TechCrunch - Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at 6:00 AM
Amazon rolls out Alexa Guard, to help protect your home while you’re out
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Amazon <https://crunchbase.com/organization/amazon> announced this morning that
it has begun to roll out Alexa Guard to all Echo customers in the U.S. The
feature lets the company’s line of smart home products double as home security
devices while the user is out. Say “Alexa, I’m leaving” on your way out the
door, and the Echo <https://crunchbase.com/organization/echo> device will start
listening.
The key feature here is something called “Smart Alerts,” which listen for key
sounds, including breaking glass and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. If the
Echo hears the noise, it will send you an alert, coupled with an audio
recording of the noise.
It’s an interesting new addition and one that leverages the sometimes
controversial fact that the device’s mics are designed to always be listening.
Amazon points out that it worked with licensed contractors to break hundreds of
different glass windows with different instruments in order to create a wide
range of different sounds for Alexa to listen for.
The new feature works with different smart home devices, as well. Users with
Ring or ADT pro monitoring can set it up to forward alerts to their providers.
Users with Away Lighting setup, meanwhile, can use the alert to flip on lights
in order to make it look like you’re still around.
The app is rolling out as a free addition to all Echo owners in the U.S.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/14/amazon-rolls-out-alexa-guard-to-help-protect-your-home-while-youre-out/
David Goldfield
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