Amazon Echo Now Supports Custom Voice Commands

It has been a year that Amazon Echo, an expertly tuned speaker, was launched. The device that can respond to human voice when addressed as, "Alexa”, has been improved by adding new functionalities, VCPost reported.

“Echo connects to Alexa, a cloud-based voice service, to provide information, answer questions, play music, read the news, check sports scores or the weather, and more—instantly. All you have to do is ask.  Echo begins working as soon as it detects the wake word. You can pick Alexa or Amazon as your wake word”, Amazon explains.

The Verge reported that the device supported IFTTT, the automation service since June, but last week it simplified using some of the more complicated recipes. IFTTT ("If This Then That")  is a third-party service that allows creating rules (or “recipes”) that automate how devices, apps, and websites work with each other.

Users can now choose their own phrase triggers to activate IFTTT recipes.  Every time a user says "Alexa trigger" + the phrase that they have defined, the trigger will be fired. For instance, if "find my phone" has been set as the phrase, the user just needs to say "Alexa trigger find my phone" to make the phone ring.

Moreover, users can set Nest Thermostat to their favorite temperature using "Alexa, trigger Nest to 72". They can also sync their to-do list with iOS Reminders or OneNote and much more.

“It's a small but useful change, and that's how Amazon has been updating Echo since it was announced last year. With weekly updates and new features consistently being added, the Echo is a much more powerful device than it was six months ago, and it doesn't look like that trend is going to stop any time soon”, The Verge added.