![]() The US$200 million fund has invested in companies including Jargon, Ecobee, Orange Chef, Scout Alarm, Garageio, Toymail, MARA, and Mojio. In June 2015, Amazon announced the Alexa Fund, a program that would invest in companies making voice control skills and technologies. They have said the name is reminiscent of the Library of Alexandria, which was also used by Amazon Alexa Internet for the same reason. Īmazon developers chose the name Alexa because it has a hard consonant with the X, which helps it be recognized with higher precision. Alexa was inspired by the computer voice and conversational system on board the Starship Enterprise in science fiction TV series and movies, beginning with Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation. In November 2014, Amazon announced Alexa alongside the Echo. Other new devices included an Echo dot with a clock behind the fabric, a new third-generation Amazon Echo, Echo Show 8, a plug-in Echo device, Echo Flex, Alexa built-in wireless earphones, Echo buds, Alexa built-in spectacles, Echo frames, an Alexa built-in Ring, and Echo Loop as well as the Echo Show generation.Īmazon Alexa devices on display in a retail storeĪlexa was developed out of a predecessor named Ivona which was invented in Poland, inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey and bought by Amazon in 2013. The new Echo Studio became the first smart speaker with 360 sound and Dolby sound. In September 2019, Amazon launched many new devices achieving many records while competing with the world's smart home industry. In January 2019, Amazon's devices team announced that they had sold over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices. Most devices with Alexa allow users to activate the device using a wake-word (such as Alexa or Amazon) other devices (such as the Amazon mobile app on iOS or Android and Amazon Dash Wand) require the user to click a button to activate Alexa's listening mode, although, some phones also allow a user to say a command, such as "Alexa" or "Alexa wake".Īs of November 2018, Amazon had more than 10,000 employees working on Alexa and related products. It uses automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and other forms of weak AI to perform these tasks. Users are able to extend the Alexa capabilities by installing "skills" (additional functionality developed by third-party vendors, in other settings more commonly called apps) such as weather programs and audio features. Alexa can also control several smart devices using itself as a home automation system. It is capable of voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and providing weather, traffic, sports, and other real-time information, such as news. It was first used in the Amazon Echo smart speaker and the Echo Dot, Echo Studio and Amazon Tap speakers developed by Amazon Lab126. ![]() ![]() Intelligent personal assistant, cloud-based voice serviceĪmazon Alexa, also known simply as Alexa, is a virtual assistant technology largely based on a Polish speech synthesizer named Ivona, bought by Amazon in 2013. We made a guide on how to add the Alexa widget to your iPhone if you haven't already.For the defunct subsidiary company of Amazon, see Alexa Internet.įire OS 5.0 or later, iOS 11.0 or later The Alexa symptom checker is available now on the best Alexa speakers, best smart displays with Alexa or the Alexa app on your smartphone. But it could be helpful in pinch to see whether the severity of my symptoms grows over the course of a few days, or if a weird rash I haven't seen before should send me to the dermatologist. I've done enough WebMD-ing in my day to know a headache is probably just dehydration and a runny nose is usually allergies. If you know how to use Alexa, you probably know you can tell Alexa to delete anything you've said at any time too. You also don't have to engage in any questions you don't feel comfortable answering. Health data is highly sensitive, so privacy is an immediate concern when learning about this symptom-checking feature. But from a quick test of the skill, Alexa's symptom-checker doesn't come off as pessimistic or matter-of-fact as WebMD about understanding why you might be feeling a certain way. I cannot emphasis this enough: you should not diagnose yourself based on what you hear from your voice assistant. It also leverages Amazon Care, which is the company's on-demand telehealth platform that can connect users with clinicians. Alexa could already use prompts to screen you for Covid-19, so this new feature appears to be a broader extension for all kinds of basic health conditions.
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