1. In addition to timers, Alexa has reminders: Alexa at 9am on Monday remind me to put out the trash. On Monday Alexa will give a tone & say "I'm reminding you to put out the trash". Alarms and reminders can also be set for "every Monday at 9am", etc.
2. You can ask for temperature and get just the outdoor temperature. For weather, in addition to just asking for weather, you can ask for the weekend weather, weather for a particular day, 7 day forecast or hourly weather, which gives info for the next 4 hours. You can also get this information for any city in the world.
3. If you have a fairly current cell phone (android 5.0+, ios 10?) you can set up Alexa messaging and calling. It utilizes the cell phone contact list, to allow you to say "Alexa, call <contact>'s mobile (or home phone). It will call that person and you will talk through Alexa. Note, the call actually is through your ISP connection and not through your cell phone. This can be an important skill if you live alone and have a fall or other medical emergency and the cell phone is in another room. Alexa will not directly call 911 however.
4. Alexa is spotty on this, but can give you the store hours for some local stores.
5. Alexa is great for facts. See an actor on tv and Alexa can tell you how old they are, are they still alive, what did they die from. She knows best movie, actor, etc Oscars for any year, the size of the Milky Way, teaspoons in a gallon, endless etc.
6. Ask Alexa to "wikipedia <topic> and she can read off a part of the Wikipedia article on the topic.