Amazon's new Fire TV Cube is a cube-shaped, Alexa-powered universal remote for your home entertainment setup

Amazon announced a new device, the Amazon Fire TV Cube, which the company claims is a hands-free 4K Ultra HD streaming player that features  Alexa  support. [caption id=“attachment_4502387” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Fire TV Cube with Alexa Voice Remote. Image: Amazon[/caption] The Cube will let you navigate your TV with voice commands from across the room as it features “far-field voice recognition with eight microphones to hear you even from across the room” It uses multi-directional infrared technology, which will help users control compatible TVs, sound bars, A/V receivers and a cable or satellite box. As the device is compatible with the HDMI-CEC standard, it has the ability to turn on the TV whenever your voice request to Alexa warrants it. The company says that the users can power their TV on and off, change the volume, switch to different inputs and change the cable channel with just their voice. “We believe voice makes it easier for customers to control their entertainment systems and watch the TV and movies they care about,” said Marc Whitten, Vice President of Fire TV. This is a boon for all the people who inevitably lose their remotes in the dark recesses of their sofas. According to the report in Associated Press, the device is not completely hands-free as some of the apps or streaming services may require the remote that has been included to be used for actions like rewind or stop in some services. Promoting all the lazy cells in your body, the report further says that you wouldn’t even have to lift your finger to push any buttons when switching between, say, cable and Netflix. The device will be available for $120 (Rs 8,000) in the US. Hopefully, we’ll see it in India soon enough.