Amazon Alexa Voice Service (AVS), Amazon.com, Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA

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What Alexa's laughing gaffe tells us about voice recognition

Published on Mar 12, 2018

A few laughing Amazon Echo and Dot speakers give us insight into a bigger story: voice recognition is still very much in its nascency. We still have a ways to go before it can breach the point of understanding tone and context.

 

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9 questions you had about Alexa

Published on Mar 15, 2018

In this week's episode of Quick Question, Jeff sits down with Amazon Alexa expert Ben Fox Rubin. They answer your questions about whether Alexa will ever have a face, how she says "Mario" and if she will ever be integrated with sex toys.

 

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How Amazon's Alexa is turning into HAL-9000

Published on Mar 16, 2018

HAL-9000 is coming to your house! Brett and Tim break it down. Give us your thoughts in the comments below!

"HAL-9000, the malevolent supercomputer at the heart of Stanley Kubrick’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, is an icon of science fiction cinema. So much so, that if you ask any one of the virtual assistants to “Open the pod bay doors,” they’ll dutifully parrot HAL’s lines from the movie back at you. Now, Master Replicas Group wants to take that step a bit further, turning HAL into a virtual assistant that can control your home.

The company name might be familiar to prop and costume fans: the original Master Replicas produced a range of high-quality props from franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek before going out of business a decade ago. If you’ve seen someone swinging around a lightsaber, there’s a good chance it’s one of Master Replicas’ props, or based off of their models. The new company is made up of several former employees, who are getting back into the prop replica business with a new range of products, including an interactive replica of HAL."

"This replica of HAL-9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey comes with Amazon’s Alexa built in"
Maybe don’t hook up your garage door to it

by Andrew Liptak
March 10, 2018

 

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Amazon Alexa on Windows PCs is just disappointing

Published on Jun 18, 2018

Amazon's Alexa app for PC is severely limited by region (just U.S.), lacks basic features, requires special firmware, and is only for "select" PCs. Still, there is some hope for it

 

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Alexa is coming to your hotel room

Published on Jun 19, 2018

Forgot your toothbrush? Just use Alexa for Hospitality.

 

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Alexa invades the living room

Published on Jul 11, 2018

So how can we get Alexa into our living rooms? Over the past six months, tech companies have been battling it out to connect digital assistants to your TV. Homepod, Google Max, and the Sonos Beam bring quality sound, while the Fire TV Cube and Amazon’s Echo and Dot just want to make our TVs work with voice. In this episode of Processor, Dieter walks us through our options to add Alexa onto our TV.

 

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Article "Amazon wants Alexa to be the operating system for your life"
Amazon wants Alexa everywhere, and it will even go head to head with microwave and subwoofer makers to get there

by Nick Statt
September 27, 2018

 

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"Alexa, Should We Trust You?"
The voice revolution has only just begun. Today, Alexa is a humble servant. Very soon, she could be much more—a teacher, a therapist, a confidant, an informant.

by Judith Shulevitz
November 2018

 

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How to setup and use Alexa

Published on Dec 20, 2018

Our complete Alexa setup guide shows you how to get started with Amazon's smart home assistant - from downloading the Alexa app onto your iPhone or Android phone to setting up compatible speakers such as the Amazon Echo Spot, Show, Dot and beyond, plus devices from Bose and Sonos.

These days Alexa can be found in hundreds of smart devices, from speakers and TVs to smartphones and other smart home kit. The best voice assistant of 2018/2019 can control your kit, deliver information on demand and loads more besides - and here's how to get setup, whatever your equipment.

Alexa is completely free to use, and a serious rival to the likes of the Google Assistant and Siri. Especially as she was one of the first to be integrated into smart home tech, so she has more features and better understanding - as well as impressive support.

We hope this guide to using Alexa helps, and check out our reviews of Amazon's Echo speakers for more.

 

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Lenovo Smart Tab hands-on: Alexa takes on a new form

Published on Jan 8, 2019

 

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CES 2019: Alexa gets a robotic talking head

Published on Jan 11, 2019

Tired of speaking to Alexa's disembodied voice? Oregon startup Robomodix is giving Amazon's voice assistant a face of its own, though the results may creep you out a little bit.

 

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Google Assistant or Alexa challenge

Published on Jan 12, 2019

Google Assistant and Alexa are both trying to take over your smart devices. But who has the weirdest gadgets? Shannon and Dieter explore the show floor at CES 2019 to find the coolest and most unusual uses of these digital assistants.

 

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Alexa Tips & Tricks | Best Skills & Features (2019)

Published on Jan 21, 2019

Our Alexa tips & tricks guide reveals our favourite Skills that Amazon's AI assistant supports in the UK in 2019. Here's how to get started with Alexa on your Echo or other smart device, including changing her wake word and downloading new features. We then run through the best stuff she can do, including:

How to control your smart home gear, including lights, heating and devices such as your Xbox One.

How to customise and use Alexa's Flash Briefing, to get a full news and schedule update each morning.

How to relax with stress-busting sounds, and wake up to your favourite music.

How Alexa can help you get fit with Joe Wicks workouts.

The best games and quizzes to play on your Echo speaker (and other Alexa-supported devices).

Got your own favourite tips and tricks with Amazon's AI to share? Let us know in the comments below!

 

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EB showcased Amazon Alexa at CES 2019 part 1

Published on Mar 29, 2019

In part 1 of this demonstration from CES 2019, we introduce how Amazon Alexa is integrated into a seat box demonstrator and showcase how customers will be able to ask Alexa to answer questions, play music, hear the news, get weather and traffic reports, control their smart home, and more.

EB showcased Amazon Alexa at CES 2019 part 2

Published on Mar 29, 2019

In part 2 of this demonstration from CES 2019, we showcase on a seat box demonstrator how Amazon Alexa could be able to proactively notify the driver about different incident scenarios on the road.

Amazon Alexa integration

Elektrobit Automotive GmbH (EB), embedded software solutions for the automotive industry, Erlangen, Germany

 

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Alexa-Alive

Published on Apr 4, 2019

After working for some time 12/7 on Assistive Technology and Assistive Care Robotics I decided to have a break and have some fun and build what I think an "Alexa-Alive" entity would look like and react! - Take the new Alexa "Input" device and add a beautiful avatar (virtual human) and you get a pure magic visible voice assistant with multiple emotions and personality! In my humble opinion this takes voice assistants to a whole new dimension.

 

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Article "Amazon Workers Are Listening to What You Tell Alexa"
A global team reviews audio clips in an effort to help the voice-activated assistant respond to commands.

by Matt Day, Giles Turner, and Natalia Drozdiak
April 11, 2019

 

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5 Alexa Hacks - Amazon Echo input

Published on Apr 16, 2019

Amazon is continually adding new features to it's Alexa enabled Echo smart speakers. The most affordable Echo is the Echo Input which connects to a Bluetooth speaker or other audio device. BTW, there's a great Amazon Echo input deal going right now. We break down 5 Alexa hacks that you can do at home to get the most out of your Amazon Echo input.

 

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Article "Amazon launches a certification program for Alexa skill developers"

by Sarah Perez
April 16, 2019

 

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Best Alexa Hacks - Amazon Echo Dot Kids

Published on Apr 17, 2019

Amazon Alexa smart speakers are useful, convenient and also fun! Especially the Echo Dot Kids edition. Designed to keep kids entertained, connected and safe the Amazon Echo Dot kids has a lot of tricks packed in. BTW, there's a great Amazon Echo Dot Kids deal going right now. In this video we break down 5 Alexa hacks that kids can do at home to get the most out of the Amazon Echo Dot Kids.

 

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Using Voice Technology to Enhance the Student Experience

Published on Apr 22, 2019

Voice technology is becoming the newest medium in which students can interact with their education. With Amazon Alexa, students worldwide are gaining more from their educational experience by simplifying ways they acquire information and stay organized. Institutions can personalize campus life by building private skills, providing daily flash briefings, and quickly retrieving campus information. Join Chris Dixon, Head of IT and Innovation at Lancaster University, to learn more about how the L.U. Alexa skill is adding another dimension to the student university experience, engaging students in a variety of topics from study skills and welfare problems to social life and academic progression.