Disney’s Magical Companion debuts at CES with some help from Amazon

Hey Disney!" is a smart voice assistant that wants to bring some magic into your home. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Alexa's got some company. I met Disney's new voice assistant at CES this week, and it's pretty cute. Called Disney's Magical Companion," the disembodied voice is born from fairy dust and lives inside Amazon's Echo smart speakers and displays. Its purpose is to call up various characters - including Disney, Pixar, and Star Wars faves - to help you out with common voice assistant chores (timers, alarms, weather), as well as entertain with stories, games, and other sprinkles of Disney magic.

You conjure the assistant with the phrase Hey Disney!" - here's a quick demo I did at CES this week:

Hey Disney!" showing some of its tricks which include jokes, trivia, and stories.

One neat thing about the integration is you never know which...

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