Alex got a screen: Amazon showed digital assistant Echo Show

Remember the story when police asked Amazon for permission to interrogate Alex , a weak AI who works for Amazon Echo’s digital assistant. The owners of the girl were not allowed to remove the data from her digital memory, although she could tell something about the murder that occurred in her presence. One way or another, but now Alex’s knowledge and the amount of data collected has become even more extensive - and in the case of interrogation she can not only tell the police about her owner, but also show something. Yesterday, Amazon introduced a new version of the digital assistant - Amazon Echo Show , with a small 7-inch screen.

Amazon ahead of Apple with the announcement of a similar gadget, and this is the success of the corporation Jeff Bezos. The device will be on sale June 28, 2017 in the United States at a price of $ 230 ($ 360 pair), and the Apple presentation is scheduled for June 5.

The Amazon demo video shows how useful the new Amazon Echo Show features are with the appearance of the screen. Previously, Amazon Echo simply looked like a “smart” speaker that recognizes speech - and starts music that you say, turns up or lowers the volume, well, can talk to you before going to sleep, as she spoke to the FBI operative girl in the hacker series Mr. Robot - there she was her only friend in life.

Alex's old personality remained unchanged, but now it has become much more useful: he quickly connects you via video link with friends and relatives: he will call or take a call, even if his hands are busy. Moreover, Alex is able to forcibly turn on the screen on your friend's device with live video broadcasting - he will immediately see what is happening in your room.
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Alex keeps a to-do list and screen tips, launches YouTube videos on your request. For example, you make repairs in an apartment and ask her to show how and what to do in the next step, although your hands are busy with tools. In general, Amazon Echo Show now even more justifies the title of "digital assistant" in the household. Apparently, Amazon Echo Show is positioned as a home gadget: it also becomes the central hub for controlling digital thermostats, smart meters and other home appliances in the house. Although analysts suggest that the "office" version of the device will be released before the end of this year. But now it is a home gadget. For example, she broadcasts video from the home “baby monitors” (cameras above the baby’s cradle) and surveillance cameras from the street. It shows the weather forecast, news headlines, etc. At the moment, Alex has “about 12,000 abilities,” Amazon says.

Some compare Alex with a telecrane from the novel "1984" .



Remember the telecrane from "1984" installed in the room of every citizen? Every morning he woke the owner at 7:15 with a terrible squeak, after which he forced him to do exercises and watched the exercises. In some ways, this overlaps with Alexa's functionality — an alarm clock, an organizer, a video camera, even a couple of Dolby speakers for a powerful peep of sound ... but this is a superficial resemblance. Of course, Alex does not follow the owner in a continuous mode, but on the contrary, is designed to fulfill your every desire.

Amazon Echo Show runs on the Intel Atom processor, the gadget weighs 1.13 kg.

For Amazon, such gadgets are not a particularly big business. Rather, it is an attempt to tie people to make purchases at the Amazon store and push them to subscribe to the profitable Prime service, Bloomberg writes .

Amazon really managed to beat the competition here. Google began selling Google Home two years after Echo’s debut, and Apple still hasn’t completed the Siri version.

It is not known how many Echo devices sold over the years. According to eMarketer statistics, Amazon owns 70% of the digital assistants market.



But it is obvious that this market is in its infancy, and the main events are still ahead. The situation is somewhat reminiscent of the situation with MP3 players before the arrival of the iPod and with smartphones before the appearance of the iPhone. Yes, these devices existed and were popular among geeks, but the company that came to the market was not the first to get a mass audience, but it presented a more beautiful and easy-to-use gadget.