…and her name is Alexa.
Last weekend, we set up our new Amazon Echo. It’s a hands-free cylindrical gizmo that’s not technically available in Canada yet. We bought one and set it up under an Amazon.com account until Amazon.ca catches up. What is it? What ISN’T it!
It’s called the Amazon Echo but its name is Alexa. Once it’s connected to wifi, you can ask it to stream music, give you the weather, tell you a recipe, whatever you wish. You simply start by saying Alexa, and a little ring at the top lights up to show you it’s listening. There are seven microphones inside to capture anything you say. At one point, I mentioned Alexa in the middle of a sentence and it lit up and listened until it determined that I wasn’t actually asking it to do anything. It’s creepy-cool.
In order to get music that’s not streamed online for free, you need an Amazon Prime account, but that doesn’t mean you have to buy anything. Much like an iTunes account, you can load in your own music and have it play that for you. We asked Alexa for the forecast and she gave it to us. You can get an update on a baseball game, a military coup or just about anything else you care to know. Crazy? You bet. And Amazon is banking on it becoming the Next Big Thing. As the wife of the male voice for one of its major content producers, I hope they’re right!
I heard about Alexa a couple of years ago but nothing since although it was my understanding that development on the device continued. Can it tell you where the nearest pokemon is lerking or the best way to catch one? Who does it think will win the US election? You have voice assistants on your phone such like Siri, so why not a home assistant. Maybe a cohost for the morning show?