From Amazon today:
Dear Amazon Customer,
We hope you're enjoying Echo. We're working hard to add many of the features you've asked for, and we would like to update you on two new features.
Voice control for Spotify, iTunes, and Pandora: You can now enjoy hands-free voice control for these popular music services. To get started, simply connect your phone or tablet to Echo by saying "Alexa, pair my device." After you start playing your music, you can easily control it by saying the wake word and: play, pause, stop, next, or previous.
Simon Says: You've likely heard some of Echo's jokes—now there's another way to have fun with Echo. You can get Echo to repeat whatever you have in mind by starting with "Alexa, Simon says…" Here's a fun tip: you can covertly use the remote control from another room to get Echo to repeat what you say and surprise your family.
In addition to these new features, we've made numerous improvements based on your feedback. We have increased response speed and accuracy for many of your questions, expanded coverage of facts from Wikipedia, and added new spelling words and definitions. The companion app is now available on iOS and Android 5.0+, and you can now use the app to bulk delete items from your to-do and shopping lists. And we are just getting started.
Thanks for your feedback so far, it’s been immensely helpful. Keep sharing your thoughts on what else we can do to make Echo even better—you can always provide feedback through the Echo app.
The Amazon Echo Team
