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Amazon quietly makes Alexa even more convenient with a bunch of cool new features

Mar 06, 2020, 7:26 AM

Adrian Diaconescu

Amazon quietly makes Alexa even more convenient with a bunch of cool new features

While Google Assistant is getting ready to drop a cool feature unveiled way back in May 2018 and actually released around a year ago, Amazon appears to have greatly enriched Alexa's capabilities over the last month or so with little to no fanfare.

In a February roundup published earlier this week on the official blog dedicated to its massively popular virtual assistant, the e-commerce giant highlighted several new ways in which Alexa can help you stay informed and on top of your daily schedule.

Probably the coolest thing that Alexa can now do and was seemingly not possible before is sending information about your daily commute, traffic conditions, or directions to a destination from your smart speaker to your phone. That way, you can plan your journey to work or a holiday destination before leaving your house and simply ask your digital assistant to send that to your mobile device, which will then be ready to offer guidance using your favorite navigation app.

Basically, what Amazon is trying to do there is make you forget about the small number of phones available today that are actually equipped with hands-free Alexa support right out the box. Meanwhile, it's hard to argue with the appeal, power, and versatility of screen-sporting Alexa-enabled devices like the full-sized second-gen Echo Show or Echo Show 8, which can now play video highlights from NBA games without you having to lift a finger.

Of course, you don't always need to keep asking Amazon's voice assistant for useful information, as Alexa is oftentimes capable of anticipating your behavior or at least memorizing things of interest to you. For instance, you only have to ask once to receive severe weather alerts now, and the AI will let you know every time there's a storm brewing in your area.

Last but certainly not least, the long line of recent retirements from the Democratic presidential primary didn't stop Amazon from launching a general election hub of sorts. Alexa is now capable of recapping debates, sharing information on the latest polls, as well as answer questions on candidate positions, endorsements, and campaign events, not to mention offer live updates on results for individual states.

Unfortunately, the virtual assistant can't tell Democratic voters which of the remaining two candidates is better equipped to beat Trump in November.