Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. News

Inspired by Star Trek, Amazon wants us to talk to everything, everywhere

By

Amazon’s keynote address at IFA 2018 in Berlin was all about voice — and how the Alexa voice assistant is building a new industry.

Keynoter Daniel Rausch, Amazon Smart Home vice president, traced Alexa’s history and development beginning with inspiration by Star Trek communicators. Today, according to Rausch, the Alexa voice skills platform supports more than 50,000 unique skills and 20,000 Alexa-enabled devices.

Recommended Videos

Amazon’s metrics show tens of millions of users interacting with Alexa to control their digital worlds, as noted by Dealerscope. Customers address Alexa to request music, shop online, ask questions, make voice calls, ask questions, check or change their schedules, and manage smart home devices, appliances, and systems,

Related

But what’s happened so far is just the beginning, according to Rausch. “We know we’ve barely scratched the surface,” he said.

During his keynote, titled “Speaking to the Future: How Voice is Expanding and Improving Everyday Experiences,” Rausch alluded to the successful, self-sustaining growth model Amazon established to support Alexa and partners.

Shortly after Amazon launched the Echo, it opened developer support in the form of the Alexa Skills Kit. Adding the Smart Home API to the Skills Kit made it easier for developers to add Alexa compatibility to smart home platforms. As more devices become Alexa-enabled, user demand for voice control grows. The market feeds itself.

Amazon also made it easy for customers to build their own Alexa skills with Alexa Blueprints, introduced earlier this year. Customer engagement builds loyalty and trust and also supports the argument for an Alexa-responsive device in every room of the house.

Rausch gave the IFA audience evidence of success for companies that build Alexa-enabled products and those that add Alexa compatibility with Works With Alexa. Rausch cited Amazon data that companies that launched an Alexa-enabled device saw 43-percent business growth in the following nine months. Also, products with Amazon’s Works With Alexa certification quickly realized an average 53-percent jump in business.

In Rausch’s original keynote blurb, he promised to make a case for the growth of voice control overall and the Alexa platform specifically.

“Amazon has spent years innovating to deliver voice capabilities through Alexa, and today there are hundreds of thousands of developers and device makers building Alexa experiences,” Rausch wrote. “As customer demand for voice-first interactions continues to grow, new advancements in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and cloud services are contributing to an ever-increasing range of Alexa capabilities for customers and new opportunities for device manufacturers and skill builders.”

Earlier this year Amazon empowered Alexa with a new machine-learning-based CanFillIntentRequest interface within Alexa to enlist skills users don’t even know exist to fulfill requests.

Ruhi Sarikaya, Amazon’s director of applied science, wrote about other Alexa capabilities in the works at the time, all focused on allowing users to interact with the voice platform using natural language. Amazon refers to the process as making conversation with Alexa “friction-free.”

Sarikaya wrote about adding context carryover and a memory mode to Alexa capabilities. Rausch addressed the same features in his keynote, now called Contextual Mode and Follow Up Mode. With these features enabled you won’t have to start each statement with “Alexa” or repeat key content in a continued conversation. For example, if you asked, “Alexa, where is the Elvis Presley Museum?,” upon receiving the answer you could then say, “What’s the temperature there today?”

Rausch also mentioned Amazon working with open APIs for automobiles, hotels, and office services to give Alexa wider exposure in more environments, Dealerscope reported.

Amazon helps partners, developers, and consumers build for the Alexa voice platform in the belief that voice control will be a dominant interface shortly, especially with 5G on the way.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown
Contributing Editor
Digital Trends Contributing Editor Bruce Brown is a member of the Smart Homes and Commerce teams. Bruce uses smart devices…
The 5 best office chairs for long hours in 2024
The Verve in an office.

When you spend half (or more) of your day in an office chair, a $50 budget-buy store brand isn’t the kind of purchase you should be making. Not only are these cheap items more likely to break down over time, but there’s a good chance this kind of chair isn’t going to have the elevated support features your body needs. That’s why we’ve put together this list of the five best office chairs for long hours in 2024.

Each of these models are tailor-made for those of us who need a comfortable chair that feels good all day. We’ve also made sure to include a couple of options for folks who experience back pain, shoulder strain, and other sore conditions.

Read more
Matter gains support for kitchen appliances, adds new energy-tracking features
The Matter logo on a colorful background.

Matter received its big 1.2 update in late 2023, and now the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) is ready to officially roll out Matter 1.3. The latest version of the interoperability standard is now available for use, offering added support for appliances like microwave ovens and lclothes dryers, while also introducing new features for water and energy management.

The full list of new device types supported by Matter 1.3 include microwave ovens, ovens, cooktops, extractor hoods (such as vent hoods), and laundry dryers. These aren't quite as exciting or mainstream as the nine device types introduced with Matter 1.2, but it's great to see the CSA continuing to broaden the reach of the Matter network.

Read more
Best Ring deals: Save on Ring doorbell and Ring alarm bundles
Ring Video Doorbell 3

Ring is probably one of the most well-known brands and one of the best video doorbell brands on the market, so it would make sense if you want to get yourself a Ring camera, especially if you're in the Amazon ecosystem. Luckily, there are a lot of options out there, whether you want a doorbell or a floodlight, and while not all of them have deals, you can always find something refurbished or in a bundle that should save you a bit of cash. That's why we've gone out and collected the best deals we could find for various Ring product and collected them below.
Ring Stick Up Cam Battery (refurbished) -- $58, was $90

The Ring Stick Up is a good security camera for indoors or outdoors. It can go almost anywhere, and allows you to hear and speak to people on camera from your phone or tablet. You can customize the motion sensors to focus on specific areas of your home, and it has a Live View that allows you to watch over your home in 1080p Full HD resolution at any time. It even works with Alexa, allowing you to hear audio announcements when motion is detected. The Ring Stick Up sets up in minutes and it charges easily with a removable battery pack. This is a great option if you’re looking for something capable but versatile.

Read more