Amazon Echo

Alexa Can Now Alert You if Glass Breaks or Your Smoke Alarm Goes Off

If you’ve got an Amazon Echo, it can now double as a secondary alert system for fires and break-ins. Today, Amazon is introducing a new feature in the U.S. called Alexa Guard, which will notify you with audio and video clips whenever it detects your smoke alarm or the sound of broken glass. To enable…

Commerce Victoria Song May 14

You Can Now Bother Underpaid Kohl’s Workers With Your Amazon Regrets

Kohl’s announced this morning that it will start accepting Amazon returns at all 1,150 of its stores starting in July. There’s no extra charge for the service. Kohl’s and Amazon started experimenting with a collaboration on brick-and-mortar returns back in 2017, allowing customers to take back items purchased on Amazon even if those items were…

Commerce Matt Novak Apr 23

Amazon’s Human Helpers Are Quietly Listening in on Some Alexa Recordings

There’s been a number of incidents where Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant has done things like misinterpret something it overheard and started sending random people recordings of private conversations, or audio files kept by the company wound up in the wrong hands. But a real-life stranger could potentially be listening to anything you tell Alexa by…

Commerce Tom McKay Apr 10

Mom Busts Son Using Alexa to Solve His Math Homework

If you got an Amazon Alexa device for Christmas, you might want to keep a closer eye on the wily kids in your house. Last week, a New Jersey mom caught her son red-handed using the virtual assistant to cheat on his math homework. Yerelyn Cueva posted a short 11-second clip of her 6-year-old son…

Tech News Victoria Song Dec 28

You Should Return the Amazon Echo You Bought and Get a Better Gift

So you bought a loved one an Amazon Echo. Maybe it was on sale, or maybe it was on someone’s list. But inevitably, an Echo is a bad gift. It’s also a lazy gift. But don’t worry. It’s not too late to return it and get a better gift. The Echo is still the problematic,…

Commerce Adam Clark Estes Dec 20

Bose’s Fancy Home Speaker Might Be the Best Sounding Echo Alternative Yet

The idea seemed silly at first. Bose made an Alexa-powered wireless speaker with a little screen, a big $400 price tag and a promise “to fill any room with an astonishing stereo performance.” I’ve been using the Bose Home Speaker 500 for a little more than a month, and there are a few things I…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Adam Clark Estes Dec 6

Oh Hey, Now There’s One More Reason You Don’t Need to Spend a Bundle on a HomePod

In case you needed another reason not to buy a HomePod, Amazon just announced that support for Apple Music is coming to Echo devices starting the week of December 17th. With the new addition, Echo devices joins Sonos’ family of products as the other major non-HomePod platform offering compatibility for Apple’s streaming music service, which…

Commerce Sam Rutherford Nov 30

Sorry Cortana, Microsoft Is Now Selling Alexa Devices

Microsoft’s Cortana assistant is reportedly becoming more of an assistance aide than a standalone service, being moved from Microsoft’s AI + Research department to its Experiences & Devices Team and working with Amazon to pair it with the latter company’s Alexa technology. Now, per Engadget, Microsoft seems to be encouraging customers to just buy Alexa-powered…

Commerce Tom McKay Nov 18

Amazon Ordered to Hand Over Possible Echo Recordings Related to Double Homicide

A judge has ordered Amazon to turn over any data it has pertaining to a New Hampshire double homicide that happened in January of 2017, saying the court has probable cause to believe an Echo may have created recordings that could be useful to the case. But Amazon doesn’t seem eager to fork over audio…

Tech News Catie Keck Nov 14

Google’s Home Hub Is a Great Start to a Smarter Home

The idea of a smart home console is exciting. A little screen where you can turn all your lights on and off and turn on the TV and see who’s at the door and crank the oven up to 500-degrees to roast that garlic and broccoli for dinner? That’s cool! It’s also what Google promises…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Adam Clark Estes Oct 22

Did Google Finally Fix the Smart Home?

The Home Hub appeared at this week’s Made by Google event like a dessert you forgot to order. Sure, there were plenty of rumors that Google would announce its own touchscreen-enabled Home device. But after spending just a few minutes with the thing, I realized what a treat it might be. This little hub might…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Oct 10

Amazon Is Going to Drown Us in Alexa Crap

The digital assistant wars are in full swing, and with Google just recently notching the latest victory by finishing Q2 with the top-selling smart speaker in the world, Amazon is revamping its Alexa-powered roster in a very big way. At the start of its presentation, Amazon’s devices head David Limp set the tone by saying…

Commerce Sam Rutherford Sep 20

Amazon Is Planning on Releasing Eight New Alexa-Enabled Devices This Year

Amazon is planning on releasing at least eight new Alexa-powered devices before the end of the year, according to CNBC, including everything from some type of “in-car gadget” and audio equipment to, uh, a microwave oven. From the CNBC report, it’s not clear which of the devices will feature full Alexa voice control versus simply…

Commerce Tom McKay Sep 17

A University Is Putting 2,300 Echo Dots in Student Living Spaces and What Could Go Wrong?

When students of Saint Louis University begin their fall semester this month, they’ll notice a new addition to the campus—hundreds of glowing blue hockey-puck robots. The university has announced it will “deploy more than 2,300” of the devices throughout student living spaces, including in “every student residence hall room and student apartment on campus.” As…

Commerce Jennings Brown Aug 15

Report: Almost Nobody Is Using Amazon’s Alexa to Actually Buy Stuff

Amazon may have sold millions of Echoes and other devices equipped with its voice-controlled Alexa smart assistant partially in the hopes that it could nudge users into letting an upbeat voice convince them to buy more crap. But it doesn’t appear to be working, according to a report in the Information on Monday. Per the…

Commerce Tom McKay Aug 6

5 Smart Home Tricks That Are Actually Impressive

Going to the effort of setting up a smart home just so you can turn your lights on and off from your phone may not seem like the best use of your time and resources, but with the right gear and apps you can put together some routines that really will impress family, friends, and…

Gadgets David Nield Jul 18

I’m Starting to Have Serious Doubts About Amazon Prime

My own personal Amazon Prime day is in two weeks. It’s not the day that Amazon puts a lot of random crap on sale. (That’s in approximately three weeks.) My day is when Amazon will charge me $120 for another year of membership. That’s $20 more than what the company charged me last year and…

Commerce Adam Clark Estes Jun 26

Alexa Is a Pretty Crappy TV Remote, for Now

Plenty of companies want to build the centerpiece for tomorrow’s smart home. Amazon has a head start, too. Tens of millions of Americans now own Echo devices, and Alexa now has tens of thousands of skills. Adding a voice assistant to any TV, I’ve always thought, could be a game changer. And now, Amazon’s Fire…

Home Entertainment & Smart Home Adam Clark Estes Jun 21

Alexa for Hospitality Lets Amazon Follow You on Vacation

For those averse to talking on the phone, hotel stays can resemble a war of attrition, testing your mettle to see how long you’ll go without calling the front desk and admitting you forgot to pack your toothbrush. But Amazon’s new Alexa for Hospitality service, which puts an Echo device in your hotel room, might…

Commerce Patrick Lucas Austin Jun 19

Factory Making Amazon Products in China Violated All Kinds of Labor Laws

Factory workers in China tasked with building Amazon’s popular Echo speakers and Kindle e-readers are exposed to horrendous work environments and conditions that often are in violation of Chinese law, a recent report from a watchdog group found. China Labor Watch spent nine months investigating the working conditions of a Foxconn-owned factory that manufactures Amazon…

Commerce AJ Dellinger Jun 10

Alexa Can Now Alert You if Glass Breaks or Your Smoke Alarm Goes Off

You Can Now Bother Underpaid Kohl’s Workers With Your Amazon Regrets

Amazon’s Human Helpers Are Quietly Listening in on Some Alexa Recordings

Mom Busts Son Using Alexa to Solve His Math Homework

You Should Return the Amazon Echo You Bought and Get a Better Gift

Bose’s Fancy Home Speaker Might Be the Best Sounding Echo Alternative Yet

Oh Hey, Now There’s One More Reason You Don’t Need to Spend a Bundle on a HomePod

Sorry Cortana, Microsoft Is Now Selling Alexa Devices

Amazon Ordered to Hand Over Possible Echo Recordings Related to Double Homicide

Google’s Home Hub Is a Great Start to a Smarter Home

Did Google Finally Fix the Smart Home?

Amazon Is Going to Drown Us in Alexa Crap

Amazon Is Planning on Releasing Eight New Alexa-Enabled Devices This Year

A University Is Putting 2,300 Echo Dots in Student Living Spaces and What Could Go Wrong?

Report: Almost Nobody Is Using Amazon’s Alexa to Actually Buy Stuff

5 Smart Home Tricks That Are Actually Impressive

I’m Starting to Have Serious Doubts About Amazon Prime

Alexa Is a Pretty Crappy TV Remote, for Now

Alexa for Hospitality Lets Amazon Follow You on Vacation

Factory Making Amazon Products in China Violated All Kinds of Labor Laws

ICE Reportedly Acknowledges Its Use of Notorious Graphite Spyware

Intel Jumps On Board Elon Musk’s Terafab Chipmaking Project

Anthropic’s New Model Is So Scarily Powerful It Won’t Be Released, Anthropic Says

Musk Asks Court to Give Potential Winnings in OpenAI Suit to OpenAI’s Nonprofit

Pro-Iran Hackers Target Critical U.S. Energy and Water Infrastructure

‘She-Hulk’ Was Apparently One of Marvel’s Most Successful Shows

The World’s First Eye-Tracking Smart Glasses Are Intriguing and Unpolished

Noah Hawley Is Remaking ‘Terrified,’ Which Shouldn’t Happen

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

Let us help find what you are looking for...