The Echo is a round black cylinder with an audio system inside. It is always connected to the cloud via wi-fi giving it a vast online resource to tap. The Echo interacts with you by voice, and answers to the name Alexa. If you don't like the name you can call it Amazon, but talking to Amazon in your home is creepy.
Amazon Echo: Ringmaster of the home automation IoT circus
With a $100M investment fund and the opening up of cloud service APIs and an SDK, Alexa and the Echo could become the brains of your home automation and IoT network.
Alexa, or the Echo, understands queries and commands issued in natural language. The Echo is always listening for interaction through its array of microphones that pick up this interaction from a great distance and from anywhere in the room. Getting the Echo's attention is done by beginning commands with its name, i. e. "Alexa".
The Echo works best with Fire Tablets, although it's also fine with iOS and Android devices. There are Alexa apps for controlling the Echo on both platforms. The app is used to configure the Echo, and lists the latest interactions with it.
Amazon Echo: Ringmaster of the home automation IoT circus
With a $100M investment fund and the opening up of cloud service APIs and an SDK, Alexa and the Echo could become the brains of your home automation and IoT network.
Alexa, or the Echo, understands queries and commands issued in natural language. The Echo is always listening for interaction through its array of microphones that pick up this interaction from a great distance and from anywhere in the room. Getting the Echo's attention is done by beginning commands with its name, i. e. "Alexa".
The Echo works best with Fire Tablets, although it's also fine with iOS and Android devices. There are Alexa apps for controlling the Echo on both platforms. The app is used to configure the Echo, and lists the latest interactions with it.