'Alexa, change the subject': Amazon updates virtual assistant to diffuse holiday family feuds

Amazon has added a new command to its virtual assistant Alexa in hopes that it can help end family feuds over the holidays before they get out of hand.

Users can now say, “Alexa, change the subject,” which will prompt the software to ask various innocuous questions to distract heated friends and family from other arguments. For example, the software might say, “Pineapple on pizza was the greatest culinary development of the 20th century. Discuss.” Or, the virtual assistant could ask, “Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?”