Sometimes it seems like Amazon is trying to take over the world, and a big part of that plan involves Alexa, the company's digital assistant found in its Echo smart speaker products. Alexa is also found in some third-party gear, the newest of which is a hands-free, turn-by-turn navigation product from Garmin called...Read more...
Amazon has updated its voice assistant Alexa with a cool new feature that many people who have an Echo device with multiple users have been wanting. That new feature is the ability to identify voices and allow access to your own messages, playlists and other content without having to tell the Echo device specifically...Read more...
Amazon first introduced the Alexa-powered smart speaker back in late 2014, and it made a huge splash in the smart home market. Since that time, Amazon has introduced a steady stream of new Echo devices, but the original has remained largely the same (save for the white color option). That changes today, as Amazon has...Read more...
Amazon is giving its Fire HD 10 tablet a much-needed makeover, and is doing so with some attractive pricing that should help spark sales for the company. The first big update comes from the tablet's 10.1-inch display, which has been upgraded to support a resolution of 1920x1200 (224 ppi) – this is a healthy upgrade...Read more...
There may be a new 4K Apple TV launching tomorrow, but a carefully-timed leak from Amazon is looking to steal the show today. We don't know if this was planned "corporate leak" from Amazon itself, but there are two new Fire TV products that will be arriving shortly from Amazon.
The first model features a...Read more...
It turns out there is a very real downside to the many digital assistants that were designed to make our day-to-day lives easier. Researchers at Zhejiang University discovered it is possible to flex control over Siri, Alexa, and others using a technique called DolphinAttack. By translating voice commands into...Read more...
As has been rumored for some time now, Motorola decided to bring the Moto X back, and in somewhat of a big way. The fourth generation Moto X, known officially as the Moto X4, wields dual cameras on its backside, which was also tipped in previous rumors. It has a premium design that at a glance could pass as a flagship...Read more...
Amazon and Microsoft have decided to work together in the AI voice assistant arena rather than erect barriers between one another. In a move that will ultimately benefit customers, Alexa and Cortana will be able to communicate with Cortana and vice versa. What that means is customers with Echo devices can say, "Alexa...Read more...
If you have multiple Amazon Echo speakers in your household, a new feature has been enabled which will allow you to spread your favorite tunes to every room. The feature is called Alexa Multi-Room Music, and as its name implies, allows you to synchronize music playback with two or more Echo devices.
To get started...Read more...
Microsoft is already dealing with the fallout from Consumer Reports’ decision to pull its recommendation of Surface PCs due to reliability issues, and now a former executive is spilling the beans on turmoil within the company’s Cortana team. Qi Lu, a leading AI researcher, headed up Microsoft’s applications and...Read more...
You may know Anker for its line of mobile accessories that include car chargers, USB cables, portable batteries, Bluetooth speakers and dash cams. However, the company is increasingly getting into the consumer electronics space with its own brand of devices. The company sells robotic vacuums (similar in design to...Read more...
If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines during this whole “AI smart speaker” revolution, then maybe now is the time to pull the trigger. Last month during its Prime Day sales extravaganza, Amazon was selling its original Echo for $89. Since that time, the price has skyrocketed back up to its original MSRP of...Read more...
Bigger is better, right? When it comes to smartphones, larger screens have definitely won over the majority of consumers (save for the iPhone SE holdouts), but Facebook might be looking to go “big” in a completely different arena. A new report suggests that Facebook is working on a new smart speaker that will...Read more...
HTC's flagship U11 smartphone offers a lot of perks, but if you're an Amazon Alexa fan, you could very well find yourself loving the device even more thanks to the AI's introduction. This isn't a mere Amazon app found on the device, but an officially supported implementation from HTC.
Whereas on other non-Amazon...Read more...
If you do not care about having a fancy touchscreen on your smart speaker, you can score a pretty good deal on Amazon's original Echo model. Amazon is currently selling its voice-controlled Echo speaker with Alexa integration for $130, down 28 percent from its regular retail price of $180. It is available at that...Read more...
Amazon wants complete and total domination over your shopping experience, and that is becoming even more readily apparent with the arrival of the new Dash Wand. The Dash Wand is a small, handheld Wi-Fi device that is supposed to live in your kitchen (which explains its built-in magnet, allowing you to attach the...Read more...
Following the philosophy that some things are better late than never, Amazon has rolled out the ability to block calls and messages to its Alexa-powered Echo devices. For whatever reason, Amazon did not think to include call and message blocking from the start, which is a bit of a privacy concern—without that ability...Read more...
Amazon has done a good job of staying in the news for the past week (Echo Show, Element Fire TV Edition Smart TVs), and it is continuing its streak with the announcement of new Fire tablets. Although that tablet market as a whole is in decline, Amazon sees plenty of demand in the low-end of the segment, hence the...Read more...
Amazon wants to make sure that its digital assistant only springs to life when it is actually summoned, versus misinterpreting a word or phrase for "Alexa." To make that possible, Amazon in introducing a new feature called Cloud-Based Wake Word Verification. Just as it sounds, the new feature is intended to improve...Read more...
Amazon has been in the news a lot recently, mainly for its popular Alexa AI that powers its Echo family of products. The company last week announced the Echo Show, which features a 7-inch display, and today the company has revealed a partnership with Element to produce 4K Smart TVs.
Element isn’t a brand that you...Read more...
Amazon's latest Alexa update is one that could prove extremely useful to those who want to keep in contact with friends and family through various Echo devices, coming to us in the form of Alexa Calling & Messaging. The premise is simple: you can use your Echo device to send and receive messages to anyone who also...Read more...
Earlier this morning, Amazon surprised no one by announcing the Echo Show, a touchscreen-infused Echo device that was first leaked last week. One of the pivotal features of the Echo Show is the ability to make voice calls to friends and family members that also have an Echo Show, or those that use the Alexa...Read more...