All items tagged with Amazon (102)

Amazon Launches All-New Echo Spot Smart Alarm Devices

July 15, 2024 by Joao Martins

Amazon Launches All-New Echo Spot Smart Alarm Devices

Amazon announced the new Echo Spot as the latest addition to its lineup of Alexa-enabled devices. With no smart speakers announced in 2024 until now, the Amazon Echo series seems to be reduced to bedside table accessories. The new Echo Spot range is intended as an Alexa-enabled smart alarm clock, and its compact colorful display makes it easy to see the time, weather, and song titles from the nightstand. It's new, but Amazon Prime members can get it for more than 40% off.

Patent Review: Smart Bass Reflex Loudspeaker

October 25, 2023 by James Croft

Patent Review: Smart Bass Reflex Loudspeaker

James Croft (Croft Acoustical) reviews a very curious patent from Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Reno, NV), filed in 2013, and awarded in April 2017. Basically, the patent discusses a new technique to tune a port of a loudspeaker, in this case multiple ports that will be open or selectively closed, in function of an analysis of the frequencies of the signal being played. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, June 2018.

Amazon Unveils Next Generation Echo Show 8, All-New Echo Hub, and New Echo Frames

September 21, 2023 by Joao Martins

Amazon Unveils Next Generation Echo Show 8, All-New Echo Hub, and New Echo Frames

Remember smart speakers? Apparently Amazon doesn't want to. At that time of the year when traditionally Amazon would introduce the latest models of its Echo smart speakers, this year the company only announced a new smart display, the next generation Echo Show 8 with an upgraded processor, spatial audio, and a built-in smart home hub. And for those who don't even want the speaker, Amazon introduced a new Echo Hub, a smart home control panel. Amazon did expand on the audio glasses category, with two ugly frames that are said to have a long-lasting battery.

Worldwide Shipments of Smart Home Devices Continue to Decline in 2023 Due to Lack of Upgrades

June 29, 2023 by audioXpress Staff

Worldwide Shipments of Smart Home Devices Continue to Decline in 2023 Due to Lack of Upgrades

Global shipments of smart home devices continued to decline in the first quarter of 2023 as shipments fell 5.6% year over year to 186.0 million units, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Smart Home Device Tracker. The lack of new models and noteworthy updates to existing smart speakers, lack of progress in voice assistants, and the transition to the Matter smart home interoperability standard are to blame.

Amazon Echo Pops Slice Smart Speakers in Half

May 22, 2023 by Joao Martins

Amazon Echo Pops Slice Smart Speakers in Half

When the first Amazon Echo device launched in 2014, it created a new category: The smart speaker. The Echo speakers brought the voice assistant to the home and created the perfect controller for the early "smart home." Unfortunately, almost 10 years later, voice recognition still has a long way to go, the multi-language promise is still unrealized, and Echo speakers are already everywhere - in the countries where Amazon sells them. The company even announces new models with a blog post.

Amazon Music and Fraunhofer Are Driving 360 Reality Audio Immersive In-Car Streaming at CES 2023

January 4, 2023 by audioXpress Staff

Amazon Music and Fraunhofer Are Driving 360 Reality Audio Immersive In-Car Streaming at CES 2023

Fraunhofer IIS, primary developer of the MPEG-H 3D Audio standard, and Amazon Music will demonstrate together at CES 2023 how immersive and authentic 360 Reality Audio music can sound in a vehicle. Fraunhofer brings an Audi e-tron equipped with a production 3D sound system to CES 2023, to demonstrate 360 Reality Audio in-car immersive music streaming. Thanks to the fixed seating positions and acoustic characteristics of cars, all passengers can be enveloped by an immersive sound field.

HEAD acoustics Implements Alexa ACAR Testing

October 17, 2022 by Joao Martins

HEAD acoustics Implements Alexa ACAR Testing

Following the availability of the labCORE extension module coreIP-Alexa, specifically created for measurement and validation of the user experience using voice on Alexa-built-in devices, HEAD acoustics now announced a comprehensive Alexa Communications Audio Requirements (ACAR) implementation that enable developers to leverage the full speech and communication potential of Alexa-built-in devices when performing Alexa-to-Alexa calls.

Matter 1.0 Standard Arrives and Certification Program is Here!

October 5, 2022 by audioXpress Staff

Matter 1.0 Standard Arrives and Certification Program is Here!

The Connectivity Standards Alliance, the international community of more than 550 technology companies committed to open standards for the Internet of Things, announced today the release of the Matter 1.0 specification and the opening of the Matter certification program. Member companies who make up all facets of the connected Internet of Things and Smart Home now have a complete program for bringing the next generation of interoperable products that work across brands and platforms to market with greater privacy, security, and simplicity for consumers.

Amazon Introduces New Alexa-On-Device Echo Models and Updated Echo Studio Spatial Audio

September 29, 2022 by Joao Martins

Amazon Introduces New Alexa-On-Device Echo Models and Updated Echo Studio Spatial Audio

After two years without any relevant announcements on the smart speaker arena, Amazon announced updated versions of its popular Echo devices. All-new Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock deliver up to two-times the bass of the previous generation, add a temperature sensor, double as eero mesh wifi extenders. More significant, the Echo Studio flagship features a new spatial audio processing technology and upgraded drivers to do what it promised when it launched four years ago.

The Standards We Need: Do Audio Technologies Matter in the Smart Home?

February 10, 2022 by Joao Martins

The Standards We Need: Do Audio Technologies Matter in the Smart Home?

Matter is an industry-unifying standard for the Smart Home that promises reliable, secure connectivity — a seal of approval that devices will work seamlessly together. But... Do audio technologies matter in the Smart Home? The audio industry needs to get involved in this convergence and interoperability effort. After all, we can already tell a speaker to play a song - thanks to voice recognition technology, AI, and wireless networks - but we still don’t have a transparent wireless audio standard to stream audio to speakers or headphones because basically audio remains restricted by specifications that were not written with audio in mind.

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