Amazon also impressively staked its claim to
continue acting as an innovator in the tech
space, announcing that Alexa would soon be
available in various forms not commercially
available before. Those include the multi-
colored smart lamp the Echo Glow – marketed
specifically for children – and Amazon’s “Day
One Edition” products the Echo Frames and
Echo Loop, which are respectively glasses
and a ring to each be available in a limited
production run, at least initially.
HOW AMAZON IS CONTINUING TO
IMPROVE ALEXA ITSELF
Even people who don’t intend to buy any of
the new Alexa-equipped devices can soon
look forward to improved performance from
the Alexa inside the devices they already own.
This is because Amazon is using neural text
to speech technology to render the assistant
more emotive and expressive. From early
2020, Alexa will also be able to detect when a
user is frustrated about not getting a suitable
answer, leading the assistant to adjust its
responses accordingly.
The last thing you might want is for Alexa to
swear at you, but this could happen – in a good
way – thanks to the introduction of celebrity
voice options for Alexa. The first, set to arrive
later this year, is that of Samuel L. Jackson –
and there will be both clean and swearing
versions. Each celebrity voice will be just
$0.99, adding to the great value of the Alexa
ecosystem – even the Echo Studio and Echo
Buds are priced at $199 and $130, undercutting
the prices of the Apple equivalents.