Amazon Alexa News

Amazon Alexa Privacy Settings: Amazon Alexa is a voice-controlled virtual assistant developed by Amazon. It’s designed to help you with a wide range of tasks using just your voice.  

The exact number of personnel that are being laid off is not disclosed yet. Google Assistant debuted in 2016 to compete with Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri.

Academic Joanne Rodda, a senior lecturer in psychiatry at Kent and Medway Medical School, said it showed "sexism in football was embedded in Alexa”.

Jurors said that Google should pay $2.30 for each of the more than 14 million devices sold.

Alexa will be read or speak your preferred bedtime stories using the new feature currently being worked upon by Amazon. The upcoming feature is currently in the works. Amazon has announced to host its annual Alexa Live developers event on July 20.

The launch of the Skagen Falster Gen 6 brought with it the reveal of a partnership between Amazon and Fossil that would bring Alexa to select Wear OS smartwatches.

Users can ask ‘Amit Ji' the time and other questions, similar to how ‘Alexa' wakes them up. Amazon Echo speakers and the Amazon Android app now support the new voice option. Bachchan will be able to react in both English and Hindi on Amazon Echo devices.

One of them is Whisper Mode, where Alexa will whisper its response if you talk to it quietly. As this relaxing video points out, you can activate the mode by asking Alexa to “turn on whisper mode”.

Amazon is now looking to add smart televisions to its lineup. Amazon is unlikely to have in-house manufacturing for the televisions. Amazon is also reportedly working on a TV designed in-house.

In 2020, Amazon came out with an update on Alexa in India which had a smart assistant to share information about COVID-19 symptoms and cases in India. Amazon further said that all of this information is sourced from the Indian government’s CoWIN portal, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website as well as MapmyIndia. All users need to do is say, "Alexa, where can I get a COVID-19 test?".

Amazon has given all the information on Alexa about vaccine availability and eligibility for more than 85 countries. Alexa will help with a list of nearby locations where COVID-19 vaccines are there and users can also enquire about it by asking Alexa to “call the first one” from the list to connect to a specific location. Available in multiple devices, Amazon Alexa will also be able to answer other vaccine-related queries like phone numbers and other details.

With this feature, users get an option to share their songs with their Alexa contacts on their Echo devices. Amazon said on its website that if someone shares a song with you, Alexa will send a notification on your Echo device. To get started, you’ll need to enable Alexa Communications on your account by opening your Alexa app and navigating to the Communicate tab.

Amitabh Bachchan's voice will be available on Alexa devices next year, the company said.

In the social distancing times, Alexa can be your daily gyan guru by teaching you a new fact every day.  

Echo Auto uses a car`s 12V charging socket or USB port and connects to the car`s stereo system for audio playback using auxiliary cable or Bluetooth, the official release notes. It features 8 microphones and far-field technology for seamless access. 

Starting this week, US users will be able to enable Alexa to respond with either a happy/excited or disappointed/empathetic tone, the official blog notes.

Bose smart speaker owners can now also use Apple AirPlay 2 for simple streaming from Apple devices

Though the smart speaker is a relatively young product in India, voice assistants like Alexa in smart devices are gaining immense popularity in the country.

Facebook`s AI-enabled Portal video chat service currently uses Amazon`s Alexa.

The device features a four-microphone arrangement to allow users to talk to Alexa from across the room using the Alexa app.