Alexa, the electronic personal assistant present on many devices, will soon be more proactive in getting you important information as Amazon will be rolling out notification support to supported devices in the near future.
While Alexa has access to over 12,000 “skills” — the equivalent of apps on the platform — that can do everything from giving you the latest news headlines from your favorite publications, to sending someone a text, or even ordering food, there is no way for Alexa to alert you to new information waiting for you on its own. Thankfully, Amazon’s upcoming update for Alexa will change that.
With this update, Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show users will get notifications when they have new information waiting from one of their skills. When enabled, a flashing green LED will indicate that you have a new notification. Ask “Alexa, what are my notifications?” or “Alexa, what did I miss?” and the artificial intelligence assistant will fill you in. For example, say you have been waiting for an update on the status of your most recent Amazon purchase and you notice that you have a notification. After asking about it, Alexa may then inform you that your order has shipped and will give an estimated delivery date.
When the feature becomes available, users will need to opt-in to the service and then individually enable each skill you want notifications on. A number of skills will support notifications at launch, including Accuweather, The Washington Post, Just Eat, Life360, and Amazon shopping updates, with more coming in the future. Further, device manufacturers who develop Amazon Voice Service (AVS) devices will be able to add the feature, expanding device support for notifications beyond the Echo devices in the future.
Amazon will be rolling out the notifications feature in the coming months and you can sign up here to get notified when the feature becomes available.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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