CHICAGO (CBS) — The latest news from CBS Chicago is just an ask away through Amazon’s Flash Briefings, making it easy to listen to local headlines and stories from your Alexa-enabled devices.
By saying “Alexa, tell me the news,” or “what is the news in Chicago?” users can hear what’s happening in the Chicago area on demand from any Amazon Echo device, and soon from the latest generation of Fire HD tablets.
To add CBS Chicago to Flash Briefings, users update their personalized accounts via a smartphone with the Alexa app or online at Alexa.Amazon.com.
From the menu’s Settings, under Account users can select Flash Briefing and tap the “CBS2 News Chicago” toggle to turn on the updates.
Once enabled, Flash Briefings will include the top CBS 2 news stories happening now, summarized in less than 90 seconds and updated throughout the day.
“Our station is now positioned to provide news on all platforms,” Marty Wilke, CBS 2 president and general manager explained.
“From TV to web – and now on demand on Amazon Echo – CBS 2 is prepared to deliver the latest news to our audience where and how they want to receive it.”
Launched by Amazon two years ago, the Echo is an internet-connected, voice-enabled speaker that listens for commands and can carry out a wide range of functions: perform web searches, order food deliveries, control temperature and lighting in a smart home, play music, tune in to news and sports radio, and more.
A portable version called the Amazon Tap became available earlier this year, and the smaller second-generation Amazon Dot ships this month.
Amazon plans to add Alexa voice-controlled functionality to more of its devices in the future.
