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5 Ways the Amazon Echo Has Gotten Even Better

2 minute read

Amazon’s Echo speaker was first introduced as a personal assistant for the home. Now, its capabilities are quickly extending beyond being able to dim the lights in your living room and tell you what the weather is like outside.

Over the past few weeks, a handful of products and services have announced that they will start to work with the Echo and Amazon’s personalized voice assistant Alexa. Here’s a look at some of the new things you can do with Echo.

Order a pizza from Dominos

Echo owners can now get Alexa to order a pizza simply by asking for one, Dominos said Wednesday. Users will have to link their Amazon account to their Dominos Pizza Profile within the Alexa app to get this to work.

Call an Uber

If pushing a button to call a car wasn’t easy enough, summoning one through Alexa should be. Uber said on Friday that its car service now works with Echo. Instead of using the app, users can say something like, “Alexa, order me an Uber” to request a ride. Users will have to link their Uber account and set their location through Amazon’s Alexa app.

Stream Spotify

Those with an Amazon Echo can now ask Alexa to play certain playlists, artist, or genres without reaching for their smartphone, Amazon announced on Thursday. Previously, Echo could only stream Spotify over Bluetooth.

Learn about movies playing nearby

Amazon’s Echo can now serve up details about movies playing nearby, such as show times and plot points, among other tidbits. One could say something like, “Tell me more about The Revenant” to learn about the film. The feature arrived in an update at the end of January, according to Engadget.

See the Factories Where Amazon Can Move 426 Items a Second

Employees collect merchandise ordered by customers for shipment from the Amazon.com distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 26, 2012.
Employees collect merchandise ordered by customers for shipment from the Amazon.com distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 26, 2012. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images
A worker collects order items at the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on Nov. 28, 2013.
A worker collects order items at the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on Nov. 28, 2013.Andrew Yates—AFP/Getty Images
Merchandise sits on shelves before shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 26, 2012.
Merchandise sits on shelves before shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 26, 2012. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images
An employee packs merchandise for shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center in Phoenix, Arizona, Dec. 2, 2013.
An employee packs merchandise for shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center in Phoenix, Arizona, Dec. 2, 2013. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images
BRITAIN-US-RETAIL-COMPANY-AMAZON
A picture shows the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on November 28, 2013, ahead of Cyber Monday on December 2nd, expected to be one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.Andrew Yates—AFP/Getty Images
BRITAIN-US-RETAIL-COMPANY-AMAZON
An employee packs orders in the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on November 28, 2013, ahead of Cyber Monday on December 2nd, expected to be one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.Andrew Yates—AFP/Getty Images
Inside An Amazon.com Distribution Center On Cyber Monday
Employee Maria Miller loads boxes onto a conveyer belt for shipping at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Interior view of the hall of a logistics center of the online shopping company Amazon, taken on March 26, 2014 in Leipzig, eastern Germany.
Interior view of the hall of a logistics center of the online shopping company Amazon, taken on March 26, 2014 in Leipzig, eastern Germany. Peter Ending—AFP/Getty Images
Packages sit in regional delivery dividers ahead of distribution at the Amazon.co.uk Marston Gate 'Fulfillment Center,' the U.K. site of Amazon.com Inc. in Ridgmont, United Kingdom, Dec. 3, 2012.
Packages sit in regional delivery dividers ahead of distribution at the Amazon.co.uk Marston Gate 'Fulfillment Center,' the U.K. site of Amazon.com Inc. in Ridgmont, United Kingdom, Dec. 3, 2012. Simon Dawson—Bloomberg/Getty Images

Read Kindle books

Echo can now be your own personal storyteller. Within the last several weeks, Alexa gained the ability to read certain Kindle titles out loud the same way she does with news headlines. Alexa can also pick up from where you left off on your mobile device.

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