Amazon Updates Alexa to Remind You to do Stuff

Amazon is doing very well with its Alexa-powered line of Echo speakers. The products are among the best selling on Amazon and have grown significantly since launch with the ability to handle all sorts of tasks for you. A new update is coming for Alexa that will allow your Echo speaker to do something that could be one of the most helpful things Alexa and Echo can do- set reminders.

We all need to remember to do things and for most of us remembering to do things like pay a bill or go to a doctor appointment is something we normally handle by typing into a smartphone or hanging a note on the fridge. The problem is that sometimes we don’t have the time to put a reminder in a smartphone and those fridge notes can get lost.

The new Alexa update will allow you to set reminders using your Echo speaker and your voice. All you’ll have to do is say, “Alexa, remind me to go to the doctor Monday at 3pm” and Alexa will remind you. The Echo speaker will glow its blue ring when the time and date you wanted reminded on comes and tell you what you have to do.

You will also be able to name timers so you know what the timer is for. Say you are cooking and want to set a timer for something in the oven and something on the stove, you can set one timer for the bread and another for the pasta with this new update. The update also allows you to cancel timers by name. You can also ask how long the timer has to go so you know if you need to pause your movie and get to the kitchen. Right now these new features are for the US only, but Amazon says that the UK and Germany will get them soon reports Engadget.