The Internet of Things 2.0: when things start to listen
K. Moskvitch · Engineering & Technology · 2017
Alexa, are you pretty? Are you clever? What's six times eight? Will it rain today? She doesn't chuckle when she replies to my eight-year old's incessant queries. Her answers are professional and to the point. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I try my best. Six multiplied by eight is 48. It probably won't rain in London today. Then she gives us the weather. And the traffic update. And the morning news. And she plays some jazz. Echo is a sleek black cylinder from Amazon, and, with its diminutive cousin Echo Dot and their voice command platform `Alexa', represents a renewed push towards the reality of the `smart' home - converting all the buzz about the Internet of Things into a useful form.