Amazon tends to avoid livestreaming its big hardware events, but it's happy to share video after the fact — and this year's presentation is one you might want to see. The company has posted its complete fall 2021 hardware event stream online to illustrate everything it introduced in vivid detail, including a few decidedly left-field products. You can watch the whole affair below.
Believe it or not, an Alexa home robot is just the start of what Amazon revealed during its hour-long stream. The company also launched a kid-centric video call device, an extra-large Echo Show, a Ring security system with a router built-in, other smart home gadgets and a bevy of services. The biggest surprise may simply be the lack of ordinary Echo speakers. Amazon was clearly more interested in expanding its lineup than revamping its existing offerings.
Follow all of the news from Amazon’s fall hardware event right here!
Half of the announcements out of Amazon's big 2021 showcase were directly related to home security, including the biggest reveal of the day, a $1,000 robot that can autonomously patrol your home. It's essentially a tablet on wheels, roughly the size of a small dog, with cameras that allow it to detect anomalies in the house, record video, and send alerts to your phone. It also connects with Ring, Amazon's popular personal security system, allowing the robot to roll around on its own and proactively investigate odd events while the homeowners are away. Its name is Astro. Yes, it has eyes.
Astro was the cap to an hour-long event that started with kids' toys and health services, and ended in a stream of dystopian police-state devices, each presented with an Amazon-branded smile. There was the smart thermostat, the interactive camera for kids, and Amazon's own version of the Fitbit, followed by the Ring Always Home Cam, Ring Alarm Pro, Ring Virtual Security Guard, Blink Video Doorbell and floodlight cameras, and finally, Astro, the robot with an extendable arm that can record every inch of your house without any user input. Add a layer of ominous music that slowly creeps up in volume, and Amazon's show was an instant episode of Black Mirror.
Amazon
In Amazon's vision of the future, homeowners are constantly watching their security cameras, tracking delivery people and spying on their dogs, heavily relying on the Ring ecosystem the entire time. Astro and the Ring Always Home Cam, Amazon's autonomous security drone, are the company's most visually striking devices, tapping into science-fiction dreams of robot butlers and AI-powered pets. They move on their own and stream data directly to the homeowner at any time, satiating the persistent breed of home-security paranoia generated by neighborhoods of curbside cameras and Nextdoor threads.
While the robots are the face of Amazon's in-home security business, Ring is the backbone. Ring has been leading the home-security charge in the United States since 2018, selling 1.4 million doorbells in 2020 alone and cornering 18 percent of the market overall. Unfortunately, Amazon has proven to be a near-sighted steward of this massive, unregulated residential surveillance system.
Since 2018, Ring has signed agreements with more than 2,000 police departments across the US, providing authorities with access to recordings from residential cameras, often without warrants and according to the company's own parameters. In May and June 2020, for instance, the Los Angeles Police Department used the Ring ecosystem to request footage of Black Lives Matter protests from residential doorbell cameras, without noting a specific incident that was under investigation. That's a huge red flag, according to activist groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Amazon
"If police request hours of footage on either side of a specific incident, they may receive hours of people engaging in First Amendment protected activities with a vague hope that a camera may have captured illegal activity at some point," the EFF said in February. The report continued, "Technologies like Ring have the potential to provide the police with video footage covering nearly every inch of an entire neighborhood. This poses an incredible risk to First Amendment rights. People are less likely to exercise their right to political speech, protest, and assembly if they know that police can acquire and retain footage of them. This creates risks of retribution or reprisal, especially at protests against police violence. Ring cameras, ubiquitous in many neighborhoods, create the possibility that if enough people share footage with police, authorities are able to follow protestors’ movements, block by block."
As the number of police departments with Amazon contracts has skyrocketed, authorities themselves have been pushing Ring devices on the citizens they serve, using materials prepared by the company and earning incentives for getting folks to download Ring's Neighbors app. Amazon has effectively turned the US police force into its own mini marketing squad, blurring the lines between public safety and private-company loyalty.
On top of problematic police partnerships, the Ring ecosystem is filled with unchecked bias. A 2019 study by Motherboard found people of color were disproportionately labeled as "suspicious" in the Neighbors app, a phenomenon that feeds into racism and hyper-vigilance, creating less-safe environments overall.
Amazon
Ring has taken steps to address some of these issues, such as changing the wording in the Neighbors app from "suspicious" to "unexpected activity." Additionally, police will no longer be able to send bulk emails to Ring users who might have footage they want — instead, there's a portal on Neighbors where they can request footage publicly. Of course, these aren't solutions. Changing a word does nothing to temper the breeding ground of suspicion and racism inherent in the Neighbors app, and making police requests public doesn't stop them from happening, warrantless and with broad boundaries that are still determined by Amazon, a massive ecommerce company.
"The network is predicated on perpetuating irrational fear of neighborhood crime, often yielding disproportionate scrutiny against people of color, all for the purposes of selling more cameras," the EFF said in June. "Ring does so through police partnerships, which now encompass 1 in every 10 police departments in the United States. At their core, these partnerships facilitate bulk requests from police officers to Ring customers for their camera footage, built on a growing Ring surveillance network of millions of public-facing cameras. EFF adamantly opposes these Ring-police partnerships and advocates for their dissolution."
As Amazon continues to build out its Ring ecosystem, police partnerships intact, it's clear that the company is not focused on rebuilding public policy, reducing crime or eliminating everyday racism. Amazon is focused on selling Ring cameras; Amazon is focused on making money. Personally, that doesn't make me feel safe.
Amazon held its annual fall hardware event on Tuesday. It's too bad the company didn't stream the proceedings to the public because it was jam-packed with announcements. We saw everything from new Echo devices to an Alexa-powered robot. But worry not, we have you covered. Here's everything the company announced today.
Astro
Amazon
In an event packed with offbeat products, Amazon saved its most unusual one for last. In Astro, the company has created an Alexa-powered robot that can move around your home. It has three primary functions. It can provide home security, check-in on loved ones and pets and offer Alexa functionality on the go. When it becomes available later this year, Astro will cost $999.99 before it eventually increases to $1499.99 at a later date.
Echo Show 15
Amazon
Amazon is adding yet another model to its Echo Show family. Its latest addition features a 15.6-inch 1080p display that the company envisions you mounting on the wall in spaces like your home’s kitchen. New to the Echo Show 15 is a redesigned home screen that emphasizes Alexa widgets. The smart display also features a camera and a new feature that will adjust the contents of the home screen to you when the device recognizes your face. Sales of the $250 Echo Show 15 will start later this year.
Halo
Amazon
Amazon had two major announcements related to its Halo fitness product. First, the company introduced its new Halo View fitness band. In short, Amazon essentially added an AMOLED color display to its Halo wearable and made the resulting device cheaper. It doesn’t come with the tone-detecting microphone that made the company’s first foray into fitness wearables so controversial, but what it can do is track your heart rate, skin temperature, steps and more. Halo View isn’t available to purchase just yet, but it will cost $80 when it does become available.
Outside of new hardware, the company announced Halo Fitness and Halo Nutrition, two new features that will come included with its yearly $80 Halo subscription. The former is an alternative to Apple Fitness+ and other similar services. The latter, meanwhile, includes personalized recipes and meal planning. Halo Fitness will roll out later this year, while Halo Nutrition will arrive at the start of 2022.
The award for the second-most offbeat device Amazon announced at its annual event goes to Glow. It’s a teleconferencing display the company designed for kids. Glow includes a projector that can create a 19-inch touch-sensitive playspace for all the games and activities included with the device. Glow will cost $249.99 when it goes on sale in the next few weeks, but Amazon said that's just an introductory price.
All the rest
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Amazon wouldn’t be Amazon if the company weren’t trying to create more affordable versions of some of the best-selling products on its marketplace. So it should come as no surprise it announced an Alexa-enabled smart thermostat that only costs $60.
Outside of new hardware, Tuesday’s event saw the company announce various updates for its Alexa. In brief, the company worked with Disney to make a voice assistant that will be available on Echo devices and Walt Disney World Resort hotel rooms. It also introduced a feature called Alexa Together that turns an Echo speaker or smart display into an emergency support device for your family members. Lastly, the company is adding offline voice support for Alexa devices.
Follow all of the news from Amazon’s fall hardware event right here!
Microsoft is preparing to complete a large piece of its cloud gaming puzzle when it brings the option to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S sometime this holiday season. Starting today, though, a random group of Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha Insiders can try cloud gaming on their consoles. The test will expand to more Insiders and members of other preview rings in the coming weeks.
If you have access, you can try cloud gaming by looking for the cloud icon on titles in the Xbox Game Pass library. To see a full list of games you can stream, go to My Games & Apps, then Full Library and Xbox Game Pass, and change the filter to Cloud Gaming. At the outset, you'll be able to play more than 100 games without having to download them — as long as you have a sturdy enough internet connection.
Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) for Console is coming to a random subset of Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha #XboxInsiders today! You can read all about the new feature at the blog post linked below: https://t.co/T1h7b3SC44
Microsoft highlighted some known issues in a blog post, such as not being able to play base games that are part of a bundle (Halo: The Master Chief Collection, for instance). You also can't make any in-game purchases while playing a cloud gaming title, but you can do so through the Store on your console or the web. Meanwhile, if you have installed a game on an external drive that isn't connected to your Xbox, you won't be able to play it over the cloud. That seems like an annoying bug but hey, that's what beta tests are for.
Don't fret too much if you don't have access just yet. Console cloud gaming should be available for all Game Pass Ultimate subscribers within the next few months, perhaps just in time to play Halo Infinite. Xbox One owners will also be able to play some Series X/S games on their console.
Apple is rolling out updates to its iWork suite of Keynote, Pages and Numbers on iPhone, iPad and Mac. The next time you deliver a presentation with Keynote, you'll be able to include live video feeds directly in the slides. You can resize the video feed and change the look with masks, frames, drop shadows and reflections.
With the Mac version of Keynote, you can add feeds from multiple external cameras, and share a connected iPhone or iPad screen, which could prove useful for interactive demos. There are more collaboration features too. A new multi-presenter function lets anyone control a shared slideshow and advance slides remotely using a Mac, iPhone or iPad. This could come in handy for group presentations.
The changes to Pages are largely iPhone-focused. The Screen View feature arranges text, images and other aspects of the document into a single-column view. Apple has increased the text size, while images are sized to fit your phone's screen. You can also view tables by scrolling left and right. Users will still be able to edit documents as usual when Screen View is active. You don't need to do anything to set up the feature, and it works with all word processing documents. Apple says you can toggle off Screen View so you can see the proper layout before you're ready to share or print the document.
As for Numbers, you can now get to grips with pivot tables across Apple devices. You'll be able to summarize, group and rearrange data to spot and study trends and patterns. There are options to visualize the pivot tables with charts and to share pivot data without disclosing the source data. You can also import pivot tables from and export them to Microsoft Excel.
Elsewhere, there's a new chart type called radar charts. Apple says this "makes it easy to visually compare multiple variables with similarities shown as overlapping areas, allowing differences and outliers to really stand out." There are new filters you can use to highlight unique entries or duplicate data.
All three apps now support Apple's new translation tools on iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey. The latest versions of Keynote, Pages and Numbers are now available on the App Store and Mac App Store.
Microsoft wasn't just indulging in wishful thinking when it said it wanted more third-party app stores in Windows 11's portal. The Vergenotes that new Microsoft Store policies now allow third-party storefront apps. And no, Amazon's Appstore isn't the only partner hopping aboard — the Epic Games Store is also coming to the Microsoft Store in the "next few months." As promised, Microsoft won't demand a share of revenue from these shops.
The company's loosened policies on rival browsers (which now allow browsers with non-Microsoft engines) are also paying dividends. Opera and Yandex Browser are coming to the Microsoft Store to provide an alternative to Edge. These additions won't help much if your first impulse is to download Chrome or Firefox, but they suggest Microsoft is open to at least some competition in its own store.
There's no mention of Steam, GOG or other well-known app and game stores. It's also unsurprising that Epic is an early adopter. It's a vocal opponent of Apple's App Store policies and determined to offer the Epic Games Store wherever possible. Microsoft is unsurprisingly taking advantage of this. It can pitch Windows 11's store as a more open alternative to Apple's Mac App Store, even if Mac users don't have any real trouble accessing the EGS and other storefronts.
Last year, Amazon announced Alexa Care Hub, a free service that uses Alexa to let people check in on family members. The so-called "caregiver" can see notifications and alerts when someone uses Alexa as a way of letting you know that someone they want to keep an eye on is up and about. It also lets the "care receiver" say "Alexa, call for help" and it'll contact the caregiver immediately. Amazon didn't charge for this, but today it's adding a new feature called Alexa Together to the service. It'll be a $20/month service that gives an aging family member 24/7 access to Urgent Response, which Amazon describes as a professional emergency help line.
Alexa Together will also make caregiving easier to share among multiple family members by letting multiple people be designated as support contacts for a single individual. Other features include support for third-party devices that can detect when someone has fallen at home, the ability to add contacts to an individual's Alexa account so they can make hands-free calls, and set reminders on someone else's device or link up a music service for them to play tunes through.
At a high level, it sounds like Alexa Together basically makes it easier for other people to manage a family member's Alexa-capable device so they use it more. And if they use it more, the caregiver will see that it's being used and know their family member is going about their normal day. It's a bit convoluted, but the 24/7 access to Urgent Response might be worth the $20 per month cost. Alexa Together will have a free six-month trial period (or one full year if you've been using the Alexa Care Hub already) when it launches later this year.
Alexa Together is designed to help aging family members feel more comfortable and confident living independently, and to give the entire family peace of mind. With Alexa Together, aging loved ones have 24/7 hands-free access to Urgent Response, a professional emergency helpline. pic.twitter.com/WrU1XFOBrQ
Amazon announced a slew of new Echo devices today, and with those came some new Alexa features that users will be able to take advantage of. The most interesting, by far, are the new privacy features coming to the latest Alexa devices. Soon, US customers can choose to have all of their voice commands processed on their Alexa devices. That means these audio clips won't be sent to the cloud and they'll be automatically deleted after the Alexa device processes them.
The online retailer has received much scrutiny over the years when it comes to the privacy implications of its smart speakers and displays. Back in 2019, Amazon added a toggle that let users opt-out of having their voice recordings and message transcripts "manually reviewed," and before that, the company added an option to delete your entire voice history with one command. This new feature builds on that, but it seemingly will only work with the latest Echo devices with the AZ1 Neural Edge processor. According to Amazon, the feature will first be available on the 4th-generation Echo and the Echo Show 10, and will come to more devices in the future.
Most other new Alexa features are only available on Amazon's smart displays, like the new Echo Show 15. First, Sling TV will be coming to all Echo Show devices soon, adding to the already lengthy list of streaming services accessible from Amazon's displays. Second, Echo devices with cameras will be able to use Visual ID, a feature that lets Alexa recognize you when you're in the camera's field of view. By knowing who's in front of the camera, the device's display can then present personalized information like calendar alerts and TV show preferences. It's important to note that Visual ID is something you have to enroll in — not an automatic feature — and you can delete your Visual ID at any time.
Amazon's also revamping Care Hub, which connects caregivers and their loved ones using the Alexa app and compatible devices, into a new subscription service called Alexa Together. This essentially lets caregivers check in on others remotely and set up things like alerts, emergency contact information and more. It includes features like Urgent Response, which gives you access to a professional emergency help line, and Remote Assist, which lets caregivers do things like set reminders, link music services and more to make things easier for their loved ones. Alexa Together will be available later this year for $20 per month, and current Care Hub customers can get one year of the service free.
Developing...
Follow all of the news from Amazon’s fall hardware event right here!
Amazon's Blink has developed a reputation for low-cost security cameras, and that now extends to your front door. The brand has unveiled a Blink Video Doorbell that, at $50, could be a solid option if you're not interested in some of the frills available from Ring and rival brands. It 'only' captures 1080p video, but it supports Alexa integration (of course), your choice of wired or wireless connections and the option to store footage on a USB thumb drive (when attached to a Sync Module 2) if you don't want a subscription for cloud storage.
Two AA batteries will keep the doorbell running for up to two years, although that's with a wired connection. Blink didn't say how long the Video Doorbell would last on a wireless link, but it's safe to presume you'll be swapping cells more often. The hardware is available for pre-order today.
Blink/Amazon
Blink is simultaneously expanding its outdoor camera accessories. The Amazon badge has introduced a $40 Floodlight Camera mount (shown at middle) that pairs with the Blink Outdoor camera to bathe your yard with 700 lumens of LED light whenever there's motion. There's also a Solar Power Mount that gives the Outdoor camera a "nonstop" charge. Blink didn't mention separate pricing for the solar mount, but you can buy it as part of a $130 bundle with the Outdoor cam. A $140 bundle pairs the Outdoor with the Floodlight Camera attachment.
Follow all of the news from Amazon’s fall hardware event right here!
The rumors were true. Amazon is working on an Alexa-powered robot on wheels. At its fall hardware event, the company showed off Astro. Set to cost $999 when it becomes available later this year, it's essentially an Alexa display that can follow you around your home. The robot features a periscope camera that allows it to expand its field of view beyond the floor of your home. It can extend the camera to check on things like stovetops and sleeping pets. With Ring's Protect Pro subscription service, you can program Astro to patrol your home while you're away. It will send you notifications when it notices something usual, and you can save what it records to your Ring account.
Astro is one of those projects Amazon has reportedly been working on for years. The fact Amazon finally decided to show the device off comes as something of a surprise. Leading up to today’s event, there were reports many people at Amazon, including former CEO Jeff Bezos, weren’t sure whether it made sense to move forward with the device.
Developing...
Follow all of the news from Amazon’s fall hardware event right here!
