Articles about Amazon Echo

Every once in a while, a tech device comes a long that changes everything. The iPod forever altered the music industry, while the iPhone and other smartphones made the traditional PC unnecessary for many. Another such product? Amazon's Echo, which ushered in Alexa and the voice assistant hardware explosion. Somehow, an online bookseller managed to beat Apple, Google, and Microsoft to the punch, and ultimately, grab huge marketshare. It's remarkable, really.

We Americans tend to take such innovative things for granted. Alexa, for instance, is something we have had for years, but believe it or not, the assistant is not available in every country. In fact, France is one country that does not have Echo or Alexa access. Next week this changes, as Amazon brings its voice assistant and associated hardware to the land of the Eiffel Tower.

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There was concern recently when a couple of Alexa users found that the smart assistant built into their Amazon Echo had not only recorded a conversation they had been having, but had sent it to an acquaintance.

Since this story broke, it is entirely understandable that other people who have Alexa listening in the background are worried that something similar could happen to them. If you want to check whether Alexa has been secretly/inadvertently recording you (delete according to your prejudices), we can show you how. If you find any recordings you want to ensure no one else hears, you can also delete them.

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There have long been accusations that digital assistants such as Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri are constantly listening in on and recording conversations, and recent events in Portland, Oregon are simply going to serve as extra fuel for conspiracy theorists.

A couple were disturbed to find that Alexa not only recorded a private conversation they had in their house, but then sent it on to a colleague as a message. Danielle says she and her husband felt it was "a total privacy invasion", and it is unlikely that Amazon's explanation will do anything to encourage her to use her Echo every again.

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While the likes of Google and Apple are making some headway in the home voice assistant market, Amazon remains king. Part of the reason for its success (beyond simply being the first to market) is the retail giant offers a range of Alexa compatible devices to suit every need and budget.

Today, it adds another device to its range, targeting a different, but inevitable demographic -- Echo Dot Kids Edition.

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There’s a new Marvel superhero series on Fox called The Gifted that this week inspired my son Fallon, age 11, to predict the first Alexa virus, coming soon to an Amazon Echo, Echo Dot or Echo Show cloud device near you. Or maybe it will be a Google Home virus. Fallon’s point is that such a contagion is coming and there probably isn’t much any of us -- including both Amazon and Google -- can do to stop it.

The Gifted has characters from Marvel’s X-Men universe. They are the usual mutants but the novel twist in this series is that some of these particular mutants are able to combine their powers with terrible effect. They just hold hands, get angry, and it is mayhem squared.

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Amazon Echo is amazing. That's my personal opinion of course, but I use it for various things every day. And yes, I know that some of you who wear tin-foil hats will say Amazon is listening to everything. It may well be, but I don't really care, I've accepted that trade-off in exchange for functionality.

I regularly use it to set a timer for cooking or baking, checking sports scores, game schedules, playing music and much more.

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Get ready to own the new Echo Plus, an essential product to start or enhance your smart home! With a built-in ZigBee smart home hub, it seamlessly connects and controls compatible smart devices. Don’t have any other compatible smart devices? You will if you win this bundle sweepstakes.

The bundle includes: Amazon Echo Plus with Built-In Hub, Wemo Mini Smart Plug, 2 Smart LED Light Bulbs, Arlo Q Security Camera, and a 1-year Amazon Prime membership.

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If you want to get a hardware voice assistant, you cannot go wrong with Echo. Amazon's hardware is great, but more importantly, its "Alexa" assistant is much more capable than any of its competitors. This can largely be attributed to developers -- there are countless "skills" and compatible devices that make the entire Alexa experience a joy.

Still haven't bought an Echo? Well, I have some great news. Waiting sometimes has its benefits, and today, those still on the fence about Echo should definitely pull the trigger. You see, Amazon will be selling a special PRODUCT(RED) version of its second-gen Echo.

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If you haven't used a Harmony product and you have a home theater system then you may be missing out. The Logitech devices can control all manner of things from receivers, TVs, Blu-ray players, and so on, to many Internet of Things products in your home, such as light bulbs like LIFX and thermostats such as Nest.

If you have an Amazon Echo, better known as Alexa, then you can already do a bit of that, turning your recliner into a throne from which you can oversee your kingdom.

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Hubs are familiar in some contexts: the center that makes order out of chaos and that serves as the connector orchestrating multiple moving parts. A hub is where "it" all happens.

We have strategically located airline hubs for major airlines in major cities, or networking hubs that connect all computers in a given network. We have the city center farmer’s market as a physical manifestation of a commerce hub, the stock exchange as a hub for global financial transactions, and even Comic-Con serving the needs of all comic book fans in one central location. But there’s a new type of digital hub that has emerged in the Subscription Economy. This new hub is about services, the cloud and, most importantly, subscribers.

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Amazon has been gradually expanding its range of Echo devices, and it has been possible to make free calls between Alexa-enabled devices for a few months -- now Amazon is extending the free calling capability even further.

Owners of any Amazon Echo device -- not just the latest batch -- can now make free calls to phones in the US, Mexico and Canada. No extra hardware or software is needed to take advantage of free calling.

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I recently bought the Apple TV 4K, and I absolutely love it. What I don't love, however, is the price. The 64GB model that I purchased cost $200. While that was more than its competitor's 4K offerings, such as Amazon Fire TV, I was willing to open my wallet a bit wider for the compatibility with the Apple ecosystem, such as easily accessing my photos and videos in iCloud.

Today, Amazon unveils a new streaming TV box that features both 4K and HDR, but it is insanely affordable. This all-new Fire TV costs just $69.99! To make things even sweeter, for a limited time, Amazon will sell you an Echo Dot for $10 when you purchase the new Fire TV. Yes, you are reading that correctly -- for $79.99 you get a high-end 4K media box and a standalone Echo device.

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Amazon's Echo and associated Alexa assistant have taken the world by storm. Despite being a big company, Amazon's success in this market was very unlikely. Companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple should be leading, but no, an online bookseller has been the true trailblazer in voice assistant technology.

Today, Amazon unveils the next generation Echo, and oh my, it looks amazing. Not only is it much shorter than its predecessor (still taller than Echo Dot), but it is wrapped in fabric, creating a more inviting experience in a home. It even has improved audio quality. Best of all? It is even less expensive at a mere $99. Unfortunately for Apple, this will essentially make its upcoming $349 Siri-powered HomePod dead on arrival.

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If you have heard Alexa utter the message "Currently, Google is not supporting YouTube on Echo Show," you'll be aware of the issue: Google has pulled YouTube from the Amazon Echo Show.

Google says that Amazon's Echo-with-a-screen creates a "broken user experience", and it seems the company would rather there was no customer experience than a broken one. A war of words has erupted between the two companies, and neither is particularly forthcoming with detail.

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The Internet of Things, commonly called the IoT, has become a hot topic these days for both the right and wrong reasons. It can be incredibly useful and time saving because of all the things that can be automated around the house, but there are also security risks.

Since the very early days of both Amazon Echo (Alexa) and the Wink home automation hub, the two products have worked together. Now that relationship is getting stronger, with the arrival of yet more Alexa compatible Wink products. While some of these new items will integrate straight with Alexa, others require a hub to work with voice control.

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