Amazon/Screenshot by James Martin/CNET
Amazon’s launch event this week revealed a mixture of the on a regular basis and daring. On the one hand are updates to the Echo Show 15 and Halo View fitness band with a display screen, plus a brand new $60 Smart Thermostat that goes straight for the Google Nest jugular. On the opposite, there’s the aspirational (and doubtlessly problematic) Ring Always Home flying drone camera and the showstopper that stunned us all: Amazon’s $1,000 Alexa-powered Astro robot.
Amazon’s Astro is one other method that the tech large is constructing in Alexa voice instructions and hoping to get deeper into your heart and home. Astro can monitor your Ring dwelling safety system, ship gadgets from one room to the following and video chat — all whereas avoiding trampling your pets. Nonetheless, the bot is already facing privacy concerns, following Ring’s years of criticism for its insurance policies and police partnership
and privacy issues.