Two of the biggest trends in household consumer electronics have merged in a way that should have seemed obvious: Netgear has released a mesh networking router that’s also a smart speaker. It’s called the Netgear Orbi Voice and in addition to working as a tri-band WiFi router that can be used in conjunction with additional […]
smart speaker
Samsung Galaxy Home smart speaker with Bixby coming soon
Samsung is developing a new smart speaker designed to let you use the company’s Bixby voice assistant without taking your phone out of your pocket or handbag. It’s called the Samsung Galaxy Home, and the company gave a sneak peek at the upcoming smart speaker during the launch event for the new Samsung Galaxy Note […]
JBL’s $250 Link View smart display with Google Assistant goes up for preorder
And then there were two. Just a few days after Lenovo began selling the first smart display featuring Google Assistant, JBL has begun taking preorders for its own veesion. The JBL Link View was first unveiled at CES im January, and it should begin shipping in September. You can preorder one now from JBL’s website […]
Amazon Fire TV Cube arrives to (mostly) positive reviews
It was obviously just a matter of time before Amazon merged its Fire TV and Echo line of products to launch a voice-controlled media streamer. So the only really surprising thing about Amazon’s unveiling of the Fire TV Cube earlier this month is that it took the company as long as it did to launch […]
Amazon launches Fire TV Cube with Alexa
Amazon’s latest 4K-ready Fire TV device is also an Alexa hands-free smart speaker. The long-anticipated Amazon Fire TV Cube has a list price of $120 and it’s set to ship later this month, but it’s up for pre-order starting today and Amazon Prime members can save $30 (bringing the price down to $90 for the next […]
Canalys: Google sold more smart speakers than Amazon in Q1, 2018
Amazon pretty much invented the smart speaker category when the company introduced the Amazon Echo in 2014. And Amazon has pretty much dominated the space ever since… until this year. According to research from Canalysis, Google took the top spot in smart speaker sales for the first time in the first quarter of 2018. Amazon […]
JBL Link Bar crams Android TV and Google Assistant into a soundbar
JBL launched a line of smart speakers with Google Assistant baked in last year. Now the company is going a step further with a new TV soundbar that not only works like a Google Assistant-powered smart speaker. It’s also an Android TV device that brings Google’s media streaming software to your TV. The JBL Link […]
Report: Facebook still wants to put mic and camera (I mean smart speakers) in your house
Rumor has it that Facebook has been working on a smart speaker system to compete with Google Home, Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, and whatever it is Microsoft thinks it’s doing with Cortana. And rumor also has it that in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, Facebook officials thought better of their original plans […]
Amazon launches $80 Echo Dot Kids Edition
It’s not a new Fire TV, but Amazon has a new gadget. The company’s new Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition is basically the same as a regular Echo Dot, but it comes with a kid-friendly protective case, a 2-year “worry-free guarantee” that means Amazon will replace broken units, no questions asked, and parental controls. Priced […]
Facebook may be designing its own chips
Apple is said to be designing its own chips for use in upcoming Macs computers, which isn’t a huge surprise since the company already designs the chips its uses in iPhones and iPods. But there also seems to be a trend toward companies that typically source their chips from companies like Intel and Qualcomm turning […]