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Review: Amazon’s $29 Echo Wall Clock packs modern tricks in classic tech with a few limitations

Amazon’s quirky new Echo Wall Clock has arrived. While it’s primarily just a $29 analog wall clock, there’s something charming about its analog and digital balance. Echo Wall Clock doesn’t have Alexa built-in. You need a nearby Echo speaker with Alexa to use it, then it becomes a smart analog clock with a few fun and useful features despite small build quality concerns.


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Amazon Alexa gains ‘Brief Mode’ with less verbose remarks after doing simple tasks

Recently, Amazon added a ‘Follow-Up Mode’ to its Echo line of devices, which allows users to repeatedly say commands to the assistant without saying “Alexa” again. The company even added a ‘feature’ where the Echo would laugh at you sporadically. Today, the tech-giant is adding a ‘Brief Mode’ which disables the chatter aspect of the Echo, and replaces it with a simple chime once a task is completed.


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Amazon debuts new Echo speakers and $70 4K Fire TV to rival HomePod and Apple TV

Amazon took the stage in Seattle this morning to unveil a handful of new devices ahead of the holiday season. Today’s announcement includes the all-new Echo and Echo Plus Smart Speaker, a smaller Echo Connect, two updated models of its Fire TV streaming media platform and more. It was a big day in Seattle, and we have all of the details for you down below along with pre-order information.


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Amazon Echo gains multi-room music playback ahead of HomePod, Sonos smart speaker

Amazon today has announced a new feature that allows users to play, synchronize, and control music playback across multiple Echo devices with support for voice commands. The news comes ahead of Apple’s HomePod launch in December and Sonos likely unveiling a new smart speaker in October. Amazon has also announced new tools for developers.


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How to use Amazon Echo Show, Amazon demos how Alexa will use the Echo Show’s screen ahead of launch [Video]

Apple’s unveiling of the HomePod at WWDC was little more than a preview, as the company remains tight-lipped on exactly how the Siri voice assistant will work on the device. Whilst the HomePod isn’t shipping until the end of the year, Amazon is launching its latest addition to the Alexa home AI product range later this week.

The $230 Echo Show launches on Wednesday, featuring a 7-inch touchscreen. The company posted a series of videos (watch after the jump) giving a first look at the UI in action, to show how the Alexa assistant will utilize the screen to display relevant information and respond to voice queries …


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How should Apple & Siri compete with Amazon Echo and Google Home?

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Amazon was first with its Echo Wi-Fi speaker — a dedicated, standalone hub for its Alexa virtual assistant software — and now word has it Apple is working on a similar product for Siri. The several reports this week detailing Apple’s plans followed Google’s unveiling of its competitive Home hardware and Assistant platform at its Google I/O developer conference earlier this month. But what exactly will Apple’s competitor look like? And how will its reported plans for a Siri SDK play into its approach?


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Google I/O roundup: Google’s ‘Assistant’ Siri competitor, Google Home, Allo & Duo messaging apps & much more

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Google kicked off its Google I/O developer conference today with the usual keynote address where executives showed off a number of upcoming hardware, software and developer tool products. It started off with its new voice controlled Siri competitor— Google Assistant— which also ties into its upcoming Amazon Echo-like device for the home called Google Home.


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9to5Toys Last Call: Apple refurb 12″ MacBooks from $929, Amazon Tap/Echo from $111, Apple Watch Dock $21, more

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

Last Call Updates:

New MacBooks

The best accessories for Apple’s 12-inch MacBook: USB-C cables, hubs, flash storage, more

[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5toys/status/722457401174192129 align=’center’]

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Apple drops the price on refurbished 12-inch MacBooks, now start at $929 shipped

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Amazon’s Alexa-enabled Echo is on sale for $154 (Reg. $180), Tap Bluetooth Speaker $111 (Reg. $130)

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Smartphone Accessories: Arc-shaped Apple Watch Charging Stand $21, AUKEY Magnetic Air Vent Mount $6, more

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Review: Are these third-party $11 Apple Watch Sport bands any good? Turns out, they aren’t too bad.

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App Store Free App of the Week: Space Marshals goes free for the very first time ($5 value)

Upgrade Your Mac with 3 Great Apps: Scapple $9 (Orig. $15), STAMP Premium $5 (Orig. $10), Ghostnote $7 (Orig. $10)

BADLAND 1 & 2 for iOS now matching lowest prices ever from $1 (Reg. $5)

Apple offers Day One 2 iOS journal app for free ($10 value)

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

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SanDisk Storage: Ultra II 960GB 2.5-inch Internal Solid-State Drive $200 (Reg. $232+), 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive $50, more

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Smartphone Accessories: Pad & Quill Timber Catchall Stand for Apple Watch in cherry wood finish $64 (Reg. $99), more

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

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DODOcase 40% off sitewide: iPad Pro Two Tone Case from $49 shipped, iPhone & Apple Watch accessories, more

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Samsung 55-inch 4K 120Hz Smart UHDTVs: $1,200 (Reg. $1,500), 3D $1,375 (Reg. $1,800)

Displays: Dell 24-inch 4K $361 (Reg. $400+), LG Ultra-Thin Bezel 27-inch 1080p $180 (Reg. $299)

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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DJI’s new professional-grade drone is incredibly powerful and intelligent

Amazon releases new ‘Amazon Tap’ and ‘Echo Dot’, more competition for Apple’s Siri voice assistant

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The Amazon Echo has become somewhat of a hit success, with many users preferring Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant to Apple’s Siri because of faster speech recognition speed, reliability and overall better performance. Amazon is continuing to compete in the voice assistant space with the release of two new products today: the Amazon Tap and Echo Dot.

The new products focus on expanding Amazon’s voice assistant into more rooms of your house as well as on-the-go. It’s an interesting strategy to make Alexa-dedicated devices, whereas Apple currently offers Siri only as a feature of its existing iOS, Apple Watch and Apple TV products.


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The Logic Pros: Creating precise multi-tap delay/echo patterns with Delay Designer

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In this week’s episode of The Logic Pros, we are continuing our tour of some of Logic’s most powerful in-house effects and tools. Delay FX are one of the most commonly used and versatile options in any producer/programmers arsenal, and Logic Pro X’s built-in Delay Designer happens to be one of our favorite options out there:
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Amazon announces Echo, a dedicated, Siri-like speaker system for quick information

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkOCeAtKHIc

Amazon today announced a new hardware product called Echo. It’s essentially a speaker unit dedicated to being a voice-control system. It kind of sounds like Siri but in a speaker for a single room instead of in your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.

You can set alarms, control music, ask about the weather, search the web, ask questions, and access local news. It streams content via Bluetooth and WiFi, and connects to the Fire Phone (if you have one, lol), iOS via the browser, Android, and desktop computers via the web. Instead of “Hey Siri,” you say “Alexa” to start speaking the device. You’ll need a Fire OS/Android device to take full advantage, but music should work fine via iOS.

The whole concept is very futuristic, and it’s unclear how beneficial this will be to people with voice-controlled phones. But, hey, this comes from the developers of a faux-3D phone and delivery drones, so this is not completely out of left field. The Echo is $99 for Amazon Prime users, $199 for everyone else, and (for some reason) you need an invitation to receive the honor to buy one of these untested things.


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