Amazon says: Hey, Alexa, time to cooperate more with other voice assistants

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Imagine you come home from work, and there's loud, obnoxious music blaring from the speakers in your living room. You may know which family member turned it on, but you may not know which voice assistant they used to do so -- was it Amazon's Alexa, Sonos Voice Control or Hey Spotify? 

This is a problem that's likely to become more common as all kinds of companies embrace the concept of "ambient computing" -- computing capabilities that move seamlessly between every facet of your life. As you move from your smart home to your smart car, with your smart ear buds in hand, different brands are likely to have their own AI assistants ready to help you. 

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"We're really starting to see this vision for Alexa and ambient intelligence become a reality," Aaron Rubenson, Amazon's VP of Alexa Voice Service & Alexa Skills, said to ZDNet. "I'd argue that every brand needs to have an ambient strategy at this point."

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Amazon is fully aware, though, that it could get confusing to have so many voice assistants at your disposal. At its Alexa Live developer event It's the end of programming as we know it -- again Developers feel secure in their jobs, but they're still thinking about quitting The future of the web will need a different sort of software developer The best Linux laptops for consumers and developers It's the end of programming as we know it -- again

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