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The Verge Guide to Amazon Alexa

Let your personal assistant help out

Since it was first announced in 2014, Amazon’s Alexa personal assistant has become a resident in thousands of homes, is consulted by exercising adults and studying children, plays music, turns on the air conditioning, guards the house, and tells you whether it’s going to rain. As of January 2019, according to Amazon, 100 million Alexa devices have been sold.

The types of devices that use Alexa are multiplying as well. What started with the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers has now expanded into a wide range of helpful speakers, clocks, displays, and other tech. Many are being sold as part of Amazon’s own Echo line, which most recently includes the Echo Buds, Echo Flex, and even a pair of smart glasses called the Echo Frames. Amazon also has incorporated Alexa into its Fire Stick (that lets you control your TV) and Fire line of tablets.

Other companies have jumped on the bandwagon as well, including Acer, Sonos, Lenovo, Sony, and Bose, among many others.

But which Alexa-based device should you buy? And once you have Alexa, what do you do with it? The Verge Guide to Amazon Alexa can help. We offer reviews and coverage of the latest Alexa-containing devices, along with tips on how best to use Alexa and its various skills (Amazon’s term for Alexa’s apps).

So fire up your smart speaker and let Alexa help.