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How to enable Alexa person and package announcements on an Echo speaker

You may already be used to telling your Alexa smart speaker what to do: play your Spotify playlist, set a timer for the hard-boiled eggs, turn on your smart lights. But you might not know that the voice assistant has a number of proactive features — things it can do without being prompted. One such feature is having an Amazon Echo speaker announce when motion is detected on a compatible security camera. Motion announcements work on a large number of Alexa-compatible cameras and, as of last week, that includes Google Nest’s newest cameras . But now, thanks to a recent update , Echo speakers can also announce when a smart camera sees a person or, on some devices, a package. Plus, it can also automatically show a live feed from that security camera on any Echo Show device, so you can take a look without having to do or say anything. Person and package detection is currently limited to certain models from Ring, with support for cameras from Google Nes

Amazon Alexa is coming to more than 200,000 Jaguar Land Rover units

Amazon is taking its fight to Google in the auto space. What you need to know Amazon announced a software update that will bring Alexa to thousands of Jaguar Land Rover models. The digital assistant will be rolled out in over 200,000 Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles running Pivi Pro 3.0 or later. Alexa will be available to car owners at no additional cost, though a paid subscription is required. Last year, Amazon revealed its intention to invade your garage by giving automakers access to artificial intelligence system underlying its Alexa digital assistant, starting with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Called Alexa Custom Assistant, that solution allows car manufacturers to build custom voice experiences for customers. Alexa is now coming to more dashboards courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover. The British automotive giant announced this week that Amazon's digital assistant will be available in more than 200,000 Jaguar Land Rover models. The system will be available on both older

Amazon Echo Show 15 review: A big Alexa display for your wall

The $249.99 Echo Show 15 is Amazon’s newest, and largest, Echo Show to date. And unlike its previous iterations, this 15.6-inch giant of an Alexa smart display was designed to hang on the wall rather than sit on a counter or nightstand. As a digital hub for the whole family, the Echo Show 15 impresses with a larger screen to help you effortlessly find information of all sorts — from news to weather to calendar alerts. With the largest screen yet, it has space to sprawl out and acts as a great display for taking in content. After spending quality time with this new gadget hanging in our kitchen area, we believe this is one Show you won’t want to miss. Here’s why The who, what and how Who this is for: The Echo Show 15 is for anyone looking for a bigger, Alexa-enabled screen to better navigate calendars, notes or reminders, control a smart home or stream content. What you need to know: The Show 15 offers the largest and sharpest display of any Alexa smart

Want to speak to Alexa en Español? Française? You can!

Believe it or not, not everyone prefers to speak English in their homes ( gasp! ). Some speak another language as their primary means of communication, while others may want to practice their skills when picking up a new language. The good news is that Amazon has made it easy to change the default language that Alexa will listen for and reply in. This can be done in the Amazon Alexa app or directly on touchscreen Echo devices. We'll walk you through just how to change the language that Alexa speaks on your Amazon Echo devices. How to do change the language on your Echo in Alexa App Open the Alexa app on your phone. Tap on the More icon (three lines) in the bottom right corner. Tap on Settings . Tap on Device Settings , which will pull up your list of All Devices . Alternatively, you can skip steps 2-3 and just tap on Devices at the bottom of the screen. Tap the device with the language you wish to change. Tap on the Settings (gear-shaped icon) at the top right of th

Wyze Band review: A worthy $30 fitness tracker with Alexa onboard

Why pay more if you don't need to? Fitness trackers are usually priced well below smartwatches because they tend to offer fewer features, and that's certainly the case here with the new Wyze Band. It doesn't have onboard GPS, nor music storage, nor the ability to respond to app notifications. You can't automatically trigger a workout or engage in step competitions with your buddies. Despite these shortcomings, the Wyze Band does do most of what you'd want or expect a fitness tracker to do, at less than half of the price of market-leading bands like the Fitbit Inspire 2 , and less than a third the price of the new Fitbit Charge 4 . Are there compromises here? Of course. But the whole package was compelling enough for this Fitbit fan to want to test drive the first wearable from Wyze to see if it might be worth my while. In the process, I learned a lot about what is possible at such an affordable price point, and what sacrifices have to be made to achieve that pri

Is the Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote (3rd Gen) worth investing in?

Best Answer: Yes. If you own a Fire TV device that's 2nd Gen or newer, you may want to consider investing in the new Alexa Voice Remote (3rd Gen). What's new about the Amazon Voice Remote (3rd Gen)? The latest version of Amazon's Alexa Voice Remote retails for $30 and looks nearly identical to the brand's 1st- and 2nd-generation voice remotes — with a few exceptions. Like the older versions, the new Alexa Voice Remote (3rd Gen) features a circular navigation pad for easy browsing on the Fire TV interface. At the same time, the Home, Back, Menu, and Playback controls are situated directly below. Also, like its predecessors, the 3rd Gen version features dedicated power, volume, and mute buttons that are used to control compatible TVs, soundbars, and receivers, which eliminates the need for extra remotes. The 3rd Gen version takes things to the next level with the addition of specific buttons for Amazon's own Prime Video service, as well as Netflix, Disney+, and

Review: The Echo Buds offer great sound and Alexa access at a great price

At a jam-packed 2019 fall product launch, Amazon announced over a dozen new Echo and Alexa products to a gathering of tech reporters and enthusiasts, and I, for one, was keen to get my hands on the Echo Buds for review. You could say that leading up to that announcement, perhaps no device was as widely anticipated as the Echo Buds. But what are the Echo Buds, you might ask? The simple answer is that they're Amazon's first real attempt at truly wireless smart earbuds. The more complicated answer is that they're part of the company's larger efforts to make their smart assistant even more ubiquitous in the wider world. From the smart assistant's earliest days, Amazon recognized the need to remove Alexa from her black cylindrical prison and push her out the front door. After the initial Echo speaker launched in late 2014, the next batch of products to come out included the now-defunct Amazon Tap, which was a portable Bluetooth speaker with Alexa built-in. With the Fi