Over the next few years we’re going to see a lot of Amazon Alexa-enabled, voice-activated, AI-based appliances, devices and cars. All these connected devices are basically an extension of the Amazon Echo, but they’ve been “trained” with specific skills to carry out certain tasks. The latest of these is the smart lamp from GE, called C by GE Sol.
Sol was announced about six months ago by GE, but at the time it was simply called the C by GE lamp. It’s essentially a big circle standing on a base with a speaker and microphone, and it can do pretty much everything the Echo Dot can. It doesn’t have a solid speaker system like Amazon Echo, but it does stream music – if you ask Alexa nicely.
In fact, it actually looks a little like a silver Echo Dot with a big halo over its head, placed vertically. Like so:
Well almost, anyway.
Controlled by voice, you can ask the smart lamp to change the color setting and intensity to suit your mood, and you can even ask it the weather. For all those Alexa bells and whistles, you’ll be coughing up about $200, which is actually more than what you’d pay for a brand new Amazon Echo. You can also enable any of the 10,000 Alexa skills that you’ll be using once every three lifetimes.
Created under the same branding as the C by GE smart bulb, the C by GE Sol does a few extra tricks like shake hands and beg. No, sorry, that’s my dog. Well, C by GE Sol can actually mimic light conditions based on what you ask it. The circle can light up like the hands of a clock when you ask it the time, for example, and do similar luminary acrobatics based on the query posed.
You can pre-order the Alexa-enabled C by GE Sol smart lamp right now from CbyGE.com, and it should be shipped out in September. Yay, kind of like backing a crowdfunded product, right?
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