Amazon has announced a major change to its Alexa Voice Service: it is now available to manufacturers for devices that feature as little as a single megabyte (1MB) of RAM. The new minimum requirement, which is considerably lower than the previous 100MB minimum, opens the door for Alexa across a vast number of connected gadgets for the home, office, cars, and more.
Only days after the same support arrived on Sonos speakers, Spotify has announced that its Free service is now accessible through Amazon's Alexa personal assistant. This marks the first time users have been able to access the free version of the service using Alexa, including on smart speakers and the Fire TV platform. The move follows Amazon's recent expansion of its own free music availability.
Amazon may have had a great gush of new products last month, but it's back on the announcement train today with the Fire TV Blaster, an IR blaster for Alexa. It'll give Amazon's assistant greater control over your home entertainment devices, such as being able to power on TVs, projectors, audio systems, and more.
Smoking meat might seem like a simple matter of combining, well, meat and smoke, but Traeger's range of connected grills are now adding Alexa support for more straightforward remote control. Owners of Traeger WiFIRE-enabled models will be able to use Amazon's assistant both to control their pellet grill and to remotely check its current status.
Amazon has rolled out a new feature it calls 'Alexa Home Theatre System' that enables its home entertainment customers to play audio from a Fire TV through an Echo smart speaker. The feature has launched with support for select Fire TV and Echo models at this time, including for some of the older units. Multiple configurations can be used ranging from a 1.0 to 2.1 setup.
Black Friday is coming but the holiday shopping season isn't waiting for its traditional kick-off, though while tech deals may be everywhere you look, there are some gadgets I won't be putting into my cart. Smart speakers and, more recently, smart displays have become a go-to gift for many over the past few years, but in 2019 they may not be quite so warmly received.
Amazon is rolling out new features for Alexa, ones that involve connected lighting systems with support for its personal assistant. The two big new features are Sleep Lighting Time and Wake-up Lights, both intended to improve the sleeping experience by automating lighting both at night and in the morning. Joining these two features are a couple of new Routines, as well.
Smart speakers like Amazon Echo or Google Home can certainly be useful tools, but along with that usefulness also comes a number of security concerns. These concerns have been well stated since these smart speakers first hit the market, and today, a team of security researchers are sounding the alarm on exploits affecting Google Home and Amazon Echo devices that developers can use to either eavesdrop on users or phish for personal information.
Amazon Alexa users located in the United States can now speak with the personal assistant in Spanish, the company has announced. The support has arrived for Alexa on Echo products and other devices that have the assistant built-in. Thanks to this support, developers now have the option of creating Alexa skills designed for Spanish-speaking users.
GM has announced that it will be bringing owners of Chevy, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac vehicles from 2018 and up model years Alexa compatibility. Not all of the 2018 and newer cars, trucks, and SUVs will have compatible infotainment systems. Those that do will get the Alexa voice experience that leverages the Alexa Auto Software Development Kit. The upgrade will give the GM owners access to standard Alexa skills and capabilities.
Amazon isn't afraid to make a weird product, and while you can question the value of Alexa inside a microwave, there's no denying that the idea of connected appliances and other gadgets is one worth exploring as the IoT spreads. Today's big news might have been more mainstream smart speakers like the Echo Studio, along with cutting-edge experimental tech such as the Echo Frames, but that didn't mean Amazon lacked some oddball gadgetry as well.
It looks like a HomePod with a letterbox slot, but make no mistake, the Amazon Echo Studio isn't playing around when it comes to audio. Slotting in at the top end of Amazon's smart speaker line-up, the beefiest of all the Echos sets its sights on audiophiles with a Dolby Atmos tie-in.