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Amazon Echo now streams Spotify and SiriusXM to multiple rooms
Amazon brought multiroom audio support to its Echo speakers a few months ago, but let's face it: unless you're a big fan of Amazon Music Unlimited, it hasn't been very useful for on-demand streaming. That changes today. As promised, Amazon has added multiroom support for Spotify (oh, and SiriusXM) to let you play the tunes of your choice across more than one Echo at a time, including groups. You won't have to stop listening to an album just because you've moved from the living room to the kitchen.
Amazon's Alexa can now wake you up with music instead of alarms
One of the greatest perks of connected speakers is waking up to whatever music you like, not just a buzzer or the radio. However, that hasn't been an option for Alexa-equipped devices like the Echo -- until today, that is. Amazon has added a feature to Alexa that lets you wake up to the music of your choice from one of several streaming services, including its own options and Spotify.
Mod gives Google's Home Mini speaker its 'missing' line-out jack
For many, Google's Home Mini speaker has one key disadvantage over Amazon's Echo Dot: there's no line-out jack. If you want more powerful sound without buying a higher-priced model, you have to stream to a Chromecast-equipped speaker system. However, that didn't deter SnekTek -- the site has added an aux audio port to the Mini through a clever homebrew mod. To say this required some delicate surgery would be an understatement, mind you. The procedure involved boiling the adhesive off the bottom, finding the one space where a headphone port would fit, and carving out a hole. As with the iPhone 7 headphone mod, the product clearly wasn't designed for this -- there won't be any doubt that you voided your warranty once you're done.
Google re-enables touch controls for audio playback on the Home Mini
There's an update on the way for those of you with a Home Mini speaker. Google is rolling out a new feature that lets you use the sides of the device to play or pause whatever you're listening to, be it music, news or if you want to end a call you're on. Right now, the touch-friendly side area of the Home Mini only works to control the volume, but now with a long press of the unmarked spots you can have some extra functionality.
Best Buy claims Google Home Max will be on sale December 11th
The Google Home Mini might be 40 percent off right now, but if you'd rather have a Google smart speaker with a little more oomph you might not have to wait much longer. Mountain View's self-calibrating Home Max will be released on December 11th according to a Best Buy listing spotted by 9to5Google. This could be a gaff, but Google did say the $400 device would be out before year's end. And, well, today being November 30th means the company doesn't have much time left to fulfill that promise.
Third-party Alexa skills can now use notifications
Your phone gets notifications, so why can't your smart speaker? Amazon is doing something about it.. and thankfully, it's not as bothersome as it could be. The company is trotting out a developer preview of notifications in Alexa skills. If you opt in, third-party skills can push notifications to your Alexa-equipped devices (such as an Echo speaker or your phone) that will trigger both a sound and an on-device alert (whether an LED light or on-screen display. This doesn't mean you're going to be peppered with unwanted speech, though: your notifications accumulate, and you'll only hear what they are when you ask Alexa to read them.
Apple's HomePod has been in and out of development since 2012
Have you wondered why it took Apple 3 years to come up with an answer to the Amazon Echo in the form of the HomePod? Apparently, it's because it wasn't really meant as an answer to the Echo. Bloomberg sources claim that work on the HomePod started in 2012 as a side project (common at Apple), and it was reportedly cancelled and resurrected "several times" as the company tried to figure out how a connected speaker would work in its lineup. It reportedly went through multiple dramatic redesigns, including a 3-foot-tall design chock-full of speakers.
Amazon Echo is the latest device to benefit (RED)
Want to get a smart speaker while contributing to an important cause? Amazon has you covered: it just unveiled a Product (RED) version of its second-generation Echo. As you might expect, buying the crimson-hued device will contribute 10 percent (in this case, $10) of its purchase price to fighting AIDS through the Global Fund. It happens to be considerably more eye-catching, too, which might help if you'd rather have your speaker stand out than blend into the decor.
Germany bans children’s smartwatches over privacy concerns
Germany's telecommunications regulator, the Federal Network Agency, announced a ban today on the sale of kids' smartwatches, the BBC reports, and encouraged parents to destroy the ones they already own. The agency appears to be taking particular issue with the devices' abilities to transmit audio from its surroundings. Jochen Homann, the agency's president, said today, "Via an app, parents can use such children's watches to listen unnoticed to the child's environment and they are to be regarded as an unauthorised transmitting system."
Apple delays HomePod smart speaker until early 2018
We hope you weren't counting on giving (or getting) a HomePod for the holidays -- Apple has delayed the release of the Siri-powered speaker from December to early 2018. In a statement, the company said it needed a "little more time" before the device was ready for its initial release in Australia, the UK and the US. It's not yet clear how this will affect releases in other countries (we've asked the company if it can elaborate), but we wouldn't be surprised if it pushed back their releases slightly as well. They were already being asked to wait until early 2018.
Google Home app features improved interface and search
Google Home is becoming all sorts of useful. You can already use the family of smart speakers along with Chromecast to control your Spotify and Netflix accounts, watch CBS All Access and CW television shows, and manage YouTube's live TV service. Now, Google is updating the Google Home app with a new, more useful layout, recommended streaming content, a better search system, redesigned controller interfaces and even movie trailers.
Amazon Echo update doesn’t forget the bass
Amazon's been listening. Not just to your every word (waiting for you say "Alexa"), but also to the widespread criticism of the audio quality on the new Echo. The company issued a software update on Friday to improve the second-generation Echo's sound profile. It should have installed automatically, meaning you may have already noticed a bit more bass in your music this weekend. You can see if you have the latest software by looking under the Settings section of your Alexa app. The version number should be "592452420."
Interactive fiction for smart speakers is the BBC's latest experiment
Smart home speakers have quickly become the hot gadget people didn't know they wanted. They can answer your movie trivia questions, call a cab, turn your heating on and do your shopping for you. They're gaining new features every day, but are more than just a utility product. These speakers are a ripe platform for all kinds of screen-free entertainment, and I'm not just talking about streaming a Spotify playlist. Earplay is a popular Alexa skill that tells interactive stories, for example, and never one to be late to a fledgling medium, the BBC has taken note. In one of its many experiments outside the bread and butter of broadcast TV, the BBC is releasing its first immersive audio tale today: The Inspection Chamber.
Talk to Pikachu through your Amazon Echo or Google Home
Pikachu is virtually inescapable in the tech world, and that includes the smart speaker in your living room. The Pokémon Company has previewed Pikachu Talk, an app meant for Alexa- and Google Assistant-powered devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home. The name says it all, really: you can hold conversations with the iconic yellow critter. We wouldn't expect deep discussions when Pikachu can only respond with variants of its name ("pika pika!" isn't exactly My Dinner With Andre material), but it's bound to be fun for at least a little while if you're a Pokémon fan.
Sonos promises Alexa-powered Spotify controls by December 21st
Sonos made a big hubbub about its first voice-controlled speaker a few weeks ago, which makes the Sonos One not having Alexa support for Spotify out of the box all the more suspect. That will change by December 21st as the speaker company says it will push an update enabling "full voice support" for Amazon's digital assistant before the self-imposed deadline. Meaning, it could be around seven weeks longer before your free Echo Dot will take advantage of everything a Sonos speaker can offer. It isn't clear if this is the timeline for Alexa control on older Sonos speakers. At the moment, you can only start music with either the Sonos or Spotify apps. Oh well; this is the future we live in. The update should be out in time for your winter solstice playlist, at least.
Amazon Echo review (2017): Good price, bad sound
Two years after its birth, the device that inspired dozens of copycat smart speakers and spawned thousands of integrations is getting a makeover. Amazon's "all-new" Echo is smaller and cheaper and promises better sound. But with a pile of new competitors and even more in the pipeline, the second-generation Echo needs to prove it's still worth your money.
UE's Blast and Megablast join the Alexa smart speaker family
These days, the launch of yet more speakers with Alexa onboard isn't the most exciting announcement. However, these aren't stout smart home speakers or a mere software update, but an entirely new line for Ultimate Ears -- a long-standing favorite for its speakers' audio output and resilience. Today, the company introduces the Blast and Megablast, the network-capable and Alexa-enabled siblings of UE's Boom 2 and Megaboom. This new line was built explicitly for the Amazon Alexa ecosystem of apps and features, and along with the Power Up charging base, offers always-on functionality to cater to your verbal demands. Unlike many other options though, this one also includes an on-board battery for portability.
Motorola's newest mod puts an Alexa speaker on your phone
Ever wanted to have an Amazon Echo speaker with you wherever you are, rather than relying on your phone's built-in voice assistant? Motorola is betting you do. As promised, it's releasing an Alexa-powered Moto Mod (the Moto Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa, to be exact) that slaps an Echo-like device on the back of compatible phones like the Moto Z2 Force or Z Play. The key, as you might guess, is that it delivers that across-the-room voice control in a way your phone can't by itself.
Sonos One review: The best-sounding smart speaker you can buy
When Sonos released the Play:5 speaker in late 2015, the Amazon Echo was still an unproven tech curiosity. But since then, Alexa and the Echo have grown rapidly in both popularity and functionality, inspiring competition from the likes of Google and Apple. Talking to a speaker is totally normal now -- but Sonos users haven't been able to do that. They've instead had to choose between the convenience of products like the Echo and Google Home and the superior audio quality that Sonos speakers offer. Sonos has known for some time that this is a problem. In early 2016, then-CEO John MacFarlane cited the Echo as primary competition and promised that voice recognition would be a key technology for the company moving forward. Now we're finally seeing the fruits of that effort. The Sonos One takes everything that worked in the company's entry-level Play:1 speaker and adds in support for Amazon's Alexa, which means you can finally talk to a Sonos speaker and have it play music for you. But with Google, Amazon and Apple all working on music-focused speakers of their own, Sonos could get buried if the One doesn't do everything right.
Google Home Mini review: Taking aim at the Echo Dot
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that's true, Amazon must be tickled pink right now. The obvious inspiration for last year's Google Home was the Amazon Echo, and it's just as obvious that the new Google Home Mini is taking cues from the Echo Dot. To be fair, it's a logical strategy: By packaging all of Alexa's features into a smaller and cheaper package, Amazon expanded the Echo ecosystem and made it easier to blanket your house with voice-activated assistants. Google is now doing the same, right down to the price. The $49 Home Mini does almost everything the larger Home does, at a price that makes the idea of buying three or four to place around the house a lot more palatable. For that to be worthwhile, though, the Google Assistant and the Home Mini hardware both need to seamlessly integrate themselves into your home and make your life easier.
