This article was published on May 13, 2016

Amazon finally has a Dash button you can program to do whatever


Amazon finally has a Dash button you can program to do whatever

Ask people how they feel about the Amazon Dash button and you get a pretty black or white answer: either it’s the greatest convenience ever made, or it’s so lazily single-purpose, there’s no point. After all, do we all really need a Dash button for Trojan condoms?

However you feel about the Dash button, at least we can agree that getting things done with a push of a button is generally a good thing. So Amazon is finally releasing the Dash button we should’ve had long ago: one you can program to do whatever you’d like.

Of course, programming something to perform a task with a push of a button will require the peripherals to be internet-connected. Some suggestions by Amazon include programming a Philips Hue light bulb button, a pizza order-on-demand button, Airbnb check in and out button, and a Netflix on/off switch.

Pasted image at 2016_05_10 02_34 PM

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It will also work with other Amazon Web Services, such as Lambda, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon SNS without writing device-specific code.

Each button costs $20, are available in limited release, so to get your hands on one, you’ll need to sign up to be alerted when the next batch is up for sale.

But: Here’s why you may not want to get one just yet.

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