Autonomous Archive

Audio News for September 20, 2016

by Audiophile Audition | Sep 20, 2016 | Audio News

Amazon’s Echo is Taking Over the World – The $180 small cylindrical speaker is much more than that, and there is a new $50 version called the Dot which can also be used with existing audio systems, and software which keeps multiple units from answering your voice commands. Amazon is building its Alexa army, tied in somehow with Kindel (which the company itself spells Kindel but Amazon insists on spelling it Kindle). Alexa is a plug-and-play hardware now integrated with Lutron and Creston, and Nucleus has a home video intercom device with Alexa built in. Echo is controlled by your voice, and streams music from top services via its 360-degree mono omni-directional audio. It can hear you even on top of music playing and from across the room. It can answer questions, read audiobooks, give the news, info on local businesses etc. It can control lights, switches, and thermostats on smart home devices. Things are constantly being developed to expand what it does. One observer called the virtual assistant the closest thing to a Star Trek computer available today. (But an audio club member complained that the speaker part is mono and has no bass end.) BBC Radio 3 Observes […]