Amazon Tap started developing Echo devices inside its Lab126 offices in Silicon Valley and in Cambridge, Massachusetts as early as 2010.
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27 Facts About Amazon Tap
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Additionally, the Alexa voice service is available to be added to other devices, and Amazon Tap encourages other companies' devices and services to connect to it.
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3.
The Amazon Tap Echo was originally supposed to be called the Amazon Tap Flash.
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4.
Lab126 believed that "Amazon Tap" is too much of a commonly used word, and the device would react when it was not intended to.
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5.
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon Tap, ended up being influenced by Lab126 to change the name of the device to the Amazon Tap Echo and the wake word to "Alexa".
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6.
The Amazon Tap Echo was originally pitched as only a smart speaker, it was not originally intended to be a smart home hub, as it is, until after it was launched.
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7.
Amazon Tap Echo was initially released in March 2014 for Amazon Tap Prime and invited members, and was marketed alongside the voice of the product, Alexa.
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8.
Amazon Tap has claimed that the voice of Alexa was inspired by electronic communications systems featured in the television series Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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9.
In June 2018 the Amazon Tap Echo Show was released to the public as a device with a 7-inch screen used for streaming media, making video calls and the use of Alexa.
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10.
Amazon Tap offers Guard Plus, this paid for option enables other features such as playing the sound of a dog barking when an intruder is detected.
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11.
Amazon Tap Echo is able to connect to many different smart home devices.
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12.
In March 2016, Amazon Tap unveiled the original Amazon Tap Echo Dot, which is a hockey puck-sized version of the Echo designed to be connected to external speakers due to the smaller size of the onboard speakers, or to be used in rooms such as the bedroom as an alternative to the full-sized Echo.
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13.
Amazon Tap never commented on the promotion or gave any indication of how many Dots were given away.
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14.
In July 2021, Amazon Tap ran a promotion to give a price discount on the Echo Dot, reducing the price from $39.
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15.
Amazon Tap is a smaller portable version of the Echo.
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16.
The Amazon Tap can do the many things the Echo can do; however, as it is battery-powered, it is portable.
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17.
Some limitations of the Amazon Tap include not being able to stream music as part of a group and not being able to send announcements to the device.
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18.
Three years later, Echo Look owners received an email from Amazon Tap stating that the device would soon stop working, because Amazon Tap was discontinuing production and sales of the device.
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19.
In May 2017, Amazon Tap introduced the Echo Show, which features a tactile 7-inch liquid-crystal display screen that can be used for playing media, making video calls, and other features.
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20.
Amazon Tap has released two additional sizes of the Echo Show making them available in both 5- and 8-inch displays.
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21.
On 27 September 2017, Amazon Tap launched the Echo Spot, a hemispherical device that has the same functions as an Echo Show.
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22.
On 27 September 2017, Amazon Tap announced the Echo Plus, which released on 31 October 2017.
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23.
In September 2018, Amazon Tap announced the Echo Sub, a subwoofer that connects to other Echo speakers, and the Echo Wall Clock, which can display how much time is remaining on timers set with an Echo device.
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24.
Amazon Tap announced the Echo Loop in September 2019, a smart ring with a button that activates Alexa.
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25.
Amazon Tap responds to these concerns by stating that Echo only streams recordings from the user's home when the "wake word" activates the device, though the device is technically capable of streaming voice recordings at all times, and in fact will always be listening to detect if a user has uttered the word.
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26.
Amazon Tap apologized and conjectured that one part of the conversation had been misinterpreted as a command to distribute it.
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27.
Amazon Tap retains digital recordings of users' audio spoken after the "wake up word", and while the audio recordings are subject to demands by law enforcement, government agents, and other entities via subpoena, Amazon Tap publishes some information about the warrants it receives, the subpoenas it receives, and some of the warrant-less demands it receives, allowing customers some indication as to the percentage of illegal demands for customer information it receives.
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