Ecobee4 skips the middleman by integrating Amazon Alexa

There's a new Ecobee smart thermostat on the market, but this time it comes with Amazon's Alexa built in. Previous versions of the Ecobee thermostats were compatible with the Amazon Echo, through which users could control the thermostat with voice commands. Since then, Amazon has opened up Alexa's API to third parties. So now devices like the Ecobee4 can make using Alexa a more seamless experience.

The Ecobee4 has a touchscreen interface in addition to the speaker and microphone, making it a capable smart home hub. Like any other smart thermostat, it has some neat tricks for monitoring the temperature and reducing electricity usage. With Alexa, though, it's much more than that. People can tell their thermostat to order products for them or to read the news or give them the weather.

It's becoming increasingly clear that thermostats are a uniquely ingenious way of integrating smart home hubs into a house. Everyone needs a thermostat, so it's not an extra piece of equipment people need. Artificial intelligence is also now good enough and ubiquitous enough that it can easily be combined with such a product.

Though Google's Nest helped pioneer the smart thermostat market, the company now risks falling behind. Alexa is cropping up everywhere, but Google Assistant isn't as easily accessible. Nest devices can be controlled using Google Home or Assistant on users' smartphones, but that's not the same seamless experience. It's also an extra cost for users. It seems probable that Nest will eventually release a thermostat with Google Assistant built in, but one with Alexa is already available for $249.