Nerdly News Curated from Interesting Sites
Didnt get your fill of Amazon news among the 70 or so announcements at todays Alexa event? Good news, Audibles got something to add to the deluge. The Amazon-owned audiobook site just announced the availability of its Apple Watch app. The offering brings pretty much what youd expect. You can listen to audiobooks and manage […]
Along with the launch of the all-new Echo Show, the Alexa-powered device with a screen, Amazon also introduced a new design language for developers who want to build voice skills that include multimedia experiences. Called Alexa Presentation Language, or APL, developers will be able to build voice-based apps that also include things like images, graphics, […]
If the Echo Show was the Amazon device most desperately in need of a makeover (please and thank you), the Dot was certainly a close second. After all, while the cheapest (and best selling) Echo device has already been through a couple of iterations, the hardware wasnt exactly the sort of thing youd proudly display […]
Everyone’s favorite trillion-dollar retailer hosted a private event today where they continued to exercise their highly-strategic approach to hardware where they just throw everything at the wall and wait to see what sticks. We got some new Amazon Echo devices, sure, but there was also an amp, a camera, a clock and a microwave…? There’s […]
Hidden amongst the 70 or so announcements Amazon made at todays big Alexa event was one key hidden presence. Googles offerings loomed large over much of the news flowing out from the big event. Its easy to understand why, of course. Assistant and Home have steadily been making up ground on Amazon over the last […]
Amazon was quick to note at todays event that not all that much has been done to update the microwave for the 21st century. While thats probably a pretty fair criticism of the ubiquitous home appliance, the new AmazonBasics microwave is less about space-age technologies than it is helping to usher in the future of […]
Amazon wants Alexa to interact with as many people as possible, including the ability to show them things. And that means freeing the virtual assistant from the confines of Amazon’s screen-supporting smart speaker Echo Show or Fire TV, devices that give Alexa a face (and of course a voice). The company announced Thursday at its […]
The Show was far and away the Echo product most in need of a makeover. The original device, introduced two years back, was far more concerned with function than form. That, of course, is in line with many of the companys hardware offerings, which are often designed to simply show what things like Alexa are […]
It’s official: Hulu is reviving the cult mystery series “Veronica Mars”. The show originally ran from 2004 to 2007 on UPN and the CW, with the titular high school sleuth played by Kristen Bell. Last month, there were reports that Hulu was in talks to bring the show back. Now it looks like a deal […]
Among the slew of devices Amazon announced this morning at its event in Seattle is a new Ring Stick Up Cam – stick up, because it’s designed to go anywhere. (And is not, apparently, a reference to being robbed at gunpoint?) The camera comes in two versions – one that’s battery-powered and could be more […]
Todays Amazon event is full of surprises, but you could have predicted this one from a mile away. The Echo show is a couple of years old now, and honestly, the hardware was never really that spectacular in the first place. Well, Amazon just introduced a new version of the screen-sporting smart speaker, which features […]
Amazon this morning introduced a new device called the Fire TV Recast that works with Fire TV and other devices to allow you to record live TV through a connected digital antenna. The device allows you to place your digital antenna anywhere in the house where you can get good reception, without having to worry […]
Amazon’s big hardware event isn’t all about hardware although there is plenty of that, too. Amazon also talked about how it’s making its virtual assistant Alexa smarter and more intuitive about human behavior, particularly when there are lots of connected smart home devices to tap into. Amazon announced at the event Thursday a feature […]
Todays big Amazon event was all about the hardware, but Amazon kicked things off with a few extra tricks. Among the cooler features rolling out for the smart assistant in the coming weeks is improved contextual understanding. One piece thats coming in the next few weeks is the ability to understand when the user needs […]
The first big piece of hardware news at todays Amazon event is a long-awaited refresh to the Echo Dot what the company calls the best selling speaker, ever. The new product features a fully refreshed design with a much nicer cloth covering akin to the new Echo and Echo Plus, along with Googles […]
Amazon today introduced a new product it’s calling the Echo Input. This is a very thin, tiny version of the Echo Dot – and the first Alexa device without a speaker. The idea here is to offer a device that allows you to connect to the speaker you already own. On the back of the […]
The Echo Sub isnt quite a HomePod competitor, but its pretty darn close. In fact the the Amazon-made subwoofer actually looks a far bit like Apples high-end smart speaker. But the device is actually designed to work in conjunction with the Echo line, offering a much deeper sounds than any of the current devices. Along […]
Alchemist is the Valley’s premiere enterprise accelerator and every season they feature a group of promising startups. They are also trying something new this year: they’re putting a reserve button next to each company, allowing angels to express their interest in investing immediately. It’s a clever addition to the demo day model. You can watch […]
Amazon wants to make it easier to set up your smart home. Today, the company introduced a new Smart Plug device that brings Alexa’s voice control capabilities to anything you want to control – a coffee pot, a light, or anything else that can be powered on or off at a power outlet. What makes […]
Amazon today is giving its premium smart home-ready Echo Plus device a notable update. The device, which includes a smart home hub built into the Echo, is now getting a new fabric design, and a temperature sensor. However, what’s more interesting is the addition something Amazon calls “local voice control.” What this means is that […]