Amazon’s Alexa has new hunches in the latest update as well as a Guard Plus in the smart assistant.
Amazon’s Alexa will now be able to observe and see if the lights need to be turned on at a certain time according to the movement of the people in the house. It will frequently turn the lights off and on depending on the usual routine it observes. Alexa was doing this back in 2018, and the company calls these instincts of Alexa as “hunches”. Before the update rolled in, Alexa used to ask before doing anything like turning the lights off before one was going to bed or lowering the thermostat, now Alexa will see if the body temperature requires the thermostat to be decreased or increased.
The hunches that are updated can be disabled and enabled, if they are enabled, Alexa will not ask before turning the lights on or off or even tinker with the thermostat or any other appliance. You can even select which hunches Alexa can operate all by itself, and which tasks Alexa should take permissions on, so therefore, it is safe to utilize this new feature.
Another new thing that Alexa has gotten updated with is the new Guard Plus. The Guard Plus will allow Alexa to observe if there are any unusual noises or activity happening, and based on it, Alexa will contact the necessary emergency services for you. The fee for Guard Plus on the Alexa app is 4.99 dollars per month.
Another thing Amazon is bringing is the energy dashboard which can showcase the amount of energy that the appliances that are connected to Alexa are consuming i.e., water heaters, TVs etc. Amazon has also listed all the products that are compatible with this new feature on their website.
All of these three new features will roll out in a day or two for the US.