During the Amazon event in Seattle, the company announced two household items that you would never have thought needed the Alexa or Echo treatment – a microwave oven and a wall clock. That’s right, Amazon now has an Alexa Microwave and Echo Wall Clock.
Starting with the microwave, it’s announced under the AmazonBasics line of low-cost products, as reported by TechCrunch. And since it’s supposedly low cost, it is a very basic microwave as a result. It does feature a Dash button, which supposedly lets it order some popcorn off of Amazon for you, but nothing else. While we can’t imagine a use for this, but this does give a peek through the window into the American lifestyle.
Strange feature aside, it does have an ability that, with any other microwave, could be dangerous – it works with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. This is especially important because despite it having a button labelled ‘Ask Alexa’, it needs to be connected to an Echo or other outside hardware to actually get that button working.
Which leads nicely to the other strange item Amazon announced, the Echo Wall Clock. It also doesn’t have Alexa built-in, and needs a nearby Echo connected via Bluetooth to track timers, reminders and alarms. At the very least, it’s a fancy clock with LED rings that tracks and displays timers as well as countdowns.
The Amazon Microwave will be priced at US$59.99 (~RM248) and ships starting 14 November 2018. The Echo Wall Clock, on the other hand, will cost US$29.99 (~RM124), and will ship later this year, with no specific date given. That said, it’s unlikely that these appliances will ever make it here in any official capacity.
(Source: TechCrunch, The Verge)
