Alexa
Latest
Amazon's Alexa controls Nest thermostats
Beginning today Amazon's digital assistant Alexa can control Nest thermostats. If you're home is too warm or too cold, just shout at the voice-activated helper and it'll adjust the temperature. It's going to be incredibly helpful on those summer days when it's too hot to move.
Amazon shows you how to make an Echo with Raspberry Pi
If you're into messing with hardware and have some basic programming skills, you can put together an Amazon Alexa device of your very own. Amazon has even put together an official guide to do so on GitHub, Lifehacker reports. You'll need to snag a Raspberry Pi 2 and a USB microphone to make it happen, but you've probably got the other required hardware (a micro-SD card for storage, for example) lying around. Unfortunately, due to limitations with Amazon's Voice Services, your creation can't listen for trigger words like Echo and Echo Dot. Instead, you'll have to hit a button to issue commands.
Amazon organized a secret robot, AI and space conference
Amazon brought a number of AI, robotics and space exploration experts together for a secret conference this week, according to Bloomberg. It was called MARS, or Machine-Learning (Home) Automation, Robotics and Space Exploration conference. Apparently, Jeff Bezos himself attended this very exclusive, invitation-only event in Palm Springs. He mingled with guests from various robotics companies, automakers like Toyota, research institutes like ETH Zurich and educational institutions, including MIT.
The next big thing in smartphones is uncertainty
You've probably noticed something about smartphones. They haven't been exciting lately. Chances are, your current smartphone looks and works a lot like your last one. Your next will probably seem pretty familiar, too. But there are signs that smartphones, and the ways we use them, could be about to significantly change -- even if no one can quite agree on exactly how.
Now you can ask Amazon's Echo about your Fitbit stats
It was only a matter of time until someone integrated a fitness gadget with Amazon's Echo -- we should have guessed that Fitbit would be first. Starting today, you'll be able to ask any of Amazon's speakers about your Fitbit performance with a new Alexa skill. Once enabled, you can say "Alexa, ask Fitbit how I'm doing today" for a basic overview of your activity. But even more intriguing, you can ask Alexa things like how you've slept, or how much activity you've tracked, for any of the previous seven days.
Pay your credit card bill using the Amazon Echo
Too busy whipping up a soufflé to check your bank balance online? You can now ask Amazon's Echo devices to give you the info, thanks to a partnership with Capital One. You just need to say "Alexa, ask Capital One for my Quicksilver card balance" or "Alexa, ask Capital One to pay my credit card bill," for instance. The voice assistant can already turn on your lights, play Spotify music, get you an Uber and check election results. However, Capital One is the first credit card or banking service to work with the expanding family of devices, which are only sold in the US.
Privacy concerns kept Nest from making an Echo-like assistant (updated)
With the announcement of two new Echo speakers, Amazon also revealed that those voice-controlled devices (and the Fire TV) now play nice with Nest thermostats. According to Recode, the Google-owned connected home company thought about making an Echo-like of its own, but scrapped the idea due to concerns over privacy. Nest thought that consumers wouldn't think too highly of a device with a virtual assistant that was tied directly to Google. Of course, there's no telling how far along those plans were. What's more, the company's CEO Tony Fadell addressed privacy concerns when Mountain View bought Nest, explaining that the smart home outfit would remain a separate entity.
Amazon debuts two smaller and cheaper Echos
Amazon has announced two new Alexa-enabled devices that do most of the same tasks, but look completely different. The Echo Dot is a stubby version of the regular Echo while the Amazon Tap is a Bluetooth and WiFi speaker that supports voice commands.
Val.ai watched every movie to figure out which one you want
Alexa is going to the movies. The Finnish folks at Valossa are leveraging the tech behind Amazon's voice assistant to answer your burning cinematic questions with their Val.ai initiative. As the company tells it, Val.ai can identify over a thousand qualities of a movie from any video stream automatically, including emotions, locations and specific objects. So, for example, asking "what movie has Gwyneth Paltrow head in a box?" will bring back David Fincher's Se7en. The company says that it was designed for content providers (think Netflix's upcoming second screen revamp) to "reach down into their video content, identify it and make it searchable in real-time."
Amazon's Echo speaker gives you US election updates
NBC News announced on Tuesday that it has developed and released a new skill for the Amazon Echo that, when activated, will have Alexa read you regular updates of the 2016 presidential elections. The service will deliver news on upcoming events, pertinent headlines and delegate totals -- and that's just to start. NBC News states that in the coming weeks, that selection will expand to also include "polling data, primary results and trivia about candidates." There's no word on whether you can tailor the news by party or particular candidate so get ready to be inundated with reports of whatever racist things come out of Trump's mouth next.
Amazon Echo starts talking to your thermostat
Amazon's voice-guided Echo speaker can serve as everything from an exercise coach to a game machine, but its latest addition could be particularly helpful if you're shivering as you read this. The Echo now offers voice control over thermostats, starting with the Ecobee3 -- you can ask it to set a specific temperature, or give it vague directions to warm things up or cool them down. This won't do much if you have a rival smart thermostat (more support is coming, Amazon says) or are willing to use your phone. Look at it this way, though: if you dread getting out of bed on a cold day, this will let you warm things up without lifting a finger.
Order Dominos Pizza through your Echo during the Super Bowl
Domino's Pizza revealed Wednesday that its customers will be able to order a pie through their Amazon Echo and track the order from oven to doorstep without ever leaving the couch. To do so, you'll need to enable the Domino's skill within your Alexa app and by linking your Echo account with your Domino's Pizza Profile. Once the accounts are paired, you can tell Alexa to either reorder the last pizza you got or ask for your designated "Easy Order" pie. To track the progress of your pizza's preparation, just enter the phone number on the order and Alexa will tell you how it's coming along.
Amazon brings its Alexa assistant to first-gen Fire TVs
Now that the 4K Fire TV has taken center stage, Amazon might be forgiven for showing a little less love for its older streaming devices. However, that doesn't appear to be the case, after the online retailer begun seeding a new update that upgrades the original Fire TV to Android 5.1 Lollipop, equips it with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant and improves discovery.
Amazon Echo can tell you movie times and NFL scores
Amazon keeps making its Echo speaker better and better. The device, powered by the retailer's Alexa voice recognition technology, is now getting an update that allows it to give more info about movies, like which are playing at theaters near you and when, as well as other practical details. Your only job is to say audio commands such as "Alexa, what action movies are playing Friday night?" or "Alexa, tell me more about Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
Amazon Echo can read your Kindle books aloud on request
You don't even need to lift a finger when you're done playing Jeopardy! on Amazon Echo and want to relax with a book. Simply say "Alexa, read [Kindle book title]," and the voice assistant will start narrating almost anything you purchased from the Kindle Store, borrowed from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library/Kindle Unlimited or got access to through Family Library. Based on the commands Amazon listed, you can tell Alexa to pause, resume from where you stopped and skip chapters. But you can't specify which chapter to skip to, according to ZDNet.
Ford will let you talk to your car through Amazon Echo
The Amazon Echo is becoming one of the best parts of the connected home with its impressive voice command system and growing integration with other IoT device like WeMo, Hue and Wink. Now Ford is getting in on the Alexa action with support for the device with Sync.
Alarm.com adds Apple TV and Amazon Echo support
Alarm.com announced on Monday that its turnkey security suite now works with both the Apple TV and the Amazon Echo. The Apple TV integration will allow users to remotely access video feeds from alarm.com-compatible cameras directly through the company's on-screen app. Users will also be able to control the camera's pan and tilt functions with their Siri remote in addition to the being able to do so on their AppleWatch or mobile device. Folks who aren't part of the Apple ecosystem aren't completely out of luck, mind you. Those who own an Amazon Echo can now interact with their security system through the device – well, at least, they'll be able to interact with their lights and thermostat.
Amazon's new Fire TV can talk to your connected home
Amazon's Echo speaker and 4K Fire TV just got much better at handling around-the-house tasks. The Fire TV now controls smart home devices with a simple voice command -- you can ask it to dim the lights right before you start a movie. It'll search for local businesses and restaurants, too, in case you want to get some sushi when you're done watching. The Echo already has these features, but you can now ask it when a TV show starts to make sure you catch that big season premiere. Both the Echo and Fire TV upgrades are relatively straightforward, but they'll mean a lot if you're tired of bringing out your phone to ask simple questions.
Amazon Echo owners can create custom voice commands with IFTTT
Telling Amazon's Alexa to play some music or add an item to your shopping list is pretty cool, but there comes a point where you start to feel the limits of the Echo's pre-programmed voice commands. It doesn't have to be that way anymore: Amazon and the automation wizards at IFTTT just announced a new feature that allows you to create custom voice phrases to make Alexa do whatever you want. Unfortunately, there's a catch: every command has to start with the word "trigger."
Amazon Echo links with Yelp to find info on local restaurants
It's such an obvious feature it's hard to believe it wasn't already there, but the latest update for Amazon's Echo lets it pull up Yelp recommendations for restaurants and other local businesses. Just ask about info on where to get Chinese food or pizza delivery, and it will send the Yelp-powered results to the Echo app on your phone or tablet. For it to work you'll need to have your local address set up in the Echo app, but that's it. Amazon says more local search results are coming soon, but for now you should also know it can help you easily stock up on Halloween candy. Just ask the speaker to "order Halloween candy" or "order Halloween chocolate" and it will -- provided you have voice purchasing enabled (read: disable voice purchasing before your kids find out about this feature).
