In the music streaming space, Amazon finds itself in heated competition with the likes of Google, Spotify, and Apple. With that in mind, it needs every edge it can get, and todayuit's rolling out a new one. Amazon has announced a new tier of its music subscription service called Amazon Music HD, which promises higher-quality streaming for many of the songs it offers.
Amazon will hold its next big hardware event on September 25, the company has confirmed today, with Alexa likely to feature heavily on the menu. The launch comes a year after Amazon's 2018 devices event, which saw products as varied as an Alexa-enabled microwave and a smart wall clock.
Amazon has officially announced a new lineup of Fire TV products, including new Fire TV Stick models, new smart TVs running the company's software, an updated Fire TV Cube, and more. This was the company's biggest Fire TV announcement ever, covering more than 20 new products destined for the markets in Europe and North America. The company has teamed with TCL, JVC, Anker, and others for its latest product lineup.
Just ahead of the 2019 NFL football season comes an update from Amazon. The company has announced that its Alexa personal assistant has received a knowledge update revolving around the popular American sport, enabling it to offer users more 'comprehensive, in-depth' stats related to NFL teams and players, according to the company. The personal assistant can now also offer details about college and high school football.
Following a leak that first revealed its existence in late 2018, IMDb launched a new free video streaming service called IMDb TV. The launch first involved Fire TV and Prime Video (which made sense because Amazon owns IMDb), but that was inconvenient for a large number of people who use other platforms. Things have finally changed with the arrival of the service on Android and iOS.
Amazon's audiobook company Audible is being sued by publishers over its plan to offer AI-powered captions. Five major publishing houses are behind the lawsuit, including Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, which filed their complaint with the Southern District Court of New York. The 'Captions' feature was revealed by Audible in July.
Earlier this month, OnePlus confirmed that it does indeed have a TV in the works. The company hasn't shared very many details about this TV yet, seemingly preferring to reveal things about it gradually. So far, we've seen the logo and we've learned that it'll launch first in India, and today, OnePlus is sharing the first details about the TV's actual hardware.
AmazonFresh, the company's grocery service offering same-day deliveries, has expanded into three major new markets: Houston, Minneapolis, and Phoenix. The company announced its expansion today, saying Prime customers in these cities can now order fresh grocery items, such as meat and dairy, and have it delivered to their homes within two hours for free.
If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber and you happen to have a Garmin smartwatch on your wrist, then here's some good news: Amazon Music is landing on Garmin's smartwatch lineup today. In its announcement today, Garmin boasts that it's the "first wearable company to offer Amazon Music," so if you've been looking for a way to access your library on a smartwatch, then it sounds like Garmin is the pick.
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.
Following reports that millions of unwanted and unsold third-party products were being destroyed by Amazon, the Internet retailer has launched a new program that lets these sellers donate their products instead. The new program is called Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Donations and it'll go live in the US and UK starting next month. FBA Donations joins the company's existing charity-based work.
While Amazon, Netflix, and other companies are busy creating original video content, Amazon-owned audiobook company Audible has penned a new multi-year deal with Skybound Entertainment, the entertainment company responsible for The Walking Dead comics. Under this new deal, Skybound Entertainment will create several original audio works for Audible, all of them destined to be exclusive to Amazon's platform.