Tag: alexa
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You Can Now Donate to Almost 50 Different Charities Just By Asking Alexa
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 […]
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Alexa and Cortana are Roommates in the Lenovo Yoga 730 2-in-1
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, […]
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Alexa is Getting a Potty Mouth Thanks to Kohler
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 […]
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The Sonos One Just Might Be the Best Smart Home Speaker Yet
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 […]
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Here Are All the New Goodies Amazon Just Announced Today
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 […]
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The Harman Kardon Allure is an Alexa Speaker That Looks Kind of Like a Police Siren
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 […]
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Alexa and Cortana Are Now Best Friends Thanks to a Partnership Between Microsoft and Amazon
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 […]
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The UE Boom 2 Bluetooth Speaker Just Got Alexa
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 […]
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Amazon Gives Alexa a Display With the Echo Show
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. […]
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iRobot Announces Two Cheaper Roomba Models With Wi-Fi and Alexa
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 […]
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Amazon Echo Look Turns Alexa Into Your Personal Stylist
Well, we knew Alexa was always listening. Starting today, she’ll be watching, too — and judging. Amazon announced the Echo Look today, an Alexa speaker with a camera and four bright LED lights for flash to make sure you and your clothes look their best. In terms of hardware, the Amazon Echo Look isn’t that much […]
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Roomba Now Takes Orders from Alexa
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 […]
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Hologram Barbie is Cooler than Siri and Alexa Combined
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 […]
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The Amazon Tap Can Now Be Used Without Touching the Device
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 […]
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Logitech Brings Alexa to Your Car
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 […]
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Learn Yoga from the Alexa-Enabled Lynx Robot
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 […]
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Lenovo Enters the Smart Home With Their Own Alexa-Enabled Smart Assistant
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, […]
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18 Ways Amazon Alexa Can Make Your Holidays Brighter
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 […]
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You Can Now Tell Alexa to Vacuum the House Thanks to Neato
It’s not exactly Rosie, but maybe it’s close enough — thanks to Neato, we now have a voice-activated vacuum cleaner. Yesterday, the company announced that the Neato Botvac Connected now works with Amazon’s voice-activated assistant, Alexa. The Botvac Connected can now be used with Amazon’s smart home speakers, including the Echo and Dot, or any of […]
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Booking a Contractor is Now as Easy as Talking to Alexa
Booking a plumber or an electrician is never fun — mainly because if you have to call one, you’re already dealing with a pretty unpleasant problem. But, just the process of trying to find someone reliable and get an appointment ironed out can be a pain, and if there’s one thing we know about the tech […]
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TCL Updates Their 17-Inch Xess Tablet With Amazon Alexa
When TCL introduced their 17″ Xess tablet earlier this year, it was meant to be a family communication hub ideal for the kitchen. It could be used by family members or roommates to leave notes and reminders for each other, and parents got the benefit of free Nickelodeon shows for their kids. But, family hub […]
