I'm sure many on here have already seen this, but Amazon announced a new subscription service for the lady A whose name cannot be mentioned for fear of a hundred ears pricking up across the land.
This will bring AI functions to the echo devices and the ability to perform more complex voice commands, like being allowed to fumble your words or chain commands together.
The cost is about $20 a month, but if you have a Prime subscription then you get it included, which is odd given that Prime costs less than this.
It seems that only the latest Echo Show devices will initially be eligible for this. But I was reading on ZDNet, that if you do have one of these, then the service will also unlock on your other Echo devices.
So I am hoping someone on here has an Echo Show and can post up their thoughts when it arrives.
Not sure when the next Amazon sale will be, but I will keep an eye out to see how cheap the Shows get.
Really interested to see where this one goes.
I think if I was going to pay for AI, then I would likely do it on my Mac rather than on my Echos, although it will definitely be something I'd want to play with. I think you can use it with the Alexa app or web site so it might still be usable on the Mac I guess.
Comments
Re: BBC
Whilst I don’t have an Echo Show, I do have a Fire TV Cube 2 and BBC iPlayer is perfectly accessible. They even made a change a couple of weeks ago so that the AD setting I is remembered so I don’t have to change it each time. Maybe it’s different on a Show.
A few years ago when I bought the Cube, iPlayer wasn’t accessible at all if I remember.
Re: Echo Show first
I am guessing that the Echo Show is first because it is less intrusive to show ads. Whereas on the voice speaker it is more obvious. I suspect they are just trying to figure out a way to pay for all this.
I think you misspelled…
I think you misspelled Stephen Fry.
I get it, I don't like the idea of us missing out on any technology, but asking for something that is specifically visual, on a visual form factor to not be visual, is a little bit of a stretch. We won't need an echo show to access Alexa Plus anyway.
there is also the fact that there are a million and one other AI solutions boiling up like ants. There will be alternatives that suit our needs better, which is the same for any user. It's not going to be one AI to rule them all, each has it's flavour and, part of the thing we look for is our personal understanding of what is accessible.
It's all a little moot anyway. Until it arrives on echo show, then on echo speakers, we realy don't know what it's going to be capable of... To be honest, I'm not sure Amazon knows either.
Echo show
1. This is likely to limit the initial number of users so they can cut down on duplicate bug reports and gradually expand availability as they become more confident in its reliability.
2. It's a niche use but theoretically you can use the show to watch Amazon Prime content or make video calls.
3. Some blind people may share their accomodation with someone sighted who would benefit more from the show, someone already mentioned their child enjoying their echo not to mention partners or roommates.
I'm confident this isn't designed to focus on sighted users, it's simply designed to limit the test user base. If it gives a perk to people buying the most expensive echo variant then that's just a bonus from a business perspective, be patient and think of this as a public beta where the show owners are the guinea pigs. I don't believe it'll be so earth shatteringly amazing compared to the standard A lady that I'm concerned about them using the more affluent people to work the bugs out.