Amazon has announced new features for its Alexa assistant and related Echo products, including group calling and support for new video conferencing options on its Echo Show 8. The features come just ahead of the year's biggest holidays, giving users new ways to connect with their friends and family while staying socially distanced.
For many years the ability to have broadband Internet service in many rural and underserved parts of the world was at a standstill. In recent years, several companies have come a long way in providing broadband to underserved and rural areas worldwide. One of the biggest names is Starlink from SpaceX, which is currently beta-testing its US service. Amazon has a similar plan with its Project Kuiper that received FCC approval months ago.
This week Amazon Fire TV devices were updated with a feature that ties the whole house together. Users of any one of several Fire TV devices now have the ability to run picture-in-picture with compatible smart home and doorbell cameras. This system works with Ring doorbell cameras as well as compatible systems from Ring, Nest, Wyze, Logitech, and others.
One of the year's top games, Fall Guys, comes with a variety of costumes for its adorable pill-shaped characters. Every so often, a free skin arrives and that's the case this time around -- but you can only get it if you're a Prime Gaming member. The winter-themed skin will soon be joined by additional freebies, with the next scheduled to arrive in January.
They say hindsight is 20/20 and sometimes being late to the game does have such an advantage. One of the latest to jump into the nascent game streaming fad is Amazon it definitely benefited from experiences and problems of the likes of Google Stadia, NVIDIA GeForce NOW, and Microsoft xCloud. By banking on web technologies, Amazon's Luna game streaming service has been able to target platforms that others couldn't but it is ironically landing on Android only now and in an oddly limited manner.
Amazon has launched a new service called 'Made for You' that enables users to purchase custom-made shirts in the style and colors they prefer. The service is offered through the company's mobile app, which is used to create a virtual model of your body to see exactly how the shirt will fit and whether you still like how it looks before buying.
Amazon has announced the arrival of Live Translation on its Echo devices, enabling users to have a conversation in two different languages in real-time with Alexa serving as a translator. The feature is arriving for Echo devices in the US with a total of six language pairs to kick things off, including English - Spanish.
Autonomous vehicle startup Zoox has revealed its self-driving car, a purpose-designed robotaxi that the Amazon subsidiary says is ready for the road. Founded in 2014, Zoox was bought by Amazon earlier this year and has come up with a distinctively different take on the driverless vehicle category compared to most vehicles we see claiming to be autonomous.
Amazon's controversial Halo fitness wearable is now available for general order, with the health-tracking band emerging from the retailer's Early Access program with its divisive feature-set intact. Announced earlier in the year, Amazon Halo does what you'd expect from a fitness tracker, but also adds microphones so that it can judge the wearer's tone, and a body-fat analysis system which requires uploading scantily-clad photos of yourself to the company's servers.
If you're one of the many people who have been less than thrilled with the Fire TV interface, good news: Amazon is rolling out the update we were promised months ago, one that reduces the clutter and wasted space while making it easier to find the apps and shows you like the most. The bad news? The new UI is first arriving on only a couple of devices.
In October 2019, Amazon introduced a free news channel for its Fire TV platform that enables users to get access to the latest news content. The channel has seen some updates in the months since, including the relatively recent addition of Black News Channel. With the latest update, some users can now access their local news stations.
The FTC has issued a warning to consumers this week to let people know that scammers are calling and using the names of two of the largest and best-known companies in the United States. The scammers are calling consumers and claiming to be from Apple and Amazon in an attempt to steal. In one of the scams, the FTC says consumers receive a call or recorded message claiming to be Amazon.