Amazon's voice-controlled PA Echo available next month

Part bluetooth speaker, part voice-operated bridge into Amazon US's retail and entertainment services, the cylindrical household accessory Echo will start shipping to customers from July 14.

Amazon-Echo-which-responds-to-voice-commands-and-answers-questions-can-now-turn-compatible-lights-on-and-off-control-fans-heaters-and-other-devices-Photo-AFP

Part bluetooth speaker, part voice-operated bridge into Amazon US's retail and entertainment services, the cylindrical household accessory Echo will start shipping to customers from July 14.

Priced at $179, the device answers to the name of Alexa, a title shared with Amazon's web traffic analysis company Alexa Internet.

In addition to playing music from Amazon Prime Music (or Pandora Internet Radio) and ordering goods on command, the Echo can retrieve sports scorelines, find traffic reports, become a control point for smart home devices compliant with Belkin WeMo or Philips Hue protocol, and tell Twitter, Facebook, Gmail and other services what to do.