

Hunt the Yeti

The classic days of Zork and Hitchhiker's Guide games are long behind us—or they were until Alexa gave us a bold new way to do a text-adventure. You tell your Echo device which way to go as the game feeds you details, trying to avoid the pits and bats that attack. It's not too advanced yet, but this is just a hint of what's to come.

Invocations: "Alexa, launch Yeti Hunt Game" or "begin game" or "move north."

Twenty Questions

The classic game for bored riders in the car comes to Alexa. Pick something that's animal, vegetable, or mineral (or "other" if it's an abstract concept, like "love"). Keep it in your head as Alexa goes through all the questions that help her narrow down what it is. If questions seem irrelevant, you can say "skip," but that doesn't count against her 20, so there.

Invocations: "Alexa, play Twenty Questions."

Akinator

Pick a character in fiction or a real-life famous personality, and the Akinator will ask you a series of yes-or-no questions to narrow down who that person is in your head. Don't let the video below deter you—she guessed my Captain Jack Sparrow thought in no time.

Invocations: "Alexa, start Akinator" or "Alexa, open Akinator."

Shakespeare Insult

If you must be told you suck, be told by the best. This is one of many such apps for getting the Bard to make you feel bad. The options come not only from his plays, but also some randomly generated Elizabethan-style abuse via the Shakespeare Insult Kit. Thou tickle-brained maggot-pie.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask the bard to insult me"

Insult Generator

Issue the command to Alexa and she doesn't hesitate, she just throws out a witty bon-mot suitable for excoriating your friends and relatives and especially your enemies. Some may sound clever and original, a few are classics ("You've got a mind like a steel trap: always closed"), and a few are very to the point ("Penis" was an actual offering from this skill; so FYI, it's not suitable for all ages.)

Invocations: "Alexa, open insult generator."

Guess My Number

Pick any number as long as it's 1 to 99. Alexa will ask questions until she gets it right, usually by asking you if it's higher or lower to narrow it down. (Don't confuse it with a whole different skill, also called Guess My Number, where instead Alexa picks the digits and gives you five tries to guess.)

Invocations: "Alexa, guess my number."

RPG Elf Name Generator

Getting ready for your elf character to storm the gates at Helm's Deep?* Then the character probably needs a name. This Alexa Skill will ask how it can help; tell it you need a male name or a female name (they don't go for non-binary elves, apparently) and you'll get a couple of Tolkien-sounding words to throw on a character sheet. (There is also a separate Elf Name Generator, which provides names more in keeping with Santa's helpers, Tony Sprinkletoes.)

Invocations: "Alexa Open Elf Name Generator"



*There were no elves at Helm's Deep!

Astrology Zone

For all you astrology aficionados, Susan Miller's Astrology Zone can have Alexa read your daily horoscopes for today, tomorrow, or any sign requsted. To start, try saying, "Alexa, ask Astrology Zone for the horoscope for Pisces Today."

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Astrology Zone to read astrology for today for Pisces.

"Alexa, what is tomorrow's daily horoscope for Aries from Astrology Zone?

"Alexa, ask Astrology Zone to update my location."

Tarot Reader



While we're on the spiritual, you can also enable Alexa-powered tarot readings. The Tarot Reader skill lets Alexa do readings for you or describe specific cards. Alexa can do a daily card, a simple three-card spread, or shuffle the deck and draw as many cards as you need for your spread.

Invocations: "Alexa ask Tarot Reader to do a quick reading."

"Alexa tell Tarot Reader to draw a card."

"Alexa ask Tarot Reader to describe the Six of Staffs reversed."

Beat the Intro

The official 10,000th skill for Alexa, this is like Name that Tune, but more for people with bad memories. Between Alexa and the host for the mobile version, Foxy, they explain the rules: you list a Six Pack of hit clips with vocals, or a TriplePlay of intros before singing starts. You have to figure out who they are as they play. Write them down. Then ask for the answers to see if you were right. It's not perfect, in that you don't get to name the acts or the tunes and get instant gratification, but the developers promise more interactivity as the skill evolves.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Beat the Intro."

Local

StubHub

You can use the Stubhub site/service to get tickets to whatever is happening in your area. You can use the Stubhub skill to find out what's happening so you can get those tickets. You don't have to limit yourself to home; ask about things happening in any city.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask StubHub what's happening this weekend" or "...what's going on tonight" or "... what's happening in San Francisco?"

OpenTable

Booking a table online with OpenTable is pretty easy. Connect your account with Alexa and you can do it all via voice. When you enable the skill, OpenTable will take your name, ZIP, email, and phone number; then when you invoke the skill it searches for available reservations within the next 2.5 hours. Or you can narrow your search to a specific restaurant (it just has to be one that's part of OpenTable, natch). However, you can't yet search on general types of cuisine. To cancel a reservation, you have to go through the link in the confirmation email you are sent.

Invocations: "Alexa, launch OpenTable."

Restaurant Explorer

If you do want to search by local cuisine, try Restaurant Explorer. You can spell out the ZIP code, even in other towns, to get a hint of what's available. When you hear about a good option, just ask the skill for more details.

Invocations:"Alexa, ask Restaurant Explorer to find Thai food near 10016."

Fandango

Link your full Fandango account, then ask Alexa to open it and step you through finding theaters in your ZIP code, and she'll tell you what's playing. You can then narrow down the search to a specific film to get show times, or buy tickets if you have a Fandango VIP account (which essentially means you gave Fandango a credit card to buy tickets online).

Invocations: "Alexa, Open Fandango" or "Alexa, Ask Fandango what's playing at a nearby theater" or "Alexa, Ask Fandango to search for Beauty and the Beast."

Empire State Building Colors

Do you live in or near New York City, and wonder just what hue the iconic Empire State Building will be splashed with that night? This skill pulls not just the color info from the ESB website, but also tells you what the hue is in honor of.

Invocations: "Alexa, Ask Empire State Colors 'What's the colors?'"

N.Y.C. Status

Another one for New Yorkers, this skill provides multiple tidbits of info needed for surviving life in the big city. Things like when (if?) your garbage will be collected, what side of the street you are allowed to park on, and school closings, all pulled from NYC 311. If you live in a different big city, look in the Skills store to see if your municipality has something similar.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask N.Y.C. Status if alternate side is in effect" or "Alexa, ask N.Y.C. Status if school's open tomorrow" or "Alexa, ask N.Y.C. Status if garbage collection is happening on April first."

Health

WebMD

Doctors don't like when you go to WebMD and diagnose your own maladies. So instead, get the diagnosis by using WebMD on Alexa. You can ask her about drug side effects, particular diseases or conditions or symptoms, get definitions of complicated medical terms, and more.

Invocations: "Alexa, open WebMD" or "Alexa, ask WebMD what are the side effects of _____?" or "Alexa, ask WebMD 'what is diabetes?'"

Fitbit

The official Alexa skill of the leading fitness tracker, it accesses the data on your tracker's account so you can get a verbal confirmation on how well (or poorly) you're doing. If multiple members of the household have a Fitbit, you need to set up multiple Amazon Household profiles to switch between, each with an associated Fitbit account.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Fitbit how I'm doing today" or "Alexa, ask Fitbit how I slept last night."

7-Minute Workout

There are 7-minute workout apps aplenty on smartphones. You don't need any of them with Alexa in the room. She'll walk you through the standard regimen (including jumping jacks, wall sit, push-ups, lunges, squats, etc.) for the full seven. The latest update to the skill tracks your workout so if you quit in the middle, you can resume it later, plus adds images and tutorials that are accessible in the Alexa app on the phone or tablet.

Invocations: "Alexa, start seven-minute workout."

Animal Yoga

Animal Yoga is a fun kid-oriented yoga experience that teaches children stretching and flexibility, breathing, balance, coordination and healthy movement while encouraging creativity. The skill current comes with 30 different animal poses including Armadillo, Butterfly, Chameleon, Dragon, Elephant, Frog, Giraffe, Kangaroo, Octupus, Seahorse, Turtle, and more. Say "Alexa, play Animal Yoga" and Alexa will greet you and ask you what animal you would like to play. To have Alexa pick a random animal for you, say "Play Random". To get a list of animals, say "List Animals."

Invocations:

"Alexa, play Animal Yoga"

"Alexa, ask Animal Yoga to play random"

"Alexa, ask Animal Yoga to play Octopus"

"Alexa, ask Animal Yoga to play random"

"Alexa, ask Animal Yoga for a list"

"Alexa Next," "Alexa Previous"

"Alexa, Seahorse" or another animal of choice.

Life Hacks

Life hacks are those little tricks that make adulting so much easier. This skill throws out quick little tips each time you open it, from making kids' toys quieter and ironing cheats to how best to swallow pills versus capsules and beyond. Open it enough times and you're bound to get a hack that changes your life.

Invocations: "Alexa, open life hacks."

Happy Days

Sadly, this has nothing to do with Fonzie, but everything to do with making you a little happier. Open the skill and it spews inspirational platitudes calibrated precisely to make you feel a little more joyful.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Happy Days."

1-Minute Mindfulness

Due to an early limitation in Alexa, this skill could only do one-minute of audio at a time—but that may be all you need. Before it starts playing, Alexa will remind you to close your eyes, focus on your breath, and not judge yourself if your mind wanders. When you activate the skill, ask for one of the different kinds of mediations. The default is one minute, but you can also ask for quick mediation, peaceful mediation, river mediation, or forest mediation. Supposedly three-, five-, 10-, 15-, or 30-minute mediations are coming.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Mindfulness for a minute mediation."

Meditation Timer

When you're ready to lower your stress for a few minutes or even hours, open up this skill, tell it how long you want to mediate (even for a full day!), then get busy with the mindfulness, soldier. There are three soundscapes: forest, rain, or ocean surf, with some subtle relaxing musak behind them. (It doesn't currently work with the Fire TV.)

Invocations: "Alexa, open Meditation Timer." Say "Play next" to skip to different sounds.

Guided Meditation

Keeping the meditation theme going, this skill from the same developer as Meditation Timer gives you a new 3- to 8-minute meditation of the day each day. Guided Meditation includes more than 60 different guided meditation, mindfulness and breathing exercises focused on anxiety and stress, depression, focus, falling asleep, and more.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Guided Meditation," "Alexa, ask Guided Meditation to play meditation, " If you don't like the currently playing meditation you can say "Alexa, play next" to jump to a different meditation.

What to Expect

From the experts over at our sister site Everyday Health (owned by Ziff Davis, just like PCMag), comes this skill, a companion to the What To Expect website and mobile apps. Expectant parents can ask Alexa every day for an update; she will reply with info and tips. It's all based on the due date you provide (or child's birth date if the big day has already arrived—there is info available for baby's first year). You can change your due date (there's a calculator) at any time by asking "Alexa, ask What to Expect to change my due date." For now, it only works for one pregnancy/child at a time—unless you've got twins or triplets in the oven.

Invocations: "Alexa, open What to Expect" or "Alexa, ask What to Expect for my pregnancy update."

Music, Sounds, Noises

Acoustic Metronome

Need to play on the beat? You used to need a fancy metronome, the kind of thing that sets you back $45 even today on Amazon. Nice as that looks sitting on the baby grand piano, you've already got a metronome option in any Alexa-supporting device with this skill. Pick any rate between 40 and 199 beats per minute; the beats stop after 90 seconds, but you can always ask it to repeat.

Invocations: "Alexa, open metronome" and she'll ask how many beats you want, or "Alexa, ask metronome to play 60." Once playing say "Alexa, 40" or some other number to change the rhythm.

Audible

Amazon also owns Audible, so accessing all your audiobooks via Alexa voice commands is both simple and customizable. First you need to enable Audible and configure your audiobook settings in the Alexa app, but after that you can invoke a variety of commands to have Alexa start reading anything in your Audible library. You can simply say "Alexa, ready my book" to pick up your most recent audiobook, or you can say a specific book. There's also a cadre of voice commands to pause, fast forward, skip chapters, set sleep timers, etc.

Invocations:

"Alexa, read my book" (plays your last books listened to)

"Alexa, read [Tom Sawyer]"

"Alexa, read [The Hobbit] from Audible"

"Alexa, pause"

"Alexa, resume"

"Alexa, play"

"Alexa, go back"

"Alexa, go forward"

"Alexa, go back [45 seconds]"

"Alexa, go forward [2 minutes]"

"Alexa, next chapter"

"Alexa, previous chapter"

"Alexa, go to chapter number [7]"

"Alexa, go to last chapter"

"Alexa, restart"

"Alexa, stop reading in [12 minutes]"

"Alexa, set a [6 minute] sleep timer"

"Alexa, what are my books?"

"Alexa, what's in my Audible library?"

Ditty

Say what you want to the Ditty skill—a message to a loved one, a clever saying, whatever you like—and it'll auto-tune your words into a song and play the Ditty back for your listening pleasure. That would normally be it, but you also get the option to share the Ditty via Twitter or save it. Then in the future, you can play back your Ditty whenever you want to hear yourself sing.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Ditty."

Short Bedtime Story

Call up this skill using a particular name—like that of your child—and Alexa will tell a personalized bedtime tale. The stories are about as short and brief as you'd expect from a stressed out, overworked parent who just wants the kids to go to sleep and doesn't have time to make up something elaborate, which gives them a charm all their own. Visit bedtime.webguild.com to set up an account, link it to your Alexa skill, and you can personalize things—even write your own bedtime stories for Alexa to repeat back to the non-sleeping kids.

Invocations: "Alexa, tell BedTime Story to Eric."

Radio Mystery Theater

There is plenty of old-time radio available online, and Archive.org has much of the old CBS Radio Mystery Theater. This skill will bring up a random episode of the podcast when launched. Skip repeats by saying "Alexa, next." The developers at Appbly.com also created skills for other radio show podcasts such as Dragnet, Philip Marlowe, Sherlock Holmes, and many others.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Radio Mystery Theater."

Ambient Noise: Thunderstorm Sounds

Need a specialized, natural white noise to help you focus? Developer Nick Schwab offers up this moderate thunderstorm to help you cut through the other noise (or the silence). He also offers up Ocean Sounds, Babbling Brook, and Rain Sounds as separate skills.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Thunderstorm Sounds" or "Alexa, ask Thunderstorm Sounds to loop."

Earplay

This is a new type of storytelling: Earplay is like a radio show, but with a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure option, where you are prompted to take the story in new directions. So far, the story choices are limited, but the popularity of this skill will probably mean expansion in the future. (Not all stories are suitable for all ages. Parental discretion is advised.)

Invocations: "Alexa, start Earplay."

Automotive/Travel

Translated

Open Translated (brought to you by professional translation service Translated.net) on Alexa. Say what you want to say, pick a language, and the skill replies with the translation you need so you can say it aloud. She'll even slow down or speed up as you require to help with understanding, or just say "Repeat" to hear it again. Translated works with 36 languages. Pirate is not one of them.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Translated" or "Alexa, ask Translated to say 'where is the bathroom' in Welsh."

Automatic

If you're a car fanatic, you may use Automatic—it's like a fitness tracker for automobiles. It plugs into the ODB port under the dash, collecting all sorts of diagnostic data—plus tracks where the car's going using GPS. With this skill, you can ask Alexa for information about your car, like whether it needs gas, how far it's been driven, and especially where it's currently located.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Automatic if I need gas"

"Alexa, ask Automatic where my car is."

"Alexa, ask Automatic how far I drove last week."

Uber

Your feelings toward Uber may be complicated, but there is no denying it's the leading rideshare service. This skill—which supports UberX, UberBlack, UberSUV, UberXL, and UberSelect—lets you set your Alexa location as a default for calling a car. You can also tell Alexa to change the default location, cancel a ride you've called, or ask for the status of the ride. Switching Amazon Household accounts on the Alexa lets other people use their own Uber account.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Uber for a ride."

Lyft

Eschew Uber for a Lyft. This skill does what you'd expect—gets you a car—but also can provide an estimate for the cost and or length of time of a Lyft between a couple of preset locations in your Lyft account ("home" and "work," specifically), and use it to rate drivers.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Lyft for a ride."

Kayak

Our favorite mobile app/site for travel (we give it five stars) is a featured skill for the Amazon Alexa. You can set or change your home airport using Alexa, and search on a number of things from flights (it helps to know the flight number) to rental cars to places to go on a budget. You don't need a Kayak account to enable it.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Kayak how much it is to fly from New York to Los Angeles" or "Alexa, where can I fly for one-thousand dollars" or "Alexa, when does the next flight from Miami land in Newark?"

MyFord Mobile

This one is for a limited audience of owners of Ford plug-in vehicles (the C-Max Energi, Fusion Energi, and Focus Electric as of this writing). But it's incredibly handy if you do, letting you ask Alexa to do a wide variety of things: start the car, stop the car if it's running, lock or unlock it, get the odometer reading, get the range the vehicle can go on the current charge (or gas), even check the state of the battery charge or the tire pressure.

Invocations: "Alexa, open MyFord Mobile."

My ETA

The ETA—estimated time of arrival—is the most important estimate any traveler (or those who await a driver's arrival) can make. This skill, which pairs with an account you create at MyETAserv.com, will let you use to Alexa to pre-determine the ETA from your home to a number of pre-set locations. You never, ever need to be late to work, school, the airport, or the bar ever again.

Invocations: "Alexa, open My ETA and tell me the list of my destinations" or "Alexa, ask My ETA for the time to drive to work."

Kitchen

My Chef – Kitchen Assistant by Chefling

Chefling makes mobile smartphone apps to help you "monitor, organize, and select your food." This skill brings those abilities to the Amazon Echo, so you can use it as more than just a glorified timer if it sits in your kitchen. You'll want to embrace the use of the apps to get the most out of it, but if you're diligent about entering the food you've got or need, you will likely be working with much fresher ingredients in your kitchen.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask My Chef what's expiring" or "Alexa, open My Chef."

Allrecipes

Anyone who's ever searched the internet for a recipe knows about Allrecipes—they're all there! This Alexa skill promises hands-free access to the 60,000+ recipes on the site. Alexa can also send the recipe you're using to your phone (for that you have to link your accounts and your phone number to the skill). The number of options you can ask for with the skill are numerous; when you're ready to cook, just say "Alexa, start cooking" and then give her a "Next," "Skip," or "Repeat" as necessary.

Invocations: "Alexa, open Allrecipes."

"Alexa, find me a cake recipe"

"Alexa, find me a chocolate chip cookie recipe"

"Alexa, find me a recipe with eggs, coconut milk, and chocolate."

"Tell me the reviews for this recipe"

"What ingredients are needed for this recipe?"

"Add this recipe to my Favorites."

"Send recipe to my phone."

The list of prompts goes on and on and on.

Food Network

Watching the Food Network and getting inspired? Just call out to Alexa, and with the right info on the chef, ingredient, or name of the recipe, the Food Network skill will send you the full recipe in your email to open when needed. The skill will also tell you what's coming up next and when certain celeb chef shows will air.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Food Network for the recipes on TV right now" or "Alexa, ask Food Network for soup recipes for dinner."

MySomm

Need a wine recommendation to go with a special cuisine? MySomm lets you talk to "Wine Gal" (Alexa's sommelier alter ego) and get one before you head to the store.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Wine Gal to recommend a wine for ______."

Domino's Pizza

Domino's was the first big-name food seller to make the leap to Alexa (in time for the 2016 Super Bowl). With it you can place your pre-set easy order, place your previous order again, and get order status/tracking. You'll need a profile with Dominos.com. (If you prefer Pizza Hut, they're also an option.)

Invocations: "Alexa, open Dominos and place my Easy Order" or "Alexa, ask Domino's to track my order."

MeatButler

There are rules when it comes to meat: temperatures need to be followed for safety and utmost deliciousness. MeatButler is your Alexa helper to ensure you know the right temperature for any kind of meaty goodness.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask MeatButler to help me prepare lamb" or "Alexa, ask MeatButler the temperature for coking rare steak."

Mixologist

Next time you're at the bar ordering something complicated and feeling smug that you've probably stumped the bartender, don't be surprised if they invoke the name of Alexa. This skill gives up the goods on recipes for just about any drink—it'll even send a "home card" list of all the ingredients to the account holder's Alexa app or even Fire TV. You can also get random drink recipes, or find a drink to make based on the ingredients you have on hand.

Invocations: ""Alexa, ask Mixologist 'How do I make an Old Fashioned?'" or "Alexa, ask Mixologist to surprise me." or "Alexa, ask Mixologist 'What cocktails can I make with rum?'"

Smart Home

Hue

If you bought into the connected lightbulb world, you likely went with the Philips Hue brand. This skill makes it possible to interact with all those smartbulbs by talking rather than tapping on your phone. It even has full support for "scenes," where you can set up a location for the utmost support of what you want, such as "relax" or "sleep" or "active." You'll need to set up most of the details in the apps, then use your voice to activate or deactivate what you want.

Invocations: "Alexa, discover devices" or "Alexa, turn on living room lights" or "Alexa, dim bedroom lights to 50 percent."

LIFX Optimized for Smart Home

There are a couple of LIFX skills for Alexa; the basic one, which you need to change light colors, and this one, which allows for more natural language control (no "ask LIFX" in the commands required). After you set things up on all your LIFX bulbs using the mobile app and connect this skill to your account, you can start turning lights on and off and adjusting brightness or turning on preset "scenes."

Invocations: "Alexa, turn on the bedroom light" or "Alexa, set kitchen light to 50 percent" or "Alexa, turn on mood lighting."

SmartThings

Samsung's push into smart homes, SmartThings, involves an app controlling a hub that controls a bunch of smart devices—lights, sensors, locks, switches, thermostats, and more. If you own the SmartThings Hub($149.00 at Amazon) and an Echo, connect them to control most of your house or apartment by voice. It supports "routines" (like Scenes with the smart bulbs); for example, create one like "Good Morning" that activates several items (kitchen lights and a coffee maker on a smart outlet). You just have to know the right thing to say; the list of possible invocations for this one is enormous and varied, limited only by your imagination and the number of smart devices in your home.

Invocations: "Alexa, turn on the bedroom light"

"Alexa, dim the hall lights"

"Alexa, turn on the bedroom fan"

"Alexa, set kitchen temperature to 72 degress"

"Alexa, lock the front door"

"Alexa, is the back door locked?"

"Alexa, turn on Party Time"

And on and on.

Ecobee Plus

Control your Ecobee( at Amazon) smart home devices through Alexa by specifying the name of the thermostat or sensor you want to control. From there, once the skill is enabled you've got a wide array of voice commands at your disposal.

Invocations:

"Alexa, ask ecobee what the current temperature is."

"Alexa, ask ecobee how cold it is in the Living Room."

"Alexa, ask ecobee what the Living Room is set to."

"Alexa, ask ecobee if heating is enabled."

"Alexa, tell ecobee to set the temperature in my Bedroom."

"Alexa, ask ecobee to set the Downstairs temperature to 72."

"Alexa, tell ecobee to return to my schedule."

"Alexa, tell ecobee I'm cold."

"Alexa, ask ecobee to make it warmer by 3 degrees."

"Alexa, tell ecobee I'm hot."

"Alexa, ask ecobee to make it cooler by 4 degrees."

"Alexa, tell ecobee to turn fan on."

"Alexa, ask ecobee to set my thermostat to home mode."

"Alexa, tell ecobee I'm going out."

"Alexa, tell ecobee good night."

"Alexa, tell ecobee to turn on heat mode."

"Alexa, ask ecobee to activate cool mode."

"Alexa, tell ecobee to turn off auto mode."

"Alexa, ask ecobee what equipment is running."

"Alexa, ask ecobee if my dehumidifier is running."

"Alexa, tell ecobee I'm going on vacation."

ADT Pulse

ADT Pulse($36.99 per month at ADT) offers just about everything you could want in a full-service home security system, and you can control all of if it through your Echo device. With the ADT Pulse skill, you can ask Alexa to tell ADT to do things like arm or disarm your system, capture video clips and even set your modes. Alexa can also provide you with the statuses of your security system and connected ADT devices, like telling you if you left the hall light on, what the current temperature is in your home, or if the front door is locked. And for extra security, ADT only allows certain security features like disarming the system, unlocking the doors and opening the garage to work by providing Alexa with a unique verbal PIN.

Invocations: "Alexa, Ask ADT to disarm the system with PIN 1234."

"Ask ADT to check the status of the security system."

"Ask ADT to lock the 'Front Door' lock."

"Ask ADT to dim the 'Porch Light' to 50%."

"Ask ADT to close the 'Garage Door'."

"Ask ADT to set my mode to 'Out for the Day'."

"Ask ADT to take* a video clip from my 'Back Door Camera'."

"Ask ADT, is the 'Front Door Lock' battery low?"

"Ask ADT, what is the temperature of my thermostat?"

Vivint.SmartHome - Basic

Vivint, like SmartThings, controls plenty of devices to keep your house feeling smart as a whip. We gave it an Editors' Choice award. Controlling that system through an Amazon Echo or other Alexa device is easy, and Vivint provides two skill options: the Basic, which lets you control lights, thermostats, and locks; or the Complete, which is for Vivint SkyControl subscribers but adds control to security systems, garage doors, cameras, and even lets you set the state of an entire house (with states you preset like "sleeping" or "on vacation.") Basic allows more natural language; with Complete you have to invoke "Alexa, ask Vivint to..." for each command. Vivint suggests subscribers enable both for complete coverage.

Invocations: "Alexa, turn on my lights."

"Alexa, are my lights on? "

"Alexa, arm security system to "away."

"Alexa, turn heat to 70 degrees."

"Alexa, close my garages."

"Alexa, I am leaving."

"Alexa, I am home."

And many more.

Harmony – Optimized for Smart Home

If you've got a Harmony Elite, Harmony Companion, or Harmony Hub($89.99 at Amazon) at home, you know the joys of controlling everything about your entertainment system from one controller. Logitech makes two skills for the Harmony; a smart home version with more natural language options and a version where you have to say "Alexa, ask Harmony." Once they're active, you can use your voice to turn on the TV, consoles, or media streaming devices, jump to streaming services, pause a movie, adjust volume, and more.

Invocations: "Alexa, turn on the TV"

"Alexa, turn off the TV"

"Alexa, tell Harmony to pause"

"Alexa, tell Harmony to skip forward"

"Alexa, tell Harmony to increase volume"

"Alexa, tell Harmony to set a sleep timer for 15 minutes."

There are more.

Wemo

If you own the Wemo Switch, Wemo Insight Switch($59.99 at Amazon), and Wemo Light Switch($37.29 at Amazon), stop using the phone to activate and deactivate them. Link the Wemo skill, let it verify it's got the right home full of Wemo equipment, Alexa can then discover your devices and easily turn each one on/off by name. Group the devices and you can tell Alexa to turn them all off/on at once.

Invocations: "Alexa, discover devices" and "Alexa, turn on/off my _______."

Nest Thermostat

While there are a number of Nest products like cameras and smoke detectors, this skill pairs up your Alexa to provide voice control over the popular and award-winning Nest Smart Thermostat($249.99 at Best Buy), currently in its third generation. You need to know the name of the location where you put the thermostat(s)—you invoke that location with each command (just saying "thermostat" doesn't do the job). Not all commands work on all the older Nest devices.

Invocations: "Alexa, set downstairs Nest to 72 degress" or "Alexa, increase master bedroom temperature by 4 degrees."

Plex

Plex is server software you can run at home, so you can play back all your video and music files on any other device you want. It's our Editors' Choice for media servers—and it's totally free. Once you've set it up, enable the Plex skill and you can start using Alexa to control playback on a number of Plex players, including Android and iOS devices, Apple TV($149.00 at Amazon), Windows, Roku, PlayStation 4, and of course Amazon Fire TV and Fire tablets. Every command has to start with "Alexa, ask [or 'tell'] Plex to..."

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Plex to switch my default server"

"Alexa, ask Plex to Play (or pause, resume, stop) ________"

"Alexa, ask Plex to shuffle music by ________"

"Alexa, ask Plex what's been recently added"

"Alexa, tell Plex I don't know what to watch."

AFTVnews has a full list of commands.

Shopping

1-800-Flowers

When you don't have time to hit the local florist, an overnight from 1-800-Flowers could still save your bacon. Connect your 1-800-Flowers account to the skill, then use your voice to make the order. Narrow it down to a specific date or even a specific type of arrangement of posies.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask 1-800-Flowers to order Chloe flowers" or "Alexa, tell 1-800-Flowers I want to send flowers to Chandra on May 28th" or "Alexa tell 1-800-Flowers I need a large Love and Romance arrangement for Evan."

Amazon Restaurants

Amazon Prime members in select major US cities get access to Amazon Restaurants, a part of Prime Now, which is all about getting fast deliveries. Activate this skill, and you'll be given suggestions based on your previous order history with local eateries about what to order again, then you can place the order entirely through the Echo device.

Invocations: "Alexa, order from Amazon Restaurants."

Bargain Buddy

Deal of the day sites like Woot and Meh are fantastic, but hard to keep up with. If you've got a favorite, ask Bargain Buddy, via Alexa, to tell you what today's deal is, and you'll know whether you should go check it out. You can narrow it down on the Woot categories, by saying "Open Bargain Buddy and tell me about the Sport Woot" or the "Tools Woot," "Home Woot," Wine Woot," whatever you're into.

Invocations: "Alexa, ask Bargain Buddy for the Woot" or "Alexa, ask Bargain Buddy to tell me today's Meh deal."

Further Reading

Smart Home Reviews