Amazon on Thursday anounced a voice-recognition device called Echo, a $199 device that can be controlled by your voice and provides information, music, news, and more. The black, cylindrical device can provide information, music, news, weather and more, and can hear you from across the room. You can start the speaker up saying the wake up word, "Alexa". It's also an expertly-tuned speaker that can fill any room with sound.

Tucked under Echo's light ring is an array of seven microphones. These sensors use beam-forming technology to hear you from any direction. Using noise cancellation, Echo can hear you ask a question even while it's playing music, Amazon says.

Echo's brain is in the cloud, running on Amazon Web Services so it continually learns and adds more functionality over time. The more you use Echo, the more it adapts to your speech patterns, vocabulary, and personal preferences.

Echo features dual downward-firing speakers produce omni-directional audio. It also provides hands-free voice control for Amazon Music, Prime Music, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn. Plus, Echo is Bluetooth-enabled so you can stream your music services like Spotify, iTunes, and Pandora from your phone or tablet.

The device can be connected to your home network with a simple setup through WiFi, guided by the free companion app on Fire OS and Android, plus desktop and iOS browsers.

Interestingly, Echo is by invitation only. Customers who submit requests online will be notified via email if they're selected, with an invitation to purchase Echo in the coming weeks.