Amazon And Food Network Prepare To Take Over Your Kitchen
Just last week I learned that Amazon's Alexa has an audio library of cat meows, which definitely makes it the most useful info robot out there. But apparently that's not useful enough for some people, because Amazon will be teaming up with the Food Network to offer cooking classes via the new video-enabled Echo Show.
Amazon had a demo yesterday in Seattle, Tech Crunch reports, with a video of a cooking class with Food Network star Bobby Flay. It was not, unfortunately, a live show (those are still in development), but if you run into trouble at any step in the recipe, you can ask Alexa for help, and she will shut Bobby off for a second to explain.
Tech Crunch reporter Darrell Etherington described this as the cooking version of the Peloton home fitness machines.
Talking to a device is, I guess, easier and less messy than cooking along with a YouTube video and reaching over to your device to Google, especially if your hands are covered with dough or something. (Provided the device understands you. Right before I learned about the cat meow library, I learned that Alexa cannot distinguish Motown from Mozart.) And this does seem like a logical move for the cooking show: now instead of waiting for the program to be over, you can start cooking with Bobby, or Alton, or—please, please, please—Ina right away.
But it's probably also reasonable to worry about Amazon creeping into the kitchen, too, right? Right?
