Amazon Alexa

Amazon and Google just launched a bunch of new smart home hardware and software features this week, and I know you have questions. I haven’t tested any of them yet, but I got some hands-on time with the new gadgets and spoke with folks at both companies about the new features, so come ask me anything! I’ll go live at 1 PM ET.

The new model, announced yesterday, is the $39.99 4K Select. It’s pricier, yet it has worse specs than the $24.99 Fire TV Stick 4K (the Select is missing Wi-Fi 6, Dolby Vision, Atmos, and other features). The best value under $50 is still the Wi-Fi 6E-ready 4K Max.

I’m in line with Len Edgerly, of the Kindle Chronicles podcast, discussing what we expect to see today. New Kindles and Echo Shows are at the top of our list. I’ll be live-blogging from the event, so stay tuned!

The deal, which includes access to the NYT, The Athletic, and NYT Cooking, will have Amazon paying $20 million to $25 million per year, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. In May, the NYT said Amazon will use its content to train AI models and bring article summaries to Alexa.

The new Echo Dot Rome Limited Edition will respond to the command “Alexa, speak Roman,” with some colorful expressions in the city’s local dialect.

I always enjoy Pablo Rochat’s delightfully unhinged projects whenever they cross my social media feeds and this one is no exception. It appears to be a work in progress, and really needs no further explanation but I will make two notes: 1) the tiny hats! 2) watch to the end for a great reaction.

An Amazon spokesperson gave the figure to Reuters, adding, “...of course, some are employees and their families, but the overwhelming majority are customers that requested early access.”

As reported by Reuters, the job cuts in its devices and services group were part of a “regular business review.” CNBC noted the company has laid off 27,000 employees since the start of 2022, with cuts impacting this group in 2022 and 2023.

CEO Andy Jassy shared the stat on today’s earnings call, reports TechCrunch. Given how many Alexa-enabled devices are out there, though, that’s still probably a pretty low number, relatively.

Now, instead of having to go to every platform individually to ensure their product works with each platform, manufacturers can submit their Matter-certified devices to the Connectivity Standards Alliance Interop Lab and get approved for all four smart home platforms in one go.

On March 28th, Amazon will disable an optional privacy setting that kept your voice recordings local on some Alexa-powered smart speakers.