Apple seems to want to expand the speed at which Siri is implemented in 3rd-party products. At least that's what it'd seem, given their acquisition of the group called Pullstring. This group is in the business of assisting with the building and designing of voice apps for physical products. Oh, they've got their own conversational AI, too.
In April 2018, Amazon introduced Alexa Skill Blueprints, a tool that allows Echo owners to create their own custom skills for the assistant. These skills are linked to the user's Amazon account and are kept private, but the company announced a change today that'll make it possible to share your skills with other Alexa users. The custom skills can be published in the Alexa Skills Store for US customers to find and download.
The latest data from CIRP suggests that Amazon's Echo device active installed user base towers over that of the competition. It's never really been a contest, since the group started recording data, back in December of 2017. Amazon's Echo devices with Alexa started with more than double the smart speaker installed base of their closest competitor in Google with Google Home. Each successive quarter showed a similar pattern, with Amazon in the very, very clear lead and Google Home sitting at around 1/3 the base Amazon commands.
The folks at Audible have teamed up with the official Choose Your Own Adventure brand to pair with Amazon's Alexa. The company that made Choose Your Own Adventure goes by the name Chooseco. They've been so wildly successful with the Choose Your Own Adventure brand and series of books that they've got their own company. Now they're bringing a skill, with Audible, to Amazon's Alexa system.
Bets over who will win the Super Bowl are always heated, with each side arguing in favor of their preferred team and rolling out mounds of data to support it. Amazon's Alexa assistant is now sharing its own opinion on the matter, stating -- with a bit of disappointment-- that the Patriots will probably win Super Bowl LIII next month.
There are plenty of multi-room audio options out there, but few have the reputation that Sonos does, which is why a Super Bowl season deal on some of its best connected speakers is worth paying attention to. Sonos kit is rarely on sale, and you have until February 3 - the kick-off date for Super Bowl LIII - to invest.
It seems that Amazon has found a new niche market for Alexa that goes beyond smart home automation. Last October, it collaborated with Ubisoft in order to bring Alexios, a new Alexa skill designed specifically for the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey game. This time, it has worked with Electronic Arts not for a new game but for an expansion that is smashing the real world and the virtual world together. Unfortunately, there’s now funny The Sims incarnation of the real-world Alexa even if there is an incomprehensible one in-game.
Back in September, Amazon revealed the Echo Input during its packed-to-the-brim Alexa Day. Out of all of the new devices revealed that day, the Echo Input seemed to be one of the most useful, as it allows you to essentially add Alexa functionality to any speaker. For people with existing home audio setups, then, the Echo Input is a good way to get Alexa functionality without buying a collection of Echo speakers and potentially compromising on sound quality.
CES 2019 may not have been short on smart home tech, but a deal of the day promotion on the latest Echo Dot 3rd Gen could put Alexa in your house a whole lot sooner. The third-generation smart speaker got an audio and aesthetic update late last year, making Amazon's assistant both look and sound better than before.
Amazon’s Alexa assistant is great and all but most of her incarnations come in a faceless speaker that stays either rooted on the spot on in your home. Those are great for use at home and nothing more. What if you wanted something that can be used anywhere on the go? Either you hope to get your hands on an Android phone with Alexa built-in or get your hands on Lenovo’s new Smart Tabs. Part Android tablet and part Amazon Echo Show, the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 and Smart Tab M10 lets you enjoy the best of both worlds, whether you’re at home or on the road.
Functionality from Amazon's voice assistant Alexa was added to Razer Chroma this week. In the near future, users will be able to command the many combinations of colors and color functionality on their Razer Chroma light-embedded devices. This comes at the same time as the Razer Chroma Connected Devices program, now active, tags on 15 new parters and 300+ Chroma-enabled devices.
Sony has bestowed its WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones with support for Alexa. The headphones, which are already available, enable a voice-controlled experience via the push of a button. Until now, the WH-1000XM3 headphones only supported Google Assistant, but that will change in the near future thanks to a new software update bringing Alexa.