Amazon has expanded the usability of its Alexa calling and messaging via the Alexa app to tablets, allowing iPad owners to be able to make and receive free calls to and from friends and family members who own an Echo device from the retailer's growing range.
In an attempt to stay one step ahead of the virtual assistant competition, like Apple and Google, Amazon recently released a new feature that allows users to ask multiple questions in succession without repeating the "Alexa" wake word.
Reports of a strange error from owners of Amazon's Echo device range have surfaced, claiming the Alexa digital assistant is making an odd 'laugh' sound at random times, with the noises sometimes made without any verbal prompts, commands, or external forces interacting with the voice-activated speakers.
Apple's HomePod brings Siri into the home for the first time, but how does the virtual assistant stack up against established technologies like Amazon's Alexa and Google Home's Google Assistant? We put the latest versions of each smart speaker to the test in this video comparison.
Customers will soon be unable to find products made by Google-owned Nest on Amazon, a result of a decision the online retail giant made to not to carry the smart home device maker's latest gear, a report said on Friday.
Alexa, Amazon's digital assistant used by the Echo device range, is suffering from service outages that are affecting a number of users in the United States, issues that are likely to be caused by a regional outage of Amazon Web Services in Northern Virginia. (Update from Amazon)
Apple's HomePod is more than twice as expensive as Amazon's second-generation Echo, incorporates a less capable virtual assistant in Siri and is limited to Apple's ecosystem of service. So why would anyone choose it? It's all about sound quality.
App-enabled doorbell manufacturer Ring has been bought by Amazon, adding to its lineup of security-related home automation products — but work and certification of HomeKit for the Ring Pro and Floodlight are still ongoing.
Priced at $349, the Apple HomePod saw more pent-up demand at launch than virtually all of its competition, save for one budget-priced smartspeaker: Amazon's $50-and-under Echo Dot.
AppleInsider puts HomePod's sound quality to the test against four smart speaker competitors, Sonos' One, Amazon's second-gen Echo, Google Home and Google's Home Max, in this comprehensive comparison. Find out which comes out on top.
While the Apple HomePod is the "best sounding" smartspeaker and has a "measurably better" user experience in many areas, its underlying AI assistant — Siri — failed dramatically in a query test versus Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft Cortana, according to Loup Ventures.
Amazon is reportedly kickstarting "Shipping With Amazon," or SWA, a delivery service for other businesses that will take on industry leaders UPS and FedEx.
Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple all have voice assistants vying for attention, and all are moving the concept of computer-human voice interaction forward. AppleInsider offers an abbreviated history of how we got here and the capabilities of these assistants and their devices in anticipation of HomePod. What do these things do? What do people use them for? And what is Apple doing differently?
After a teaser suggested new voice options could be coming to Alexa, the release of Amazon's full Super Bowl spot reveals it was all just a joke, setting up a primetime ad where celebrities substitute in for Alexa — and poorly.
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase have announced plans to develop a program to pare down health care costs initially for their own employees, but with a suggestion that it could expand the effort to the rest of Americans in the future.
With days to go before the launch of Apple's Siri-powered HomePod smart speaker, Amazon will unveil changes to its own personal assistant, Alexa, likely to come in the form of new voice options.
People wanting to make use of Amazon's Alexa voice assistant will soon be able to talk to it through the company's iOS app, instead of depending on an Echo speaker or other compatible device.
For the 11th year in a row, Apple on Friday took the top spot on Fortune's annual "World's Most Admired Companies" list, this time based on the opinions of some 3,900 executives, directors, analysts, and experts.
Amazon has revealed its list of candidates for building a new headquarters in North America, publishing a shortlist of 20 cities and metropolitan areas that are still in the running to host the online retail giant's second base of operations.
Among a list of 12 major corporations, Apple was picked as the most innovative by a wide margin in a poll of U.S. adults.
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Malcolm Owen
AppleInsider Staff
Mikey Campbell
Mike Wuerthele
Neil Hughes
Roger Fingas
Victor Marks
