If you’re anything like the Consumerist staff, Amazon’s new Echo Look device — a voice-activated digital assistant equipped with a camera to help users make tough fashion choices — may have immediately brought to mind a scene from the 1996 Alicia Silverstone flick, Clueless. Sure, her PC’s outfit comparison program may seem dated now, but back then it was the height of fictional fashion technology. [More]
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Alibaba Goes After Amazon Echo With $73 Voice-Activated Speaker
By 7.5.17
Amazon’s Echo is about to have some more competition in the digital assistant arena: China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba will start selling a $73 voice-activated speaker. [More]
Amazon’s ‘Echo Look’ Is A Camera That Will Let Strangers Judge Your Clothing
By 4.26.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Amazon’s newest web-connected device, the Echo Look, may resemble a home security camera, but Amazon has found an even creepier product to put inside your house: a $200 camera that lets complete strangers judge your outfits. [More]
Your Star Trek Dreams Are Closer To Reality Now That Amazon Echo Responds To “Computer”
By 1.24.17
If you’ve ever stared longingly at your smart devices and wished they would respond when you’re doing your best Capt. Jean-Luc Picard impression, we’ve got some good news for you: Amazon has added “computer” to its list of words that will wake up its digital assistant Alexa on Echo devices. [More]
Don’t Want Alexa Listening In Your Wynn Las Vegas Hotel Room? Unplug That Echo
By 12.14.16
At first, it might sound pretty cool that the Wynn Las Vegas will be adding Amazon Echo speakers to every hotel room. hotel room. In fact, the idea of a voice-controlled assistant in your room may be something you see as a positive — but it could also be a bit creepy to think that the always-listening device is sitting by your bedside, hearing everything you do while alone (or not) in your room. [More]
AT&T Customers Can Now Use Amazon’s Alexa To Send Text Messages
By 11.17.16
Amazon is adding another feature to make life easier for Echo users, well, at least those with AT&T wireless plans: AT&T customers can now tell Alexa to send text messages. [More]
Google Launching Home AI Competitor To “Accidental Winner” Amazon Echo This Week
By 10.3.16
If growing up on Star Trek: The Next Generation reruns taught us anything, it’s that the future would be brought to us by computers that could recognize our voice commands and do whatever we asked. And while none of the products on the market today sound like the late Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, we are still surrounded by machine-generated female voices that answer our questions, queue up our favorite tunes, and dim our room lights on request. But the dominant player in that space is one that, just a few years ago, nobody would have expected — because it’s Amazon, not Google, connecting homes. [More]
Apple Reportedly Looking To Create Competitor To Amazon Echo
By 9.23.16
With the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, Apple led the charge to make new personal digital products accessible, popular, and now all but necessary. But the electronics giant may now be playing catch-up to Amazon in the connected-home market, as the e-tailer’s Echo device and its various spinoffs become more affordable and functional. Now comes news that Apple is looking to build a connected-home speaker/assistant of its own to go head-to-head with Echo. [More]
Amazon’s Alexa May Get The Ability To Talk Without Being Spoken To First
By 9.12.16
As it stands right now, Amazon Echo is the well-behaved child your grandparents might have approved of: it doesn’t speak until spoken to. But soon Alexa could be piping up to offer information without being prompted first. [More]
Lenovo Says It’s Talked With Amazon About Bringing Alexa To PCs
By 9.1.16
We’ve gotten used to Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa adding new capabilities to her repertoire, like buying Prime-eligible products, paying credit card bills, ordering pizza, and then leading workouts to exercise off said pizza, but thus far she’s done it all from within the Amazon’s line of devices like the Echo and Echo Dot. That might be changing. [More]
Amazon Echo Will Let You Control Sonos Speakers
By 8.30.16
The Amazon Echo has a decent voice-controlled “assistant” in Alexa; too bad the speaker itself isn’t so great. Meanwhile, Sonos makes decent, web-connected speakers but without any voice control. You see where we’re going with this? [More]
Amazon Echo Users Can Now Set Spotify, Pandora As Their Default Music Service
By 7.7.16
Until now, if you wanted to tell Alexa to play a certain song using a music service other than Prime Music, you’d have to say something like, “Alexa, play ‘Hotline Bling’ by Drake on Spotify.” Those days are gone, as Amazon Echo users can now set their default music services to either Spotify or Pandora. [More]
You Can Now Tell Amazon’s Alexa To Order Millions Of Prime-Eligible Items
By 7.1.16
Do you want to order a pallet of cat food and some bendy straws on Amazon? If not, don’t judge. If you do, it won’t matter if you’ve purchased those items in the past: Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa will no longer be limited to just reordering stuff you got before. [More]
All Those Smart Devices That Listen To Your House May Be Unlawfully Violating Kids’ Privacy
By 5.26.16
“The walls have ears” used to be a metaphorical expression. These days, as the era of the Internet of Things dawns and marches on apace, it’s becoming a little more literal every day. And while that’s all well and good for the adults who buy and install a device in their home, it might not be quite so legal for the house to listen to their kids. [More]
Google Home Will Try To Be More Conversational, Flexible Than Amazon Echo
By 5.18.16
As expected, Google pulled back the covers today on Google Home, the combination WiFi music speaker, voice-activated personal assistant, and connected-home control console that it intends to go face-to-face with Amazon’s Echo device. While Google did not reveal a price for Home, it did detail some of the features it expects to make the product competitive. [More]
Amazon Teams Up With Fitbit, Makes Alexa A Fitness Guru
By 3.17.16
Amazon Echo’s personal assistant, Alexa, can serve as your financial advisor by paying your Capital One bill, your personal chef by ordering Dominos, and now she can act as your personal trainer. The smart speaker now works with health tracking company Fitbit to provide users with details about their daily fitness routine. [More]
Alexa Surprises Amazon Echo Owners By Obeying Commands She Heard On The Radio
By 3.11.16
While it’s surely useful to direct the Amazon Echo’s Alexa to turn down the smart lights, what happens if the digital personal assistant starts hearing other voices commanding her to complete tasks? She just might obey, as one radio show recently found out after it aired a segment covering the Amazon Echo. [More]
Capital One Will Let Customers Pay Bills, Access Account Info Using Amazon Echo
By 3.11.16
You can ask Alexa to order you a pizza and get more laundry detergent, and soon, Capital One customers who own an Amazon Echo will be able to access their accounts to pay bills and get other information by speaking to their device. [More]
