Amazon’s 2019 hardware event: all of the latest rumors, news, and announcements – The Verge

Podcast: Amazon’s 80 announcements and Facebook’s Oculus Connect conference

2019-09-27T13:13:24-04:00

The week on The Vergecast, we covered two events that happened simultaneously on Wednesday: Amazon's fall Alexa and Echo product event and Facebook's Oculus Connect virtual reality developer conference.

Amazon had 80 announcements at its event in Seattle, Washington, so Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, Adi Robertson, Ashley Carman, and Paul Miller run through the gadgets and what we know about them. Dieter was able to attend the event, so he talks about his experiences with products like the Echo Buds and the Echo Loop ring.

At the same time, Facebook held its Oculus Connect conference in San Jose, California. Adi Robertson explains its new multi …

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To use Alexa, you have to trust Amazon

2019-09-26T13:24:05-04:00

At Wednesday's hardware event, Amazon wanted to make sure you knew it valued your privacy. "We're investing in privacy across the board," hardware and services chief Dave Limp told the crowd. "Privacy cannot be an afterthought when it comes to the devices and services we offer our customers. It has to be foundational and built in from the beginning for every piece of hardware, software, and service that we create."

To prove the point, the company rolled out a new set of privacy features, each one giving users slightly more control. A new camera shutter will electronically disconnect the camera on the Echo Show 5. A separate feature lets you …

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How Amazon’s new Echos compare to other smart speakers

2019-09-26T08:58:53-04:00

Amazon’s new Echo Studio. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Amazon introduced two new smart speakers in the avalanche of announcements at its 2019 fall hardware event this week: a third-generation Echo and what it claims is its best-sounding speaker yet, the Echo Studio. Pioneered by Amazon with the original Echo, the smart speaker market now has a bevy of competitors to choose from. But how do Amazon's new models compare?

Amazon Echo Studio

If you want the best Echo speaker for music, the $199.99 Echo Studio is the one Amazon wants you to buy. It's got five drivers - a 1-inch tweeter, three 2-inch midrange speakers, and a 5.25-inch woofer - which should be able to show off Amazon Music HD, Amazon's …

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The top 8 Echo products Amazon announced today

2019-09-25T18:06:48-04:00

It's obvious that Amazon is trying to make its Alexa personal assistant as ubiquitous as possible. At today's marathon product introduction, the company debuted a wide variety of its Echo-branded Alexa-powered products, both for the home and for the outdoors.

But that presents the problem: with all these new and upgraded Echo devices, which should you get? What follows is a rundown of the basic specs, prices, and availability of the most interesting products introduced today. Take a look, and see if any strike your fancy.

Echo for the home

Amazon has updated a couple of its current smart Echo speakers and has introduced several new ones for …

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Food Network’s Peloton-style streaming service will bring Guy Fieri into your kitchen

2019-09-25T17:34:41-04:00

A new competitor has entered the streaming wars: the Food Network.

Discovery is launching a streaming service in partnership with Amazon called Food Network Kitchen, which will cost $6.99 a month (or $59.99 annually) and feature live cooking classes taught by chefs like Martha Stewart, Bobby Flay, and Guy Fieri. Subscribers will be able to attend up to 25 live cooking classes a week, and get access to more than 800 on-demand cooking classes and 3,000 step-by-step tutorial videos. Food Network Kitchen will also feature a curated selection of shows like Good Eats, Barefoot Contessa, and The Pioneer Woman. The service will launch late October, …

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Amazon is simplifying device setup with ‘Certified for Humans’ program

2019-09-25T15:18:08-04:00

In an attempt to make the smart home simpler, smarter, and safer, Amazon is announcing a new "Certified for Humans" program, which is designed to make it easier to set up new smart home devices. The program builds upon the "frustration-free setup" initiative that Amazon announced last year, which stored user's Wi-Fi details to share them with compatible smart home devices.

Amazon says that any device that carries this new certification will be designed to cut down the number of steps required to get them connected to Alexa. A developer page for the program lists further requirements for devices, which range from technical requirements like …

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Ring announces new cameras and a conversational doorbell

2019-09-25T14:31:59-04:00

At its fall event today, Amazon announced two new versions of its Ring Stick Up security cameras and showed off a way for Alexa to have conversations with people who come to your door via a Ring doorbell.

Amazon refreshed the Stick Up Cam at last year's event, but it's giving it another refresh this year. The new Stick Up Cam is sold in wired, battery-powered, or solar-powered versions. It also has 1080p video, motion detection, and night vision like the previous version, but Amazon says this year's Stick Up Cam is 30 percent cheaper at $99. Amazon says it's available to preorder today and will ship on October 23rd. It also announced a $199 …

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Amazon announces Fetch pet tracker that uses new Sidewalk networking

2019-09-25T14:30:10-04:00

Amazon has announced a new secure wireless standard called Amazon Sidewalk, a low-bandwidth protocol that's designed to power ultra-low power devices and connect them over long distances. The first device to use this new standard is a device that's designed to connect to your pet's collar from Amazon called Ring Fetch, which is designed to let you to track your dog, allowing you to geofence your yard and get an alert when it leaves.

Fetch uses Amazon's new Sidewalk networking standard. Sidewalk uses 900MHz spectrum, and Amazon says it works over distances up to 500m and even as far as a mile using a network of access points. Amazon says it …

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Amazon’s new Echo Loop puts Alexa in a discreet smart ring

2019-09-25T14:26:29-04:00

Amazon is experimenting with putting Alexa everywhere, and its latest experiment might be the wildest yet: a new smart ring called the Echo Loop that puts Alexa on your finger.

The Echo Loop is essentially an entire Echo in miniature: inside the titanium frame are two microphones and what Amazon says is "the smallest speaker ever on an Echo device." It pairs with your phone for a data connection (both iOS or Android will work) through the Alexa app, and activates with a small button (instead of the usual wake word).

A tiny, wearable Echo

There's also haptic feedback, which is used to signal that the button has been pressed, as well as to al …

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Amazon follows up its Alexa microwave with a new Alexa Smart Oven

2019-09-25T14:18:17-04:00

Last year, Amazon introduced the world to the AmazonBasics Microwave, its first real kitchen appliance, which offered the ability to be controlled with Alexa. And now the company is following that up with a new appliance, the $249.99 Alexa Smart Oven: a combination microwave, convection cooker, air fryer, and food warmer.

Like the Alexa microwave, the Alexa Smart Oven doesn't offer Echo hardware on board - there's no microphone or speaker - but rather is controlled through a separate Alexa device.

In addition to the fact that the Alexa Smart Oven offers more cooking options, Amazon has also expanded the Alexa integration on offer: there's …

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