Amazon today announced a number of new smart features designed to allow Alexa device owners to better control their smart home — some of which don’t even require the Alexa device owner to interact with the virtual assistant by voice. These features expand on tools Amazon has rolled out to make Alexa more proactive and … Read more
Comments
Venture is back, baby! But not really at the later stages and, oh, also definitely not at the same valuations or cadence as 2021. After more than six months of declining deal counts and venture activity, venture deal pace is starting to pick up again. Multiple investors and lawyers told TechCrunch this week that they’ve … Read more
Amazon today introduced two new Fire TV devices designed to cater to customers seeking a more premium experience. At its fall hardware event this afternoon, the company showed off the latest version of its high-end media player, the Fire TV Cube, as well as new higher-end TVs with the Fire TV Omni QLED series models. … Read more
Weighing in at $100, the new Amazon Blink Floodlight camera brings more brightness and smarts to its camera line. The company also launched a brand new Blink Mini Pan Tilt mount, giving security-conscious customers the ability to look around a bit more than before. The two new additions to the Blink family were launched at … Read more
Amazon is launching two new designs for its Echo Dot Kids devices, the company announced at its virtual event today. The Echo Dot Kids devices now come in new Owl and Dragon designs. The two new designs join Amazon’s current Echo Dot Kids devices: the Tiger and the Panda. The new designs will be available … Read more
Amazon released Wednesday the second-generation version of Echo Auto, a smaller and slicker device aimed to broaden the e-commerce giant’s reach by bringing its Alexa voice assistant into more vehicles. Echo Auto, which first came to market in 2018, connects to a vehicle’s infotainment system to bring the Alexa assistant into the vehicle. A driver … Read more
Echo speakers will join the newest Echo Dot speakers as Eero Wi-Fi range extenders for an Eero. If you’ve been eyeing your Echo smart speaker for a while now and wondering if it could do something more than just play music or set a timer for your toast, I have good news. Amazon is turning … Read more
Wires in the wall — what a concept. | Image: Eero When it comes to networking, Wi-Fi is great for convenience, but it can’t hold a candle to wires when it comes to performance and plain old reliability. Amazon seems to have taken this idea to heart because it’s introducing an ethernet jack-laden gateway, which … Read more
No wires on the battery version of the Cam Pro. | Image: Ring Ring’s got a new top-of-the-line “Pro” security camera that packs all of the company’s advanced features into a more versatile design, complete with wire-free options for the first time. The Spotlight Cam Pro adds radar-powered 3D motion detection, color pre-roll, and Bird’s … Read more
There’s been a standing question surrounding how seriously we should ultimately take Astro. The product was launched exactly one year ago, in limited quantities as a Day One offering for $1,500 a pop. My interaction with the robot was (at the time) limited to a few pre-launch demos. I came away from the experience thinking … Read more
Comments
During Amazon’s hardware event this morning, the company announced new Alexa-powered Echo devices including new Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock models. One of the more notable upgrades is Eero Built-in for Echo Dot, which allows Echo Dot devices to serve as Wi-Fi extenders for existing Eero networks. The Echo Studio — which now … Read more
Alongside news of new Alexa devices, Amazon today unveiled a refresh of its Ring lineup including new cameras, alarms and more. The flagship addition for consumers is a new “pro-tier” security camera joining Ring’s radar-powered lineup, the Spotlight Cam Pro. However, the more interesting (or creepy?) news is Amazon’s plan to integrate its Ring Virtual … Read more
Ubisoft You’re not gonna believe this, but Skull and Bones is getting delayed again. The news was first reported by Kotaku and later confirmed by Ubisoft a little less than two months before the game’s November 8th release date. “Our team is hard at work polishing and balancing the experience ahead of the worldwide launch,” … Read more
The Blink Mini camera attached to the new Pan Tilt mount. | Image: Amazon Blink’s giving its blocky Mini security camera a new robot body. The new Mini Pan Tilt is a very literally named mounting accessory that converts your existing Blink Mini camera from a stationary device into a controllable camera that lets you … Read more
Image: Amazon Amazon has announced the Halo Rise, a bedside device meant to track your sleep and wake you up in the morning using lights and a “small alarm speaker,” as a press release describes it. The company says the Rise uses “contactless” technology, meaning you don’t have to put on something like a fitness … Read more
In May, Lionsgate announced that it planned to spin off Starz. According to an SEC filing today, the company is switching focus on spinning out its studio business from Starz instead of the other way around. The SEC filing states, “[Lionsgate] remains on a path to separating our Starz and studio businesses. As negotiations progress, we … Read more
The new Echo Auto is smaller and easier to mount in your car than the original model. It also looks nicer. | Image: Amazon Amazon has announced an update to the Echo Auto that it originally launched back in 2018. The new Echo Auto is a wholly new design, with a smaller footprint, fabric covering, … Read more
The newest generation of Echo Dot is louder and brighter and also a Wi-Fi extender. | Image: Amazon At its annual fall event, Amazon showed off its brand-new Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock. The fifth generation of the smaller spherical speakers has been seriously souped-up. While they sport the same look, they have … Read more
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge BMW owners have been able to use Amazon’s Alexa as their in-car voice assistant since 2018. But the automaker announced that it will be taking things a step further, using Amazon’s Alexa core technology to build its own custom voice assistant. The voice assistant will be built using … Read more
Amazon today announced a new feature for U.S. drivers who may need assistance while on the road — like if they get a flat tire or run out of gas, for instance. At its annual hardware event, the company introduced a service called Amazon Roadside Assistance, accessible from the Alexa app, or via Echo Auto … Read more
Traders expect an uptick in volatility due to the possibility of September’s $2.2 billion options expiry putting pressure on BTC price near a critical support level.
The rise of artificial intelligence technologies enables organizations to adopt and improve self-service capabilities in contact center operations to create a more proactive, timely, and effective customer experience. Voice bots, or conversational interactive voice response systems (IVR), use natural language processing (NLP) to understand customers’ questions and provide relevant answers. Businesses can automate responses to … Read more
As businesses and IT leaders look to accelerate the adoption of machine learning (ML), there is a growing need to understand spend and cost allocation for your ML environment to meet enterprise requirements. Without proper cost management and governance, your ML spend may lead to surprises in your monthly AWS bill. Amazon SageMaker is a … Read more
Exactly a year ago today, Amazon announced its entry into the fitness tracking space, with the launch of the Halo View. The wearable was certainly priced right at $80, with a design that appeared to take cues from some Fitbit offerings. Ultimately, however, the product received the wrong kind of press, over the matter of … Read more
