Every year, during the first week in January, major players in the tech world gather in Las Vegas for the annual CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Tech companies from around the globe show off their newest gadgets and designs, giving consumers a peak into the future — both near and far off. I couldn't make it to Las Vegas, but I did visit some of the websites that cover the tech industry to find out what's "hot" and what's not.
According to Wired Magazine, the unequivocal star of this year’s CES was Amazon Alexa. Last May Amazon introduced the Amazon Echo, a 9.25-inch cylinder that acts as a music playback speaker and connects to a voice-controlled, cloud based “intelligent personal assistant” service known as Alexa. Say “Alexa,” followed by a command that it has been programmed to understand, and Alexa makes it happen. When first introduced Alexa, and the Echo, were seen as something of a toy device, only good for playing audio (“Alexa, play the Bloomberg podcast.”) and ordering from Amazon (Alexa, reorder Tom’s toothpaste.”). Since then, Amazon has made Alexa technology available to third party developers, and the results have been phenomenal. There were dozens of Alexa-enabled devices at CES, from Smart-Home applications that control devices in our home and automobiles.
Ford Motors showed off a car that connects to Alexa by pushing a button on the steering wheel. According to the Ford Media website, the onboard Alexa can check the weather, play audiobooks, search and transfer local destinations to navigation, request news and add items to Amazon shopping lists. Vehicle owners can even control Alexa enabled devices in our homes, including garage door openers, lighting and security systems, and heating and air conditioning systems. Say a command while sitting in your car, such as “Alexa, set the air conditioner to 72º,” and when you arrive home, your house will be at just the right temperature.
Ford’s in-car Alexa integration is scheduled to debut this summer, but owners of some Ford vehicles will be able to take advantage of some Alexa features next month. Owners of electric vehicles — the Ford Focus Electric, Fusion Energi and C-MAX Energi — will be able to use an Echo to preform certain automobile related tasks from home. Command include starting and stopping the car (not a good idea if someone else is driving it), locking and unlocking doors and monitoring vehicle readings such as fuel level and battery range. Say “Alexa, ask my FordMobile to lock my car,” or “Alexa, ask my FordMobile to start my car,” and it is done.
In the home, Alexa has been integrated with 21 new Whirlpool appliances, slated for release in 2017. As with the Ford vehicles, users must have an Echo in their home to take advantage of these unique features. A Whirlpool oven will let owners set cooking times and temperatures with a spoken command, and during cooking they can ask how much cooking time remains. Washers and dryers will also be able to give time remaining, or enable a quiet mode. Whirlpool refrigerators will allow you to change the internal temperature with voice commands.
Last year LG introduced a line of refrigerators with an “Insta-View” screen on the door that was capable of showing images of the products inside the appliance. This year LG is adding Alexa integration. The “Insta-View” screen is voice controlled and promises to have the ability to set timers, tell you how many teaspoons are in a cup, play music, check weather, show an image of what is inside and order food from Amazon Prime Pantry. There is also an app that allows you to access the information on your smart-phone when you are away from home. If you are grocery shopping and can’t remember if you need milk, just take out your smart-phone and take a look at the inside of your refrigerator. LG has not announced when the appliance will be available.
Neither Ford, Whirlpool or LG have announce pricing on their Alexa compatible devices, but the list price of last year’s “Insta-View” refrigerator started at over $4,000.
A note on the Amazon Echo — Since the Echo was first released, Amazon has introduced two new models. The original Echo sells for $180, the slightly smaller Echo Tap sells for $130 and the disk shaped Echo Dot sells for $50. Visit the Amazon website to compare the three devices.
Next week’s column will cover more innovations from CES 2017.
What follows are links that provide more information on products mentioned in today's column.
Alexa:
Whirlpool
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/191204/20170104/ces-2017-whirlpool-and-amazon-partner-up-to-integrate-alexa-with-smart-appliances.htm
Ford
https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2017/01/04/alexa-car-ford-amazon-shop-search-home.html
LG
http://www.lg.com/us/refrigerators/lg-LMXC23796D-french-4-door-refrigerator
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