"Amazon" articles

By Thomas Rockmann, VP Connected Home at Deutsche Telekom AI (or Artificial Intelligence) has arguably become the buzzword to end all buzzwords. So much so in fact that it is sometimes difficult to pick the facts from the hype, but in spite of the hyperbole, there is much to be excited about. Recent research shows that 25% of households will use digital assistants as the primary interface to connected home services by 2019, and this is certain to be just the beginning....

Amazon's announcement of a new Amazon Key in-home delivery service caused some media buzz this week, following on the heels of a similar announcement of an in-home delivery partnership between Walmart and August Home. Announcements of innovative services like these always create opportunities for media outlets to grab some attention and clicks, though the coverage can sometimes lack nuance. Case in point: a polling firm called Morning Consult contacted me this week to discuss...

Crunchyroll is partnering with Twitch.tv to offer a 6-day Crunchyroll marathon on the gaming-focused live streaming platform. The marathon started today on July 27, and it will run back-to-back episodes of entire series 24 hours a day for nearly 20 different anime hits. The episodes are free to watch on Twitch.tv, containing ads unless viewers are Twitch Prime subscribers (either purchased separately or as an added benefit of being an Amazon Prime subscriber). Viewers...

Every year, Amazon hosts Prime Day, a one-day event of deals exclusive to Amazon Prime members. On Monday, July 10, Amazon decided to open the floodgates early at 9 pm E.T., extending the typically 24-hour event (held on July 11) to 30 hours. The star of the event this year? The Amazon Echo. Retailed at $180, Amazon Prime promoted the device at $89.99, a whopping 50% off. Other Echo devices were also priced lower—the Dot at $34.99, a 15% cut from $49.99, the Echo Tap at $79.99, a...

Today is Amazon’s Prime Day (7/11). In the past week, noteworthy discounts on Amazon’s Alexa-powered devices has been top tech news. As of Q2/2017, Amazon’s smart speakers with the Alexa personal assistant have led smart speaker market with highest consumer adoptions (according to data from Parks Associates). During its WWDC17 keynote, Apple announced its participation in the playground with Apple HomePod, which will be ready to ship in December 2017, suggesting a coming change in...

Consumers have been relatively quick to embrace voice-based applications, beginning and led by Apple’s Siri. Parks Associates research notes that at the end of 2016, 45% of U.S. smartphone owners reported using a voice-enabled personal assistant through an app or dedicated device. As devices continue to add listening capabilities, voice control will extend throughout the home and in other connected devices as an intrinsic, easy, and natural way to facilitate smart home...

Comcast’s senior executive  Sridhar Solur  will provide the opening keynote: “Humanizing Connected Home Experiences: Using Machine Learning and Voice Control”   at the 21st-annual  CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference . Solur is Senior Vice President of Product & Development for Xfinity Home, Internet of Things, and Data Services, and he will present the keynote address at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23. The event will be held...

The voice-first consumer market is rapidly changing. Stakeholders continue to announce new moves and product roadmaps. Integrations and partnerships are regularly being made. New entrants, seeking opportunity in the intensifying appeal of voice-enabled technologies, are placing their bets with their own offerings. Both devices and applications are now on market—primarily in the personal assistant space—that embrace voice-first; that is, they feature an...