Tag: Smart Home

eero acquired by Amazon news

Amazon acquires Eero, doubles down on smart home (and data collection?)

Eero indicates its data collection policy will remain the same, but with a new owner perhaps anything is possible. In what was a surprise move eero, a mesh network company, was acquired by Amazon yesterday. Much like the Ring video doorbell eero will give Team Bezos further reach into the...
Google Home and Amazon Echo Dot

Trendspotting: Smart speaker sales top 66 million units, Amazon Echo leads with 70% market share

This past holiday season the smart speaker was the hot seller. No surprise then that the market continues to grow at a rapid pace. According to a new report, there are now over 66 million smart speaker devices in the U.S. That's up about 25% from the year prior (53...
Alexa app compared to Sonos for whole home audio

Replacing Sonos with Amazon Echo & Alexa – is it a good idea?

As a long-time fan of Sonos products such as the Sonos One and Play:5 speakers I've been watching Amazon Echo products with interest. I wonder, could they replace a Sonos setup for whole home audio? The advantage of going with Echo, of course, is that you get all the additional...
How to (not) disable the Amazon Echo Alexa Try card

Amazon Echo: The one thing that drives me (and others) absolutely bonkers

Try "Alexa, ..." For all the amazing capability voice assistants bring to our homes, there's often a gotcha here or there, after all this is new technology with the Echo Dot kicking off the smart speaker revolution merely three years ago in 2015. Speaking of Echo, the one thing that drives...
Google Home and Amazon Echo Dot

Trendspotting: Amazon sold “tens of millions” of Echo devices, told 100 million jokes in 2018

Amazon is re-inventing the smart home, and making a fortune in the process. Can Google, Apple, Samsung and others catch up?
Alexa app compared to Sonos for whole home audio

Trendspotting: Echo Dot smart speaker leads way for Amazon on Cyber Monday

We love the Echo Dot. In fact we really, really love the tiny smart speaker. If there was any doubt about our obsession with all things Alexa, that was cast aside in a major way yesterday. Amazon says this year's Cyber Monday was the company's biggest shopping day ever. Ever....
Sonos Amp is an updated Connect:Amp with more power and connections

New Sonos Amp delivers more power, supports AirPlay 2 and TV connectivity

Sonos Amp is an updated Connect:Amp with more power and connections, plus a new and modern minimalist look for $599.
YouTube TV live baseball streaming

With YouTube TV, Google targets not only phones, but our living rooms too

YouTube TV is here in a big way. For $40/month you essentially get a package of channels that would've cost about twice as much in the old days of satellite and cable. Cord cutters looking for a comprehensible lineup of content could do well to place the service on...
All-new Echo Show (2nd Gen) - Premium sound and a vibrant 10" HD screen

Amazon unveils new Echo Show with larger 10″ screen, better sound

Amazon today unveiled a 2nd generation Echo show featuring a larger screen. You can now get the Alexa-powered speaker with a 10" screen and improved Dolby audio. There's a bunch of other small improvements to the two-year-old original Echo Show including: Real-time Dolby processing 8 microphone array 3rd party browsers,...

Apple iPhone Battery Tip: Disable Lock Screen Controls on Sonos app to save battery life

Notice your iPhone battery suddenly draining faster than usual? If you have the Sonos audio app installed, here's a quick tip that could save you some juice -- at least it did for me on an -- older, but still well performing -- iPhone 7 Plus. By default the Sonos app...