Advertisement

Alexa's one-way intercom feature arrives on Fire TV Cube

Amazon had previously rolled out Announcements to Echo devices.

If you have several Echo (or Sonos One or Beam) devices around your home, you might already be aware of the Alexa Announcements feature -- speak into one device and the others broadcast that message over their speakers. To knit its ecosystem closer together, Amazon is bringing the one-way intercom tool to the Fire TV Cube.

By saying "Alexa," then announce, broadcast or tell everyone, followed by your message, you can gather the family or your roommates together for movie night without having to yell at everyone to make their way to the lounge. Alternatively, you can tell your family members who are busy watching TV to move to the dining room for dinner. The update is rolling out on Fire TV Cube devices in the US.

Another update arriving later this month will let smart doorbells or cameras send notifications to your Fire TV Cube. So, if Alexa tells you someone is at your door, you can say something like "Alexa, show me the front door" and the Fire TV Cube will display what your camera or doorbell is seeing on your TV. You'll be able to determine which notifications your Fire TV Cube receives and which devices broadcast your messages through the Alexa app's Alexa Announcements menu.