Show Article with tag "alexa"

After a long wait, the Alexa Voice Remote Pro is here to enhance your Fire TV’s capabilities. This remote gives you instant access to Alexa, and it offers two programmable buttons that can trigger routines or open apps. Surprisingly, Alexa Voice Remote Pro only costs $35. The Alexa Voice Remote Pro was first revealed during the Amazon Hardware Event in September of 2022. It’s compatible with most Fire TV devices, including third-party smart TVs that run Amazon’s Fire interface. Like the standard Alexa Voice Remote, the new Voice Remote Pro lets you control your TV and smart home devices using voice commands. There’s also a volume control and a set […]

A virtual assistant can call and text people, turn off the lights, play music or TV shows, start your coffee maker in the morning, and so so so much more. In short, a virtual assistant makes your life easier. If you’ve already written off Apple’s Siri, your top two options are Alexa and Google Assistant. But which is better? As with any comparison, some features are objectively better, while others are more subjective based on a specific user’s needs. Both Alexa and Google Assistant have areas where they shine and areas where they could clearly use some work. Alexa is the better pick if you want to create a dynamic […]

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority Digital assistants have become an essential part of both the smartphone and smart home experiences — if nothing else, it’s easier to ask Google Assistant to set an alarm than do it yourself through the Clock app. But tech shoppers can be demanding, so companies are still racing to prove they have the best assistant tech. Circa 2022, the competition is down to Siri vs Alexa vs Google Assistant vs Bixby, with Microsoft’s Cortana being all but eliminated. Which one is tops? The answer is a little complex, and can depend on what you need an assistant to do. Basic settings and tasks Robert Triggs […]

In a world where a smartphone is charging on every nightstand, the humble alarm clock is a bit of an antique. Or is it? Lenovo certainly doesn’t think so with its now second attempt at a smart clock that’s part smart speaker. The first one, the Smart Clock Essential, came with Google Assistant. The sequel makes the switch to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. That makes it less of a proper sequel, more like a spin-off. If you own and love the original and you use Google Assistant, you don’t necessarily want to get this one. And you don’t need to, either. Despite an updated design, the two devices remain simplistically […]

It can’t get creepier and spookier than this, as Amazon on Wednesday demonstrated a new feature that enables its virtual assistant, Alexa, to mimic the voices of users’ dead relatives. Yes, you read that right! The company demoed the feature at Amazon’s Re: MARS (Machine Learning, Automation, Robots, and Space) conference in Las Vegas. In the short video clip, a boy is asking Alexa to read “The Wizard of Oz” story in the voice of his dead grandmother. Alexa acknowledges the child’s request in her default, robotic voice, and then immediately transitions to a softer, more humanlike tone, apparently mimicking the voice of the child’s dead grandmother, and narrates an […]

Introducing Alexa Together Watch this video on YouTube Looking after an aging loved one doesn’t have to be limited to a small number of people. Amazon’s “Alexa Together,” which relies on Alexa Care Hub, now has an answer for that by allowing up to 10 caregivers on the subscription. The new feature called “Circle of Support” will allow the aging loved ones to get more support through a single subscription. It is now available to all Alexa Together subscribers. “…many others who rely on the support and love from their caregivers—can get comfort knowing their loved ones can easily check in on them through the activity feed in the Alexa […]

Improvements in all the right places for Amazon’s new look bowling ball speaker Pros Bold new designRicher sound than everZigbee now includedCons Alexa is still no Google AssistantSound not quite up there with Nest Audio Get the Amazon Echo 4th Gen for £20 less right now While we were already very impressed with the 4th Gen Echo, calling it nothing short of a brilliant smart speaker, it just became even better value for money, thanks to a £20 discount at Amazon. Usually retailing for £90, you can now pick one up for just £70.AmazonWas £90Now £70Buy Now A new Amazon Echo is now clearly an annual tradition. If Amazon can […]

Did you know you can use Alexa to call and message others? Amazon's Alexa calling and messaging feature enables you to make and receive calls, as well as send messages between Echo devices, the Amazon Alexa app for iOS and Android, and Fire tablets. It's a neat way to contact family and friends. The best part? The feature is completely free to use, as it works over Wi-Fi on most Echo devices and into Alexa apps too. Here's everything you need to know about it and how it works. squirrel_widget_4591610 What is Alexa calling and messaging? The free feature was first introduced on the original Amazon Echo Show, but Amazon […]

Last year, Amazon rolled out an Alexa feature called Hunches. It allows the assistant to proactively complete house tasks for you without having to ask permission. Alexa will perform hunches - like automatically turn off your lights - all based on your past habits and requests. What are Alexa Hunches? Alexa has long been able to look at your activity to suggest more to do, whether it's a follow-up question or to play a video or song. Now, with proactive Hunches enabled, Alexa can offer suggestions for your smart home devices. The idea is, if you've left a smart device on, Alexa can offer to turn it off for you. […]

Alexa can now queue up your podcasts, as both Spotify and Apple have announced that streams through their Podcasts apps now work with Alexa. So, if you own an Amazon Echo device or an Alexa-enabled speaker, just ask the assistant to play a podcast you want to hear. Apple Podcasts is perhaps the most popular podcast streaming platform available, although Spotify is emerging as one of its chief competitors, thanks to exclusive deals with the a number of celebrities and podcasters with big followings. While Spotify is available across a wide range of devices, including Alexa devices, Apple Podcasts is more limited, but it's still available on the web, Apple […]

Alexa is getting that little bit smarter again - Amazon is activating a feature to let its smart assistant notify you if your smart doorbell detects a person or package outside your front door, making it easier to get alerts through different speakers and systems. What is Alexa and what can Amazon Echo do? Sadly this isn't a crazy software workaround, in the sense that your doorbell will still need to be able to detect people and packages and distinguish between them, which not all can manage, while Amazon's own Ring devices lock the feature behind a subscription. The change will mean you can get a notification or alert from […]

If you have an Echo of some kind, and regularly use Amazon's virtual assistant - Alexa - there's a good chance you're using it mostly to listen to music, check weather forecasts and set timers. But there's a lot more you can do if you just want to be mildly entertained and some less obvious, hidden features that are definitely worth trying. These are "Alexa Easter Eggs" - an unexpected feature in software - and they range from her deepest, darkest thoughts on life to cool pop culture references. Whether you have one of the classic smart speakers, or the new Echo Show models with a screen, these work on […]