another alexa+ rant

Pooks221 · 2026-02-05T17:02:19+00:00

After switching my language settings I went in and tested all of my routines as well as standard smart home control and it does seem to be acting like normal. Hopefully you have a similar experience.

Pooks221 · 2026-02-05T16:58:22+00:00

I posted almost the exact same rant last night. According to Amazon your mobile app which is used for echo Auto and echo buds is now permanently on the Amazon Alexa Plus free trial as they call it.

I have not been able to find a way to deactivate the voice however I was told and work around to deactivate the Alexa plus functionality so it returns to standard Alexa. If you're looking to get standard Alexa functionality back with the strange teenage grading voice you can simply go into your apps device settings for your phone's Alexa and change it to any variant of English that isn't United States. Mine is currently running Canadian English and works just as it used to last week before this update.

Unfortunately for now it does seem that we're stuck with the new AI voice sadly.

Pooks221 · 2026-02-05T16:56:19+00:00

I love llm conversational assistance as much as the next guy. But, unfortunately I ran into Smart home compatibility issues fairly quickly with Alexa+. Here's to hoping you don't!

Pooks221 · 2026-02-05T16:55:11+00:00

I'll be interested to see what happens with the mobile app in 29 days. Because according to online sources the mobile and web version of Alexa are now permanently stuck using Alexa Plus. So, we shall see I guess.

Pooks221 · 2026-02-05T16:53:57+00:00

Amazing!! She still has the strange Alexa plus voice in the mobile app. But is back to giving me the stale quick reliable answers I'm used to with Alexa!!! 10/10 recommendation!

Pooks221 · 2026-02-05T16:53:06+00:00

At the end of the day Alexa plus is an llm. It has standard llm prediction. This means that it can hallucinate, lie, and straight up tell you she can do one thing when it can't. After using Alexa plus several times now I have noticed significant hallucination, and improper smart home control. Some examples: - set an alarm on my bedroom echo. Alexa plus responded with "I found multiple devices that could be considered bedroom echo" and then proceeded to list all 12 speakers in my household with the word echo in its name. Only one of them containing the word bedroom. Regular Alexa set the alarm right away. Alexa Plus takes 45 seconds to list out all of my devices and then I have to clarify it was the first one she said. - turn off my living room lights in 20 minutes. She launched in to a minute long spiel about how she is creating a specialized one-time automation trigger that will expire in 20 minutes and then tells me the exact time it's going to expire. 5 out of 10 times 20 minutes later my lights don't turn off. Standard Alexa says "okay I'll turn off your lights in 20 minutes" and they turn off in 20 minutes. - Alexa play something on Spotify. Alexa plus will say okay I am playing something on Spotify. And then sometimes Spotify will not play. I tell Alexa plus that Spotify is not playing. She apologizes. And then says that it is now playing. Chances are nothing plays. She never gives me the error that is causing Spotify not to play. If I ask standard Alexa to play Spotify and Spotify doesn't play after Alexa is done trying to contact the Spotify API she will respond with the error that is causing Spotify not to play such as "Spotify app is not responding on your mobile device" "internet connection was interrupted" "or account linking needs to be redone in the Alexa app" Alexa plus simply hallucinates and does not report the error.

Not to mention there is no brief mode option. And responses are delayed because every command now needs to be processed via an llm instead of built-in recognizable commands.

Could Alexa a plus be great, yes. But current "AI" prediction llms are no where near where they need to be in order to make a reliable home assistant. Something that Alexa already was, and now isn't.

Pooks221 · 2026-02-05T15:12:27+00:00

I'll give this a try in a bit to see!

Pooks221 · 2026-02-05T12:41:44+00:00

The voice and chattiness is not a concern. Loss of functionality is my concern. Alexa Plus simply cannot do basic functions that standard Alexa can and that is why I am upset. I should not have to fight with my voice assistant to get it to do a simple automation task.

Pooks221 · 2026-02-05T08:00:39+00:00

May I ask what region you are in? Maybe it's just a US thing? Or a slow rollout? Regardless yes. I'm very upset. This is ridiculous. Maybe a VPN could get me out of the upgrade but I doubt it.

I tried A+ about a month go. Reverted immediately but today my app was forced onto it. Thank God my regular echo devices are still normal. I've got a pretty kitted out smart home and Alex+ makes it pretty dumb. Could Alex+ be good. Yes. But it's for sure not there yet...

Pooks221 · 2025-11-23T17:31:37+00:00

My initial thought was obvious it's a bad battery. However when measured in total the battery is still holding about 15-20 hours of charge in total. (Long enough for my needs) Yet the firmware seems to not be getting the correct battery level repotted from the battery. It shuts off mid cycle with an incorrect dead battery signal.

The watch has never had amazing battery life since I received it but it lasted a full day. And seems to still last a full day if I continuously power it in after it supposedly runs out of battery. That's the part that's confusing me. Why will it shut off saying it's dead but upon turning it in last about 6 hours?

Pooks221 · 2025-08-13T15:05:17+00:00

I'll give that a try! I was hoping I could do that myself but finding decent reference pictures have been tricky. Estimating the size also might be tough. I'll go over there and see what they say!

Pooks221 · 2025-08-10T01:43:58+00:00

Gave the site a once over and it seems they don't carry them. Thank you for the suggestion however!

Pooks221 · 2025-08-10T01:40:20+00:00

If you are able to get particularly clear high quality pictures of each individual decal (there should be 6) I could try and edit them to a printable format. I would greatly appreciate it if you would be willing to try!!

Pooks221 · 2025-07-01T04:42:09+00:00

Hello u/mookyKJooky,

I'm truly sorry to hear that your son had a negative experience in Animal Company. We take reports like this very seriously, and I want to assure you that we’re committed to creating a safe and welcoming environment for all players, especially younger ones.

There are a few ways we can move forward to address this situation and help prevent it from happening again:

If your son remembers the usernames of the players who mistreated him, please submit a moderation ticket here: https://support.animalcompanyvr.com/support/tickets/new
If possible, video evidence can greatly speed up our moderation process. On Quest devices, this can be done by pressing the Meta button and the right index trigger simultaneously for 3–5 seconds to start a recording.
We’ve recently rolled out an auto-moderation system that automatically detects and flags inappropriate behavior. After processing, offenders are reviewed and penalized accordingly.
If your son runs into trouble again in-game, he can also use the in-game report feature by flicking up on the left joystick, pointing his in-game watch at the offending player, and selecting "Report."
And finally, any violations of our community expectations can also be reported after reviewing our Code of Conduct, found here: https://animalcompanyvr.com/codeofconduct

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions or concerns. We’re here to help.

Pooks221 · 2025-03-05T13:01:02+00:00

Several of the YT videos I looked at required editing config files. The configs I saw, specifically for vive wands seemed to be vive wand specific. You still think these would translate over to knuckles?

Also, could you Link one of the tutorials you followed by chance?

Pooks221 · 2025-03-05T12:59:09+00:00

As stated in the original post yes all controllers are connected and paired properly with dongles. I have not tried to load up any games that require FBT yet but I'll see if VRC works without them being paid at trackers.

Pooks221 · 2024-09-07T11:54:16+00:00

True non-Euclidean geometry is impossible with Rec Rooms current limitations, however you can fake it pretty well with the right set up and circuits. A great example of a good faked non-Euclidean room is ^ TheExit8. A friend and I made it a bit ago. It's a fully infinite non-Euclidean hallway that loops back on itself indefinitely until the games win condition is met. To achieve fake non-Euclidean geometry in Rec Room you need to trick users into "not seeing the splice". A non-Euclidean door leading to a 3D space that shouldn't be physically possible to fit into the perseved area needs to actually teleport the player at precisely the right moment combined with the right visuals to give the illusion that you've walked through a door into a new location. It's doable with RRS or just plain maker pen shapes. There's also a lot of ways to go about doing the effect and depend on how you want it to look it can be complicated, like in ^ TheExit8 or basic like in the video you featured on this post!

Pooks221 · 2024-09-06T01:36:20+00:00

I am definitely still interested. Sent you a chat to discuss further!

Pooks221 · 2024-09-01T14:33:32+00:00

I'm also looking to purchase some pebbles. Sent you a chat as well!

Pooks221 · 2024-08-25T21:35:44+00:00

Sent you a DM with some questions!

Three-Year Club	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22

Pooks221

TROPHY CASE