Smart Home Technology

Amazon Echo and Echo Dot: the speaker of the future.

Amazon Echo and Echo Dot are hands-free speakers controlled by voice. Echo connects to the cloud-based voice service named Alexa. You can ask questions, play music, make calls to supported Echo devices or the Alexa App, send and receive messages, add to your shopping list, get information, news, sports scores, weather and more – instantly and without tapping or searching. Echo Dot, an expertly tuned speaker, can fill any room with immersive sound and can hear you even when music is playing.

All you have to do is ask – just say the word “Alexa” and Echo lights up and responds to your request. Alexa, a cloud-based voice service and the brain behind Amazon Echo, updates automatically through the cloud and is always getting smarter – continually learning and adding new functionality and skills. The more you use Echo, the more it adapts to your speech patterns, vocabulary and personal preferences.

The smart speaker has been tailored for New Zealanders, featuring New Zealand specific abilities. Alexa knows names of New Zealand sports teams, place names and even some Te Reo Māori. Alexa knows Kiwi jargon, who our Prime Minister is and can tell if your Air New Zealand flight is on time or give you traffic information and local news.

Amazon Echo works with a range of compatible smart home devices in the home such as lights, plugs and switches. Switch on the lamp before getting out of bed, turn on the kettle on your way to the kitchen, dim the lights from the couch, have Alexa read out a recipe or help you spell a word. With multiple speakers around the home you can play different music in each room, let your household know when dinner is ready, ask someone for help with a chore and remind the kids to go to sleep – all without having to raise your voice.

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