Amazon’s Alexa can now listen and respond to whispers, and she will whisper back.
Now first, this might set off another wave of anxiety for privacy advocates. Your virtual assistant is not only spying on you and potentially recording or storing your conversations, now she can do even if you tried to keep your voice down. Amazon’s team just made that sensitive microphone function even more acutely.
Video demonstrating Alexa whisper:
So, why do we need to whisper in the first place? Will it come handy in anyway?
Yes. If you whisper, “Echo, play a lullaby,” for the infant who’s almost asleep in your arms, Echo will whisper back, “Here’s a station for lullabies from your Amazon Music library,” instead of screaming at full startling volume.
What's more?
Whisper is not the only important feature that will come to Amazon Echo devices this year, we also have bunch of new ones.
Guard: Guard will let you say, “Alexa, I’m leaving,” and the device will automatically activate your security system. And then the system will send you notifications in case of an emergency.
Hunches: Hunches is the other feature which will allow Alexa to learn your routines and act on them, for example, Alexa will remind you if you forgot anything on before sleep, or before going out, and ask you if you wanna keep them on or turn them off.
Location-Based Reminders: You can set location based reminders to trigger when you leave or arrive at home or work. Simply say, “Alexa, remind me to take the chicken out when I get home,” and when you arrive, Alexa will automatically speak the reminder and send a notification to your phone.
Cook with Alexa: Cooking with Alexa makes Echo devices even more useful in the kitchen. Simply ask Alexa for step-by-step cooking instructions from Kitchen Stories, Allrecipes, Epicurious, Food52, TheKitchn, and SideChef. Say “Alexa, let’s start cooking,” and Alexa will walk you step-by-step through your favorite recipe.
Multi-step Requests: Ask Alexa to do multiple things at once within one request. For example, add several items to your shopping list by saying “Alexa, add bananas, paper towels, and cat food to my shopping list;” or turn the Echo volume up and start a playlist by saying, “Alexa, play Pandora at volume 8.”
Email Integration: If you need to manage your personal inbox but aren’t able to sit with your computer or smartphone, all you need to do is ask Alexa to check and reply to email through Gmail, Outlook.com, and Hotmail.com. Simply link your email in your Alexa app and say, “Alexa, do I have emails from Sarah?”
Built-In Web Browser: Echo Show now has a built-in web browser that can be opened by saying, “Alexa, open Silk” or “Alexa, open Firefox.” Once open, you can use the on-screen keyboard to type a URL and visit your favorite website. And like other browsers, you can bookmark your favorite websites for easy access.
Source : Amazon Press Center
Now first, this might set off another wave of anxiety for privacy advocates. Your virtual assistant is not only spying on you and potentially recording or storing your conversations, now she can do even if you tried to keep your voice down. Amazon’s team just made that sensitive microphone function even more acutely.
Video demonstrating Alexa whisper:
So, why do we need to whisper in the first place? Will it come handy in anyway?
Yes. If you whisper, “Echo, play a lullaby,” for the infant who’s almost asleep in your arms, Echo will whisper back, “Here’s a station for lullabies from your Amazon Music library,” instead of screaming at full startling volume.
What's more?
Whisper is not the only important feature that will come to Amazon Echo devices this year, we also have bunch of new ones.
Guard: Guard will let you say, “Alexa, I’m leaving,” and the device will automatically activate your security system. And then the system will send you notifications in case of an emergency.
Hunches: Hunches is the other feature which will allow Alexa to learn your routines and act on them, for example, Alexa will remind you if you forgot anything on before sleep, or before going out, and ask you if you wanna keep them on or turn them off.
Location-Based Reminders: You can set location based reminders to trigger when you leave or arrive at home or work. Simply say, “Alexa, remind me to take the chicken out when I get home,” and when you arrive, Alexa will automatically speak the reminder and send a notification to your phone.
Cook with Alexa: Cooking with Alexa makes Echo devices even more useful in the kitchen. Simply ask Alexa for step-by-step cooking instructions from Kitchen Stories, Allrecipes, Epicurious, Food52, TheKitchn, and SideChef. Say “Alexa, let’s start cooking,” and Alexa will walk you step-by-step through your favorite recipe.
Multi-step Requests: Ask Alexa to do multiple things at once within one request. For example, add several items to your shopping list by saying “Alexa, add bananas, paper towels, and cat food to my shopping list;” or turn the Echo volume up and start a playlist by saying, “Alexa, play Pandora at volume 8.”
Email Integration: If you need to manage your personal inbox but aren’t able to sit with your computer or smartphone, all you need to do is ask Alexa to check and reply to email through Gmail, Outlook.com, and Hotmail.com. Simply link your email in your Alexa app and say, “Alexa, do I have emails from Sarah?”
Built-In Web Browser: Echo Show now has a built-in web browser that can be opened by saying, “Alexa, open Silk” or “Alexa, open Firefox.” Once open, you can use the on-screen keyboard to type a URL and visit your favorite website. And like other browsers, you can bookmark your favorite websites for easy access.
Source : Amazon Press Center
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