“Alexa, order a Star Wars robot” is an undeniably awesome thing to say to your helpful home AI assistant. And for this weekend, at least, it’ll actually mean something — and get you $30 off of one of those Sphero BB-8 robots in the process.
In Amazon’s tireless quest to take all the pain points out of shopping — and make you buy as much as humanly possible, the mega retailer is utilizing Alexa to push out holiday shopping deals. Asking, “Alexa, what are deals?” will prompt new daily sales. You can also say, “Alexa, I need a holiday helper,” which will prompt something similar, albeit in a decidedly more Seussian fashion.
This specific voice promotion runs now through November 21 and includes a variety of different products, including Philips Hue lightbulbs, a Samsung TV, chocolate truffles and batteries. Holiday deals, as with politics, make for strange bedfellows.
Think of it as sort of a dry run for the company’s inevitably massive push into Black Friday and a godsend for people for whom typing products into Amazon’s page has become too burdensome a process. If you do miss the act of clicking things on a computer, however, you can find the full list of deals here.