Designing the Echo

 Fast Company looks at the design and redesign of the Amazon Echo since 2014.  Thoughtful examination of how complex consumer design works.

Why Amazon radically redesigned the Echo

You may be ordering one for Black Friday. But why is it shaped like that? ... 

Sisense to Understand and Visualize Data

Of interest. A challenge for the enterprise.  Will this solve it?  I like the idea of making the results broadly available in the enterprise.  Both for use of the data and understanding what you have available.  Now could it also intelligently suggest which data you need?   Point out the holes in your data, perhaps by industry context?

See also past posts on how Sisense can link with Amazon Echo ...

Sisense hauls in $80M investment as data analytics business matures  In TechCrunch By Ron Miller  @ron_miller

Sisense, a company that helps customers understand and visualize their data across multiple sources, announced an $80 million Series E investment today led by Insight Venture Partners. They also announced that Zack Urlocker, former COO at Duo Security and Zendesk, has joined the organization’s board of directors.

The company has attracted a prestigious list of past investors, who also participated in the round, including Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Venture Capital, Genesis Partners and Opus Capital. Today’s investment brings the total raised to close to $200 million.

CEO Amir Orad says investors like their mission of simplifying complex data with analytics and business intelligence and delivering it in whatever way makes sense. That could be on screens throughout the company, desktop or smartphone, or via Amazon Alexa. “We found a way to make accessing data extremely simple, mashing it together in a logical way and embedding it in every logical place,” he explained.   ..."

Smart Speakers Show us What AI is

I do like the way that Amazon is promoting citizen construction of skills.  Will this beat out the professional delivery of assistant intelligence?  Probably the first time this kind of competition has ever been tried.  The experiment will be interesting.

Amazon Echo smart speaker feels squeeze as Google and Apple make gains by Trevor Mogg in Digital Trends

Smart speakers are all the rage just now, with the market becoming more competitive with every passing month.

Amazon started the craze with the launch of its first Alexa-powered Echo speaker back in 2014, but more recently other big hitters such as Google and Apple have entered the market with their own offerings, putting pressure on sales of Amazon’s growing range of smart speakers.

Global smart speaker shipments reached 9.2 million units in the first quarter of 2018, the latest data from research firm Strategy Analytics suggests.  ... " 

Amazon Echo in Physical Store

Amazon Echo used in Physical Store for Customer Engagement

In LSN  Global: 

4. Tuft & Needle embraces Amazon
Seattle – The mattress start-up, which reportedly gets 25% of its sales through Amazon, will open its first physical store in the mega-system’s home town later this year.

The space will feature tablets that enable visitors to read Amazon reviews, Amazon Echo devices to answer customers’ questions and QR codes on products to enable seamless payments through the Amazon app.  ... "