8 top products Amazon showcased at its Fall 2022 Hardware Event

Amazon product news roundup: At its Fall 2022 Hardware Event last week, Amazon showed off its status as a technology creator versus an online retailer. Here are the latest product announcements:

Sleep tracker:

• Amazon’s most novel offering is the Halo Rise, a bedside device with three purposes: a clock, a light, and a tracker that assesses sleep quality based on breathing rhythms.
• Unlike a wearable, the Halo Rise monitors sleep from a distance, sending sleep optimization tips to an app.
• The light feature also slowly brightens to match sleep-wake cycles.

E-reader:

• Amazon announced its next generation entry-level Kindle in September, and now it’s showcasing a Scribe e-reader.
• Instead of only downloading e-books and reading them, Scribe lets you write on the device with an included pen.
• The most obvious purpose of this is to take notes about books, but it could also be used for editing documents, list-making, and journaling.

Home security:

• The tech giant made two additions to its Ring security camera series: The Spotlight Cam Plus and Spotlight Cam Pro.
• The Plus is an outdoor security camera with an integrated spotlight. It can be solar- or battery-powered, hardwired, or plugged in.
• The Pro adds improved audio quality and radar-powered 3D motion detection, as well as a bird’s-eye view feature that provides an aerial view of a property.

Connected TV (CTV):

• Amazon announced its Fire TV Omni QLED line as a premium upgrade in its Omni Series.
• One of the biggest changes is an “ambient experience” feature that uses sensors to automatically turn the TV on or off when someone enters or leaves a room.
• The new models also offer quantum dots for better color, LED backlights, 96 local dimming zones, and support for advanced HDR formats.

Other notable products:

• The fifth-generation Echo Dot, with a temperature sensor and upgraded display to show more content.
• The Echo Auto, enabling Alexa capabilities for vehicles.
• An Echo Dot Kids device with child-focused content governed by parental controls.
• The Alexa Together, a service that helps families monitor loved ones.

Bezos at bedtime, and at all times: While other tech companies want to take consumers to virtual worlds, Amazon is taking another path, including with its pending acquisition of iRobot—maker of the home-mapping Roomba.

• It wants to be a perpetual and pervasive presence in consumers’ everyday lives, especially in their homes.
• We might also see this expand to other real-world spheres like the workplace and even the doctor’s office.
• It’s part of Amazon’s push for “ambient intelligence” that renders IoT more invisible and interoperable in the background while it anticipates and responds to people’s needs—even as they sleep or journal.
• The strategy is solid given decades of consumer conditioning for ambient intelligence through sci-fi films and books.
• Yet mounting security and privacy concerns about Amazon’s desire to get personal with the public is bound to trigger more action by lawmakers and the FCC.

This article originally appeared in Insider Intelligence's Connectivity & Tech Briefing—a daily recap of top stories reshaping the technology industry. Subscribe to have more hard-hitting takeaways delivered to your inbox daily.

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