Weekends with Engadget: Amazon's Fire TV, Microsoft announces Windows Phone 8.1 and more!
Welcome to Weekends with Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines from the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. For even more action, subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
Amazon's Fire TV promises a premium set-top experience
What you're looking at is Amazon's new Fire TV set-top box. Above all, this tiny, $99 media streamer is lightning fast thanks to its "ASAP" technology, which preloads content based upon your location in the UI. But this little black box isn't just for TV, it plays games too.
Interview with Microsoft's new Xbox Head Phil Spencer
This week, Microsoft announced that longtime employee Phil Spencer is replacing Marc Whitten as head of the Xbox division. What does this mean for the future of Xbox's current brand reorganization? Well, we managed to speak with Phil about just that.
Windows Phone 8.1 and Cortana officially revealed at Build 2014
Windows Phone 8.1 has finally arrived! Earlier this week at Build 2014, Microsoft unveiled the latest version of its mobile OS, featuring a brand new notification center ("Action Center") and the anticipated Cortana digital assistant.
This is not a prank: ThinkGeek and the business of April Fools'
April Fools' Day beckons celebration from techies and corporations alike, but no one does it better than ThinkGeek. Our own Joseph Volpe was lucky enough to spend the day with ThinkGeek's team of expert nerds as they prepared this year's round of product spoofs. And don't worry, we took lots of pictures.
2014 April Fools' roundup
Every year, all sorts of companies try to take their April Fools' gags to the next level -- and 2014 is no exception. By now you've probably familiar with Google's emoji translator and the selfie-taking drone, but click on through for our entire roundup!
Felix Baumgartner is the man who fell to Earth and lived to tell the tale
Felix Baumartner will forever be known as the first man to free fall from the edge of space. Not only did he survive the 24 mile dive from the stratosphere, but he broke several world records in the process. Our own Joseph Volpe caught up with Baumgartner as he recollected the experience and its implications for the future of space tourism.
Apple confirms WWDC 2014 will begin on June 2nd
Apple recently announced that its annual WWDC developers conference will begin on June 2nd and commence until June 6th. Ticket sales are available on Apple's website now, but this year, it's switching from a first-come-first-served system to random selection of attendees.
Watch a 5-year-old spam the spacebar to access his dad's Xbox Live account
How difficult is it to break into a password-protected Xbox One profile? Well, 5-year-old Kristoffer Von Hassel managed to crack into his dad's account account by simply pressing the spacebar. A lot.
Apple buys tech that could take Siri offline
TechCrunch is reporting that experts from the speech recognition firm Novauris are working with Apple to improve Siri's vocal chops. Since most of Novauris' work deals with locally processed recognition, it's possible Apple's voice tech may be in line for offline functionality sooner than later.
Will.i.am claims he developed a smartwatch that will launch in July
It looks like Will.i.am's jumping on the smartwatch bandwagon. The producer and occasional tech entrepreneur gave a brief demo of the device during a recent TV interview, saying that the self-funded wearable doesn't need to be connected to your phone at all.
