Amazon Alexa

As a virtual assistant, Alexa is quite good: it responds quickly, often knows what it is you want, and is capable of doing many things.

I just got review units of Amazon’s latest Alexa-powered smart speaker and will be putting them through their paces this weekend. Throw any questions you have about the newest (and cheapest) Echo at me in the comments below, and I’ll be sure to answer them in the review.

Echo Show smart displays can now show you multiple camera feeds at once. Here’s how to set up your Ring, Eufy, Arlo, or any Alexa-compatible security camera to stream to your smart display.

We’ve talked a little bit about how interest rates explain what’s going on in tech, but I really enjoyed this insightful newsletter about why Alexa is suddenly bothering you about how it can make shopping lists:

Love the ease of setting up wireless whole home audio with inexpensive Echo speakers but don’t love having to evoke the Assistant whenever you want to change it up? New features in Alexa multiroom music give you Sonos-like app controls over your audio. Here’s how to set up Alexa multiroom audio and how to use it.

MKBHD returns to test Google Assistant vs. Siri vs. Alexa vs. Bixby head-to-head on smartphones, and remind us that Siri still can’t do multiple timers.

The company promoted its new “Thank My Driver” Alexa feature by announcing it was giving $5 tips to the first million thank you’s — but that million was reached quickly. You (and your driver) are probably better off just tipping with cash.

You can now switch up Alexa’s English voice to sound like it has a Canadian, Indian, British, or Australian accent, without needing to change to regions that can lock you out of content. But you don’t have to ask Alexa out loud — we put together the different ways you can change its accent.

Business Insider had a big report out over the weekend about Amazon gutting its Alexa team due to unprofitability. But I’ve been saying for years that the voice assistant never moved beyond its basic functionality. It’s this key limitation, I’d argue, that’s made it harder to monetize Alexa and so contributed to its current woes.