Amazon Alexa

The Xperia 1 was clearly made for entertainment. Sony brought its 21:9 screen to a mobile size and dubbed it a CinemaWide display. Even with the addition of 4K HDR, it may not have been enough to sell the phone as much as Sony would have hoped. Now the company is hoping a different kind of smartphone user to buy the Xperia 1. Appealing to smart home owners, the new Xperia 1 now comes with Amazon Alexa built-in, which subtly hints that Google Assistant is being pushed to the side.

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You rarely hear about Android tablets these days outside of Samsung and occasionally Huawei. There are, however, still a few companies that keep churning out these slates. Lenovo is one of those and while its latest Smart Tab family can't exactly compete with the likes of the Galaxy Tab S6 in terms of high-end features, it does have at least two things Samsung can't boast of: affordable prices and the deep integration of Amazon Alexa.

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Smart speakers are a hot topic these days and, unfortunately for their makers, not in a good way. Almost all three of the big names have been dragged into controversy but the very first one to be named was Amazon and its Alexa assistant. Given the heat, some might consider it bad timing to launch smart speakers using these AI assistants. That's not stopping cable provider Altice from announcing the Amplify home speaker. Fortunately, that's not its only selling feature.

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Amazon has added a new feature in its Alexa smartphone app that allows users to opt out of having their voice recordings reviewed by humans. The feature comes amid growing privacy concerns over the practice, which is used to help the company -- and others like it -- improve the quality of their AI assistants. Finding the feature in the Alexa app isn't entirely simple, however.

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Microsoft has shifted its strategy away from forcing its operating systems on users, including mobile, to a more "services-oriented" tactic that offers apps and platforms for others to build on or use on its competitors' platforms. That seems to be the case even when it has competing products like smart assistants. In fact, in the next Windows 10 update later this year, it will be giving those assistants more control even when the PC is still on its lock screen.

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AI assistants are only as good as the skills or actions they offer. And those skills largely depend on developers, often from big brands, doing their thing. Given how the early skills systems developed and how different rivaling companies raced to grab a piece of the Alexa or Google Assistant market, these skills grew to become isolated gardens. Now Amazon is attempting to bridge these islands by with the Skills Connections that lets other skill reuse existing skills to perform basic, common tasks.

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Everything is connected today, and not just the obvious culprits like phones, computers, and TVs. These days, even refrigerators and ovens are connected to the Internet or to each other. The latter is what KitchenAid is trying to sell with the new Smart Oven+. First shown of at CES 2019, the smart single or double wall oven allows users to control it through various means, from touch to phone to even, of course, voice.

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Yamaha has introduced two new home sound bars, the YAS-109 and YAS-209. Both models feature native Alexa voice control, enabling users to directly access Amazon's voice assistant and its various control functions. In addition, both new models pack wireless connectivity, support for various music streaming services, a discreet design, and more.

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Amazon has given its Echo Dot Kids Edition an update, with the child-friendly version of Alexa now louder and more colorful. The new smart speaker is based on the third-generation Echo Dot, doing away with the interchangeable bumpers of the previous Kids Edition model and replacing them with fixed fabric covers.

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When Amazon first announced the Amazon Echo smart speaker and its Alexa assistant, there were some jokes about putting it inside cars somehow. With the Echo Dot and third-party batteries, that almost became possible. Now they won't have to resort to hacks and workarounds thanks to the new Garmin DriveSmart 65 that not only gets drivers and their passengers to their destination, they can also make their shopping list on the go, all hands-free.

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Amazon is enhancing its privacy features for Alexa, its smart assistant technology, making it easier to delete audio interactions in the face of growing user concerns around how much data is being saved. The new update arrives alongside the Echo Show 5, the latest smart display powered by Alexa from Amazon, which itself has a greater focus on privacy in the home.

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Amazon has added a new smart display to its Alexa-powered range, with the Amazon Echo Show 5 arriving at $89.99. The new model has a 5.5-inch touchscreen with a camera above it; in a nod to privacy, there's both a button to disable the microphone and camera and stop Alexa from listening, and a switch that slides a physical shutter over the camera.

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