I just heated up a mug of water in a microwave. It got hot. The difference is that I used the new AmazonBasics Microwave, which works with Alexa. That “works with Alexa” phrasing and the fact that this isn’t the “Echo Microwave” should tell you that this thing doesn’t have any microphones or a speaker (beyond one that can beep) on it. Instead, it’s a $59.99 device meant to showcase Amazon’s new system for companies to make their regular gadgets into smart gadgets. 
 
 The way the Alexa integration works is pretty clever: when you set it up, it will get paired to your Alexa system as “the microwave,” and then you can command Alexa to, you know, cook stuff. There are very few buttons on the microwave because all the presets for various food types have been stored in Amazon’s cloud instead. 
 
 It is, indeed, a microwave 
 
 There is an Alexa button on the microwave, and it does two things: it turns on the microphone on one of your Echo speakers so you don’t have to use the “Alexa” wake word, and, more importantly, it sends a signal so that whatever you’re about to say will be in the context of controlling the microwave. For example, you can hit the button and just say “stop,” and it’ll stop the microwave. (How this is more efficient than just hitting the stop button is unclear.) 
 
 The fun feature is the popcorn, though. When you set it up for the first time, you’ll have an option to sign up for a subscription to buy microwave popcorn from Amazon. Then, as you pop it, Alexa will keep track of how many times you have said, “Alexa, make popcorn,” and it’ll reorder automatically when you’re running low. There’s also a popcorn button on the device. 
 
 Is all this worth $59.99? Sure, it’s a pretty dead-ahead 700W microwave after all. It’s black and boxy and simple. I don’t have a lot more to tell you about the hardware. It has a rotating tray on the inside. There are vents and a metal enclosure. It ships on November 14th. 
 
 The point isn’t to wow you, though. The point is for Amazon to wow gadget makers with how simple, secure, and easy it is to integrate its Alexa Connection Kit. That little module includes Amazon’s new Real Time OS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and so on. The idea is that it’s a more plug-and-play solution for making more things talk to Alexa. It’s a smart move for Amazon, and it’s increasing its lead as the de-facto hub of gadgets in your house. ||||| At its event, senior vice president of Amazon Devices Dave Limp said "Alexa, one potato" to the microwave, and it set a timer and turned on. He then said "Alexa, add 30 seconds to the microwave," and the assistant updated the countdown. He also told Alexa to stop the microwave. The nice thing about telling Alexa to cook your food is you won't have to agonize over how long to heat different things. The new microwave will come with "dozens of quick-cook voice presets," much like traditional microwaves already offer, except you won't have to lift a finger. 
 
 Of course, this isn't the first microwave with Alexa voice control features, other companies like GE, Whirlpool, Kenmore, LG and Samsung have either made or are working on appliances with Amazon's cooking Skill. But this is the first Amazon-branded microwave, meaning it's hardware from the company itself and offers better integration with Alexa. The AmazonBasics brand also tends to be cheaper than competitors, giving consumers greater options. The new microwave will be shipping later this year, and you can pre-order it now for $60. 
 
 Follow all the latest news from Amazon's Alexa event here! ||||| For those who follow the company, the new device may not come as a surprise, following several leaks about the product before today, with two coming in the last week alone, one yesterday claiming the device would be unveiled today. 
 
 “Echo Show brings you everything you love about Alexa, and now she can show you things. Watch video flash briefings and YouTube, see music lyrics, security cameras, photos, weather forecasts, to-do and shopping lists, and more. All hands-free—just ask,” Amazon notes in its blurb on its product page. You can use the device for video calls and it looks like it will also integrate and enhance skills that you already use on the existing Echo, for example you can now see music lyrics for Amazon Music. It also has Dolby-powered speakers and eight microphones, and lets you use existing Alexa skills that do not have a video component. You can see more on how the Echo Show works in Romain’s run-down here. 
 
 The device’s potentially biggest feature — the calls and messaging — also herald’s Amazon’s move into a key, new area of services. Alexa Calling, as the feature is named, will also work on other Echo devices, and the Alexa app. More on this here. 
 
 The device weighs 41 ounces, nearly 1.1 kilos. It’s not a mobile phone replacement, that’s for sure! 
 
 A little slideshow of how it looks is here, and we’re embedding a video too below. 
 
 [gallery ids="1487132,1487133,1487134,1487135,1487136"] 
 
 Amazon first hit the market for voice-controlled home hubs with its Echo device, and it followed that up last month with a new iteration called the Echo Look that included a camera but not screen. That device is still only available on a limited basis. 
 
 The Echo has resonated with consumers and has been a runaway hit for Amazon. eMarketer estimates that the company will control 70 percent of the voice-controlled speaker market this year, amid competition from the likes of Google and Samsung. 
 
 With each device, Amazon has focused on different aspects of how it can utilise its advances in artificial intelligence to further advance what you can expect from its hardware. 
 
 The Echo has found a lot of success through the growth of a larger ecosystem of services that integrate with the device — the so-called “skills”. These enable people speak to it in regular “natural language” phrases to get answers from a vast database of information, or to command it to do things for you along the lines of what you might have in the past ordered or purchased through a web interface, or via an app. All this gets enhanced with each question, courtesy of the machine learning engine Amazon has built to underpin Alexa. 
 
 The Look takes that one step further by bringing in computer vision, including a camera to expand the kinds of functionality and responses provided by the Echo. Of course, there are many ways that a camera could be used — and not all of them innocuous — so perhaps unsurprisingly Amazon has chosen to market the Look for some of the lighter applications. 
 
 In this case, the aim with the Look is to own it as a “hands-free camera and style assistant.” You keep the device in your bedroom or dressing room, and use the camera to take selfies. Alexa then “reads” these selfies and gives you ideas on what to wear — and likely what to buy, given Amazon’s large ambitions in the fashion/apparel space. 
 
 The newest device, meanwhile, takes everything one step further. You can now not only ask the device questions or command it to do things like order food for delivery, or dim your connected lights, but you can see things now, too. The fact that so many people have cut off their fixed phone line connections or never use them, opting instead for cell phones, gives the company a window of opportunity to develop a new kind of device to take that place. (Note: for now, you can’t yet capture images on the Show. You need the Look for that.) 
 
 Beyond that, though, there are so many more things that this can lead to: for example, it’s just a small leap between the small screen of today’s device, and a larger console that can replace the main TV in the room. Considering Amazon’s other efforts in media, specifically with Prime Video and its Fire Stick to enable on-demand channels and Amazon services, you can see (literally and figuratively) where this might be going. 
 
 What’s also interesting, for the Amazon nerds among you, is to see how Amazon pieces all of its products and strategies together over months and years, pulling things from here and there and everywhere. As we uncovered, Amazon last year quietly acquired a video conferencing startup called Biba. Some of that tech has made its way into AWS’s enterprise services, but now can you can see how it may also be very much flowing into Amazon’s consumer plays, too.
– Running out of things to do with Alexa? Don't despair. Soon, you'll be able to tell your Amazon personal assistant to heat a mug of water, defrost a chicken, or prepare some popcorn. It's all thanks to the new AmazonBasics microwave that connects to Amazon's Echo device so you can give it voice commands. The microwave was unveiled Thursday in Seattle, Engadget reports. The appliance will sell for $59.99 and will ship starting Nov. 14th, per The Verge, which calls it "a pretty dead-ahead 700W microwave." It features many of the standard microwave buttons, but most of the cooking presets are voice activated (such as "Alexa, one potato," a command used by Amazon's David Limp a demonstration). You can also set it up to automatically order products from Amazon. "What this microwave does is keep track of how many times you cook popcorn and make sure you never run out," Amazon VP Daniel Rausch tells the Wall Street Journal. Also debuted on Thursday were other smart devices, such as an Echo for cars and a home security system, as well as improvements to Alexa like the abilities to whisper and hold conversations. It all adds up to Amazon's push to "unite a scattered industry," the WSJ notes. Through products like the new AmazonBasics microwave, the company hopes to get big manufacturers to use its Alexa-enabled chips affordable household appliances. As The Verge puts it: "The point is to wow gadget makers with how simple, secure, and easy it is to integrate its Alexa Connection Kit."