Fire TV Soundbar, AI Smarts, and Generative Background Generation for Amazon and Future Amazon Fire TV Stick 8K Streaming Relaunches
The Fire TV 4K Stick refresh has been in the works for a few weeks, but there have been signs of reduced stock at many retailers.
Rausch also announced a new $119.99 Fire TV Soundbar that will be compatible with the company’s existing streamers and Fire TV-branded televisions. He did not make any big claims about sound quality, and it sounds like this is being positioned as a simple solution for anyone who wants to step up from their TV’s built-in speakers. The Fire TV Soundbar is available beginning today.
Amazon is now using its AI smarts to help you determine what to watch. Using hundreds of millions of data points and facts from IMDB, Fire TV can now be used to ask complex questions, like “show me the new show with the guy from Breaking Bad” and “look out for Better Call Saul” The search is personalized so that you can say “Hey, resume that sci-fi show I was watching,” or “Show me new action movies that are free to stream.”
The new Fire TV Stick 4K Max will also be getting the “ambient experience” first seen on the company’s Fire TV televisions, which displays artwork and widgets and basically converts the TV screen into a smart display whenever you’re not actively using it. Later this year, customers will be able to create generative backgrounds with the help of AI:
Customers have the ability to create artwork with just their voice. This free feature, which will begin rolling out to customers in the U.S. by the end of this year, allows customers to easily generate a personalized background by giving Alexa an imagination-driven prompt, such as, “Alexa, create an image of cherry blossoms in the snow,” and watch as that prompt is translated into a unique display on the Fire TV screen.
Amazon Hardware Event 2023: Everything Announced: A Kid-Optimized Audio Architecture for Echo Pop Kids and Eero, Fire TV
There’s a new audio architecture to optimize what you can hear, minimize what everyone around you can, and minimize audio distortion in windy conditions. There are new frames with Carrera eyewear, as well as two styles with Carrera eyewear. The smart frames will cost $270 and customers can sign up to be notified when they are on sale. The adrienne is named so.
The Echo Pop is already the colorful little sibling of the Echo devices, and now the Echo Pop Kids is for the actual little people in your household. Instead of the rounded animal design, the hemispherical speaker has been reimagined by Amazon’s partnership with Disney. The design can be themed after either Disney Princesses or the superhero character, the Avenger. The kid-optimized voice assistant inside will be able to hold engaging science-based conversations with your children with a new feature called Explore with Alexa. The World Wildlife Fund and AZ Animals were used for the science team to draw content. It’s $10 cheaper than the Echo Dot Kids, retailing for $50, and currently available for preorder to ship in October, but comes with only six months of Amazon Kids+ content rather than the full year the Dot offers. The owl and dragon are even more cuter than the dot. Nena Farrell.
A Survey of Amazon Home Security Devices: Where Do They Go? Where Are We Going? What Are We? Where Do We Stand, Where We Are, and How Do We Get There?
We may still be a year away from the final Wi-Fi 7 certification and even further from having a house full of Wi-Fi 7 capable devices, but routers that support the new wireless networking spec are starting to roll out now. Amazon’s new Eero Max 7 is the latest Wi-Fi 7 mesh device to hit the market (expect it in time for the holidays). This tri-band mesh router can potentially download a 4K movie in 10 seconds, is backward compatible with existing Eeros and older Wi-Fi versions, and packs in four Ethernet ports (two 10 Gbps and two 2.5 Gbps). But future-proofing comes at a premium, and a single Eero Max 7 costs a whopping $600. There is more information on the Eero Max 7 here. —Simon Hill
There are new accessibility features for Amazon’s voice activated assistant, called “Alexa”. The Eye Gaze feature allows folks with mobility issues and speech disabilities to use Alexa with their eyes. By gazing at the screen, they can trigger preset actions for playing music, calling loved ones, or controlling smart home devices. Looks like it’s confined to the new Fire Max 11 for now, and will land later this year. Call Translation brings real-time captioning to Alexa audio and video calls, which could be handy for people who are hard of hearing. Finally, a new Alexa Emergency Assist service provides a 24/7 urgent response triggered by saying “Alexa, call for help.” The cost of the service is $6 per month or $59 a year, though agents can share things with first responders. —Simon Hill
Amazon announced the Blink Outdoor 4 security camera last month, and it just unveiled a few additions. The Blink Sync Module Pro ($50) is designed to extend your Wi-Fi service, so you can get a strong signal from a distant camera, even if your backyard is huge. The Blink Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera ($160) is a wireless camera that can light up your backyard, and the Battery Extension Pack ($30) provides extra power. Amazon also introduced the Ring Stick Up cam Pro, which is a device with 3D Motion Detection to give you better control of your camera alert. Before you buy a home security camera, you should read about why we don’t recommend Ring. —Simon Hill
Source: Amazon Hardware Event 2023: Alexa, Echo Hub, Echo Frames, Eero, Fire TV
Fire HD 10 Kids: Review of Amazon’s New Computing Platforms and Apps for Smart Home Control and Real-Time Music Detection
The regular model for kids under 7 and the Pro model for older kids are the new Fire HD 10 Kids tablets. Amazon claims both are 25 percent faster than the previous kids’ tablets, as well as lighter, which makes them easier for kids to hold. The RAM has been bumped from 2 gigabytes to 3 gigabytes, but the screen remains at 1080p resolution. Preorders of the models are available now. Amazon says the new tablets will ship next month.
To go along with the updated Kids Fire tablets, Amazon is launching a pair of new apps. The first is Music Maker, a kid-friendly music editing app. Think GarageBand, but simpler. The Play Together Games program enables Fire Kids tablets to connect to and play games across other devices. Scott Gilbertson is a person.
With the new Map View feature of smart home control, you can create a map of your home and where each smart device is located. It will be possible to choose which rooms on the map you want, and you will be able to see where your devices are in your home at a glance. It will be available on a few select phones later this year.
Although one at a lower price point than $100 would be a good option, this also rounds out the options that are fully compatible with the new smart home standard Matter.
The third-gen Echo Show 8 ($149.99) also has Amazon’s latest AZ2 processor, which makes it 40 percent faster, Amazon’s Dave Limp said at the fall hardware event this week. And it certainly felt snappier in my minute or so of playing with it in the demo room at Amazon’s new HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia.
The smart display also sports a new look, with edge-to-edge glass and a more bulbous rear speaker that promises better audio. It’s getting spatial audio processing technology to boost its music capabilities, which will be similar to the Echo Studio’s sound capabilities, Heather Zorn, VP of Alexa, told me.
The new room adaption tech senses the acoustics of the room and fine-tunes the audio to play in the right order, according to Amazon. However, we weren’t able to put this to any test in the demo room.
The camera (still 13 megapixels) has been relocated to the middle (why did it take so long?), which should make it more usable for Zoom calls, something the current version does relatively well for a smart display. The adaptive content feature is a neat thing that lets the camera show content based on how close you are. This should give it a better view and make it easier to use as a touch screen when you get up close.
New quick-access buttons on the homescreen will help with this, too. They bring up the weather and other information with a single tap. The iPad version of the widgets looked a bit similar to iPhone apps on an iPad screen, though it was still fully designed for the display.