Amazon has unveiled Echo, a connected speaker that is controlled by voice, Digital Spy reveals.

Designed for the home, it activates when 'wake word' "Alexa" is used, and is designed to instantly provide information, news, weather, music and more.

The always-on device uses seven microphones and has noise-cancelling technology to hear commands even when it is playing music. It also produces 360-degree audio and is Bluetooth-compatible, enabling music to be played via audio apps like Spotify.

The Siri-like personal assistant links up with the cloud, running on Amazon Web Services, and has companion apps on Fire OS and Android, with a web-based app currently used for iOS.

Outlining what Echo can do, Amazon writes:

• News, weather and information: Hear up-to-the-minute weather and news from a variety of sources, including local radio stations, NPR and ESPN from TuneIn.
• Music: Listen to your Amazon Music Library, Prime Music, TuneIn and iHeartRadio.
• Alarms, timers and lists: Stay on time and organised with voice-controlled alarms, timers, shopping and to-do lists.
• Questions and answers: Get information from Wikipedia, definitions, answers to common questions and more.
• More coming soon: Echo automatically updates through the cloud with new services and features.

Currently available on an invite-only basis in the US, it costs $199 or $99 for Amazon Prime users.