Tired of the same old holiday decorations? You can add a little digital dazzle to your holiday decor using your Google Home Hub ($149 at Dell Home), Amazon Echo Show ($230 at Amazon) or Facebook Portal to make a festive slideshow.
It only takes a few minutes to set up and will make you grin every time you look at it.
How to set up a slideshow on an Amazon Echo Show
Before you can create a slideshow for your Echo Show, you’ll need to set up a Christmas photo album:
- Go to the Amazon Photos site.
- Select Album > Create Album.
- Give your new album a name and choose Create.
- Pick the photos you want to add, then select Add to Album.
To set up the slideshow:
- Swipe down from the home screen on your Echo Show.
- Select Settings > Display > Photo Slideshow.
To start the slide show say, “Alexa, show my [whatever you named your Christmas album].”
You can replace the stock photos with your own on the Echo Show.
Ry Crist/CNET
How to set up a slideshow on a Facebook Portal
You probably set your Portal to show photos from Facebook when you went through the initial setup. However, you can go back and change the settings to show a holiday-themed slideshow.
First, you’ll need at least one Facebook album that contains holiday photos. To create one:
- Open the Facebook app on your phone or tablet.
- Go to Menu > See More > Photos > Add.
- Choose the photos from your device that you’d like to add.
- Tap Done > +Album > Create New Album.
- Name your album and tap Create.
Now you have an album of holiday photos you can use on your Portal.
Portal holiday slideshow.
Alina Bradford/CNET
To display your holiday album on your Facebook Portal:
- Swipe left on the Portal’s home screen.
- Go to Settings > Superframe > Facebook Photos.
- Follow the onscreen directions to unlock this feature so you can edit your selections.
- Scroll down to Albums and slide the tabs beside all of your previous album and photo selections to off.
- Next, toggle on your Christmas album.
- Finally, go to Settings > General > Screen Off and toggle on the 1 Hour option so that the display doesn’t shut off right away.
During a party or gathering, the movement in the room should be enough to trigger the motion detector and keep the screen from going into rest mode.
You can use your Home Hub as a digital photo frame.
Juan Garzon / CNET
How to set up a slideshow on a Google Home Hub
With Google Photos, you can set up a Christmas slideshow that you can display on the Google Home Hub, or on your TV with a Chromecast.
Start by making an album of holiday photos:
- On the Google Photos site or in the mobile app go to Albums > Create new album.
- Name your album and tap or click Select Photos.
- Click or tap on the photos you want and click Done.
To display your photos on your Home Hub or TV:
- Open the Google Home app.
- Tap on your Hub or Chromecast, then tap Device Settings.
- Tap on Ambient Mode and then tap Google Photos.
- Select the holiday album you created.
Both the Google Home Hub and Chromecast will play a slideshow of photos from your holiday album when they’re idle.
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