Alexa – what took you so long to come to Canada?!

To which Amazon replies: Sorry about that, but she’s here now! The sentient being inside the retail giant’s Echo system has finally (officially – we see all you people who did that buy-in-the-US-American-Amazon-account workaround) arrived north of the 49th parallel.

If you’re not familiar with Alexa, she’s kind of like Siri for your home, and equivalent to the Google “assistant” that you may have already experienced when they brought their Google Home to Canada earlier this year. Basically, you can start any number of requests with “Alexa, ______” and fill in that blank with tasks like making a phone call, turning the heating in your smart home system down a notch, or checking how many chipotle peppers go in your favourite chili recipe.

Some of the cooler features also include a customised news “briefing” when you arrive home or head out the door, these 7 minute work outs she can run you through, and access Amazon’s Prime Music service (if you’re a Prime member).

There are several different versions of the Echo, the device that Alexa…lives (?) in, which you can pre-order here, starting at $99.