Ahead of the upcoming holiday shopping season, e-commerce giant %Amazon ($AMZN) has unveiled a slew of new and updated electronic devices.
The new products include a %Kindle e-reader, %EchoSmartSpeaker, %RingSecurityCamera, and Fire internet-connected television set, among others.
The Kindle Scribe e-reader enables people to also use it as a tablet and for notetaking, while a new Halo Rise clock promises to track people’s sleep patterns without them having to wear a smartwatch to bed.
Most of the new devices launched by Amazon build on the company’s popular smart home brands.
When introducing the products, Amazon said it aims to become a bigger part of consumers’ lives and wants to embed itself as part of the “ambient environment.”
To that end, Amazon said that it is putting more advanced %ArtificialIntelligence (AI) into its devices, notably its Alexa digital assistant.
Astro, Amazon’s home robot, is being upgraded with new features that include alerts for caregivers and pet detection, as well as video.
Amazon also introduced a new virtual security guard for use by small businesses.
Year-to-date, Amazon’s stock is down 30% at $118 U.S. per share. The stock split on a 20-for-1 basis in June of this year.