Apple Music Coming To Amazon’s Echo Devices

Apple and Amazon have announced that Apple Music subscribers will be able to enjoy Apple Music’s 50 million songs on Echo devices this holiday season.

Customers will be able to ask Alexa to play their favorite songs, artists, and albums or any of the playlists made by Apple Music’s editors from around the world, covering many activities and moods. Customers will also be able to ask Alexa to stream radio stations centered on popular genres like hip-hop, decades like the 80s, and even music from around the world, like K-Pop. 

Users will be able to ask Alexa to play Beats 1 to hear Apple Music’s global livestream including in-depth artist interviews all ad-free. Simply enable the Apple Music skill in the Alexa app and link your account to start listening. This development follows the announcement that Amazon has signed a deal with Apple to expand the selection of the tech giant’s products on Amazon worldwide. 

Skyrim: Very Special Edition For Amazon Echo Is Real

During Bethesda's E3 press conference, Todd Howard  joked about Skyrim being available on every platform with a sketch starring Keegan-Michael Key. In the sketch, Key plays Skyrim on a number of bizarre platforms, most notably was an Amazon Echo. We all thought it was a joke, but turns out it’s real. You can actually play Skyrim on your Alexa. To enable it for your device, go here.

Alexa Enabled Devices Coming To Australia And New Zealand In Early 2018

Amazon has announced that Alexa and Alexa-enabled devices will land in Australia and New Zealand in early 2018. The Echo will be part of the launch, although Amazon is keeping a lid on the  date and the exact Echo devices it plans to release. Amazon is also buddying up with Kiwi and Aussie services on local Alexa skills. The new crop will mostly be made up of news and media outlets , among them Sky News Australia, Fox Sports, Qantas, Dimmi, Coastalwatch, Air New Zealand, TVNZ, Newstalk ZB, and New Zealand Herald.

Amazon Launches A Redesigned Echo

During Amazon's Alexa-themed event the company introduced the new Echo. In addition to an all-cloth covering sports "all new sound architecture" including a dedicated woofer and tweeter in addition to Dolby-certified audio. More than that, it's rocking a second-gen far field tech for better voice recognition. Tt'll make free calls to Canada and Mexico using Echo Connect. That'll launch in the US later this year. As for price, the new Echo will run you $100 stateside, £90 and €100 and is available now. Multipacks for multi-room audio are discounted by $50 per unit if you buy 3. 

Amazon Launches Echo Spot

During Amazon's Alexa-themed event the company introduced the Echo Spot, a circular-screened device that's basically an Echo Show that looks like an alarm clock. You can look at a nursery camera or watch a video briefing or hold video calls. It includes second-generation far field microphones, so it's better at understanding you from the other side of the room. It can also connect to speakers through Bluetooth or a 3.5mm audio cable, so you don't have to endure the 2W built-in speaker. The Spot is available to pre-order now, and will ship to the US in December for $130 (Coming to the UK and parts of Europe In early in 2018).

Amazon Announces The Echo Show

Amazon has announced the latest device in the  Echo line of devices, the Echo Show. According to Amazon's Echo Show product page, the device will cost $230 USD and features all of the hands-free voice-activated features of Alexa, as well as a 7-inch touchscreen that displays photos, YouTube videos, weather forecasts, music lyrics and more. Echo Show also features dual 2-inch Dolby-powered stereo speakers and a front-facing 5MP camera. The device will also allow you to chat with those who have the Echo or Alexa App. Echo Show is now available for pre-order and will release on June 28. You can head over to Amazon's product listing to learn more about the device and reserve one for yourself.

Apple Has No Interest In Making An Amazon Echo Competitor

According to TIME, Apple isn’t building an Amazon Echo rival. “After talking with Apple executives, I've come away with the impression that they're more interested in turning Siri into an omnipresent AI assistant across devices, rather than designing a single device specifically to serve as a Siri machine,” Tim Bajarin writes. “Apple is also very interested in positioning Siri as a control hub for smart home devices, as evidenced by a recent and impressive HomeKit demo I observed.” Thoughts ?

Apple Rumored To Be Working On An Amazon Echo Like Device

According Bloomberg, Apple is working on developing an Echo-like smart-home device based on Siri. The project has exited the research and development lab and is now in prototype testing, the article adds. Bloomberg says that, like Amazon’s Echo, the device is designed to control appliances, locks, lights and curtains via voice activation, the people said. However, “Apple hasn’t finalized plans for the device and could still scrap the project.”