Amazon’s voice-powered digital assistant Alexa had a novelty appeal to it upon its arrival in the Amazon Echo speaker. Streaming music, making shopping and to-do lists, telling jokes or even offering traffic reports became incredibly simple with its deadly accurate far-field voice technology. But it has become so much more than that in the last 12 months.
2016 was the year when Alexa technology expanded into scores of third-party products and systems. Alexa-powered home and entertainment system control was the story of this year’s CEDIA Expo and will surely be a centerpiece at CES in January.
Smart home, automation and entertainment brands compatible with Alexa now include: Samsung, WeMo, Philips, Caseta, LiFX, Control4, Insteon, Wink, Vivint, Scout, Logitech, WeMo, iDevices, Ecobee, Nest, Sensi, Tado and TP.Link.
That’s a lot of friends to talk to if you’re Alexa.
