Smart home devices as a whole make your life easier and help you accomplish everyday tasks. Amazon Alexa hit the market fairly recently, and it’s certainly one of my favorite pieces of smart home tech. From helping to solve a murder, to achieving some super cool skills, to potentially being your doctor; the possibilities with […]
On January 27, 2017 Timothy Veril murdered Christine Sullivan and her friend Jenna Pellegrini in Christine’s kitchen. Shortly after the stabbings, Timothy was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder. It is believed that he murdered the women because he was fearful they were going to report a drug operation he was involved […]
Some people don’t realize that Alexa can do a lot more than just play your favorite music, call an Uber to come and pick you up, and open your garage door. She’s also capable of searching for addresses or turning up the thermostat! If you find yourself wondering “what else can Alexa do?”, we’re here […]
Your days of going to the doctor could be over, or at least, numbered. CNBC got their hands on an internal document from Amazon that reveals they’re working towards Alexa possibly becoming your new doctor. Amazon is reportedly developing a team within their Alexa division that they are calling “health and wellness” and it includes about […]
Amazon just made it way easier to give to your favorite charity when they’re most in need. The company announced today that it’s now possible to give to one of 48 charities simply by asking Alexa nicely using a new feature called Alexa Donations. With Alexa Donations, you can simply tell Alexa to donate a […]
The Lenovo Yoga 700 series of 2-in-1 tablet-laptop hybrids might not be as fancy as the 900 series machines on the outside, but with solid specs on the inside, they’ve remained pretty decent deals. Lenovo just refreshed the 700 series with the 13″ and 15″ Yoga 730 this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, […]
Sometimes, when a tech thing gets very popular, lots of companies get very excited and have big ideas. Often, those ideas are toilet. But, rare and precious are the times when those ideas are literally toilet. Such are the goings-on at CES in Vegas this week, where Kohler has put forward not just a smart […]
Last year, Sonos announced a preview of Alexa compatibility, which would allow users to control Sonos speakers using Alexa speakers like an Echo or Dot. Cool and all, but it’d be a whole lot more straightforward if Alexa was just on your Sonos speaker to begin with. That’s exactly where Sonos is headed with the […]
Amazon knows what time of year it is. With Apple, Samsung, and plenty others unleashing their holiday hopefuls, Amazon was by no means going to stand on the sidelines. At an event earlier today, they announced a ton of brand new hardware, including some major new updates to the Echo and Fire TV. Here’s everything […]
The Harman Allure connected speaker was announced today, and it can perhaps be best described as a Rorschach test. We’ve seen some liken it to a food processor; we’re seeing a police siren! At least we can probably all agree on the sound part — the Allure is a Harman Kardon 360-degree speaker that works […]
When Microsoft announced a new skills kit for Cortana alongside the Echo-like Harman Kardon Invoke smart home speaker, we figured Cortana was getting ready to step all over Alexa’s turf. Today, it looks like that’s not necessarily the case. Amazon and Microsoft have made a joint announcement that Alexa and Cortana will now be able […]
The UE Boom 2 came out about two years ago, and it’s cruised along as one of the better portable Bluetooth speakers on the market since then. That doesn’t mean Ultimate Ears has just been sitting back and enjoying the success — they’ve been gradually adding features to the speaker over time, including Siri and Google […]
It was only a couple weeks ago that Amazon unveiled the Echo Look, an Alexa-enabled speaker with a camera and some fashion sense, so maybe you thought they would be done for a while. Far from it! Amazon is back at it this week with the Echo Show, the first Alexa speaker with a touchscreen. […]
Wi-Fi connectivity has become a major robot vacuum feature over the last couple of years, and the Roomba has been a big part of that. iRobot stuck Wi-Fi connectivity on their 960 and 980 models, allowing users to create schedules and stop and start their robot vacuums remotely using their smartphones. That modern convenience layer […]
Following Neato’s lead from last year, iRobot is announcing that they will add an Alexa skill for their Roomba robot vacuums. The skill is being prepared for a Q2 release, at which point you’ll be able to boss your Roomba around with voice commands. iRobot is also preparing a new feature that will show you […]
Barbie has not been messing around during Toy Fair lately. A couple years ago, Mattel showed off the Hello Barbie doll, which had natural voice recognition, and last year Barbie got her own voice-activated smart house. She’s no less tech savvy this year — she’s now going holographic. Hologram Barbie isn’t actually a doll — the toy itself […]
Showing a total disregard for naming, Amazon is pushing out an update that goes against the Amazon Tap’s name. Starting this week, instead of pushing the microphone button on a Tap to activate Alexa, you can simply say her name — same as most other Alexa-enabled speakers. The update basically turns the Amazon Tap into a […]
Not too long ago we took a look at the Logi ZeroTouch smart car system, a way for owners of older cars to turn their smartphones into a driver safe smart car interface. Snapping an Android phone into one of Logitech’s dash or vent mounts automatically launches the ZeroTouch app, which enables simple voice commands […]
The trend this CES was “Alexa-enabled devices”, and the Lynx Robot by UBTech was one of our favorites. The miniature humanoid is loaded up with technology and the Alexa-integration is actually just the start of it. Lynx is equipped with facial, image, and voice recognition, emotion detection, and movements that are so lifelike it can […]
Amazon’s immense success moving Alexa devices during the holiday probably didn’t come as a surprise to anyone in the tech industry. It certainly didn’t come as a surprise to Lenovo — they’ve been working with Amazon to create their own smart home speaker, and they’re showing it off at CES 2017. The Smart Assistant is, essentially, […]
Amazon Alexa-enabled devices such as the Echo, Dot and Tap are quickly finding their way into our homes and some would say into our hearts. Those of us who already rely on her every day to turn on the lights, make the house comfortable and order dinner will surely be asking for new ways to […]
