Amazon's goal for Echo is to make the little plastic cylinder, and the lady named Alexa who lives inside it, an integral part of your home. Give Alexa commands and she responds either with information you would have to look up yourself or turn on things that would require you getting up and walking across the room.

Your Google Calendar is one of the things Alexa knows how to read. But now, she can also read shared ones too.

With the timing, Amazon hopes you consider Echo as part of your back to school routine. Ask Alexa what's on the calendar to see upcoming events that you or your child's place of learning may have shared. Then, depending on your grade level, ask Alexa with help on your homework. She can't give you a nuanced answer of why North Carolina and South Carolina split apart, but she can sure tell you the answer to 4 times 11.

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