Image: Amazon

The Amazon Echo is basically Siri on steroids, as the small tower always listens for commands from those anywhere in the room. It will answer questions, search for desired information, and play music on the speaker system housed in the cylinder.

We'll have to see how well the Echo performs those duties when it ships, and that's beginning right now. I signed up to purchase one after it was announced, with Amazon promising to notify interested parties when it was available for purchase.

I received the notice on November 18, and bought the Echo. One day shipping was available for $3.99 as a Prime member, so my Amazon Echo will arrive on November 19. I'll get it up and running and share thoughts about this unique gadget.

The Echo has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for operating over the home network. The latter allows using wireless peripherals with the tower. There is an app for working with the Echo with Kindle Fire and Android devices.

The Echo sells for $199, with Prime members getting a discount of $100. The resulting $99 price is what pushed me to get one.