If you don’t handle criticism well, you’re gonna want to skip this one out. Amazon has added a new member to the Echo family, albeit a very judgmental one. Evidently, the tech-giant has decided that the world populace needs a helping hand in dressing themselves in the morning, so now we’ve been gifted with the new Alexa powered Echo Look.
This oval shaped home assistant works as a voice-responsive ‘selfie-machine’ that can take full length photos and videos of you before you leave the house. While there’s no built-in display on the device, the footage can be viewed from your smartphone or tablet. The device works with the Look’s Style Check, an application programmed to rate your style choices using machine learning algorithms from so-called “style specialists”. This is the part that has probably turned the most heads. Fashion, as with all other forms of self-expression, is inherently subjective, so I’m definitely skeptical about how a bunch of ones and zeroes will determine “chic-factor”. But hey, after seeing some of AI’s masterworks, who knows?
Amazon did not reveal whom its fashion specialists are, but only mentioned that the software was trained on a diverse set of individuals with different body types and skin tone, with no further elaboration. The Echo Look also keeps a catalog of your outfits, a personal lookbook, if you will. With this personalized ‘lookbook’, Alexa can recommend new styles and and clothing choices, which is sure to please all the Forever 21’s and H&M’s out there.
In addition to style shaming you, the Look features all the standard Echo capabilities such as traffic reports, music, weather updates, and smart home connectivity.
The Echo Look currently goes for $200 and is available at Amazon.
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