Amazon adds fitness exercises to Echo speaker

Amazon has added new features to its voice-controlled Echo speaker. It is now possible to do a seven-minute fitness session with the device, with Echo telling the user what to do.

The new software was announced in an email to users, Phandroid writer Derek Ross noted in a response to Google Plus. The update comes in automatically when users have connected the Echo to their network and has as its main feature a fitness program that can be started with a voice command. Commands are given for seven minutes, with the aim of starting the fat burning process.

In addition, users can now ask the Echo for financial information about companies. The latest information about share prices is given via a voting command. Some smaller features have also been added, including the ability to ask when the next debate is for the US presidential election.

Echo came out in 2014, but is currently only available to Americans. It is unclear whether Amazon will also bring the Echo to Europe, but in recent times the company has received a lot of criticism because the features of the speaker did not work well. For example, voice commands were not understood properly. These voice commands work by calling out “Alexa”; that’s the name of the voice-activated system that Amazon has developed. Last year, Amazon released APIs so that developers can use the speech technology for their own applications.