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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.
Amazon's Echo can now play music directly from Spotify
Playing Spotify music on the Amazon Echo is now as easy as saying three words: "Alexa, Play Spotify." The e-retailer-slash-device-maker launched voice control for the app and two other music services in late January. But, you still had to stream music to the speaker via Bluetooth with a phone or a tablet. Now that Spotify is baked in, Echo can play music from the service directly. The catch? You can only take advantage of the feature if you have a Premium account in the US.
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 is reportedly building a smaller, cheaper Echo
If you've been intrigued by the Echo, Amazon's voice-activated personal assistant speaker, but aren't quite willing to shell out $179.99 to figure out if it works for you, there might soon be a cheaper option. The Wall Street Journal, quoting the typical "people familiar with the plans," says that a smaller and cheaper Amazon Echo will be released "in the coming weeks." In terms of size, the WSJ says it's designed to fit in the palm of your hand -- something around the size of a beer can. That means that the new Echo will certainly not sound as good when you're playing back music as the bigger model is, but given the Echo's relatively limited music features that might not be a major dealbreaker.
Amazon Echo users can start playing this classic trivia game
Amazon Echo is already pretty darn useful, but its latest update adds a fun trivia game you're definitely familiar with: Jeopardy!. After installing its app's newest version, you can start playing by issuing its voice assistant a command: "Alexa, start Jeopardy!" Just like the show, it will draw questions from different categories, including sports, pop culture, travel and world history, to test your ability to recall trivial bits of information. And just like in the show, you'd have to answer in the form of a question. Besides adding the game, the update also gives you the power to skip audiobook chapters on Audible via voice command for days you'd rather listen than play.
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.
The best stuff we bought in 2015
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-410140{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-410140, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-410140{width:570px;display:block;}When you write about technology for a living, a lot of folks ask you for buying advice. And, while we get to test the latest and greatest gear on the planet, telling others what to spend their money on is often easier than shopping for ourselves. Only a select few devices are deemed worthy of our dollars. These are the best gadgets we bought in 2015.
Amazon's Echo speaker wants to play games with you
Amazon seems bound and determined to not let its internet-connected wünderspeaker, the Echo, fall prey to the same fate as the Fire Phone. Good on Jeff Bezos for that. In case you're already bored of the device reading you news headlines and finding restaurant info for you, now the gizmo's Alexa app will play games and even tell you how much gas you have left in your car. Games include Bingo; trivia; simple math puzzles and even rock, paper, scissors. As Android Central points out, the automotive stuff is available via a third-party solution, dubbed Automatic, that interfaces with your car via a $100 adapter. With that, you can ask questions about how far you drove recently or what your gas gauge is sitting at. Or you could, you know, look at your instrument cluster. It's up to you!
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).
Amazon's Echo speaker reads you the top news headlines
Amazon just made it much, much easier to catch up on the news while you're getting chores done around the home. A newly-added option for its voice-guided Echo speaker, Trove, lets you ask the device to read the top news headlines on a given subject. Want to get the gist of the latest political drama? Just say as much -- you don't even have to glance at your phone or your wrist. This isn't going to provide insightful commentary, of course, but it could be good for those moments when you just don't have time (or the free hands) needed to go in depth.
Amazon Echo now supports shared Google calendars
Amazon's odd but intriguing Echo personal assistant / speaker has received a number of useful updates throughout its short lifespan, and today Amazon announced a few more tweaks to the device. If you're a Google Calendar user, the Echo now supports shared calendars, whereas before it could only pull in details from calendars that were owned by your personal account. In the Amazon Alexa app, you enter your Google Calendar details; from there, you can pick specific shared calendars to add to the Echo. That way, when you ask the Echo what's on your schedule, it'll only tell you things that are on the calendars you selected.
Amazon's Echo speaker plays music from multiple accounts
Amazon's Echo speaker has been fine for playing music and audiobooks so far... unless you live in a household with more than one Amazon user, at which point it just gets messy. That won't be a problem any longer, though: Amazon has added support for multiple accounts, making it easy to play solely from your own collection. You only have to tell it to switch profiles to get your tunes. Simply put, this could be a lifesaver if you're going to share an Echo with roommates or a significant other -- you don't have to create a shared account or risk having someone else pollute your song recommendations.
Amazon Echo gets StubHub event info, further automates your home
Since its introduction, Amazon has continued to add new features to its voice-controlled speaker. Most recently, the online retailer tacked on StubHub integration for keeping tabs on local events. Once you set your city, you can ask the gadget's virtual assistant Alexa to tell you what's going on this weekend, for example. Adding to its home automation toolbox, Echo also plays nice with Cree connected light bulbs and gear from both Leviton and Lightify through the Wink hub. If those don't excite you too much you can rest assured that more of the so-called Skills are certainly on the way for the speaker and its built-in helper.
Amazon's voice-controlled Echo speaker is now available at Staples
If you find yourself re-ordering office supplies, you can also nab Amazon's smart speaker in one fell swoop. Staples is the only place other than Amazon where you can purchase the voice-controlled Echo device. While Echo is listed on the Staples website, it's unclear whether or not the speaker will be available in stores (the two stores closest to me don't have them). The retailer known for paper and pens may seem like an odd choice as the only "exclusive" spot to nab the Alexa-powered gadget, but Staples also sells Kindles, Fire TV and Fire tablets, so it's not too much of a stretch. If you're looking to grab one, it carries the same $180 price tag and is available now via the Staples website.
How I learned to love Alexa (and Amazon's Echo)
After the failure of the Fire Phone and the so-so Fire TV, it was hard to get excited about Amazon's $180 Echo wireless speaker. At best, it seemed like a superfluous device that simply mimicked voice-powered tech from our phones in monolithic speaker form. At worst, it felt like yet another way for the company to insert itself into your life -- all in an effort to make you buy more crap from Amazon. I'll admit, I wasn't in any rush to nab an Echo of my own after it was first announced (Prime members with a special invite were able to get it for $99). And, curiously, Amazon didn't make review units available at the time, either. But now that Echo is widely available to everyone, I was finally able to get my hands on one to test out. Surprisingly enough, I ended up falling for it big time.
Amazon is offering Echo voice tech to other manufacturers
Now that Amazon's voice-controlled Echo speaker is available to everyone, the company is hinting at third-party devices that will make use of the same voice tech that powers the Echo's built-in assistant, "Alexa." Additionally, Amazon is giving developers access to the Alexa Skills Kit, a free SDK that will make it easy for them to create new features for the Echo platform. Lastly, the company launched the Alexa Fund, a $100 million endowment designed to support developers, manufacturers and startups who are interested in making voice-powered products for its ecosystem. To be a part of it, Amazon says it's going to base those decisions on the technology's ability to influence the Alexa Skills Kit or the Alexa Voice Service. What this tells us, though, is that Amazon is getting serious about what appeared to be a simple side-project from the beginning.
Amazon's Echo wireless speaker gets voice-controlled Prime Stations
Amazon has added Prime Stations to Echo, its wireless speaker-slash-personal assistant, perhaps in hopes that it would get more people to press the "Request an invitation" button. Prime Stations are the company's ad-free radio feeds -- basically playlists that bundle Prime Music's offerings based on artists and genres. The feature's been available for iOS and Android devices for a month or so, but since Echo is a voice-activated assistant, it comes with a bunch of spoken commands. You can, for instance, play a specific station by saying "Alexa (that's Echo's voice assistant name), play the Bruno Mars Prime Station."
Amazon's voice-guided speaker juggles your IFTTT tasks
You can tell Amazon's Echo speaker to directly control certain apps and services, but what if you want it to send information to other apps that you use more often? That's where IFTTT's new Alexa channel might save the day. Give the Echo a command and IFTTT will relay certain tasks to key apps. You can deliver your to-do list to Gmail when you ask the speaker about your itinerary, for example, or add your grocery items to Evernote without touching your phone. Frankly, this makes the Echo a lot more useful in daily life -- you no longer have to change some of your app habits to make the most out of Amazon's audio cylinder.
Amazon Echo controls Belkin WeMo and Philips Hue with your voice
Amazon's voice-controlled speaker just became a lot more useful. In an email to Echo owners, the online retailer revealed some Philips Hue and Belkin WeMo gadgets can now be paired with the audio device. This means that the unit's ability to accept your spoken commands extends to home automation tech -- in addition to its music duties. Once the whole lot is connected to your home WiFi, a simple "discover my appliances" will automatically pair them. From there, dimming the lights, turning on the coffee pot and more is a matter of uttering the proper phrase. For now, supported products include Philips Hue A19, Lux, BR30, Bloom, and LightStrip as well as Belkin WeMo Switch, Insight Switch and Light Switch. If the added features convinced you to splurge for one, you'll have to wait in line. You can request an invite to order the $200 speaker, but it'll take several weeks to hit your inbox.
