Amazon has announced a new Alexa capability that can alert you, up to 24 hours in advance, if an item in your shopping cart, wish list, or “saved for later” list is about to go on sale. The alert arrives in the usual manner of Alexa notifications, which is a pulsing yellow light on Echo speakers or a popup on Echo Show devices. Once you receive one of these deal notifications, you can even ask Alexa to automatically buy the item on your behalf once the sale price goes live. Read more ›
Amazon has been testing public transit info for Alexa for nearly a year but it has now announced that the feature is available across the US. You can use it to check the status of particular lines, such as saying “Alexa, what’s the status of the 21 bus?” or “Alexa, are there any delays on the Q train from Penn Station?” When asking Alexa for directions anywhere, you can add “…by public transit” to the request to see which routes are available and what time the next one leaves. If you commute to/from work by public transit, you can now let Alexa know by flipping a toggle setting in the Alexa app under Settings > Commute. Doing so will allow you to ask “Alexa, when’s the next train to work?” or “Alexa, how’s my commute?” and receive information specific to your public transit route.
Amazon has announced that Alexa’s Conversation Mode, first teased a year ago, launches today on Echo Show 10 devices. The new feature allows for more natural back and forth interaction with Alexa without needing to use the wake word before each request. This goes far beyond Alexa’s existing Follow-up mode, which simply keeps Alexa listening after every response, by using audio and visual detection to determine when speech is directed at the Echo device, which Amazon says “represents a major milestone in voice AI.” Read more ›
Amazon has added the ability for 4th-gen Echo and 4th-gen Echo Dots to detect occupancy in a room by emitting an inaudible ultrasound audio wave. The capability can be used to automatically trigger Alexa Routines when you enter or exit a room. When configuring the trigger of a routine, select “Smart Home” and then select the appropriate Echo to be given the option to trigger the routine when “People are detected” or when “People aren’t detected.” You also have the option of enabling or disabling ultrasound motion detection altogether for each compatible Echo device. This is done under the device settings of each Echo within the Alexa app.
Amazon has added the ability to move music playing on one Alexa device to another. Simply say “Alexa, move my music to [Destiniation Device Name]” stop the music that is playing and start it up on the destination device. Alternatively, you can say “Alexa, pause” to the device that is playing music and then say “Alexa, resume music here” to the device that you want to pick up music playback. This also works on Echo Buds and Echo Auto if you want to switch from listening at home to your on-the-go devices. The capability isn’t limited to music, as you can move and resume podcasts and radio stations as well. Just use commands like “Alexa, move my podcast…” or “Alexa, resume radio…” when relevant.
Amazon has added a new feature called Adaptive Listening to Alexa devices, as reported by The Verge. Once enabled, Alexa will give you more time to finish speaking before it starts to respond to you. This will surely be handy for those with speech impediments but will also be nice for anyone who finds that Alexa cuts in mid-sentence when they’re just pausing for a second before completing their request. Read more ›
Amazon has launched a new Alexa feature called Adaptive Volume which causes the voice assistant to respond more loudly when it detects a noisy environment, as spotted by The Verge. When enabled, the option, essentially, allows Alexa to override the current volume setting of the device by temporarily increasing the output volume for that one interaction if background noise is detected. Read more ›
Amazon has announced Reading Sidekick, a new Alexa feature for Fire tablets and Echo speakers that will take turns reading with kids. This new capability is included with an Amazon Kids+ subscription, which comes included with Fire Kids tablets, Echo Dot Kids edition, or can be purchased seperatly for as little as $2.99 per month. Reading Sidekick will listen as children read to help if they strugle and encourage them when they succeed. To try the feature, say “Alexa, let’s read” or “Alexa, open Reading Sidekick.” The feature already works with over 700 books which can be selected thorugh the Amazon Kids app.
Amazon has introduced a new Alexa feature called Music Sharing that allows you to share the song that you’re listening to on your Echo device with a friend. While a song is playing, simply say “Alexa share this song with [name]” and the named friend will receive a notification about the song through their Echo devices and their Alexa app. When the friend opens the notification, they’ll be able to listen to the song and reply back with a reaction. Read more ›
The Alexa app has been updated to include a new feature called the Energy Dashboard that attempts to estimate the power consumption of your smart home devices. The dashboard charts the power usage of smart lights, plugs, thermostats, and more over time so that you can see which smart devices use the most energy and whether your power usage is trending up or down. While Alexa’s new energy dashboard does seem to report power usage figures from smart devices that report their energy consumption, it also works with more basic smart devices by simply tracking how long each one is powered on during a given timeframe. Read more ›
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