As of today, all connected GE and Monogram appliances will work with Alexa-enabled devices.
Heads up, home chefs: GE and Amazon are about to make your life a little easier: you can now control connected GE kitchen appliances—including refrigerators, dishwashers, wall ovens, ranges, laundry, and more—with just your voice, thanks to Alexa, the brain behind Amazon’s cloud-connected Echo speaker.
Just imagine, you’ve got both hands full, but you’re able to preheat the over with just your voice. Or, if you’re busy with the kids, you can check the status of the laundry without having to get up.
If you’re going to use this skill, you’ll have to start referring to your appliances as “Geneva” to control them with your voice. Just enable the Geneva skill within the Alexa app, and you can, for instance, say something like “Alexa, tell Geneva I want hot water,” to tell the connected refrigerator to get hot water ready. Other supported voice prompts include: “Alexa, tell Geneva to preheat the oven to 350 degrees,” “Alexa, tell Geneva to set the oven timer for 10 minutes,” or “Alexa, ask Geneva if my laundry is clean.”
As of today, all connected GE and Monogram appliances, including Cafe and Profile products, will work with Alexa-enabled devices, including the Echo, Tap, Echo Dot, and Amazon Fire TV. In the future, GE plans to integrate this functionality with its connected window air conditioners as well.
Amazon’s Alexa now has more than 3,000 skills, or three times more than it had just three months ago. By the end of the month, Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football will be available on Alexa-enabled devices, letting you easily follow your leagues.
Meanwhile, Amazon may have inadvertently let it slip yesterday that it’s soon planning to release a cheaper version of the Echo Dot. The Amazon Echo Twitter account, in a now-deleted post, yesterday wrote “Introducing the all-new Echo Dot. Add Alexa to any room — now for just $49.99,” as Recode reports, a $40 discount.
