The biggest un-surprise of the day comes from Amazon and its just announced Echo Show. The well-leaked new Echo model includes a built-in display and camera so you can get visual responses to your Alexa queries and make video calls, too.
Amazon
Amazon Prime Video Finally Headed to Apple TV
Amazon seems to warming up to the idea of bringing Prime Video to the Apple TV, and it could come as early as this summer. Insider sources say Amazon and Apple have finally come to terms, which should make many Apple TV owners very happy.
Apple's Siri Speaker Might Look Like a Miniature Mac Pro
The rumors of Apple’s competitor to the Amazon Echo have taken a credible turn, with a well-connected but secretive leaker sending details to journalists. Jeff Butts has the latest update on the unnamed Siri speaker.
Will Apple Compete with Alexa and the Qualcomm Royalty Battle - TMO Daily Observations 2017-04-28
Will Apple release an Alexa-like device as a Siri-powered hub? Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Dave Hamilton to discuss how wrong the latter two are. They also chew over Apple’s escalating royalty battle with Qualcomm.
If You're Looking for Floppy Disks, Amazon's Got Them - Really
If you remember fondly the old days of passing files around by “sneakernet,” or using floppy disks, you might be amused at what Jeff Butts has discovered. Floppy disk drives and the diskettes you need for them are still widely available from at least one retailer.
New Type Of Smart Mirror Launches Called Daptly Display
Daptly launched a new product for the smart home called Daptly Display. It was built for a specific consumer in mind—people frustrated with voice-only assistants and want visual cues. Enter the Daptly Display, a smart mirror that acts as a gesture-controlled interface. Amazon Alexa is built in, and the interface is for people who aren’t ready (or don’t want) a voice-only future. As well as acting like a fog-resistant mirror, you can use it as a photo frame, by uploading photos from your phone or choosing among Daptly’s 50,000 photo collection. It’s an interesting take on user interfaces, one that borrows from science fiction while harnessing existing technologies. Check out the promotional video below, and decide if you want to reserve a Display. The device will sell at US$799, but you can get US$200 off if you reserve soon.
Amazon Shopping App on iPhone gets Alexa Support
If you use the Amazon app on your iPhone to shop you can use it to talk to Alexa, too, even if you don’t own an Echo or Echo Dot. The online retailer is rolling out in-app Alexa support for iPhone users over the next week which means pretty much everything you do with an Echo or Echo Dot can happen right on your smartphone.
Amazon's Echo First Amendment Rights Fight - TMO Daily Observations 2017-02-24
Amazon thinks smart home devices shouldn’t be used for government surveillance, and is going to court to keep Echo Alexa requests out of police hands. John Martellaro and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to look at Amazon’s argument and the impact in-home listening products are having on freedom of speech and privacy.
Get $8.62 Off Your Amazon Order (Today Only) Thanks to Harris Reputation Poll
Amazon announced Wednesday a celebratory customer discount. The company told customers they could get $8.62 off their order of $50 or more because Amazon topped the Harris Poll Reputation Quotient with a score of 86.27. This is the second year in a row Amazon took top ranking in the annual survey—Apple was #5 in this year’s results, down from #2 in 2016 and #1 in 2012. Amazon’s score of 86.27 in the survey was a record high score. But who cares, right? The important thing is you can get $8.62 off your Amazon order using coupon code BIGTHANKS at checkout. If you order precisely $50 worth of stuff, that would be 17.24% off your order, which is significant. While you’re at it, use TMO’s affiliate link when ordering.
Who's More Intelligent, Apple's Siri or Amazon's Alexa?
In the battle of virtual personal assistants, Apple and Amazon have strong contenders. Which one is “smarter,” though, Siri or Alexa? Perhaps it’s too early to really call the race, since both personal assistants keep growing and evolving. Be that as it may, Jeff Butts has put both through their paces, and shares his thoughts.
Apple Doesn't Love iBooks and Samsung Schadenfreude - ACM 397
Evidence suggests Apple stopped loving iBooks. Bryan and Jeff go over that evidence and discuss why Apple should rekindle that love and make iBooks great again. They also take a few minutes to experience some schadenfreude over Samsung’s battery factory fire, and argue that a loss of market share demonstrates Samsung’s lack of software relevance.
You Scratch Your Head, I’ll Scratch Mine – Mac Geek Gab 643
Cool Stuff Found kicks off this week’s show, with email clients, Wi-Fi Widget(s), combo iPhone/Watch chargers, disk utilities and much, much more. Then, after a few additional tips from you, dear listeners, it’s time for your questions. Topics this week include comparing local vs. Cloud storage for things like your music, videos and documents; memory interleaving and when to use it; solving corrupt user accounts that won’t login; and solving the issues with web pages that are slow to load. Press play and enjoy!
How to Make Your Amazon Echo Respond to 'Computer' Instead of 'Alexa'
Star Trek taught us years ago that we get the attention of our interactive computer systems by saying, “Computer.” We’re sort of there with Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot by saying “Alexa” before issuing a command, but it would be so much cooler if we could say “computer” instead. Turns out you can. Follow along to learn how.
Apple TV and Amazon Prime TV, iPad Rumors, Apple Departures - ACM 393
Nvidia is adding Amazon Prime TV to its Shield TV settop box, leaving Apple TV as one of the only devices that doesn’t support the #2 streaming service. Bryan and Jeff think Apple needs to fix this. They also look at some sketchy iPad rumors and talk about key departures from Apple’s executive ranks.
Police Turn to Amazon Echo in Homicide Showing How Smarthome Devices Can Spy on Us
Police in Bentonville, Arkansas, obtained a search warrant for the audio captured by an Amazon Echo as part of a homicide investigation, raising concerns over just how much smarthome devices know about us. In the case of the Echo, Amazon says little is being recorded and stored, but that’s not much of a consolation for IoT device owners who’re worried their tech might be used against them by the government.
Bryan Gets Paranoid About the IoT - ACM 391
Bryan is totally paranoid about the Internet of Things, and he isn’t at all happy about the idea of having an Amazon Echo or Google Home listening in on everything in his house. Jeff laughs at him. Once the guffaws die down, they talk about how and why Apple is getting crushed by these good enough devices.
Amazon Echo, Police, and Privacy - TMO Daily Observations 2016-12-28
With police getting search warrants for Amazon Echo recordings questions about personal privacy are on the rise. Dave Hamilton and Kelly Guimont join Jeff Gamet to look at what Amazon’s Echo hears and records, what our other smarthome devices may be logging, and what that means for our privacy and police investigations.
Turn Your iPhone into an Amazon Echo with Astra
Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot are pretty cool, but what if you don’t have one yet—or aren’t home to use yours? That’s where Astra comes in. It’s an iPhone app that links to your Amazon account so you talk talk to Alexa just as if you’re right in front of your own Echo. The app lets you do pretty much everything your Echo or Echo Dot can handle, except for music playback or reading audio books. You can also remotely control your Echo-aware smarthome devices with your voice, which is worth the app’s US$0.99 price tag all by itself. You can get Astra at Apple’s App Store.
For Geeks Only: Hey Alexa, Tell Sonos to Play Stevie Wonder in the Kitchen
Sonos and Amazon jointly announced their Alexa integration earlier this year and the world rejoiced. Voice control of your Sonos system is one of those holy grails. The integration is expected to be available at some point in 2017. But I’m an impatient geek so, while I’m waiting for official support to be available, I spent an hour yesterday getting this working using freely-available open-source tools. You can do this, too, and I’ll walk you through what you’re doing and how to get started.
Amazon Go Shopping, iPhone as a Desktop Computer - TMO Daily Observations 2016-12-06
First Amazon wanted to be your go-to online shopping destination, and now the company wants to be your local brick-and-mortar store, too. John Martellaro and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to look at Amazon’s planned cashier-free grocery store, plus they dive into the possibility of our iPhones becoming our only computing device.
Amazon Snowmobile is a Giant Truck That Can Move 100PB to the Cloud
Amazon’s servers provide the backbone for much of the Web, and while upload speeds are improving, what happens when you need a few dozen petabytes backed up to the cloud? Enter Amazon Snowmobile, literally a giant truck with a mobile data center capable of physically moving up to 100 petabytes of your data to Amazon’s cloud servers. The concept is the evolution, both in name and function, of the company’s “Snowball” service, which ships customers data units with capacities up to 80TB. As for price, it’s in the “if you have to ask…” category, although Amazon says it aims to make the Snowmobile cheaper than any network-based data transfer which, even at gigabit speeds, would take a while.
Amazon Music Unlimited versus Prime Music: What's the Difference?
If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber you can already stream music, so why would you want to pay US$7.99 for the just launched Amazon Music Unlimited? It’s the extras you get with Amazon Music Unlimited that set the two apart—but they may not be worth the price.
Amazon Plugs Ecosystem Hole with Streaming Music Service
Apple Music, Spotify, say hello to Amazon Music Unlimited. Amazon just launched its own streaming music service, and here’s the kicker: It doesn’t need to be better than Apple Music or Spotify, just more convenient. That’s enough to keep more people in Amazon’s ecosystem.
Amazon Offers Financing on Fire HD Tablets Starting at $89.99
Amazon rolled out financing for its line of Fire HD tablets this weeks, even on devices that retail for as little as US$89.99. The retailing giant is allowing qualifying customers to purchase a Fire HD8, Fire HD10, or Fire Kids Edition and pay for it over five payments.