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TECHNOLOGY A23
Friday 4 March 2016
Amazon amplifies its Alexa line of voice-controlled devices
MICHAEL LIEDTKE In this Wednesday, March 2, 2016 photo, David Limp, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices, mostats.
AP Technology Writer speaks about Alexa family devices in San Francisco. Amazon.com is introducing two devices, the The Echo now ranks among
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Amazon Tap and Echo Dot, that are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Seattle-based Amazon’s
Amazon.com is introducing Alexa plays in people’s homes and lives. top-selling items in consum-
two devices designed to er electronics, although the
amplify the role its voice- Associated Press company hasn’t specified
controlled assistant Alexa how many have been sold
plays in people’s homes vices such as Apple’s Siri, graphics found 57 percent like the Echo. so far.
and lives. Microsoft’s Cortana and of them either had used or But the assistant has be- “The response has been
The products unveiled Google’s search engine were interested in using a come increasingly versa- nothing short of incredible,”
Thursday are echoes of that are built into the op- smart home device. tile as Amazon.com Inc. boasted David Limp, Ama-
Amazon’s Echo, a cylin- erating systems of smart- Alexa, a riff on the Library learned more about what zon’s senior vice president
der-shaped speaker with phones and other devices of Alexandria, initially didn’t customers want. Last sum- of devices.
Internet-connected micro- that do more than the do much but answer trivia mer, the company gave The 6.25-inch Amazon Tap
phones that became Al- Echo. questions, play music and outside programmers the is a slimmed down “grab
exa’s first major showcase The interest in smart homes order stuff from Amazon’s ability to build applica- and go” version of the 9.25-
when it debuted in late appears to be rising as website. The device’s lim- tions that work with Alexa inch Echo that sells for $130.
2014. Set these gadgets up more people become en- ited range raised the pros- in a move that expanded Unlike the Echo, the Ama-
and they’ll listen for your amored with their smart- pect that it might be a service’s skillset. Alexa can zon Tap doesn’t need to be
voice and respond to com- phones. A recent online passing fancy or little more now perform more than plugged in.
mands — for instance, to survey of more than 4,600 than a cute party trick for 300 tasks, such as hailing To conserve battery power,
read the morning’s head- adults in the U.S. by For- consumers who could af- car rides, turning on lights however, the Tap requires
lines. rester Research’s Techno- ford to indulge in a curiosity and controlling home ther- people to touch a button
Both new devices, called on the front of the device
the Amazon Tap and Echo to prompt Alexa to awak-
Dot, cost less than the $180 en and listen for a question
Echo and offer slightly dif- or a command. The Echo
ferent features in an at- operates on more energy-
tempt to plant Amazon’s intensive technology that
Internet-connected micro- allows people to summon
phones in more homes and Alexa with spoken words
other places. that can be heard from
In doing so, Amazon as far as 25 feet away. The
hopes to outmaneuver ri- Tap connects to the Inter-
vals Google and Apple in net through Bluetooth or
their battle to build hubs Wi-Fi signals.
in “smart” homes that are The Echo Dot, priced at
being furnished with ap- $90, represents Amazon’s
pliances, electronics and attempt to expand Alexa’s
other accoutrements that household presence be-
connect to the Internet. yond the kitchen or another
Alexa is competing against room where the Echo typi-
other voice-controlled ser- cally remains anchored.
Google engineers working
with UNICEF in Zika virus fight
PETER PRENGAMAN tion efforts. ated Press. Caio Julio Vasconcelos who was born with microcephaly is
Associated Press Zika has become an epi- Fabian said the UNICEF did kissed by a therapist at the Institute for the Blind in Joao Pessoa,
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina demic in Latin America similar projects during the Brazil, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016.
(AP) — Google said Thurs- and the Caribbean since Ebola crisis in Sierra Leon
day that a half-dozen of last fall. The virus is mainly and a recent dengue out- Associated Press
its engineers are working spread through mosquito break in Pakistan.
to help Brazil track the Zika bites and has been poten- nounced it was donating mation, and it has experi-
virus and the mosquito that tially linked to birth defects. Gary Stahl, UNICEF’s repre- $1 million to UNICEF for the ence analyzing large sets
spreads it by doing one of The data sets will include sentative in Brazil, said the fight against Zika. of data. The company has
the things the search en- movement of people gath- data would be cross-refer- Google said in a blog post seen a more than 3,000
gine giant does best: write ered from cellular phone enced with epidemiologi- that it is in a good position percent increase in global
algorithms. locator systems, weather cal maps created by the to assist since its mission is search interest in Zika since
Volunteer Google engi- patterns and epidemio- country’s Health Ministry. to help people find infor- November.
neers in San Francisco and logical maps of the Zika The result could help fumi-
New York are working with outbreak from the Brazilian gators know better where
UNICEF counterparts to Ministry of Health. to target, he said.
create a system that com- “We are hoping to make “We are hoping that what
bines several types of data predictions about where we can learn in Brazil can
to help predict where the the next hotspots might be useful in other coun-
Aedes aegypti mosquito appear,” Chris Fabian, co- tries” facing outbreaks of
might next be particularly leader of UNICEF’s Innova- Zika, he said.
active, helping in eradica- tion Unit, told The Associ- Also Thursday, Google an-
