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Amazons Alexa Will Now Include the Voice of Samuel L. Jackson

Siri may continue to struggle with Apple users’ most basic requests, but over at Amazon they seem to be making all sorts of enormous strides with voice recognition devices.

RELATED: Want to Laugh? Ask Alexa One of These Unexpected Questions

The latest is in the delivery. Because now you can kick Alexa’s voice to the kerb and load Samuel L. Jackson on your Amazon Echo to tell you what time it is (or, what motherf**king time it is, if you like — more on this later). No kidding.

99-CENT SAMUEL

The feature is part of an upgrade to Amazon’s Alexa that, for 99 cents, will let you add the voice of Samuel L. Jackson or another celebrity to Echo devices. It was announced at Amazon’s annual major product reveal, which took place on September 25 in Seattle.

Jackson’s voice is the launch option, with other celebrities to be added next year. The feature is made possible by neural text-to-speech tech that has the power to mimic voices from a sample recorded by the subject. Which is a bit freaky, when you think about it.

Anyway, Jackson “can tell you jokes, let you know if it's raining, set timers and alarms, play music and more — all with a bit of his own personality.” And you can also set him up to be explicit, if you need a bit of ol’ Sweary L. Jackson to fire you up in the morning.

OTHER AMAZON REVEALS

Still, the Alexa voice news was just the tip of the iceberg at an event that also unveiled:

New Echo wearable tech that includes: Echo Frames spectacles, which vibrate with notifications and have built-in microphones; Echo Buds, Amazon’s new wireless Bluetooth earbuds that feature noise-reduction technology and can activate Alexa by voice; the Echo Loop ring, which allows owners to record messages and send them to an Echo speaker; and Fetch, a tracker designed to attach to a pet collar.

The introduction of Alexa to all General Motors cars next year.

The Echo Flex miniature smart speaker, which plugs into the wall.

The Echo Glow — an internet-connected light that can change colour with music.

A voice-controlled smart oven, which can pair with a user’s phone to allow them to scan barcodes to set accurate cooking temperatures and times.

Geoff Blaber, an analyst with CCS Insight, described Amazon’s presentation as an “avalanche” of new products “[It] underlines Amazon's desire to extend Alexa's reach to every part of people's lives — be that in the home, or on the move via new Echo Buds or in the car through the deal with General Motors,” he told the BBC.

“Not only will it will strengthen Amazon's reach with existing customers that use Alexa-powered products, it will also provide the opportunity to woo more consumers to embrace its increasingly ubiquitous voice assistant.”

We’re not complaining.

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Matt Shea, Khareem Sudlow