Amazon has announced the launch of its largest-ever Echo smart display, the Echo Show 21. With a 21-inch screen it nearly doubles the viewing space of previous models, at 1080p resolution and better audio quality, Amazon says, adding that camera improvements and a built-in hub to manage your smart home hub with Alexa are included among the new features. The device will retail for $399.99. A next-generation of the Echo Show 15, first released in 2022, will also come to market for $299.99 with a 15-inch screen as well as audio, camera and smart home upgrades. Continue reading Amazon Debuts Its Largest Smart Display, the Echo Show 21

Matter 1.4 is here, and with it the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has made some important fixes in an effort to get back on track with its aim of a universal interoperable smart home standard. This latest iteration has replaced Multi-Admin with Enhanced Multi-Admin, which largely automates the addition of new Matter devices in multiple ecosystems. It introduces Matter certifiable home routers and access points, allowing border gear manufactured by different companies to work together more seamlessly and accommodates dimmable lighting. The 1.4 update incorporates heat pumps, solar panels and home batteries, but ignores home security cameras. Continue reading Matter 1.4 Expands Energy Controls, Improves Admin Feature

DJI, a leading maker of consumer drones, is releasing Goggles N3 — first-person view (FPV) eyewear that offers improvements over its predecessor, Goggles 3, for less than half the original list price. Currently on preorder for $299 from DJI and Amazon, Goggles N3 has the same 1080p display as the earlier model with a wider field of view — 54 versus 44 degrees. The new product is also lighter than Goggles 3, with a bigger viewing cabin that can accommodate even very large eyeglasses, eliminating the need for diopter adjustments or custom lenses for prescription wearers. Continue reading DJI Intros New First-Person View Drone Goggles N3 for $299

Amazon Prime Video has begun offering X-Ray Recaps, summaries of favorite TV shows that catch you up without risk of spoilers. The generative AI-powered feature can create snapshots of any requested view — episodes, pieces of episodes or full seasons of TV shows. “Whether you’re a few minutes into a new episode, halfway through a season” or took a break to get popcorn and need a quick refresher, X-Ray Recaps will catch you up “personalized down to the exact minute of where you are watching,” according to Amazon, which assures “guardrails are applied” to ensure the generation of spoiler-free summaries. Continue reading Amazon Prime Video Offers AI-Powered Recaps of TV Shows

Amazon reported major revenue and profit increases during its third quarter, beating Wall Street’s forecasts, based largely on the company’s e-commerce sales and increasing demand for its cloud services. Capital expenditure, which reached a record amount following Amazon’s recent investments in artificial intelligence, will maintain its momentum as the company plans $75 billion capex on developing generative AI services over 2024-2025. “The faster we grow demand, the faster we have to invest capital in data centers, network gear and hardware,” explained CEO Andy Jassy. “We invest in all that upfront in advance of when we can monetize it.” Continue reading Amazon Pushes AI, Records Growth in Q3 Revenue and Profit

Revenue reached an all-time high for Apple’s most recent quarter as iPhone sales experienced an uptick due in part to consumer excitement for the arrival of Apple Intelligence, the company’s heavily advertised set of AI tools. Total sales reached $94.9 billion for the quarter, up 6 percent year-over-year and exceeding the $94.5 billion that financial analysts had predicted. The company’s iPhone business reported sales of $46.2 billion, following disappointing consecutive quarters in the first half of the year. The AI boom resulted in strong quarters for other Big Tech leaders including Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft. Continue reading Jump in iPhone Business Results in Record Quarter for Apple

Alphabet’s revenue increased by 15 percent during the latest quarter, topping $88.3 billion. Powered by advertising and cloud services, profits surged 34 percent to $26.3 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations of $22.9 billion. The company experienced continued growth in the online marketplace with popular consumer services such as Google Search and YouTube while also expanding in B2B with cloud offerings. All this as the government explores dismantling its business while competitors such as TikTok and Amazon come after its market share. Advertising growth slowed in Q3, yet still notched a healthy year-over-year increase of 10.4 percent. Continue reading Alphabet Profits Climb 34 Percent, Powered by Cloud and Ads

Microsoft is previewing GitHub Copilot for Azure in an ambitious expansion of its AI app development toolkit that some say could fundamentally change how developers build software for the AI era. The new premise is that switching from one software to another, as developers often do, should be seamless, not disruptive — sort of a real-time language translation and integration system for code. To fend off the move by Microsoft, AWS announced it is making its Q Developer AI code assistant available as an inline chat add-on accessible from IDEs like JetBrains and Microsoft’s own Visual Studio. Continue reading Microsoft, Amazon Jockey for Lead Among AI Code Assistants

Consumers continue to let their affinity for FAST and AVOD television services be known. In the latest example, Samsung TV Plus has already attracted 88 million monthly active users worldwide. With growth springing largely from viewers in the 18-49 demographic, the service has become the most-used U.S. app on Samsung TVs. The metrics put it on par with other top competitors in the free ad-supported TV space: Roku, Tubi and Pluto TV. As it becomes a global content force, Samsung TV Plus continues to expand its global presence with recent launches in Singapore and the Philippines, with Thailand soon to come. Continue reading FAST: Samsung TV Plus Touts 88 Million Monthly Active Users

In its first week of public beta, Anthropic’s “Computer Use” feature is gaining immediate traction, helping people do research and complete coding tasks. Claude works autonomously in Computer Use mode, suggesting broad implications for future productivity and workforce goals. Coming on the heels of OpenAI’s Swarm framework, these early forays into independent AI assistants seem to indicate that implementing such systems will be an area of focus for businesses in 2025. Claude can “see” what’s onscreen and use its “judgment” to adapt to different tasks, segueing across workflows and software. Continue reading Anthropic’s AI Agents for Claude Sonnet Increase Productivity

Actors Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield are guests this week on digital-first series “Celebrity Substitute,” debuting with host Julian Shapiro-Barnum. The 25-year-old comedian is best known for his work on the viral online series “Recess Therapy,” in which he interviews young children playing in New York City for Instagram and YouTube videos. The new series, designed for mobile platforms, features celebs serving as substitute teachers in 5- to 8-minute episodes released on YouTube, with clips also shared via TikTok and Instagram. Amazon serves as a sponsored partner of the series as part of the tech giant’s push into branded entertainment. Continue reading Branded Content Series Challenges Celebs to Teach Classes

Amazon has launched a new Fire TV Stick HD, supplanting the Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite as its entry level television device. Priced at $34.99 the black stick plugs into the HDMI port at the back or side of most TVs. A micro USB cable and power plug are included. The Fire TV Stick HD streams at up to 1080p HD and also supports HDR, HDR 10, HDR10+ and HLG. While the new device does not feature support for Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos, its HDMI port will support Dolby-encoded audio. The platform streamlines access to all major streaming services, which of course require independent subscriptions. Continue reading Amazon’s Entry Level Fire Stick HD Adds Alexa Voice Control

Just in time for the holiday season, Google Shopping is launching an AI-powered personalized feed that recommends items customers might like. The redesign is coming to desktop and mobile devices in the U.S. in the coming weeks. Suggested items are based on search and YouTube histories as well as AI inference. Shoppers will get “an AI-generated brief with top things to consider” in finding the right item, plus a curated feed of products. For now, the brief will be labeled “experimental,” and Google is encouraging feedback for the times AI doesn’t get it 100 percent right. Continue reading Google Shopping Redesigned with Gemini Feed, Infinite Scroll

Freely, the free UK streaming service broadcasters collectively launched in April, has gained a foothold on smart TVs that run Amazon’s Fire TV OS. Backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, Freely combines free live linear channels with on-demand content in an ad-supported streaming environment. Since those broadcasters must, by government charter, offer “programming beneficial to the public interest,” there has been concern around keeping them relevant and accessible in the streaming era. The deal between Freely and a tech giant with a popular OS is seen as a big win. Continue reading Amazon Fire TVs to Carry Freely Streaming in the UK This Fall

Reuters and CNN are among the global news services that will be charging those who want access to their digital content beyond a free quota. Reuters plans to add $1 per week pricing in the U.S., Canada and parts of Europe in the weeks ahead, while CNN is beginning to ask visitors for $4 a month or $30 per year. Vox Media’s popular tech publication The Verge is also said to be considering subscription fees. The outlets are pursuing digital monetization strategies as ad-supported models are increasingly challenging for those who aren’t Google, Meta or Amazon. Continue reading CNN, Reuters Roll Out Consumer Subscriptions and Paywalls