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Amazon’s Alexa has steadily gained new skills in the seven years she’s been around, and this month brings some great additions.
There’s something for almost everyone here, from help keeping your medications stocked to new sound detection options. There’s even a way to figure out what to eat for dinner.
I’m leading with my stomach here, but my favorite of the new skills is “Alexa, what should I eat?” Stuck on ideas of what to eat? Ask Alexa to get a curated list of options based on your personal preferences and dietary restrictions.
READ MORE: Alexa literally encouraged kids to play a game that electrocutes them
Those options will include restaurant recommendations, recipes, prepared food options, and even meal kits. The feature works on any Echo or Alexa-enabled device.
Alexa can now use the new sound detection features to listen for water running or appliances beeping. That enables the voice assistant to let you know if the washing is finished, or if the tap in the bathroom has been left on.
If you’ve got an Echo (4th Gen), Echo Dot (4th gen), or Echo Dot (4th gen) with clock, you can use the inbuilt ultrasonic motion detection sensors to create routines. That’s to do things like turn on lights as you move around your home, or put your thermostat into an eco mode when it detects nobody is home.
READ MORE: Apparently, you’re not the only one who forgets to use Alexa
Other things Alexa can now do include refilling your prescriptions, once you’ve added them to your Amazon Pharmacy account. In addition, Amazon is adding the ability to open TikTok videos on your Echo Show devices, and a natural conversation mode for back-and-forth interactions.
The $249.99 Echo Show 15 is also now available for pre-order, with shipping starting on December 9.
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Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.
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