Blink’s lineup of battery-powered Wi-Fi home security cameras can now be controlled with Alexa-enabled devices like the Amazon Echo. This marks a first for Blink which I dinged last week for lacking an ecosystem.

You may ask what value blind voice commands bring to a video solution that can only be viewed on a smartphone and well, you’d be right to ask that. While I can see limited value in being able to quickly arm and disarm Blink systems with your voice instead of an app, asking for system status from a security camera isn’t super useful. What would be useful is if Blink could trigger an alarm through the Echo speaker when it detected motion in an empty house. I’m thinking, "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" with Alexa-controlled lights flashing, and Alexa-controlled blinds raising and lowering to maximize the chaos. But it can’t do that, yet. Still, it’s a first step in Blink’s evolution from a one-trick pony into something that can co-exist with thermostats, locks, and lights inside of today’s smarter homes. And that’s, something.