Now Amazon Alexa can be used with any Harmony hub-based remote, such as Harmony Elite or Harmony Companion. You can say “Alexa, turn on the TV”
Amazon have three products, the Echo, Dot, and Tap that all have Alexa Voice Service. Users access music, information, news, sports scores, weather, and more. There is a growing number of smart home devices and applications that work with these devices that will enable greater access, especially for people with physical disabilities. One new product Echo works with is Logitech’s Harmony Hub. The Harmony Hub and app allows users to control multiple appliances on one digital device. People can use their smartphone, tablet, or Echo to control lights, stereos, the television, and more.
To use the Echo and Harmony Hub as a hands-free remote users must link the two devices together. One way to link the two devices is through the use of IFTTT, a free web-based service. Once all of these components are linked together, users can control devices, such as a television, with their voice.
Here is a quick video demonstrating the two devices and IFTTT working together.
https://youtu.be/l7BE7lNkVPY
Not having to use IFTTT with my harmony hub has been great. IFTTT is cool if there is no other option but it can really lag sometimes between saying the command and the action running.
That’s because it runs over the internet and is at the mercy of how heavy internet traffic is that day.
More and more smart home devices are going to be directly integrated with the Echo in the future.
Hi Steve,
It’s great that Logitech has made Harmony hub‑based products compatible with the Amazon Echo.
Looks like Alexa has a good future.
Thanks,
Sean.