{"id":424,"date":"2014-11-06T16:21:58","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T00:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelsiemsen.com\/wp\/?p=424"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:06:12","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T23:06:12","slug":"amazons-surprise-announcement-classic-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/michaelsiemsen.com\/wp\/2014\/11\/amazons-surprise-announcement-classic-apple\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon’s surprise announcement. CLASSIC Apple."},"content":{"rendered":"

Surprise announcement from Amazon<\/a> today. They somehow managed to keep this thing under the radar up to now, a feat Apple hasn’t been able to pull off for a while. As tech bloggers like to say, Amazon continues to out-Apple Apple.<\/p>\n

\"Amazon<\/a>So what is this gizmo? It’s a black cylinder, 9″ tall by 3″ wide, with a light ring\/volume knob, a couple buttons, and a bunch of microphones, plus a whole lotta holes for the hidden speakers.<\/p>\n

What’s it do? A bunch of things…watch the video below for a full understanding, but my take is that Amazon Echo is essentially a wireless speaker with Siri\/Cortana capability. Ask it questions you would normally google, tell it to remind you about stuff, tell it to play certain types of music, make shopping lists, etc. Nice when you\u2019re cooking and have raw pork juice on your hands to be able to say \u201cAlexa, what\u2019s the next step in the recipe,\u201d or \u201cAlexa, how many cups in a quart?\u201d (By default, you say “Alexa” to get its attention, but you can change this to whatever you want. “No” is probably not a good signal word.)<\/p>\n

But those are just the “for now” features\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Amazon<\/a>I see this as Amazon’s first step at becoming a central figure in your home that everyone interacts with, like what the X-box has become. It’s a shared device for the whole family, and their conduit to the Amazon ecosystem (and another reason to pay for Prime). I bet you there are internal Amazon presentations that show pictures of a proposed Echo home five years from now, where each room has an Echo posted in there.<\/p>\n

It’s like a home intercom: “Alexa, tell Timmy it’s time for dinner.”<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a central interface for entertainment: \u201cAlexa, play the latest Homeland episode.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s your home automation center:<\/p>\n

\u201cAlexa, turn on the A\/C.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAlexa, turn off all the lights upstairs.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAlexa, set the alarm.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

How about adding a camera in a future version? \u201cOoh, the shoes in this catalog are cute! Alexa, put these babies on my wish list!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

There are limitless possibilities if it works seamlessly.<\/p>\n

\"Amazon<\/a>Amazon wants to get another foot in your door, and a wireless speaker that does more than wireless speakering is a smart way to begin, just as the X-box was never intended to be only a game console. The question is, will people really use it for all of this, or will it go the way of Siri for most people\u2014a novelty for the first week or two, something to show off to friends, but then, enh, it\u2019s simpler just to do it on my phone. I don\u2019t think people mind being on their phones so much these days.<\/p>\n

But get folks used to talking to a device\u2026 \u201cAlexa play Christmas music,\u201d<\/em> and \u201cAlexa, turn it down a little,\u201d<\/em> and suddenly we\u2019re using it for a few more things each month. Like ordering groceries<\/a> from Amazon. Replacement batteries from Amazon. Another Echo from Amazon. ANOTHER ECHO FROM AMAZON. Okay, yeah, it\u2019s really not that scary. You’ll get one or you won’t. You’ll use all it’s features or you won’t.<\/p>\n

Here’s the official promo video:<\/p>\n