ALEXA: WHAT DAY DO THE BIN MEN COME?

Argyll and Bute, Balloch, Dumbarton, Helensburgh, Latest News, Scotland Wide, Vale of Leven, West Dunbartonshire Leave a comment
Getting started with Argyll and Bute Council’s
Smartspeaker Assistant on Alexa and Google
In 2020 Argyll and Bute Council introduced its Alexa Smartspeaker Assistant for checking what day to put your bins out and over 1,400 customers have activated it on their devices. As part of our ongoing development of easy to use digital services, we have now added the service to Google Assistant; which is the second most popular smartspeaker device in the UK after Alexa. We have also updated the council’s smart assistant ‘skill’ on Amazon’s Alexa platform and so it is now able to remind you when it is your bin day, without you having to ask.  We will be adding other council related information and features to the service over the next year. The information below tells you how to access these services.
Amazon Alexa
What You Need to Access this Service
You will need:
  • An Amazon account
  • A smartphone/tablet that can run the Alexa App or an Amazon Alexa smart speaker device (see range on Amazon.com)
How to Set Up Alexa on Your phone or tablet (if you do not already have an Alexa device)
  1. Go to the Apple app store or Google Play Store on your device.
  2. Search for the Amazon Alexa app.
  3. Tap install. Wait for the app to download and install.
  4. Open the Alexa app and follow the onscreen instructions.
  5. Log in using the username and password for your Amazon account.
Add the Argyll and Bute council ‘skill’ to your Alexa Device
You can add the skill through the Amazon website, or in the Alexa App
In the Alexa App
Click on the ‘browse skills’ button.
Search for ‘Argyll and Bute Council’, the skill should be the first result.
Click enable and follow any on screen instructions
On the Amazon website
Visit the Amazon website and sign in with your Amazon Account.
And Search for ‘Argyll and Bute Council’
Click on the ‘enable’ button.  This will add the skill to all your amazon devices that are associated with your amazon account.
Start the skill
  1. Say to your Alexa device:  “Alexa, Ask Argyll and Bute Council”.  This will start the Argyll and Bute Council Skill.
  2. Once the skill starts up, you can say “when is my next bin collection?” and Alexa will tell you when you next need to have your bins out!
  3. *NEW*  you will then be asked if you want to set up a reminder,  just say ‘yes’ or ‘no’!
Amazon Alexa
What You Need to Access this Service
You will need:
  • A Google account
  • A smartphone/tablet that can run the Google assistant App or a suitable Google Nest device (see range on Google.com)
  • Another device that has Google Assistant built in (for example, some TVs now come with Google Assistant support)
How to Set Up Google Assistant on Your phone or tablet (if you do not already have an Android Phone or Google Nest device)
  1. Go to the Apple app store or Google Play Store on your device.
  2. Search for the Google Assistant app.
  3. Tap install. Wait for the app to download and install.

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