Alexa

How to Use Google Home or Amazon Echo to Control What’s on Your TV

Your smart speaker is getting smarter—and part of that involves taking over what’s on the big TV screen sat in the corner of your living room. You can buy Google Homes and Amazon Echos with screens built-in, but here’s how to use them with a separate display, whether you want to watch movies or see…

Gadgets David Nield Mar 1

Alexa and Cortana Will Duke It Out in the Update to the Best Laptop Under $1,000

Alexa already dominates a ton of living rooms and kitchens thanks to Amazon’s huge line of Echo smart speakers. But there’s still one major category of devices Alexa has yet to conquer: PCs. However, at CES 2018, Amazon announced that Alexa would be making its way onto computers too. That brings us to now, at…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Feb 26

How the HomePod Stacks Up Against Other Smart Speakers

It seems like every new wireless speaker on the market comes with a voice assistant now. Since 2014, when Amazon announced the Echo, the idea of a smart speaker has taken the gadget world by storm. Apple has finally thrown its hat into the ring with the release of the HomePod, leaving us to wonder…

Reviews Adam Clark Estes Feb 20

The House That Spied on Me

The reason I smartened up my house was to find out whether it would betray me.

Privacy & Security Kashmir Hill Feb 7

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Probably Making Up This Crap About Alexa Ordering a Batman Toy

On Sunday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders used her official government Twitter account to complain that her two-year-old had allegedly ordered a $79.99 action figure by “yelling ‘Batman!’ over and over again at her Alexa-enabled Amazon Echo. Hmm. If this were true, it would certainly be a convenient way for Sanders to score…

Commerce Tom McKay Jan 15

Pretty Soon a Smart Assistant Won’t Be a Choice

This winter I bought three Google Home Minis—two for me, and one for my lovely parents. At home, my pair works like a deeply discounted Sonos setup. I can tell Google’s Assistant to play a song on “both speakers,” and it’ll pipe tinny, still-decent-sounding music into my bedroom and living room. At my parents’ house,…

Tech News Harri Weber Jan 13

The Vuzix Blade Is What Google Glass Always Wanted to Be

When Google Glass was announced back in 2013, it was easy to forgive one of the the first AR headsets for looking awkward and being hard to use. There’s no doubt Google’s first crack at making an optical head-mounted display was ahead of its time. The thing that always rubbed me the wrong way about…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Jan 11

Garmin’s Alexa-Powered Navigation Device Gets the Built-in Dash Cam It Should Have Had From the Start [Update]

I really liked Garmin’s bare-bones Speak navigation device when I tried it out a few months ago. Instead of a touchscreen, the $130 device relies on voice commands, processed by Amazon’s Alexa smart assistant, to get you where you want to go. A few months later, Garmin is already introducing a new version that adds…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Jan 8

Amazon’s Next Big Thing Could Be Serving You Ads on the Go

Rumors Facebook is always secretly recording you have long refused to die, but it turns out Amazon may be the first tech giant to achieve the age-old dream of a total advertising Panopticon. On Friday, Amazon released the new Alexa Mobile Accessory Kit, which is intended to help developers integrate the company’s personal smart assistant…

Commerce Tom McKay Jan 6

Predictions for the Year 2018 From the 20th Century

It’s the year 2018. And while we have some very cool tech that we take for granted, we’re still waiting on quite a few things that we were promised. But what did the people of yesteryear imagine 2018 would be like? People of 20th century had a lot of ideas about what the year 2018…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 5

Alexa, Burn My House Down

If you thought Echos were only good for invading your privacy and enticing hackers, then boy do I have some news for you. Amazon just introduced a new addition to the Smart Home Skill API for Alexa: cooking. Your voice-controlled assistant could potentially be burning down your house in no time! Alexa’s new cooking capabilities…

Artificial Intelligence Adam Clark Estes Jan 4

Alexa’s Future as a Crime-Fighting Virtual Cop Is Still Far Away

A police department in Britain has started using Amazon’s Alexa to broadcast daily briefings in people’s homes, with the longterm goal of making the smart assistant a key part of the police force. “The work that we’re doing now is first and foremost our ability to push out information to the public that they may…

Tech News Sidney Fussell Jan 4

When Microsoft Shut Down Groove Music, Cortana Lost a Useful Feature

Despite its best efforts, Microsoft’s Groove Music service never really caught on. So back in October, Microsoft shut the service down and told its users to switch to Spotify. Unfortunately, that decision had some unintended consequences for Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana, which relied on Groove Music’s library to help people identify songs. This change was…

Tech News Sam Rutherford Jan 4

Amazon’s Echo Spot Is a Good-as-Hell Alarm Clock

The smartphone made the standalone alarm clock worthless. Sure you probably know some alarm clock holdouts (a parent or grandmother perhaps), but you probably just use your phone, which is already resting on the nightstand and has a decent enough alarm. The $130 Amazon Echo Spot, a new, tiny, Alexa device with a camera, display,…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Alex Cranz Dec 18

Samsung Smart Speaker, Huh? Let’s Talk

Yesterday, a report from Bloomberg came out saying that Samsung will launch a Bixby-powered smart speaker sometime in the first half of 2018. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone since DJ Koh already told CNBC back in August that the company was indeed trying to put its digital assistant, which first debuted…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Dec 16

When a Furby and Alexa Love Each Other Very Much, This Intelligent Talking Furball Is the Result

Almost 20 years after it was first introduced by Tiger Electronics, Furby has somehow found a way to remain on toy store shelves to this day, mostly by learning new tricks along the way. But Zach Levine’s Furby is extra special, because he hacked its guts with Amazon’s Alexa personal assistant, finally giving the bug-eyed…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Nov 29

I Let an $800 Alexa Robot Creep Around My House Like a Tiny, Mechanical Zombie

Have you ever fantasized about having the weather read to you every morning like it was a beautiful Shakespearean sonnet? That’s probably the best reason to choose UBTECH Robotics’ new Alexa-enabled Lynx robot over the Amazon Echo—that, or you’re very, very lonely. Whether you’re interested in talking to Google’s Home platform, Microsoft’s Cortana, or Amazon’s…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Andrew Liszewski Nov 22

The Best Bluetooth Speaker Now Works With Alexa and It’s Amazing

When you’re a gadget blogger, your friends typically have a classic, back-pocket question around the holiday season: What should I get So-and-So as a gift? My most-used answer used to be the Boom, a Bluetooth speaker made by Ultimate Ears. This year is different. This year it’s the Blast, an Alexa-powered speaker made by angels…

Adam Clark Estes Nov 20

The UE Blast Might Be the First Portable Speaker With Alexa Worth Caring About

Tons of speakers already work with Alexa, and even more mobile devices feature Amazon’s digital assistant so you can talk to her on-the-go. But when it comes to solid portable speakers with Alexa built in, the pickings are actually kind of slim. Even Amazon’s own portable Echo Tap has a pretty big flaw: You need…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Oct 19

Sonos Finally Squished Alexa Into a Speaker, But Maybe Just Buy a Dot

Sonos wouldn’t like it, but you could call its new smart speaker an “Echo.” A high-end, very nice-sounding, but flawed Amazon Echo—the kind someone who just got a promotion might buy themselves, because unlike the $50 Dot or new $100 Echo, this speaker will set you back $200. Sonos has talked up smart speakers for…

Harri Weber Oct 18

How to Use Google Home or Amazon Echo to Control What’s on Your TV

Alexa and Cortana Will Duke It Out in the Update to the Best Laptop Under $1,000

How the HomePod Stacks Up Against Other Smart Speakers

The House That Spied on Me

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Probably Making Up This Crap About Alexa Ordering a Batman Toy

Pretty Soon a Smart Assistant Won’t Be a Choice

The Vuzix Blade Is What Google Glass Always Wanted to Be

Garmin’s Alexa-Powered Navigation Device Gets the Built-in Dash Cam It Should Have Had From the Start [Update]

Amazon’s Next Big Thing Could Be Serving You Ads on the Go

Predictions for the Year 2018 From the 20th Century

Alexa, Burn My House Down

Alexa’s Future as a Crime-Fighting Virtual Cop Is Still Far Away

When Microsoft Shut Down Groove Music, Cortana Lost a Useful Feature

Amazon’s Echo Spot Is a Good-as-Hell Alarm Clock

Samsung Smart Speaker, Huh? Let’s Talk

When a Furby and Alexa Love Each Other Very Much, This Intelligent Talking Furball Is the Result

I Let an $800 Alexa Robot Creep Around My House Like a Tiny, Mechanical Zombie

The Best Bluetooth Speaker Now Works With Alexa and It’s Amazing

The UE Blast Might Be the First Portable Speaker With Alexa Worth Caring About

Sonos Finally Squished Alexa Into a Speaker, But Maybe Just Buy a Dot

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