Amazon Alexa introduces new smart home features

Amazon on Wednesday announced a host of new capabilities for Alexa, including a handful of new smart home features.

According to a report, Amazon has rolled out these features to make Alexa more proactive and predictive, including things like its automated Alexa Routines, smart home suggestions known as Alexa Hunches, and its home security features from Alexa Guard.

At its Alexa event today, Amazon introduced a feature that will let you turn on or off smart home devices at some specific point in the future. For example, you can ask Alexa to turn off the lights at 9 pm or in 10 minutes, allowing you to schedule these sorts of smart home interactions.

Alexa will also now gain support for remote switches instead of only wired smart switches. This allows users to push a button to trigger certain Alexa actions — like reading the news or turning off the lights — without having to use their voice.

Furthermore, Amazon says Echo Show device owners will be able to view multiple smart home cameras simultaneously on their screen via a new multi-view camera feature.

Meanwhile, the Alexa Together service will now be able to receive notifications related to smart home devices, like when doors are locked or if lights go on at odd hours, and more.