Amazon event day has arrived. As we reported previously, Amazon is set to take the stage in New York City today to host a live event promising to reveal “what’s next” from the brand’s in-house tech divisions and Alexa teams. Officially dubbed the Amazon Devices & Services event, everything is set to kick off at 10 a.m. ET and we will have a running live blog below to keep you posted on all of the latest gear and Alexa updates going live on stage this morning down below.
Amazon device and and Alexa reveal event goes live today
Today’s Amazon reveal event, as the name suggests will surely be heavily focused on new Alexa implementations and devices. While Amazon did just reveal its new family of Kindle devices late last year, just after some updated Fire HD 8 tablets, the supersized Echo Show home display models, and the new Echo Spot smart speaker with the display, last time Amazon hosted an event of this nature we got a whole new slew of Echo gear alongside a series of technical updates.
Today’s Amazon reveal event will be hosted by Amazon SVP Panos Panay and the Amazon Devices & Services team.
As suggested above and previously, many are expecting the long-awaited next-generation Alexa tech to be front and center during today’s event. While we have seen a number of hardware releases land in the brand’s in-house tech lineups over the last several months already, it would seem a bit of a shame not to at least introduce some new hardware to refresh the existing Echo gear lineup as well as the aging Alexa Echo Buds offerings. If past events of this nature are any indication, and there are some new hardware reveals today, we might very well see some of the new gear go up for pre-order starting later today.
It won’t be long now before Amazon takes the stage. We have been informed by Amazon that there will be no livestream of today’s event this time around, but we will have live updates on the reveals and will be updating this post as new details are revealed.
Amazon Devices & Services Event Live Blog:
Updating….
- Amazon is set to take the stage at 10 a.m. ET.
We’re coming to you live from Spring Studios in New York City, where we’ll be sharing the latest news from Amazon’s Devices & Services team, including what’s new for Alexa.
- Andy Jassy is kicking things off with a heavy focus on Amazon’s AI efforts, in-house silicone, generative AI applications, and more
- Amazon is using AI to help with customer review summaries, and highlighting “helpful” data, like whether certain clothing fits large or small, for example.
- Amazon admits “Alexa doesn’t always work,” but until now it has been limited by its technology
- Panos Panay highlights Alexa’s impact over the last decade:
Amazon Devices & Services Senior Vice President Panos Panay reflected on Alexa’s journey and its impact on customers’ everyday lives.
“While the vision of Alexa has been ambitious and incredibly compelling, right until this moment, we have been limited by technology,” Panos said.
When Alexa launched in 2014, it pioneered a new way for people to interact with technology through voice. While Alexa transformed homes and set the new standard for voice assistants, the vision was always bigger than what the technology allowed us to do, until now.
- Amazon has now unveiled Alexa+ – It can plan your next date, book the restaurant and call the babysitter to, can program all of your smart home devices, book a trip and auto send to everyone’s calendar. Alexa+ can also recognize the room full of attendees at today’s event: “…you have a room full of tech enthusiasts…”
Introducing Alexa+, our next generation assistant, powered by generative AI. Alexa+ helps you stay organized during busy days, provides detailed answers tailored to your needs, and handles everything from project planning to solving daily challenges—all through natural conversation. Here are a few core aspects of Alexa+:
- Conversational: Alexa+ engages in natural, flowing conversations that feel genuine. It understands context and meaning, creating seamless interactions with no precise “Alexa” language.
- Personalized: Alexa+ learns from you and the more you use it, the more personalized it gets— understanding everything from your favorite entertainment to your family’s dietary preferences, allergies, and weekly traditions.
- Gets things done: Alexa+ acts on your behalf, handling everything from date planning and gift shopping to travel arrangements and study help. From simple tasks to complex projects, it provides assistance you can trust.
- Even smarter: Alexa+ combines vast knowledge with an approachable personality, making generative AI feel natural and accessible. Helpful intelligence ready whenever and wherever you need it.
To help bring Alexa+ to life, Panos showcased a re-designed user interface on Echo Show. Alexa+ introduces an adaptive display to our largest Echo screen devices, so you’ll see your photos and personalized content from afar that transitions to a customized Home screen when you approach. Here, you’ll have access to your family calendar, music recommendations, a new “For You” panel with timely updates based on your interests, and advanced smart home controls.
You can also use Alexa+ anywhere you want, from your favorite Echo devices and the Alexa mobile app to an all-new web browser experience. Alexa+ will remember the context of your conversations so that you can seamlessly pick up where you left off as you go about your day.
- Amazon has now unveiled the new Alexicons – this replaces the blue on-screen Alexa bar with contextual emojis: a smile, heart, checkmarks, and so on
Here’s some more details on the way Alexa+ can handle audio:
- Casually chat with Alexa+ to discover what to listen to next. With Alexa+ you can search for that song you heard during the credits of a TV show without knowing the artist or song title, or ask Alexa+ to help you discover new music within your favorite genre. Just ask Alexa+ to play the latest trending pop song and watch as it takes action.
- Move music from room to room. Seamlessly move your music around your home just by saying “play the music upstairs” or “play the music everywhere, but don’t wake the baby” and Alexa+ will know you mean to play on all speakers except those in the nursery.
- Jump to your favorite scene on Prime Video. Ask Alexa+ to jump to a specific scene in a movie on Prime Video without having to fast-forward just by using details like the actor or character’s name, or a quote. For example, just say “what’s that movie where Bradley Cooper sings a duet? Jump to that scene…” and it will play on your Fire TV.
- Get an overview of what’s happened around your home. With your Ring subscription,Alexa+ can provide a summary of detected camera events, and show you the relevant Ring footage across compatible Echo Show devices. So, if you had a package delivered or you had a dog walker stop by, Alexa+ can show you the highlights from the day. The experience will also integrate with Ring’s new Smart Video Search, allowing you to more easily find specific moments you care about. For example, you can ask Alexa+ specific questions like “Did someone take out the garbage bins?” or “When was the last time the dog went out for a walk?”
New Alexa+ smart integration highlights:
- Create new Routines by voice. Customers love setting up personalized automations with Alexa—also known as Routines—to get a helping hand throughout their day. With Alexa+, you can now set up complex Routines with a simple voice request, no app needed.
- Get an overview of what’s happened around your home. With your Ring subscription,Alexa+ can provide a summary of detected camera events, and show you the relevant Ring footage across compatible Echo Show devices. So, if you had a package delivered or you had a dog walker stop by, Alexa+ can show you the highlights from the day. The experience will also integrate with Ring’s new Smart Video Search, allowing you to more easily find specific moments you care about. For example, you can ask Alexa+ specific questions like “Did someone take out the garbage bins?” or “When was the last time the dog went out for a walk?”
Amazon just introduced a new Alexa+ feature that “that enables customers to share a wide range of documents with Alexa+, from emails and manuals to family recipes and study materials.” Alexa+ can recall and extract important details from these documents:
Want to know what your HOA guidelines say about solar panels? Simply upload the document and ask Alexa+. Or, need to know exactly how much oil your grandma’s favorite zucchini bread uses? Alexa+ can help with that, too.
That’s not all. If you don’t have time to read multiple emails from the kids’ school, you can now forward them to Alexa+ to distill the essential information for you. Once Alexa+ has your email, you can then ask questions like “do I need to bring anything to the school fundraiser?”
More details on third-party AI integrations:
Alexa+ also features cutting-edge agentic capabilities to complete tasks on your behalf. Daniel highlighted an example that involved getting recommendations for a home maintenance provider who can fix an oven, contacting them to book a repair for you, and sending the request to the provider via Thumbtack to complete the service appointment booking behind the scenes.
Talking about a future full of agents with specialized skills and interoperability between agents, Daniel showed Alexa+’s integration with Suno where you can turn simple, creative requests into complete songs, including vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation. He announced a preview of the new Alexa AI Multi-Agent SDK that will let brands showcase their agent alongside Alexa.
Lastly, Daniel showed a glimpse of a future capability that will enable customers conversationally create and edit grocery lists on the fly, revise a list based on dietary preferences, and add ingredients to an Amazon Fresh order. The experience will also integrate with Whole Foods and partners like Grubhub.
- Alexa+ will cost $19.99 per month, but it’s totally FREE for Prime members
- Early access will begin next month with support for Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21
- Plus Amazon announces the new Alexa website and an updated smartphone app
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