Amazon’s Echo speakers let you use your voice to control some smart home products including thermostats, locks, outlets, or lights. But the C by GE Sol kills two birds with one stone: it’s a smart lamp with Amazon’s Alexa voice service built in. The C by GE Sol can do pretty much anything an Echo speaker […]
Tag: smart home
Google Home and WiFi cross the pond (to the UK)
Google’s smart home products aren’t just for the United States anymore. The company has announced that its Google Hom smart speaker and Google WiFi mesh networking router devices are heading to the UK, where they’ll be available starting April 6th. Google Home is also learning some new tricks, thanks to support for additional smart home products. For […]
Triby IO is a smart home speaker with Alexa and IFTTT support
Invoxia’s Triby portable speaker was the first non-Amazon device to support Amazon’s Alexa voice service when it launched last year. Now Invoxia is launching a second-gen model, and the company says the new model is more than just a speaker, radio, digital assistant, and speakerphone. it’s also a hub that can control home automation tasks. […]
Intel & Amazon working on Alexa “smart speaker” reference designs
Amazon’s Echo line of internet-connected speakers aren’t the only devices that tap into the company’s Alexa voice service. This year we’ve seen other companies introduce tablets, robots, smartwatches, and portable speakers that use Amazon’s technology to understand and respond to voice commands and questions. Next year we could see even more. Amazon and Intel have announced that […]
Would you buy an Amazon Echo with a touchscreen display?
Amazon may have sold more than 5 million of its Echo line of internet-connected, voice-activated speakers in the past few years. What started off as a single product priced at close to $200 is now a family of devices including an entry-level $50 model and a portable model that sells for $130. So what’s next? According to […]
TCL launches 17.3 inch Xess with Amazon Alexa integration (and a camera)
TCL is updating its Xess line of Android-based products with a new model featuring support for Amazon’s Alexa voice service. The Xess is a 17.3 inch touchscreen device that looks like a big tablet, or a small TV. But TCL is positioning the new model as a smart home hub. It’s available from Amazon for $500. Since […]
Google Home is now shipping ($129 voice-activated, internet-connected speaker)
Google’s answer to the Amazon Echo is now shipping. Customers who placed orders for Google Home from the Google Store are starting to get shipment notifications. Walmart seems to have put some units on store shelves. Unboxing videos are starting to appear. And professional reviews are starting to come in. Google Home is available for […]
Bloomberg: Apple has a Siri-based Amazon Echo competitor too
Earlier this year Google announced plans to launch an internet-connected speaker that would sit in your home, play music on command, and respond to questions or requests that you voice. It’s called Google Home, and if it sounds familiar, that’s because it’s basically the company’s answer to an existing product: the Amazon Echo. But Google […]
$599 Asus Zenbo robot is an anthropomorphic smart home hub
Asus wants to sell you a robot butler. At a time when bots, voice-activated virtual assistants, and smart home tech are starting to gain traction, Asus has packed all of those features into robot that can roll around the house to follow you from room. It’s called Zenbo, and Asus plans to sell it for […]
Google’s OnHub routers get smart home features with IFTTT
Google’s OnHub series routers are designed to be easy to use and attractive enough that you might not want to hide them underneath or behind furniture (which can actually improve performance since the signal won’t be obstructed). But another thing that sets OnHub devices from Asus and TP-Link apart from most other routers is their support for […]