A new update for the Amazon Echo has expanded its abilities to control audio. You can now use your voice to control Pandora, Spotify, and iTunes on a mobile device. It’s not native support, however, like Echo’s integration with iHeartRadio. You can’t verbally summon, for example, a Pandora station to start playing, but if one of the three newly supported services is playing through a paired device, you can say play, pause, stop, next, or previous, and your Echo will perform those actions in the active app. While it’s only a small step towards expanded functionality, it’s at least one in the right direction.

The update also adds an intriguing new ability dubbed “Simon Says”. If you say “Alexa, Simon says…” and speak a sentence, the Echo will simply repeat what you said. While this feature is practically useless when said directly to the Echo, it can be used from the Echo’s remote control to relay a message across your house from the remote to someone near the Echo itself.

SourceZatz Not Funny