Amazon was tipped to be in the process of developing a device that would compete directly with TiVo and Slingbox from Dish. This device was rumored to have the ability to record live programming from television channels, store said content, and stream said content to smartphones, tablets, PCs, and televisions.
Google is said to be planning to release a new smart speaker, and it might be looking to the Echo Show for inspiration. A new rumor claims that Google will release a smart speaker with a display at some point this year. If that turns out to be true, then that means Google would have a smart speaker to compete with almost every device in Amazon's Echo line up.
Amazon may be gearing up for a big acquisition, according to a new report, and it involves Landmark Theaters. Sources talking about the alleged plan say Amazon is eyeing a movie into the cinema industry in a big way, battling competitors in a mission to purchase the theater chain. Assuming such an acquisition takes place, this would give Amazon dozens locations to screen its movies.
If you're in the mood to combine your Amazon and Microsoft-made smart assistants on any one device, today's your day. Alexa can open Cortana and Cortana can open Alexa. Because there might be a very rare instance in which you want one or the other, this particular tie-in is live. It's just live in preview mode when this article is first published, but live nonetheless.
It seems that even Alexa is participating in the back to school rush this year. Today, Saint Louis University announced that it will outfit "every student residence hall room and student apartment on campus" with an Alexa device. All told, that means SLU is outfitting student living spaces with around 2,300 Echo Dots.
Almost one year ago exactly, Amazon announced plans to integrate Microsoft's Cortana with its Alexa personal assistant. Under this integration, Alexa will be able to communicate with Cortana, and Cortana will also be able to communicate with Alexa. Today Amazon revealed the latest evolution in this plan, introducing a public preview that enables customers to experience the new functionality.
NVIDIA has a smart TV device called SHIELD TV which, as of this week, has a fourth individual bundle. A bundle includes the SHIELD TV itself and an assortment of controllers. This week the device was officially wrapped up in a bundle called "SHIELD TV SMART HOME EDITION" complete with a SmartThings Link. That SmartThings link otherwise costs approximately $40 on its own.
Sonos' Alexa-powered smart speakers are catching up with one of the more useful features of Amazon's Echo range, turning them into a useful home announcement system. Amazon Announcements was launched back in early April, as a way to broadcast messages across every speaker in the home.
Alexa's attempts to be your copilot in the car continue, with Amazon releasing a new toolkit for automakers to more readily bake the smart assistant into the dashboard. The Alexa Auto SDK follows a handful of car companies that have already announced - or launched - Alexa integration, allowing drivers to ask questions, play media, and remotely control their smart home, all by voice.
After the failure of the Fire Phone, it was completely unexpected that the Amazon Echo would end up causing both Google and Apple to scramble to catch up. But while Amazon practically created and continue to lead the new smart speaker market, it has ironically failed at the very thing it created the Echo for: helping Amazon customer buy stuff. It turns out, only a minuscule percentage of users shop via Alexa and it’s not that hard to see why.
Ask Alexa enough questions and you'll eventually find one she can't answer. The personal assistant apologizes for its lack of a proper response, and now it has started issuing alerts when it finally learns the answer. The new ability is called "Answer Update," and it's exactly what it sounds like: a new answer to an old question. The user will need to enable the feature to use it, though.
![Just 2% of Alexa users tried to buy stuff with voice in 2018 [UPDATE: Amazon Statement]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/echo.jpg)
Sources this week suggested that Amazon's Alexa devices aren't working exactly the way they'd been expected to work with regard to other Amazon products. In the report, it's said that in the year 2018, (so far,) just 2% of users of Alexa products tried to purchase a product on Amazon with their voice. Of those that tried to make a purchase with Alexa, a whopping 90% never tried to buy another product with their voice through the service.