Alexa, Apple, Daily Updates, Hearables, Hearing Aids, VoiceFirst, Weekly Rundowns

Weekly Rundown 9/23 – 9/27 (Future Ear Daily Update 9-27-19)

Dave Kemp

9-27-19 - Weekly Roundup 9.23-9.27

For last Friday’s update, I published an audio-only update mentioning that I have quite a bit of work travel coming up on the calendar and the introduction of the weekly rundown. So, for the time being, I’m going to use Friday’s as a way to share some of the best stuff I came across for the week. I’ll aggregate it all together onto these posts, so that’s easy for you to bounce around between links to the various content that interests you.

So, without further ado, here’s the weekly rundown for the week of 9/23:

  • Alexa Show & Tell –Echo Show camera can identify items thanks to Alexa’s Show and Tell.
  • Apple Watches continue to be attributed to saving lives.
  • 50% of Americans have entirely stopped downloading new apps.
  • NPR: Untreated Hearing Loss Linked To Loneliness And Isolation For Seniors — “Now considered as hazardous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, loneliness vastly raises the risks of depression, dementia and early death.”

Amazon Hardware Event News

  • The Verge: Privacy takes center stage – “The strongest new protection is a rolling deletion system in Amazon’s privacy hub, which will delete any and all voice recordings older than a certain cutoff — either three months or 18 months. The feature will not be activated automatically, and will still likely be subject to legal limitations. Nonetheless, it’s an important option for privacy conscious consumers, which had not been previously available.

    “We’re investing in privacy across the board,” said Limp. “Privacy cannot be an afterthought when it comes to the devices and services we offer our customers. It has to be foundational and built in from the beginning for every piece of hardware, software, and service that we create.”

  • Engadget: Amazon launches HomePod competitor, Echo Studio, retailing for $100 less than Apple’s premium speaker. — One has to wonder – what exactly is Apple’s product-market fit right now with the HomePod. The two most common arguments in HomePods favor seem to be Apple’s brand of trust/privacy + Apple’s ecosystem.
  • You can now link Alexa with your Eero mesh WiFi network (which was acquired by Amazon earlier this year) and control your wifi via your voice.
  • Speaking of acquisitions, Alexa is going to be making its way to Ring’s doorbells and security devices. For example, you’ll be able to speak to delivery drivers via Ring through Alexa devices. More evidence of how integral Alexa is to Amazon’s future plans.
  • The Wrap: Amazon’s Alexa Will Teach You How to Cook as Part of New Food Network Streaming Service. — One of the most interesting announcements at the event. Will write a full update on this next week.
  • Quartz: Amazon is way ahead of Apple and Google in AI devices. — Good piece on Amazon’s three wearables announced at the event (glasses, ring, ear buds)
  • FuturEar: Three Reasons to be Excited about Amazon’s Echo Buds — my piece on the significance of Echo Buds.
  • Voicebot: 16 New Products Amazon Introduced at Todays Launch Event – Earbuds, Glasses, a Ring, and More — great rundown here

That’s all for this week’s rundown. What did I miss? Share on twitter some of your favorite stories that surfaced this week!

-Thanks for Reading-

Dave

To listen to the broadcast on your Alexa device, enable the skill here

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Published by Dave Kemp

Part of the Oaktree Products Team. Big fan of tech and empowering people through it. #Audpeeps #hearables #VoiceFirst

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