The latest news
Welcome to our live blog coverage of Amazons Devices and Services event!
Stay tuned, because this could be a big moment for Amazon!
Weve reviewed them all - check them out!
Shame, I quite like that.
When might Alexa 2.0 actually land?
Who is Panos Panay?
Will we see new neural online grid hardware today?
Will Alexa 2.0 change Amazons pricing strategy?
So, what happens if subscription fee uptake isnt high enough?
… and we’re through the doors now, too!
Jacob Krol joins Lance Ulanoff as our in-person team at the event.
According to Lance, there’s a palpable sense of excitement on the ground in NYC right now.
It’s created a bit of a buzz here."
For a group of folks who are disproportionately annoyed by their smart speakers, thats pretty high.
); the stage appears to have a ring of LEDs around it, currently a static white.
Perhaos it will glow blue or green when the big news drops?
He’s promising a 70-minute presentation, so buckle up for a long haul.
I’m calling fake news on those Alexa-themed invites (just kidding).
It is, however, cool to learn about how AI is improving customer shopping experiences.
Additionally, people used Alexa 20% more in 2024 from 2023.
Now we’re getting a cute highlight reel of real customers, which is a nice touch.
Alexa 2.0 has a name - and it’s Alexa Plus.
Overall, the demo is alotsmoother than the 2023 reveal, but it’s had long enough to develop.
Another big confirmation; Alexa will remember information - and presumably context.
In the age of Gemini and ChatGPT, this really stands out.
Another thing ticked off my wishlist; Alexa offers improved media searching.
Panay gives the example of asking Alexa; “What’s that song Bradley Cooper sings?
It’s a duet.”
To which she correctly returned “Shallow” fromA Star Is Born.
Music more generally is improved too.
), but also will be able to scrub through movies to specific scenes on request.
The demo for this did take two attempts before getting it right, but it’s an excellent addition.
Anthropic’s models are clearly in the mix of Alexa’s upgraded capabilities, alongside Amazons own Nova models.
It is cool to see how many apps and services Amazon has ambitions of incorporating, however.
In Rausch’s own words; “All I had to say was “Book it!””
Rausch sees Alexa Plus as having “cutting-edge agentic capabilities” without needing babysitting.
There are some further features possible thanks to these third-party services, too.
Rausch says Alexa Plus will work with Suno to make music based off of prompts, for example.
Lance says this resulted in a pretty catchy, fully-fleshed song.
Alexa Plus not only captured all of this information, but also made a shopping basket accordingly.
And there we have it, the kicker; a subscription fee.
As you might expect, this was widely regarded as creepy and strange.
The biggest surprise of today isn’t whatwasmentioned, it’s whatwasn’tmentioned.
Unsurprising, but man am I going to be feeling the FOMO.
Apt timing, Slack has just gone down while I’m remotely blogging an event with no livestream.
It’s not all about voice control, either.
It’ll recall everything you’ve told Alexa on other devices, too.
Am I biased as a smart home fanatic?
We saw a sneak peek of what that might look like today with Alexa plus - check it out.
Ooh, another gem from the Amazon blog post; apparently, announcements can now be made by-gadget.
Now, as the news peters out, my watch has ended.
Its been a real one.
To close us out, here’s the official trailer for Alexa Plus.
Nothing says get creative with AI like the bajillionth trailer featuring the same prompts and abilities.
Which, i’d assume, is very few people.
