Icon: enlarge
Indoor drone from Amazon's daughter Ring
Photo: Ring / Amazon
With flying cameras, a car alarm system, spherical speakers, a flat rate game and a more adult Alexa, Amazon wants to be even more present in the households of its customers.
On the one hand, the language assistant should sound more like a person, said Amazon manager Rohit Prasad on Thursday during the product presentation.
On the other hand, Alexa should be able to be involved in simple conversations in the household.
As an example, Amazon demonstrated the situation in which a pizza is selected and ordered - Alexa listed the options and responded to users' decisions.
"We will probably need most of the coming year to bring out the first functions with it," said Amazon's equipment manager Dave Limp.
They could also be available in two or three languages - possibly also German, but that has not yet been decided.
"It's a breakthrough, but we still have work to do."
Icon: enlarge
The "Echo" speakers have become more rounded
Photo: Amazon
In an online presentation, Amazon also presented new models of its networked "Echo" speakers, which cost between almost 70 and almost 100 euros and will be delivered in the course of the year.
The entire model range is now round like a ball.
So far, most of the "Echo" models since the first generation have been in the shape of a cylinder.
The idea of spherical speakers has been well received by consumers, said Limp.
In addition, Amazon can use it to implement better sound.
The drone will initially only fly in the USA
The display of the "Echo Show" model (243.69 euros) can now rotate so that the user can keep an eye on it, even when moving around the room.
For this, the camera recognizes the shape of a person, but there is no face recognition to identify a person, emphasized Limp.
Amazon placed particular emphasis on a silent motor.
Thanks to the rotation function, the "Echo Show" can now be better used as a security camera when on the move.
The most unusual of the new devices presented on Thursday is a security camera from subsidiary Ring called Always Home, which can fly through the household as a mini drone to cover different rooms.
According to Limp, it is intended for customers who do not want or cannot place several cameras in different rooms.
The drone camera can either follow a route specified by the owner - or react to information from other sensors and fly to where, for example, a window has been opened or one of the "echo" loudspeakers heard the sound of breaking glass.
If the drone becomes popular with users in the US, it should also come to Germany, said Limp.
Amazon has not yet announced what it will cost.
Ring alarm system for cars
Icon: enlarge
A ring camera should also protect the car interior in the future
Photo: HANDOUT / AFP
With Ring, Amazon also wants to get more into the car.
A ring car alarm system with sensors and siren is available as a retrofit device.
A camera should protect the car interior.
In addition, Amazon also offers an interface for car manufacturers so that they can directly integrate ring security functions.
Tesla is the first car company whose cars should be compatible with the car alarm.
Since taking over the surveillance camera startup Ring two years ago for a billion dollars, Amazon has expanded its security portfolio with surveillance cameras, among other things, which civil rights activists criticize.
"Amazon and other companies offer technology with which people decide in the shortest possible time who belongs in their neighborhood and who does not, and through which they can call the police so that they can confront these people," said the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in summer.
Ring boss Leila Rouhi said in an interview that the company would never share videos with law enforcement officers on its own, that the users would decide.
Ring's goal is to bring about peace of mind.
"Alexa, delete everything I've ever said"
After competitors like Google and Microsoft, Amazon is also starting an online offering of video games.
The games run on the Group's servers and not on the user's devices and are streamed to their screen via a fast Internet connection.
Amazon's business idea for the service with the name Luna are channels from various game providers that customers can subscribe to.
Luna will initially start in the US for six dollars a month.
Amazon also makes it easier for Alexa users to delete their data.
For example, you will be able to tell the voice assistant: "Alexa, delete everything I've ever said."
A setting is also planned with which fresh voice recordings are immediately deleted.
Like other providers of voice assistants, Amazon was criticized last year because employees listened to anonymized fragments of recordings in order to improve speech recognition.
In the future, Amazon wants to offset the power consumption of its Echo devices - based on estimates - with renewable energies.
The devices should also get a mode with lower energy consumption.
Icon: The mirror
pbe / dpa / Reuters
