You can now use Alexa to make free phone/video calls and send messages with some Android, iPad and Amazon Fire tablets.
This new feature is activated differently depending which device you have. The Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet just requires you to ask Alexa to make a call. Other Fire tablets, which don’t have Hands-Free mode, need you to tap the home button to use the feature. All other tablet users will need to open the Alexa app to make a call or send a message.
Nothing has changed about receiving calls with the Alexa app — you don’t need a tablet or speaker. Using Amazon’s Drop In feature, your tablet will act as a two-way radio with any other tablet or Echo device that you authorize.
Tip of the month
Improving performance on a Windows 10 computer
If your computer seems to be slowing down, it is a real possibility with all of the updates that Windows and Windows software send out. Purchasing additional memory, or RAM, is one of the least expensive upgrades for a PC. What would be helpful is to actually learn about the amount of memory already installed in your computer and how much is actually being used at any given time. Let me give you these specifics first about my computer. It has 16 GB of Ram. As I used it today, I checked to see how much of it was actually being used and that was 5.1 GB. I then rebooted my computer and it showed right away – no programs open – that 2.1 GB was being used. This is the reason I suggest that if you don’t shut your computer off (and I don’t suggest that you have to), you need to occasionally click on Start – Power Button – Restart. This will let you get back much of the memory that had been used. Remember, it is like going to sleep at night and having more energy in the morning.
So here are the steps –
Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete, and then select Task Manager (or alternatively, right click on your bottom task bar and choose Task Manager).
In Task Manager, select More details > the Performance tab > Memory.
In the image below, you will see that the number 1 spot tells you how much total memory you have and the number 2 spot tells you how much is in use. Number 3 informs you of how many memory slots are in use.
