Archive for May, 2017

Listen, Look & Show – Tells you what? Alexa is the one to rule your Smart Life!

Tuesday, May 9th, 2017

First, listen through Echo and interact with Alexa

Amazon Echo

Unless you are disconnected from Technology or Digital Media, everyone is aware of Amazon Alexa and how it has proliferated into homes via the highly successful Amazon Echo (price drop alert) device.

Echo is a premium speaker (relatively speaking) that delivers an above average audio experience at a great price point considering what you get in return.  What do you get… Alexa, Amazon’s Voice-driven Artificial Intelligence (AI) system.  Alexa has provided a lot of utility via convenient access such as News updates, weather updates, etc and also provided entertainment with integration with Amazon Music.  Alexa has become a Voice interaction ecosystem that is growing unbounded with the custom Alexa Skills that everyone is building.  Yes – I said, everyone, as I built my first Alexa Voice Skill over a weekend this past holidays and it was fairly painless (announcement coming soon).  I won’t get into details on Echo and Alexa beyond this as there is enough that you can google and learn.

Next, get stylish with Amazon Echo Look
Echo Look

Recently, Amazon announced Amazon Echo Look.   I consider myself stylish enough but definitely not a trendsetter.  If anyone had doubts about how serious Amazon is about Fashion and AI and leveraging its vast data bank- well don’t have those anymore 🙂

No, the concept of Fashion and AI is not new or groundbreaking but the Echo Look device is a huge step to making it a reality by being accessible to the consumers.  That is something that Amazon has shown it can do via the Echo product line.

Beyond Fashion, just think of the possibilities of having Alexa AI and a camera device at your fingertips from a technology perspective.

Imagine Echo Look taking a visual inventory of your pantry and telling you what you need while you are at the grocery store.

Now, get visual with Amazon Echo Show
Echo Show

Now, Amazon announced Amazon Echo Show.  Literally, in one fell swoop, Amazon has addressed all gaps the original Echo had.  With a touchscreen component, the opportunities are endless beyond the dazzling initial capabilities being marketed which are lyrics, baby monitor integration, CNN news, Uber & OpenTable just to name a few.  Companies and developers must be foaming at the mouth on how to take advantage and build new or enhance existing Alexa skills on this device.

 

Imagine, wanting to book a flight or a hotel with Alexa and getting the visual results back and selecting what you want to book.

 

Imagine asking about your traffic commute and visually seeing the Waze map showing your congestion areas.

Continue to imagine….

 

One Platform to Rule Them All or your just your Smart Life

What does this all mean in the end?!?  Who knows but I would venture a simple thought – Alexa is the one platform that brings (*cough* rule) all your Smart Home devices together and Amazon has the market on the initial 3 devices you want to have to start this journey.  One would think that as Alexa proliferates to non-Amazon devices, it will be the platform to rule our Smart Life not just Home.

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