Niamh McGroarty | Reporter
Since the introduction of Amazon’s Echo home speaker featuring ‘Alexa’ in 2014, there has been fast movement from other technological companies in order to produce their own version of this “Personal Assistant.” Companies such as Google introduced their ‘Home Assistant’ to the general public in May 2016 and later released it in November of the same year. Also, one of Apple’s more recent developments – their ‘echo’-esk product, the ‘HomePod’ – was released in early February this year.
The way in which these products, such as the original Amazon Echo, works isn’t as complicated as first anticipated. Undeniably, the Echo is a very smart product, which is continually developing into a better and more reliable assistant.
The Amazon Echo has been developed in such a way that ‘Alexa’, when switched on and connected to the internet, is continually waiting for a command to be given. The word ‘Alexa’ is used as a wake up call for the device – once it has heard it, the Echo proceeds to gather the vocal command given which it then sends to the Alexa Voice Service. This is a natural voice recognition service in the Amazon Cloud, which is then interpreted and sends back an appropriate response to the question. The Amazon Echo is also designed with multiple microphones so that the device can pick up and interpret its users voice from a fair distance away, over music and other noises in that area.
The Amazon Echo has a variety of uses ranging from calling and receiving calls from another Echo device, recalling the recent news, telling short bedtime stories and even joining in on jokes when asked:
“Alexa, party on Wayne” (my personal favourite to ask)
“Alexa, whats the first rule of Fight Club?”
“Alexa, show me the money”
“Alexa, are you Skynet?”
Personally as a proud owner of an Amazon Echo, I feel as though my life has been simplified through owning such a skilled yet humorous device which allows you to carry out a multitude of tasks such as play music or even control your smart home. The list of things which the Echo can do is endless and some are undoubtedly hilarious. It certainly leaves me curious to discover where these technological companies will go next but regardless of what it is, rest assured I will be first in line to purchase one.
