Eight Alexa-enabled devices, including a microwave, will reportedly be unveiled this year

[midian182]

Why it matters: It seems that Amazon’s strategy for virtual assistant Alexa is simple: build as many products that support the AI as possible. According to a new report, eight smart items powered by Alexa will be announced before the end of this year.

CNBC reports that the voice-controlled appliances will include a microwave and an unspecified in-car gadget. There will also be several pieces of home audio equipment featuring Alexa support: an amplifier, receiver, and subwoofer.

“Alexa was initially considered a geeky experiment at Amazon. Now it is one of the most popular voice assistants, leading the growth of the burgeoning smart speaker market, which is expected to be worth $30 billion by 2024, according to Global Market Insights,” writes the publication.

Several companies already make home appliances that support Alexa, including a microwave from GE and an amplifier and subwoofer from Sonos. It’s unclear how many of Amazon’s new products will come with Alexa directly built in and which ones will be Alexa-enabled—I.e., they can be controlled by an Amazon Echo or similar device.

The mysterious in-car gadget is interesting. Garmin already has an Alexa-compatible dash cam, and Amazon only recently launched an SDK for integrating Alexa into in-car entertainment systems.

Back in December, Amazon acquired smart home video platform Blink. A few months later, Jeff Bezos’ firm paid more than $1 billion for video doorbell maker Ring, which may announce more products before the end of this year. Amazon is also secretly building a type of robot designed for the home, according to Bloomberg.

We might not have long to wait before discovering more about Amazon’s new Alexa products. CNBC reports that at least some of the items will be revealed before the end of the month.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/76490-eight-alexa-enabled-devices-including-microwave-reportedly-unveiled.html

 

[GreenNova343]

A microwave? Seriously? Since you have to stand up, walk over to it, & put the food in anyway, is it really that difficult to go ahead & hit the freaking buttons to turn it on & cook the food? Not to mention that if you don't wait for it, you'll have to stand up again & go retrieve the food, since Alexa won't handle any of that for you...

 

[cliffordcooley]

A microwave? Seriously?

You beat me to it.

 

[Kibaruk]

A microwave? Seriously? Since you have to stand up, walk over to it, & put the food in anyway, is it really that difficult to go ahead & hit the freaking buttons to turn it on & cook the food? Not to mention that if you don't wait for it, you'll have to stand up again & go retrieve the food, since Alexa won't handle any of that for you...

I thought about the same thing... however... I also thought of a How about... leaving food for a couple hours while you go to work, you tell it to cook it once you head home, voila. A lot of caveats there but... you get my drift, it could be useful in certain scenarios.

The end-game here is to have a "robotic" house that could make all of those things that take time out of your day, convenient and only one command away, not to avoid getting up your lazy-boy...

 

[Reehahs]

A microwave? Seriously? Since you have to stand up, walk over to it, & put the food in anyway, is it really that difficult to go ahead & hit the freaking buttons to turn it on & cook the food? Not to mention that if you don't wait for it, you'll have to stand up again & go retrieve the food, since Alexa won't handle any of that for you...

I thought about the same thing... however... I also thought of a How about... leaving food for a couple hours while you go to work, you tell it to cook it once you head home, voila. A lot of caveats there but... you get my drift, it could be useful in certain scenarios.

The end-game here is to have a "robotic" house that could make all of those things that take time out of your day, convenient and only one command away, not to avoid getting up your lazy-boy...

You still have to take the food out!

 

[mailpup]

You still have to take the food out!

Then there's all the trouble of having to eat it then wash, recycle or toss the dish/container it was in. Will it never end?

 

[cliffordcooley]

Sorry about the quality. I didn't see a better quality listed.

 

[Bp968]

A microwave? Seriously? Since you have to stand up, walk over to it, & put the food in anyway, is it really that difficult to go ahead & hit the freaking buttons to turn it on & cook the food? Not to mention that if you don't wait for it, you'll have to stand up again & go retrieve the food, since Alexa won't handle any of that for you...

I thought about the same thing... however... I also thought of a How about... leaving food for a couple hours while you go to work, you tell it to cook it once you head home, voila. A lot of caveats there but... you get my drift, it could be useful in certain scenarios.

The end-game here is to have a "robotic" house that could make all of those things that take time out of your day, convenient and only one command away, not to avoid getting up your lazy-boy...

You still have to take the food out!

You guys are missing the possibilities... "Alexa, cook a one pound potato" "alexa, heat up my 16 ounce coffee" "alexa, cook my hot pocket".

Since its network enabled it can have exact, perfect cooking temps, times, power levels, etc. Maybe a hot pocket cooks best over two minutes at a fluctuating power level between 40% and 100% with exactly 3 rotations. Imagine typing all that in? But with it being network enabled it can know the exact best settings for thousands or tens of thousands or millions of products and recipes.

 

[cliffordcooley]

But with it being network enabled it can know the exact best settings for thousands or tens of thousands or millions of products and recipes.

Maybe if you voice precise measurements. How many would take the time to use precise measurements. Much easier to simply press start and then take out when you know it is ready.

What you describe would be best achieved in a bar code scan. But then even that only works, when heating prepackaged goods.

 

[GreenNova343]

A microwave? Seriously? Since you have to stand up, walk over to it, & put the food in anyway, is it really that difficult to go ahead & hit the freaking buttons to turn it on & cook the food? Not to mention that if you don't wait for it, you'll have to stand up again & go retrieve the food, since Alexa won't handle any of that for you...

I thought about the same thing... however... I also thought of a How about... leaving food for a couple hours while you go to work, you tell it to cook it once you head home, voila. A lot of caveats there but... you get my drift, it could be useful in certain scenarios.

The end-game here is to have a "robotic" house that could make all of those things that take time out of your day, convenient and only one command away, not to avoid getting up your lazy-boy...

You still have to take the food out!

You guys are missing the possibilities... "Alexa, cook a one pound potato" "alexa, heat up my 16 ounce coffee" "alexa, cook my hot pocket".

Since its network enabled it can have exact, perfect cooking temps, times, power levels, etc. Maybe a hot pocket cooks best over two minutes at a fluctuating power level between 40% and 100% with exactly 3 rotations. Imagine typing all that in? But with it being network enabled it can know the exact best settings for thousands or tens of thousands or millions of products and recipes.

Didn't necessarily want to focus on microwaves. But I can guarantee that after you've gone to the kitchen, picked out your 16-oz potato, & placed it in the microwave, by the time you've activated Alexa & used the voice command to get it started, I've already been able to hit the "Potato" preset button on the microwave & already had it start. Flashy new option? Check. Time-saving convenience? Negatory.