It’s Amazon’s turn to host a major fall hardware event, and the company took the opportunity to announce some news for the Echo Show 15. It will bring the Fire TV experience to the smart display for both new and existing owners of the device as a free update.

The move makes a lot of sense when you consider that over 70 percent of Echo Show 15 users watched videos on the device last month, according to Amazon. The company says users will be able to start playing shows, movies and live TV with Alexa voice commands, as well as through touch control. You’ll have the option of pairing the third-gen Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote to Echo Show 15 too. A new Fire TV widget will include shortcuts to recently used streaming apps, content you watched lately and your watchlist.

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s event right here!

Source: Engadget – Amazon is turning the Echo Show 15 into a Fire TV

While Amazon is widely known for its Ring brand of doorbell camera home security systems, the company last year introduced a more mobile, and way more adorable, monitoring platform: Astro. The $1,500 automaton essentially serves as an Alexa on wheels, trundling about your home like an AIBO that also manages your calendar and doubles as a guard dog. On Wednesday, Amazon unveiled a slew of new features for Astro, including one that can now detect the presence of your real cat or dog. 

Blink, Amazon’s other home security company, primarily focuses on small, affordable and mostly battery-powered devices. Today, however, it’s launching a Floodlight Camera that, unlike the existing model, can be wired in to your home’s external power supply. The Blink Wired Floodlight Camera offers a beefy 2600-lumen LED light, a 1080p live view and two-way audio, as well as enhanced motion detection. That latter feature is aided by Amazon’s AZ2 Neural Edge Processor, which enables the processing to be handled locally, rather than in the cloud.

At the same time, Blink is also trotting out a pan-and-tilt mount to its indoor Mini security camera. The Blink Mini Pan Tilt (the lack of an and in that name should bother you as much as it bothers me) attaches to the base of your mini to offer 360-degree coverage of a room. You can also attach it to a tripod or, for an extra fee, a wall mount if your needs are more specific. In terms of pricing, the Floodlight Camera will arrive shortly for $100 while the Pan Tilt (yup, still bothers me) is up for pre-order today for $30, or bundled with a Mini camera for $60.

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s event right here!

Source: Engadget – Amazon’s Blink adds its first wired floodlight camera

We’ve already seen Ring add Bird’s Eye View — its fancy 3D motion detection — to its flagship security camera and its flagship outdoor light camera. Consequently, you get no prizes for guessing that the feature is now coming to the new Ring Spotlight Cam Pro. The new Pro Spotlight Cam is joined by a Spotlight Cam Plus, which offers a slightly nicer design than its predecessor.

For the uninitiated, Birds Eye View is a system that offers users a top-down map of their area, showing the path a person took to your front door. It’s designed to let you know if someone’s been peering into your windows, or anywhere else, while on your porch.

Both of Ring’s Spotlight Cams will be available in Battery, Plug-In, Solar and Wired variations, although not all of them are ready right now. The Spotlight Cam Pro Battery and Plug-In can be bought for $230, while the Solar model will set you back $250. The Plus, meanwhile, is available for pre-order today, with prices starting at $200, with no word (yet) on a release date.

At the same time, Ring is also launching a more business-focused way of using Amazon’s Astro, its (terrifying) home security robot as a security guard. Astro can already patrol the ground floor of your home at night, and new buyers get a free six-month trial of Ring Protect Pro thrown in for good measure. Now, however, the company is integrating Virtual Security Guard to Astro for small businesses who don’t need (or can’t afford the cost of) a living and breathing security patrol.

Much like the home-friendly version, Astro will patrol your office (or other stair-free facility) keeping watch. Should the Ring Alarm or one of the sensors spot a disturbance, the system will connect to a local monitoring and security company. From there, an operator can take control of Astro and go investigate if there’s something worrying going on in the back office.

Like many of Ring’s newest products, this will be first tested by a small group of business customers in the following months.

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s event right here!

Source: Engadget – Ring brings radar detection to its Spotlight Cam Pro

Amazon isn’t done updating its Eero router lineup this year, if not quite in the way you’d expect. The brand’s new Echo Dot speakers now double as Eero WiFi extenders. Plug one in and you’ll get as much as 1,000 square feet of additional coverage. That speaker on your nightstand could improve the internet connection in your office, in other words.

The base Echo Dot is available for pre-order today at $50, while the Echo Dot with Clock and colorful Echo Dot Kids will sell for $60. Given that an Eero 6 Extender costs $79, this is an easy choice if you use one of Amazon’s routers — you can pay less to bolster your WiFi network while adding speaker functionality.

Developing…

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s event right here!

Source: Engadget – Amazon built Eero WiFi extenders into its latest Echo Dot speakers

BMW began incorporating smart voice features into its infotainment systems using Amazon’s Alexa in 2018. In the intervening years, the number of models sporting the digital assistant have only increased. At Amazon’s 2022 Devices & Services Event on Wednesday, the two companies announced a deepening of their partnership: BMW’s next-generation of infotainment systems will feature an Alexa-based assistant specifically developed with the driver in mind.

The as-of-yet unnamed BMW assistant will be constructed from an Alexa Custom Assistant, “a comprehensive solution that makes it easy for BMW and other brands and device makers to create their own custom intelligent assistant tailored to their brand personality and customer needs.” Those capabilities might include a proactive notification from the vehicle’s assistant alerting the driver that the battery charge is low while automatically reserving a charging slot at the next off-ramp or preemptively scheduling regular service with the local dealership, and “will enable an even more natural dialogue between driver and vehicle,” per a Wednesday BMW press release.

Source: Engadget – BMW’s next in-vehicle voice assistant will be built from Amazon Alexa

Building off of its success convincing the public to outfit their homes and offices with various Alexa-enabled Echo devices, Amazon introduced the very first Echo Auto in 2018. More than a million pre-orders and four years later, the Echo Auto is getting an upgrade, Amazon announced Wednesday at its 2022 Device and Services event.

The new unit will be slimmer than its predecessor and will include a mounting plate that adheres more securely than the last version — so make sure you really like where it’s positioned before taking off the backing film. The unit still leverages five separate mics to pick up commands over road noise so you’ll still have a good amount of flexibility in where you can place it. Once installed, it does what every Alexa does: respond to voice commands. It handles the standard fare of playing music — including a “follow me” function that allows you to switch audio from your home stereo to the vehicle as you get in — as well as navigation and hands-free calls. 

“Ambient technology is at its best in environments where people are focused on other tasks, and nowhere is that more important than in the car,” Heather Zorn, Amazon’s vice president for Alexa said during the event. “Voice can minimize distractions and help you keep your eyes on the road so you can focus on the fun of driving.”

What’s more, with help from Amazon’s cloud the $55 Echo Auto will also be able to alert the driver when their pre-ordered Whole Foods grocery order is ready for pickup will also summon a tow truck if you run out of gas. Simply say, “Alexa, call Roadside Assistance.”

Source: Engadget – Amazon’s redesigned Echo Auto will better integrate with your vehicle

Amazon has revealed new Echo speakers, although they don’t look much different on the outside. Once the centerpiece of the company’s Alexa lineup, Amazon didn’t debut a new “regular” model last year. In 2020, it unveiled a completely redesigned Echo with a spherical shape instead of its previous cylindrical construction. The “regular” Echo isn’t getting a tune-up this time around either. Instead, the company says it has improved the audio performance of both the high-end Echo Studio and the compact Echo Dot while keeping the same overall design for both.

The retooled Echo Studio comes with new spatial audio processing that improves on Amazon’s previous 3D sound technology. The company says we can expect better stereo sound with “greater, width, clarity and presence.” The frequency range also got an update with increased mid-range clarity and deeper bass. The company’s high-end speaker now comes in a white color option and the updated version will ship next month for $200. 

For the Echo Dot, which Amazon says is the world’s bestselling smart speaker, the company has improved the audio as well. Amazon explains that it redesigned the interior to fit a larger speaker while keeping the device the same size as the previous model. The new driver offers twice the bass and clearer vocals over the last Echo Dot, according to the company. Amazon has also updated the Echo Dot with Clock so that the display can show information like artists, song titles and snooze timers. New accelerometers and sensors should improve touch controls as well — on both models. The Echo Dot will be available for $50 while the clock version is $60, and both are available for pre-order today. There are also two new options for Echo Dot Kids — dragon and owl — that will be available for $60 when they ship next month. 

Amazon also announced today that it has packed Eero mesh WiFi tech in its speakers. This means that compatible Echo models can serve as range extenders, adding up to 1,000 square feet of internet coverage per device.

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s event right here!

Source: Engadget – Amazon announces Echo Studio and Echo Dot speakers with improved audio

Amazon wants to help you get better understanding of your sleep, but knows that many of us hate wearing something to bed just to track our rest. That’s why it made the Halo Rise — a bedside lamp and sleep tracker that works without a camera or microphone to track the person resting closest to it. It’ll also use machine learning to detect what sleep zones you’re in and will cost $140 when it’s available later this year.

It uses a “no-contact, low-energy sensor” to sense movement and respiratory patterns. Together with machine learning, Amazon can tell from the rising and falling or expanding and contracting of your body to determine your sleep stages throughout the night. Amazon says it “trained and validated the device’s sleep algorithm against the clinical gold standard for sleep analysis called… overnight polysomnography.”