Amazon wants to come to your house to set up Alexa

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Who doesn't want a "technology-savvy best friend?" Amazon knows the feeling, and that's why the company is rolling out "an army of in-house gadget experts to offer free Alexa consultations as well as product installations for a fee inside customer homes," Recode reports.

Amazon is aiming to win the smart home revolution, so it wants to make installing its assistant, Alexa, as easy as possible. The problem, as anyone who has ever tried to link home devices or pair Bluetooth technology knows, is that sometimes that is easier said than done. Because of the difficulty of linking devices, Recode notes that digital assistants like Alexa have a high return rate, which is why the Geek Squad-like at-home help becomes worth it for customers.

Amazon installation of Alexa-enabled smart devices like the Ecobee4 thermostat costs about $99 and is available in markets including Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Forty-five-minute Alexa Smart Home Consultations are also available. Best Buy's Geek Squad also offers smart device installations, and the company plans to do in-store demonstrations of Alexa, as well as Google Home, in 700 of its stores. Read more about Amazon's smart home push at Recode.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.