Tag Archives: amazon

If you have both an Amazon Echo and a Roku in the house, get ready to start talking to the TV. The new Roku skill, available now, lets Alexa speakers such as the Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show and others accept your voice commands to control Roku streamers and TVs. You can now use Alexa …

Three decades ago, a young computer scientist named Tim Berners-Lee proposed an internet-based hyperlink system to allow the sharing of information among different computers, forever changing how people communicate and use the net. The idea behind what would become known as the World Wide Web was both simple and lofty, he told an audience Tuesday at an event marking the …

True story: Recently some friends purchased a GPS locator for their daughter and were having trouble getting it to work. They brought it to me for help — I’m the Geek Squad for my friends and family — but I couldn’t solve the problem either. My friends were puzzled: “It had a five-star rating on Amazon!”  I pulled out my …

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: It’s pretty crazy to spend $750 to $1,000 for a phone when you can pay a fraction of the price for one that’s pretty damn good. Witness the Motorola Moto X4, which now qualifies as an “older” model (because it arrived way back in December 2017, gasp) but still rocks — …

Photo-sharing site Flickr has severed a major tie to its previous owner by ditching the old Yahoo login system, a move that will let millions of members switch their accounts to new email addresses. It’s been difficult for Flickr’s new owner, SmugMug, to step away from Yahoo. In an effort to improve performance and reliability, SmugMug also has been moving …

In this week’s Apple Core rundown, we’ll take a look at how Apple fits into the foldable phone trend, the hurdles it has to clear to make an iPhone bend, and how soon the company could release a competitor to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold. We’ll also learn about the latest health feature rumored to be coming to the Apple Watch, the …

For ages wireless headphones had wires; they were “wireless” only because the headphone wires didn’t connect to the ‘phone. So I’m happy to see truly wireless earbuds finally arrive, and based on the number of Apple AirPod users I see on the NYC subway, the no-wires trend is booming! Sennheiser may be a little late to the technology, but as soon as …

Today, you can operate almost everything in your house from your phone. But, like most technology, nothing is perfect. While smart lightbulbs themselves aren’t dangerous, the apps and platforms that control them might be. Last month, Dark Cubed, an American cybersecurity company, released its State of IoT Security report and detailed potential security threats in smart home devices. Dark Cubed said …

Laurene Powell Jobs is worried. As one of the world’s richest women, worth an estimated $19 billion, she’s been investing in journalism through her efforts at the Emerson Collective. The organization, which has been described as equal parts think tank, foundation and venture capital fund, acquired a majority stake in The Atlantic, Pop-Up Magazine and Axios. Powell Jobs said she’s willing …

Amazon made a big splash by scooping up Whole Foods for $13.2 billion in 2017, but it apparently wants to create yet another grocery chain. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the online retailer is planning to open dozens of new grocery stores across the US that will be branded differently from the higher-end Whole Foods stores and offer …