Amazon unveiled an Alexa shopping machine for your kitchen

Amazon continued its expansion of its Alexa family of devices on Tuesday, announcing an Echo with a touchscreen and camera that could serve both as a voice-controlled shopping machine as well as a rival to Skype and Apple’s FaceTime video-calling service.

The gadget, called the Echo Show, costs about $230 and can respond to voice commands just like other Alexa devices to play music, read weather reports and set a timer.

It can also display a selection of goods from Amazon when you don’t know exactly what you want — a limitation that has hindered voice commerce on Amazon’s other Alexa devices up till now. The screen can also be used to show a weather forecast or a Wikipedia page.

The addition of the touchscreen and video camera also brings video-conferencing capabilities to the Echo, creating an alternative to Apple’s FaceTime or Skype for people who have one of these devices or an Alexa app on their phone.

Customers can now also turn multiple Alexa devices in a home into an intercom system, a feature that Recode previously reported was coming. It’s worth noting Amazon has invested in a startup called Nucleus that makes an Alexa-powered video intercom system, but has decided to also pursue this path on its own.

While Amazon’s family of Echo devices have been a huge hit in the U.S. to date, the company has struggled to get device owners to try new skills and keep coming back to use them once they do. But industry insiders believe communication features can be killer apps for voice computing, and that a launch like this one can help Amazon push ahead.

Amazon is also rolling out an update for existing owners of other Echo devices that allows them to make voice calls to other Echo devices or to people who download the Alexa app for the iPhone or Android phones. You cannot currently link a phone number with the system.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

We're here to shed some clarity

One of our core beliefs here at Vox is that everyone needs and deserves access to the information that helps them understand the world, regardless of whether they can pay for a subscription. With the 2024 election on the horizon, more people are turning to us for clear and balanced explanations of the issues and policies at stake. We’re so grateful that we’re on track to hit 85,000 contributions to the Vox Contributions program before the end of the year, which in turn helps us keep this work free. We need to add 2,500 contributions this month to hit that goal. Will you make a contribution today to help us hit this goal and support our policy coverage? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via