Amazon has launched a Live Translation feature for Alexa that will translate between two languages in real-time. The feature uses an Amazon Echo or Echo Show to translate conversations between English and French, German, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Read more ›
Netflix has officially arrived on Amazon Echo Show smart displays. The integration was announced a few months ago and now all Echo Show models can stream Netflix directly. The service works on the 1st-gen Echo Show, 2nd-gen Echo Show, Echo Show 5, and Echo Show 8. The Echo Spot is the only Echo model with a screen that is not supported, which is no surprise considering its screen is so small. Read more ›
New software updates are currently rolling out to nearly all Amazon Fire TV models. While these updates aren’t the ones that are adding the new redesigned interface, they are adding a feature that might help you get more out of Alexa. When you press the microphone button on your Fire TV remote, you’ll now sometimes see suggestions across the bottom of the screen for what you can say to Alexa. These suggestions are contextual, meaning they are mostly relevant to the Fire TV screen that you are currently on. Read more ›
Amazon has added a new accessibility feature to Fire TV devices that allows you to enable text captions for Alexa responses. The new option prints what Alexa is saying in a customizable box at the bottom of the Fire TV screen so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing can better understand Alexa. Those who don’t have impaired hearing may also find the captions useful if they aren’t fluent enough in Alexa’s various language options. The feature can also be used to silently see Alexa’s response, such as at night, while the TV is muted. Read more ›
Amazon has made it possible for Alexa Routines to control your Fire TV, Fire TV Cube, Fire TV Stick, or Fire TV Edition television. Through routines, either triggered automatically by some event or manually through a spoke Alexa command, Alexa can new automatically launch apps, play content, navigate home, pause/resume video, and even control the power and volume of your TV. Read more ›
Amazon has announced today that they’ve significantly expanded what Alexa commands you can say to an Amazon Echo device to control your Fire TV or Firestick. For a long time now, it has been possible to ask an Echo that has been linked with your Fire TV to perform a few basic tasks, such as launching apps, searching for content, and controlling video playback. When the Fire TV Cube was first released, what you could do hands-free with Alexa and a Fire TV expanded, but all the new capabilities required speaking directly to a Fire TV Cube and did not work through a separate Echo or Echo Dot and something like a Fire TV Stick. Today’s Alexa expansion on Fire TV brings many of those voice commands that formerly only worked on the Fire TV Cube to the rest of Amazon’s Fire TV devices. Here’s the full list of Alexa voice commands that can be used to control a Fire TV hands-free. Read more ›
Amazon is offering certain Prime Day Deals only if you order through Alexa via voice commands. These deals must be ordered through an Alexa device, like an Echo or Fire TV, to get the lowest possible price. You can also order by voice using the Alexa app for iOS or Android phones. Currently, there are only 5 Alexa-exclusive deals, but, during previous Prime Days, Amazon has cycled new deals in and old deals out throughout the day, so keep an eye on this page for the latest Alexa-exclusive deals. I’ll keep an updated list of current and past deals here as well. Read more ›
The Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite and 3rd-gen Fire TV Stick are the latest Fire TV models to add support for being grouped with Amazon Echo speakers to form an Alexa Home Theater System. Using Echo speakers for improved Fire TV audio was first introduced with the release of the Echo Studio last year, thanks to its Dolby Atmos capabilities. The feature has since expanded to also include compatibility with the 1st & 2nd-gen Echo Plus, 2nd & 3rd-gen Echo, 3rd-gen Echo Dot (with or without clock), and the Echo Sub. All of these Echo speakers can be grouped, in the Alexa app, to the Fire TV Stick 4K, both 1st & 2nd-gen Fire TV Cubes, the 3rd-gen Fire TV, and now the two new 2020 Firesticks. Grouping the devices together into a Home Theater System allows the Fire TV’s audio to automatically and wirelessly use the smart speakers instead of your TV speakers. Instructions for how to do so can be found here.
Along with the plethora of things announced today by Amazon, among them is the news that Netflix is finally going to be available through Amazon Echo Show smart displays. The world’s most popular streaming service joins Prime Video and Hulu as the newest streaming service on Amazon’s displays, just a couple of months after Netflix became available on Google’s smart displays. Amazon says you will be able to use your voice to search Netflix for shows and movies, as well as control playback. It’s not known yet if all Echo Show models will receive Netflix or only select models. It was shown off on the new Echo Show 10 announced today, so it’ll obviously be available on that device, which makes sense since it can literally follow you around the room to keep the screen in view while watching content.
Amazon has announced a series of new spherical ball-shaped Echo smart speakers. Seen above in the following order is the new 4th-gen Amazon Echo for $99.99, the new 4th-gen Echo Dot for $49.99, the new Echo Dot with Clock for $59.99, and the new Echo Dot Kids Edition for $59.99. While the new Amazon Echo may look just like the new Echo Dots from the outside, they’re quite different on the inside. The Echo packs in premium sound, thanks to its dual 0.8″ tweeters and 3.0″ woofer, as well as a Zigbee smart hub, while the Echo Dots have just one 1.6″ speaker. Read more ›
@AFTVnews