Does anyone here that hasn't replied own one of these devices? I'm curious about all the little things they can do.
They can do all sorts of things, if they are linked to devices that are compatible. If you have a Nest thermostat I think you can link it to your voice-operated doodad and say something like "Alexa, turn the heat up a degree". I have a wifi-enabled air conditioner that I can control from my phone from anywhere I have a data signal, and I think I could sit in my recliner and say "Alexa, turn the air conditioner down a degree". You can get wifi-enabled power sockets, switches etc and a lot of them are compatible with Google Home/Alexa etc, so you could conceivably set up your house so you could sit in your living room on the first floor and say "Alexa, turn the attic lights on". Not sure why you'd want to, but you could.
I can see them being useful to those with limited mobility but since you can do so much from a cellphone or tablet anyway it seems they are more a tool for the very severely disabled (e.g. people who don't have full use of their arms/hands), the terminally lazy, and the kind of technogeeks that will try anything whatever the cost to their privacy.
