Amazon introduces new Alexa features including Skype calling, FreeTime gets kid-focused routines, podcasts

Apart from announcing new Echo products, Amazon is also introducing new Alexa features. These new capabilities include entertainment features like the left-right stereo pairing, TIDAL, and Amazon Music New Release Notifications; productivity features like email management, step-by-step cooking, and location-based Routines. The location-based routines include smart home and home monitoring features like Alexa Guard, Hunches, and Local Voice Control; and FreeTime on Alexa features like kid-focused Routines, podcasts, new skills, and more. Thanks to Alexa Guard; Alexa can keep your home safe- just say, “Alexa, I’m leaving” to activate Guard. Once the Guard is enabled, Alexa can send you Smart Alerts about the sound of glass-breaking, smoke detectors, or carbon monoxide alarms detected in your home. Alexa can also turn lights on and off to help deter intruders using Away Lighting and can integrate with alarm systems from Ring and ADT to keep your home safe. It learns more about your day-to-day usage and can sense when connected smart devices such as lights, locks, switches, and plugs are not in the state that you prefer. The company also announced that it is rolling out Wi-Fi simple setup so customers can automatically connect smart devices to their Wi-Fi network and Alexa. Wi-Fi simple setup ...