Amazon announced more than a dozen new hardware products today, along with several software updates, all aimed at bringing its voice assistant Alexa to more devices in your home--and even to your car. Some of the products were updates to existing Echo devices; others were brand new, like a new Echo Sub speaker, or a Fire TV device that acts as a DVR for local TV broadcasts. And, as rumored, there was a new home appliance in the mix too: An Amazon Basics microwave that works with Alexa and will sell for the low price of $60. There were few dramatic flourishes at the media event in Seattle, Washington as senior vice president of devices and services Dave Limp rattled off the new products. The event was held on the top floor of Amazon's Spheres, a biodome located directly next to the company's corporate offices.

Amazon unveiled its vision for smart homes powered by the Alexa voice assistant, with a dizzying array of new gadgets and features for almost every room in the house -- from a microwave oven to a security camera and wall clock. The Seattle internet giant is pushing Alexa more deeply into customers' lives, hoping to popularize technology that has yet to go mainstream and connecting people more to Amazon's universe of things to buy. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos sees voice as the next interface linking people and machines, like a mouse on personal computers and touchscreens on smartphones. The $50 hockey puck-shaped Dot is one of Amazon's best-selling devices, and with 70 percent better sound it's going after audiophiles on Sonos Inc.'s turf. Amazon also introduced a subwoofer to go along with existing Echo products as well as a pair of amplifiers that work like audio control centers for the home. The Echo speaker, with the Alexa voice assistant, debuted in 2014 and has maintained a lead over tech competitors Google and Apple Inc., which have scrambled to catch up.

When the original Echo Show debuted last year, plenty of people (including us) made fun of its chunky and bulky design. Well, Amazon must've taken those comments to heart, because the new Echo Show is decidedly much better looking. While the older Echo Show might've reminded us of mall kiosks, the newer Show looks a bit more like a smaller, cuter TV. I tried it out briefly, following the Amazon announcement earlier today, and the first thing I noticed is that it's much more minimalist in design, with a beautiful 10-inch HD display dominating the front. It even takes up less counter space than the Google-powered 10-inch Lenovo Smart Display.

Amazon caused a few gasps at its Alexa event Thursday when it revealed it had 70 things to announce. If that sounds like a lot to take in, fret not -- not all of those were hardware announcements. We've rounded up all of the Alexa-infused products Amazon showcased, including speakers, an in-car device and, um, a microwave? The revamped Echo Dot has a new look, with rounded edges, and packs more punch, with a 1.6-inch driver delivering 70 percent louder audio than the previous model. Amazon says the speaker has lower distortion and enhanced bass.

One of the most surprising announcements from today's Amazon event was a microwave oven, of all things. It's part of the AmazonBasics line of products, and you can use it for reheating food, making popcorn or, you know, using it for whatever a normal microwave would do. Except there's one special thing about it -- it works with Alexa. And while that might sound like a cool thing at first, I can't help but think it's really quite unnecessary. For one thing, Alexa isn't actually built into it.

The system, however, is scalable, and is able to learn in more personalized ways, as well, Lahrech said. Recently, the company rolled out Eno, a chatbot-type of virtual assistant that can do things like break down a customer's charges or alert a customer to fraud through a conversational user interface. The AI fraud detection tool uses natural language processing (NLP) to accept a wide range of interactive responses from customers if it does report fraud, which Lahrech said can help Capital One build more of a context around the potential fraud case. An example is with cases of "friendly fraud," or when a consumer tried to defraud a credit card company, in which the issues can be complex. With ML technology, those answers from customers can be used to give more personalized responses, and also establish a profile based on pattern recognition.

Amazon has launched a whole raft of Echo devices, with the aim of getting Alexa into and around everyone's houses. In its biggest event of the year, the company unveiled a huge raft of new products. They included everything from a subwoofer for your Alexa speakers to a smart plug that will allow everything in your house to connect to the internet – as well as completely new kinds of products, like a smart microwave and wall clock. The new updates are part of Amazon's plan to have its internet-connected voice assistant to everyone's houses, allowing them to listen to music and control their houses. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.

Amazon Alexa will soon notice if you talk to it sotto voce--and whisper its response back to you. The new feature, announced by Amazon today alongside new devices including a microwave and a wall clock at an event in Seattle, is one of several upgrades that will expand the virtual assistant's ability to listen to and understand the world around it. Alexa will able to confer with you in whispers before the end of the year, making Amazon's voice operated assistant less awkward to use when someone is, say, sleeping nearby. Amazon will also make its assistant capable of listening out for trouble such as breaking glass or a smoke alarm when you're away from home, a feature called Alexa Guard. Meanwhile, inside Amazon's labs, the company is experimenting with giving Alexa a rudimentary form of emotional awareness, enabling it to listen for the sound of frustration in a person's voice.

The Echo is a fine enough smart speaker, but what it's lacking is any sort of oomph in terms of sound quality. That's why Amazon will release the Echo Sub this October. The diminutive bass-maker features 100W of power and a 6-inch downward firing woofer and will work when paired with either a lone Echo or a pair, for a true 2.1 stereo setup. The stereo pairing feature is brand new, as well. Prior, you could only group separate Echo devices together for multi-room listening.

The rumors of a big Amazon hardware event were true, and we're getting a look at all the Alexa-focused devices the company is showing off for the upcoming holiday season. Even though it's only been a year since Amazon released the Echo Plus -- a more expensive version of its standard speaker with a smart hub built in -- the company is announcing a new version today. It still has the smart hub, but Amazon says it'll be a lot better for music playback, something that's been a theme throughout many of the announcements the company has made so far. Another major new feature in the Echo Plus is something Amazon is calling "local voice control," a way to control your smart home even if the internet is down. The device also has a temperature sensor built-in, which means you can ask Alexa the inside temperature or use the device in conjunction with compatible thermostats.