Alexa is an intelligent personal assistant created by Amazon.
The voice of Amazon Echo, the ecommerce giant’s smart home device, Alexa interacts with the user through voice commands to fulfill a variety of tasks.
Users can ask Alexa a simple question like, “what will the weather be like this week”, and Alexa will gather information from the internet to reply with an answer. Among other capabilities, Alexa can set alarms, make to-do lists, stream podcasts, provide traffic updates and play music – all through audible commands made by the user.
Alexa can also be used to control smart home devices, transforming itself into a smart automation hub. Alexa can connect to devices like the NEST Thermostat and monitor the temperature of the room, as well as connect to Phillips Hue light bulbs to turn lights on and off. Users need only say a simple command like ‘Alexa turn the lights off’, and Alexa will connect with the corresponding device to carry out the command.
Alexa has a female voice and was first announced in 2014.
Alexa is a digital personal assistant and the voice of Amazon’s smart home device Echo that is capable of answering questions such as, ‘what will the weather be like this week.’
Alexa is a female voice that helps users to get what they want by replying to questions, or carrying out actions propelled by a user request.
Those using Echo simply have to say “Alexa” and they say a command, ask a question, or simply ask Alexa to take notes of something.
Amazon Echo was unveiled in November 2014, with a wider launch in June 2015. It is a smart home assistant device.
Ancient library or Starship Enterprise – how did Alexa get it’s name?
The female-voiced Alexa was first announced in 2014, with Amazon embarking on the project after having taken inspiration from the computer voice and conversational system on board the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek.
The name Alexa was chosen fro it’s hard ‘X’, which could be recognised with higher precision. It is also claimed that Alexa takes its name from the Library of Alexandria – a renowned historical site with vast troves of knowledge.
In 2016, Amazon announced Amazon Lex for developers. This service gave developers the speech recognition and natural language processing technology which underpins Alexa. Using the service, developers can create their own chatbots.
