Amazon lets Alexa break out of the confines of the household
Amazon is launching a smarthome offensive and wants to anchor its voice assistant Alexa even more firmly in users' everyday lives. With new earphones and experimental devices such as glasses and a ring, the company also wants to establish Alexa outside the home.
Here, Amazon has so far been at a disadvantage against Alexa rivals such as Apple's Siri and Google Assistant, which are ubiquitous on smartphones. The point is to make the assistance software available to users always and everywhere, stressed Alexa boss Tom Taylor.
Alexa is also expected to become much smarter. In the future, for example, it will be able to warn when the batteries in a networked device or the ink in the printer are running low. The camera doorbell from the Ring subsidiary will be able to talk to people standing outside the door thanks to a "concierge" function.
Trailing the competition
In the future, Alexa will also be able to recognize when users are frustrated with her. To do this, the software will analyze the voice - and then be friendlier. This function will initially be available when controlling music playback. Another voice command that will be introduced is the question "Alexa, why did you do that?", which users can use to ask the voice assistant to explain unexpected behavior. If the software executes a voice command incorrectly, the question "Alexa, what did you hear?" will help in the future.
With the first Alexa earphones, Amazon is entering a new product category that has so far been dominated by Apple's AirPods. One application idea, for example, is that you can ask in a supermarket of the in-house organic supermarket chain Whole Foods in which aisle certain groceries are located. The earphones have built-in ambient noise suppression from hi-fi expert Bose and, at $129, are also cheaper than comparable technology from other providers.
In total, Amazon announced more than a dozen products on Wednesday - at prices that, as is so often the case with Amazon, undercut the competition. For example, Amazon's chief technology officer Dave Limp introduced a Ring security camera for the home for just 59 euros.
Lower prices
Another new Amazon device is a networked speaker with significantly improved sound. The company is thus strengthening its competition with Apple and hi-fi specialists like Sonos. The Echo Studio model is supposed to provide all-around sound and also adapt the sound to the room. Amazon set the price at around 200 euros, which is significantly lower than competing models - a HomePod from Apple, for example, costs 329 euros. Amazon also released new versions of previous Echo speakers.
As experimental products, Amazon is releasing a pair of glasses and a ring with microphones and tiny speakers for using Alexa. They will be available in limited quantities in the US. The glasses have neither camera nor display, but are intended only for voice communication with Alexa.
The acquired Wi-Fi specialist Eero will also be integrated into the Alexa world: For example, individual devices can be disconnected from the network by voice command. Voice control will also be available via interfaces with WiFi routers from other providers. Amazon plans to bring the Eero device family, which is currently only available in the U.S., to Europe soon.
Focus on data protection
Limp stressed that data protection was one of the basics for all functions. Amazon - like other providers of voice assistants such as Apple and Google - had been criticized in recent months for also allowing employees to hear recordings of conversations with Alexa, while users were not aware of this. They are now explicitly made aware of this and can object to the use of their recordings to improve voice recognition.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos stopped by briefly at the event at the company's Seattle headquarters and said in response to questions from reporters, among other things, that he would welcome regulation of facial recognition technology and that the company was working on proposals to do so. Amazon developed a facial recognition technology called "Rekognition" that is also used by government agencies in the United States.
With the "Amazon Sidewalk" service, the group wants to create a new infrastructure for the Internet of Things in the future. The proprietary radio format in the 900 MHz range is intended to bridge distances of several hundred meters. The technology is initially intended to connect devices outside the home, such as irrigation sensors, in a power-saving way. But if many sidewalk networks are running in a neighborhood, it could also be used to track runaway animals, for example. (SDA)
