PATREONItems tagged with Alex
Amazon's Alexa AI assistant is a neat device that can perform all sorts of tasks, from answering questions to controlling your smart home and controlling video playback, among many other useful talents. Alexa has also been known to be downright creepy on occasion. It wasn't too long ago that Alexa was laughing maniacally and freaking out users. Alexa has also recorded private conversations and sent them out to at least one owner's contacts. Amazon did, however, give a convoluted explanation of how that happened and vowed to change things so that situation wouldn’t arise again. However, Alexa's latest creep-show may be an ever tougher situation to explain away. Alexa has allegedly done...
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Amazon has rolled out something cool for folks who have pondered creating their own Amazon Alexa Skills, but lacked the programming skills necessary to do it. Alexa Skill Blueprints are a new way for customers to create customized Alexa responses and personalized skills. Blueprints are simple to use templates that allow you to do things like build your own trivia game, personalized stories, instructions lists, and custom Alexa responses to questions. Amazon has launched its tool with over 20 blueprints, and it says that the selection will continue to grow. The blueprints allow users to create these custom experiences by simply filling in the blanks. This allows custom responses to questions like...
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Remember Spring Design's Alex? That was an e-reader that had tons of potential just over a year ago, and today, it's no more. Proving yet again just how difficult it is to compete with giants in the industry such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Spring Design has decided that the Alex simply cannot keep up with the competition, and according to a spokeswoman for the company, it's being laid to rest for good. Here's the exact quote: "It's out of stock. It is our understanding that the investor stopped the money." There was no extra information given, but no more money generally means no more product. The Alex had a tough road right from launch. The company was charging $399 for an e-reader, and...
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Spring Design voiced their intentions to jump into the ebook market late last year, and even at CES we were led to believe that the Alex e-reader would ship by February. It's obviously March, and the Alex is still not in the hands of consumers. But that's the bad news; the good news is that one of the world's first dual-screen e-readers is now available to order (pre-order, really) and will be shipping next month.Another unique thing about the Alex is the fact that it's based around Android, Google's mobile operating system. It'll cost far more than Amazon's Kindle at $399, but the addition of a color screen at the bottom may make it worthwhile for some. Another new tidbit is that the availability...
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We've heard about this one before, but now Spring Design has officially taken the wraps off of the Alex dual-screen e-reader. Based on the Android operating system, the Alex lets users search the Internet on the lower 3.5-inch color browser LCD screen while also displaying books, periodicals, and even personal documents on the paper-like 6-inch EPD screen. For connectivity, Alex uses Wi-Fi, 3G, EVDO/CDMA, and GSM. Alex will be available starting February 22 for $399. Spring Design Unveils Alex Dual Screen Android-Based eReader at CES 2010 First eReader with Internet Browsing While Reading FREMONT, Calif. -- Spring Design https://www.springdesign.com will take the wraps off the Alex™, the...
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Spring Design introduced a unique eBook reader today called Alex. Alex is based on the Google Android platform and features full browser capabilities as well as two screens. By offering two displays, Alex is able to provide the efficiency of reading on a monochrome EPD (electronic paper display) while also providing dynamic hyperlinked content on the secondary color LCD. The secondary color LCD is actually an integrated Android device that provides full Internet browsing over Wi-Fi or mobile networks. With two screens, Alex lets you use the Web as a reference library that can enhance or complement what is available on the EPD. Alex features a 6-inch EPD as well as a 3.5-inch color LCD, earphones,...
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This isn't technically a story on tech, or even on science, but how could we not write about the death of Alexander Courage, composer of the theme of the original Star Trek series (ST:TOS)? He was 88.Courage died May 15 at the Sunrise assisted-living facility in Pacific Palisades, his stepdaughter Renata Pompelli of Los Angeles, said Thursday. He had been in poor health for three years.Over a decades-long career, Courage collaborated on dozens of movies and orchestrated some of the greatest musicals of the 1950s and 1960s, including "My Fair Lady," "Hello, Dolly!" "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "Gigi," "Porgy and Bess" and "Fiddler on the Roof."But his most famous work is undoubtedly the...
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