Amazon has confirmed plans to make investments as much as $50 billion in new AI and high-performance computing structures designed especially for US government use.

In a weblog post, the enterprise outlined how the programme will aid a wide range of federal structures that rely upon advanced computation.

This consists of national protection work, scientific tasks, self-reliant structures improvement, cybersecurity analysis, energy programmes, and healthcare-related studies.

Growing reliance on specialized government cloud regions

Amazon claims the funding aligns with federal priorities that call for more potent AI gear deployed on at easy infrastructure constructed in the United States.

The enterprise also links the initiative to broader government efforts to modernise computing ability via upgraded cloud website hosting environments and specialized hardware.

"Our investment in cause-built authorities AI and cloud infrastructure will essentially transform how federal agencies leverage supercomputing,” stated AWS CEO Matt Garman.

“We're giving companies multiplied get admission to to advanced AI abilities so they can enable them to accelerate important missions from cybersecurity to drug discovery. This funding eliminates the era obstacles that have held government back and similarly positions the United States to lead in the AI era."

The investment is expected to add almost 1.3 gigawatts of compute capability across the 3 authorities cloud regions.

Amazon claims this will allow businesses to complete simulation and modeling duties a long way faster than before, with the aid of linking AI systems with real-time feedback loops.

Those projected gains rely on the government cloud garage regions that already assist labeled and unclassified workloads.

Over the last decade, Amazon has constructed GovCloud, pinnacle mystery, and mystery environments to fulfill federal compliance and safety necessities.

It has been a pacesetter in government cloud computing, providing agencies with managed spaces for sensitive computational missions and helping over 11,000 organizations.

This current basis is the platform on which the brand new AI and HPC systems will perform.

It allows companies to undertake expanded compute capacity without rebuilding operational frameworks or shifting away from mounted governance gear.

The funding is part of a wider shift closer to AI-driven scientific and safety workflows.

Federal teams are being pushed in the direction of environments where professional fashions, marketers, and natural-language gear assist research, engineering, and analytical tasks.

Amazon states such skills will let scientists and analysts define complex issues and get hold of automatic hints supported by means of simulations and high-accuracy evaluation.

The enterprise introduced this transition is a break from conventional HPC strategies that require a significant manual effort.

The tech sector is driving the movement toward solar and wind energy.

According to recent statistics, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet-owned Google are the top three corporate investors in wind and solar energy in the US.

While the technology industry is (perhaps understandably) setting an example for others by purchasing 48% of all clean electricity, a report(opens in new tab) from the American Clean Power Association (ACPA), a pressure group, also revealed that others are following that lead.

Over the past ten years, businesses in a variety of sectors, including the energy, telecommunications, and food and beverage industries, have boosted their purchases of renewable energy by an average of 73% annually DC as well as Puerto Rico.

We need your assistance to create a better website for our readers. By responding to our poll and sharing your thoughts and ideas regarding the tech sector in 2023, you can contribute. Your responses will all be kept private and anonymous, and it won't take long. Once more, thank you for your assistance in improving TechRadar Pro.

After Business Today(opens in new tab) recently reported that industry data has shown indicators of a decline in the demand for fossil fuels nationwide, this particular point in the ACPA's report is the second indication that the US oil industry may struggle in 2023 US businesses seem to be accepting the idea that investing in clean energy is vital but long-term. Over 300 companies have contracted 77.4 gigawatts (GW) of power, which could power 1,000 data centres or 18 million homes.

More than half of that energy has yet to go online despite that enormous expenditure. However, an ACPA spokeswoman told CNBC that they anticipate doing so "in the next three years".

These kinds of commitments are welcomed. Even while behemoths like Amazon, Meta, or Google have recently been involved in a layoff, data misuse, and ad revenue monopoly problems, the main reason for large companies making the decision is not ethical, despite our desire to do so switch is significantly less complex.

According to the ACPA survey, businesses can now seem to invest in clean power at a price that is affordable enough for them to make a decision.

Over the past ten years, the cost of solar and wind energy has decreased by 71% and 47%, respectively, and despite a rise in power purchase agreement (PPA) rates in 2022, US businesses nevertheless bought 20 GW of renewable energy by the year's end, 4 GW more than in any other year.

Even while the US's push for clean energy isn't motivated by the noblest goals, the long-term benefits of a cross-industry transition to renewables are still positive for the environment.

Today, server-side encryption is assumed.

All new objects added to buckets server-side are now automatically encrypted using Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3) cloud storage platform.

The business claimed in a blog post on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) website that while encryption has always been simple to enable, managers had to be aware of the functionality, but now the process requires "zero clicks" and has no effect on performance.

Existing users of Amazon S3 can, for a fee, configure AWS CloudTrail to record data events and confirm the change by checking the S3 part of the AWS management dashboard to see whether their objects are encrypted.

"The opt-in nature of SSE-S3 meant that you had to make confident that it was always configured on new buckets and ensure that it remained configured properly over time," Sébastien Stormacq, a Senior Developer Advocate at AWS, stated in the announcement.

"This upgrade assists in meeting their encryption compliance standards without the need for additional tools or client configuration adjustments for enterprises that require all of their assets to remain encrypted at rest using SSE-S3."

The service also provides client-side encryption, via a library like the Amazon S3 encryption client, as a way to protect data for advanced users who want more control over the encryption process. These options include customer-provided encryption keys (SSE-C) and AWS Key Management Service keys (SSE-KMS) as well.

Many IT administrators will value the range of data security measures available, while smaller firms wishing to protect their data may find SSE-S3 to be appealing due to its simplicity and lack of additional knowledge (or input) requirements.

All regions where AWS is accessible, according to Amazon, have received the adjustment. Existing customers can also encrypt data in the past by adhering to the guidelines in another AWS blog post 

The 'out of date' cameras will be supplanted by the Blink Mini and Echo

Beginning December 2, 2022, Amazon will be dropping all help and administration for Cloud Cam gadgets and going with applications.

Individuals originally found out about the drop from an email Amazon conveyed to clients. A client on the HomeKit subreddit was sufficiently thoughtful to share the data. Going through the email, the whole video history from your Cloud Cam will be erased on December 2, yet you'll have the option to download the accounts. The Cloud Cam - Key Edition will likewise lose its usefulness to associate with shrewd locks and oversee codes on the last day.

Amazon states in the email that they would prefer to zero in on their other savvy home tech; specifically, Ring video doorbells and Blink surveillance cameras. We connected with Amazon and a representative affirmed the shut-off date, the restored center around Ring and Blink, and uncovered that individuals will actually want to supplant their Cloud Cams.

In return for a Cloud Cam, Amazon will give you a Blink Mini and a Blink Subscription Plus Plan for one year. The Blink Mini is a little, spending plan indoor camera with a 110-degree field of view and can keep in Full HD.

As indicated by Blink, the Plus Plan will give you "movement actuated warnings", the capacity to share accounts, and consistently taken photos among different highlights. Amazon is likewise offering a free fourth-gen Echo to Cloud Cam - Key Edition proprietors to use as a center point for brilliant locks.

Assuming you're somebody who has various Cloud Cams, this is your lucky day. The Amazon delegate explained that for each dynamic Cloud Cam you own, you'll get a Blink Mini. What's more, for each Cloud Cam - Key Edition you own, you'll get a Mini and a fourth-gen Echo. All things considered, an extraordinary method for obliging individuals scheduled to lose their gadgets.

Amazon expresses that it will convey messages specifying how to get the free Blink Mini, Echo, and the one-year Plus Plan at some point before the December 2 shut-off date; in spite of the fact that they didn't say precisely when. Furthermore, assuming that you might want to back up your recordings, the new declaration email gives point-by-point guidelines.

Investigation: Disappearing savvy home pattern

Seeing ongoing patterns, Amazon dropping Cloud Cam is definitely not an irregular move, as a ton of shrewd home organizations have been failing horrendously recently.

Back in April 2022, iHome shut down its administration, successfully delivering the organization's gadgets pointless. Insteon faced a similar outcome and it was given to a monetary help firm to deal with the liquidation of its resources.

Amazon gives off an impression of being enduring this slump by zeroing in on a couple of brands over perpetually extending. It appears as though the savvy home idea simply isn't generally so well known as these organizations would have loved, however, at least Amazon is offering substitution gadgets and not ghosting individuals.

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Amazon offers great deals on products from all its categories like electronics, computers, home, kitchen, clothing, sports, videogames, DIY, baby, toys, office and stationery, books, music, food, beauty, among others.

Black Friday 2020 is going to be celebrated on November 27 this year. it's the day after Thanksgiving and is usually seen because of the start of Christmas shopping and therefore the season across the US. Stores across the US have great deals on offer for the Black Friday Sale and online shopping portals even have amazing deals.

Black Friday is an off-the-cuff name for the Friday following Thanksgiving within us, which is widely known as the fourth Thursday of November. The day after Thanksgiving has been considered the start of us Christmas shopping season since 1952, although the term "Black Friday" didn't become widely used until newer decades.

Amazon offers great deals on products from all its categories like electronics, computers, home, kitchen, clothing, sports, videogames, DIY, baby, toys, office and stationery, books, music, food, beauty, among others.

Amazon is offering the subsequent deals on Apple products during its Black Friday Sales. However, this is often not an entire list:

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage) - Silver (Latest Model) US $929 as against US $999

ALSO READ: This new tab feature for Chrome and Edge may be a lifesaver for the 

Apple iPad Pro (12.9-inch, Wi-Fi, 256GB) - Silver (4th Generation) US $1,039 as against US $1,099

New Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD Storage, Magic Keyboard) – Silver - US $1,749

ALSO READ: Latest News: Forgotten that song? If you'll hum it, Google Assistant can now play it

Apple iPad Mini (Wi-Fi, 64GB) - Space Gray (Latest Model) - US $384

New Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, 16GB RAM, 512GB Storage) - Space Gray - US $2,199

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Apple falls to seventh place while Google and Amazon take the highest spots

(Image credit: wk1003mike / Shutterstock )

Earlier this year, Check Point revealed that Apple was the foremost imitated brand for phishing in Q1 but over the course of a previous couple of months, it's fallen to seventh place with Google and Amazon now taking the highest spots.

Phishing is estimated to be the start line of over 90 percent of all cyberattacks and consistent with Verizon's 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report, nearly one third (32%) of all data breaches involved phishing activity. Additionally, phishing was present in 78 percent of cyberespionage incidents and therefore the installation and use of backdoors in company networks.

While phishing attacks attempt to steal users' credentials and other sensitive data, brand phishing involves an attacker imitating a politician's website of a known brand through the utilization of an identical domain or URL. Links to those deceptive websites that replicate the design and style of a brand's official site are sent via email or SMS and that they often contain a form wont to steal credentials, personal information or payments.

1. We've put together an inventory of the simplest email services around
2. These are the simplest fraud protection services on the market
3. Protect your privacy online with one among the simplest VPN services

Top phishing brands

According to Check Point Research's new Brand Phishing Report for Q2 2020, Google and Amazon were the foremost imitated brands in phishing attempts and therefore the total number of brand name phishing detections was like Q1 of this year.

Email phishing exploits were the second commonest type after web-based exploits compared to Q1 where email was third. The easing of worldwide Covid-19 restrictions might be the rationale for this alteration as businesses around the world have started reopening and employees are returning to figure

When it came to the highest brand industry sectors utilized in phishing attacks in Q2, technology, banking, and social media were the foremost popular among cybercriminals. In attacks that imitated email services, Microsoft, Outlook, and Unicredit were the foremost imitated brands while Google, Amazon, and WhatsApp were the foremost imitated web companies. On mobile, brand phishing attempts tried to impersonate Facebook, WhatsApp, and PayPal.

To avoid falling victim to phishing scams, Check Point recommends that users verify they're ordering products or services from an authentic website, watch out for “special” offers that appear too good to be true, and appearance out for lookalike domains which will contain spelling errors.





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Alexa, how do I feel?

Would you want your fitness tracker to understand how you're feeling? Amazon is reportedly developing a product that can determine human emotions as well as your overall health and fitness.

According to internal documents seen by Bloomberg, the company is working with its partner Lab126 - the company that also worked on Amazon's Echo speaker range - on a device that will use microphones and software to determine your emotional state.

These assessments are all driven by your tone of voice, and the company reportedly believes this device may one day be able to offer advice on how the wearer could better interact with people.

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Work has reportedly been in progress on the project recently, but there's currently no sign of when it will be released. There's absolutely no guarantee it will definitely be released either.

Amazon carries out extensive product development for a variety of different ideas, not all of which will ultimately be sold.

A person familiar with the project has said that a beta project is already underway, with a trial of the software and the product itself going on in the wild.

Exactly how the emotion-reading technology will work is currently a mystery, but if it's something the company is able to achieve with a level of accuracy it may be a game-changing product for Amazon, just like its smart speakers were.




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Retail giant fed up with items that 'Can't Realize a Profit'

We’re all familiar by now with Amazon and the ridiculously broad range of goods it offers, but the online retail giant is reportedly drawing a line with its cheaper products in order to increase profit margins even further.

The Wall Street Journal has heard from “major brand executives and people familiar with the company’s thinking” that Amazon is waging war against its CRaP (Can’t Realize a Profit) products, as they are apparently referred to internally.

These products are typically snack foods and beverages that weigh in under $15. Due to their relatively high weight or size, they are costly to ship despite their low value and don’t make Amazon enough of a profit as a result.

Big brands at Amazon's mercy

An example provided by WSJ is the recently-removed six-pack of bottled water from Coca-Cola Co, which was cheap, heavy, and had to be shipped by Amazon. This combination actually resulted in losses rather than profits, and the product has since been replaced by a 24-pack with a higher per-bottle cost that ships from Coca-Cola direct.

The trillion-dollar company has somewhat of a vice grip on major brands, WSJ notes, as they don’t have an option but to offer their products on the ubiquitous service, particularly in the US, given its mammoth stake in the e-commerce world.

This means that Amazon will be able to get away with offloading these costs to other big brands, because it ultimately holds leverage over whether or not they get exposure to the majority of online shoppers.

At re: Invent, the Amazon CTO dismisses databases built on "90's" technology, arguing that cloud-native database services form a foundation for innovation.

On Day 2 of the re Invent conference, Amazon Web Services CTO Werner Vogels gave an extensive history lesson of Amazon database services. Ultimately, the in-the-weeds talk illustrated why Amazon turned off its Oracle data warehouse Nov. 1 and moved to Redshift.

Nov. 1, Vogels said, was his "best day" at Amazon.

In a clear jab at Oracle, Vogels wrote off the 90's technology behind most relational databases. Cloud native databases, he said, are the basis of innovation.

Vogels explained how cell-based architectures minimize the impact of failures, stressing, "Everything fails all the time." He walked through the scaled, distributed nature of Aurora, explaining its failure recovery features. He called DynamoDB "the foundation for internet scale performance."

Redshift, meanwhile, has become 3.5X faster in just the last six months, thanks to optimizations that came from Amazon's "deep look under the cover," Vogels said.

Mai-Lan Tomsen Bukovec, GM of S3, joined Vogels on stage to tout the design resiliency of S3. "We've never seen the loss of a data center, but we build our systems knowing it can happen," she said.

Amazon's move off Oracle was the most recent chapter in the ongoing rivalry between the two tech giants. Earlier this year, when unveiling new Oracle autonomous database tools, Oracle CTO Larry Ellison taunted Amazon's efforts to move to their own databases.

"They've had 10 years to get off Oracle, and they're still on Oracle," he said. "They think of themselves as a competitor. It's kind of embarrassing when Amazon uses Oracle."



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Deep learning trained algorithm compiles patient data into a spreadsheet-like report

In the latest development in its move into the healthcare industry, Amazon Web Services has begun to sell software to mine patient medical records for information that could aid doctors and hospitals in improving treatment and cutting costs.

The company's software is able to read digitized patient records, analyze them and compile the most useful information into a spreadsheet-like report.

AWS has also been selling text-analysis software to companies in the travel, customer support and supply chain management industries though this is the first time Amazon has offered it to the healthcare industry.

Additionally, the company is also looking to expand its sales of medical supplies through an app which will use electronic medical records to allow doctors to send links to products needed for their treatment to patients.

AWS AI skills

Amazon's software developers used deep learning to train their system to recognize doctors' notes which have notoriously been difficult for even other people to read.

General Manager of AI at AWS Matt Wood explained how accurate the company's software was to the Wall Street Journal, saying:

“We’re able to completely, automatically look inside medical language and identify patient details,” including diagnoses, treatments, dosage, and strengths, “with incredibly high accuracy.”

The software will first be used to assist the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center which aided Amazon in testing and training its algorithm to identify patients that are eligible for studies of experimental drugs.

The data processed by AWS will be encrypted so that only customers with the key will be able to access it.



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Yes, everyone shopped their wallets dry on Amazon during the big holiday sales push. But don't forget that the AWS public cloud side of Amazon is likely to drive valuation and operating income going forward.

Amazon will be the talk of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but if you follow the money the more important event this week may be Amazon Web Services' re: Invent conference in Las Vegas.

Rest assured Amazon's e-commerce division will get most of the headlines this week, but you'd be an idiot to ignore the AWS roadmap and customer powwow taking place right after Cyber Monday concludes. Why? AWS' reInvent conference has become a big customer event where the company outlines its AI roadmap, new services, and architecture overview.

And if the economy goes shaky and consumer spending falters a bit, Amazon's market capitalization will be mostly driven by AWS, which is the public cloud computing leader. Certainly, Amazon's operating income will be driven by AWS even more than it is now.

Consider the following:

• For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Amazon's North America e-commerce operation delivered operating income of $5 billion on net sales of $97.24 billion.
• The international e-commerce division had an operating loss of $1.5 billion on net sales of $45 billion for the same time frame.
• AWS delivered operating income of $5.2 billion on net sales of $18.22 billion.
• In other words, Amazon's North America e-commerce unit had operating margins of 5.14 percent for the nine months ended Sept. 30. AWS had operating margins of 28.54 percent for the same period.

So while we all count Amazon's e-commerce revenue during the holiday shopping season don't forget cloud services bring in more net cash. Everything you need to know about the cloud explained

What's interesting is when you plot AWS's operating income out over a few years. Evercore ISI analyst Anthony DiClemente recently modeled out AWS operating margins through 2022. His conclusion: Long-term operating income margins are likely to top 35 percent by 2022 under what he calls "bullish, but still undemanding assumptions."

Indeed, AWS will account for half of Amazon's total enterprise value in 2020.



DiClemente's argument is that AWS could generate operating income north of $25 billion through 2022. AWS will continue to become more efficient and deliver operating income of $24.8 billion in operating income for 2022.

AWS at this year's re: Invent has already announced new features that'll add up to better efficiency. For instance, AWS has added predictive scaling to its Auto Scaling system. In a nutshell, AWS is using machine learning to predict your expected traffic and EC2 usage. The model needs one day of data to start making predictions and then refines from there. This machine learning approach gives AWS and the customer more visibility into computing needs and capacity.

Amazon expands machine learning services ahead of re: Invent | Best Amazon Black Friday 2018 deals: See early sales on Echo, Fire HD, and more | Amazon's consumer business moves from Oracle to AWS, but Larry Ellison won't stop talking

DiClemente argued that AWS is likely to only become more efficient over time. He wrote in a research note:

By mapping AWS's availability zones (AZ), we track the age of the AWS footprint over time; taken in conjunction with industry estimates that peg the fixed/variable cost of a data center at a 65%/35%, we are able to back into the trajectory of costs per new AZ, as well as the efficiency of AWS's footprint. Since 2014, AWS efficiency (which we define as incremental revenue per AZ adjusted for the average age of the footprint) has expanded at a 24% CAGR, offset by fixed costs per AZ also growing 18%.



Evercore ISI analysts also noted that Microsoft Azure operating income margins are likely to be more than 20 percent by 2022. Why? AWS has more experience running cloud infrastructure at scale.

What's interesting about DiClemente's note is that he uses AWS operating margins as a way to conclude that investors are getting a massive retail business more cheaply than currently appreciated. It's a thought worth banking with all the focus on Amazon's e-commerce sales.



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Amazon Web Service (AWS) suffered an hour-long network failure that halted services of South Korean online shopping malls and cryptocurrency exchanges.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered an hour-long network failure in South Korea during the early mornings of Thursday, which halted the services of major local online shopping malls and cryptocurrency exchanges.

The webpage and mobile app of South Korea's largest e-commerce firm Coupang could not be accessed from 8:50 am to around 9:50 am.

The homepages of Market Kurly, a fresh food delivery service, POOQ, an online media service company, and hotel booking service Yanolja, were also shut down during the same time period.

Cryptocurrency exchanges Coinone and Upbit were also affected by the AWS network failure.

There was a domain name server issue within AWS, Upbit said, but services have since gone back online.

AWS reportedly underwent an emergency inspection of the problems that arose in its network within Asia, and found that the problems also affected South Korea.

The cloud company said it was looking into the matter and apologized for the inconvenience caused.

AWS is widely used by South Korean firms due to its price-competitive services. The country's largest conglomerates, Samsung and Hyundai, use AWS services for their overseas operations, and more local firms have also started using the cloud vendor's services for local operations purposes.

Earlier this month, Korea Air announced that it was moving all of its data from data centres to the cloud that AWS and LG CNS will provide.

Amazon also announced that it will update its Auto Scaling with machine learning which will help customers avoid over provisioning and reduce EC2 costs.


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But third-party sellers are getting cut out

If you've shopped online for a new iPhone or iPad and tried to check Amazon, you've probably run into a bunch of third-party sellers. But, soon Amazon will have its own offerings of new Apple products, including the iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and new iPad Pro.

"Amazon is constantly working to enhance the customer experience," Amazon told TechRadar in a statement. "And one of the ways we do this is by increasing selection of the products we know customers want. We look forward to expanding our assortment of Apple and Beats products globally.”

The new Amazon deal, first spotted by CNET, will limit the sellers of new and used Apple products on Amazon to Apple-authorized resellers. Meaning you'll likely see fewer different product pages for the same Apple product. You'll also see newer devices at retail price, and with any luck, you might catch some Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals with Amazon directly offering these products.

The deal includes Apple and Beats devices, according to CNET (though not all products, as the Apple HomePod won't be sold), and it affects both the US and UK, along with several other European countries, Japan, and India.

It's not clear exactly when Amazon will begin offering Apple's new products directly, but it will be in the coming weeks. One date that is clear though is January 4, 2019, cutoff for independent sellers. After that day, only Apple-authorized resellers will be able to keep listings for new and used Apple devices.

If Amazon begins to sell the new Apple products before Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the new listings combined with existing reseller offers could largely expand the online availability of iPhones and iPads for holiday shoppers.



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Speak softly and she’ll whisper right back

Artificially-intelligent digital assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant are slowly but surely taking over the world, appearing in myriad devices ranging from phones to speakers to TVs to cars and, as of last week, even kitchen appliances like microwaves.

If you’re a frequent user of any of the above assistance, though, there’s likely one feature you'll have wished for at various times and in certain situations – the ability for them to be a bit more discrete.

Today, Amazon's provided more details on its plans to address that need by enhancing Alexa's ability to understand whispered speech. The upcoming feature, which was first announced last week alongside the company’s range of new Echo devices, means that when Alexa detects a user whispering, the assistant will automatically voice replies in a lower volume, hushed tone too.

The feature is coming to the US market first and will be available beginning in October.

Learning to listen

According to Zeynab Raeesy, a speech scientist working on Amazon’s Alexa Speech team, “Whispered speech is predominantly unvoiced, meaning that it doesn’t involve the vibration of the vocal cords, and it has less energy in lower frequency bands than ordinary speech.”

That meant that to enable the new capabilities, the team had to make adjustments to the way sound was processed after being captured, and they’re planning to present a paper on their findings at the IEEE Workshop on Spoken Language Technology in December.

With Google, Amazon and Apple all hoping that voice assistants will be a huge market for growth, adding whisper support to speech recognition technologies makes a lot of sense. It gives users the ability to use assistants more discretely and should, theoretically, help people feel more comfortable about using voice control in a much wider range of environments – like when you’re out in public, at the office or school, or perhaps just trying to avoid waking up that sleeping kitty on your lap.

These are the best Alexa Skills and commands

Sweet nothings

Of course, better contextual awareness also has the potential to make AI assistants seem a bit more human, too – although whether you see that as a pro or con will probably depend on your general feeling towards this burgeoning age of artificial intelligence.

I for one welcome our new digital overlords and am fondly looking forward to the day when I can sneak out of bed for a midnight snack, and quietly whisper "Alexa, warm up this slice of chocolate cake” to the microwave while my family remains blissfully none-the-wiser. What a beautiful age we live in.


SOURCE TechRadar:

The American Customer Sentiment Index highlights a bevy of moving parts in the PC industry, but overall Microsoft's frequent update approach to Windows is paying off.

Apple maintained its top spot among PC customer satisfaction with Amazon surging 4 percent and Dell, Asus and Toshiba falling. HP gained 1 percent, according to the 2018 American Customer Sentiment Index (ACSI).

The ACSI, which combines PCs and tablets, takes the pulse of consumers on a 0-100 scale. The ACSI measures consumer sentiment on design, storage, value, and other items. For PCs, Amazon had the largest jump as consumers gave Amazon tablets high scores on design, ease of use and graphics quality. Dell, Toshiba, and Asus scored lower than a year ago due to a bevy of reason. HP, which has balanced design and value well, saw its rating go up 1 percent to 78. Apple leads the category with an ACSI score of 83 compared to the average of 77.

Here's the scorecard overall.


The moving parts in the ACSI rankings for the PC industry are worth noting. Asus fell 3 percent to 78 by targeting the higher end of the market. However, users--especially gamers--are price sensitive. Dell and Toshiba fell because they weren't competing on value. Dell also was dinged on design. Toshiba users panned the PC manufacturer for processor speed and reliability. Microsoft's October 2 Fall Event: What to expect

Here's what PC buyers value.



ACSI noted that "most aspects of the PC industry have deteriorated in the eyes of customers."

Design slips to 82, followed by accessories, software and apps, and graphics and sound quality (all 80). There is no change regarding ease of operation (79), but system crashes are now more frequent (77), features have lost some appeal (77), and processor speed is down (-3% to 76).

Important customer touch points show considerable signs of strain. Website satisfaction retreats 5% to 78, and call centers completely reverse the progress they made a year ago, falling further back 14% to 67.

Small business servers: Why and how you can say 'no' to the cloud

On the software front, Microsoft improved its score 4 percent to 79 percent largely due to its regular update schedule. The Windows update strategy improved the scores for other PC software makers.


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Amazon has announced several - and we do mean several - new Alexa devices for you to consider. Here's what you need to know, including what they can do and when you can buy them.

At a surprise event in Seattle, Amazon announced updates to a few Echo-branded devices and unveiled what seems like a dozen entirely new Alexa products.

From a new microwave to a wall clock (not joking), Amazon introduced basically everything but the kitchen sink during its event. Almost all these new devices come with built-in Alexa voice control, or they are designed to work with both existing and new Echo products.

Confused about the myriad of announcements? No worries. We've delved into all the details and have rounded up what matters most: Prices, features, and release dates. Enjoy!


Updated Amazon Echo Dot (2018)

The updates include the voice-controlled Echo Dot, Echo Show, and Echo Plus, all three of which now come with sound improvements, though the new Echo Dot also comes with a redesign.

The original, hockey puck-sized model launched in 2016 as a simple way to add Alexa to external speakers. But it had a tinny speaker hardly suitable for proper music playback. The new one not only looks different but is supposed to provide a more "full sound," though you can still pump tunes via your own speakers over Bluetooth or with a 3.5 mm audio cable.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON ECHO DOT (2018): It costs $49.99 in the US. It is available to pre-order on Amazon. It officially launches Oct. 11.


Updated Amazon Echo Show (2018)

As for the new Echo Show, it's being marketed by Amazon as "all-new" -- complete with "new speakers," a "new 10-inch HD screen," and a "new fabric design." Apart from the new cloth look, it primarily comes with more powerful stereo sound, thanks to dual 2-inch drivers, a passive bass radiator, and Dolby processing. It also has eight microphones with far-field technology, which means Alexa should be able to hear you even while music is playing, according to Amazon.

The new model is compatible with Zigbee devices and doesn't need a separate hub. Amazon noted you can use it to view security camera feeds with two-way audio and get notifications (this feature will be "coming soon"). The Alexa app is even adding Skype support.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON ECHO SHOW (2018): It costs $229.99 in the US. It is available to pre-order on Amazon and officially launches Oct. 11.


Updated Amazon Echo Plus (2018)

The last product update Amazon rolled out concerns the Echo Plus, which, like the others, is supposed to bring an improved sound experience. It has more premium speakers that are "powered by Dolby play 360-degree audio with crisp vocals and dynamic bass response," Amazon said. You can also adjust the speaker's equalizer settings within the Alexa app.

The new Echo Plus model further sports a built-in temperature sensor, as well as a built-in Zigbee hub, making it easier to set up and voice control your compatible Zigbee smart home devices, such as smart lights and plugs, without a separate hub.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON ECHO PLUS (2018): It costs $149.99 in the US. You can pre-order it now on Amazon. It officially launches Oct. 11.


Updated Ring Stick Up Cam (2018)

Amazon owns security camera company Ring, so it announced a new version of the Ring Stick Up Cam. There are two new versions, technically, a wired model and a battery-powered one. The wired version has an Ethernet port and will be available in black and white. Both can work either indoors or outside, as they have an IPX5 waterproof rating, and they record 1080p video.

BUY THE NEW RING STICK UP CAM (2018): It costs $179.99 in the US. You can pre-order it now on Amazon. It officially launches on Oct. 18.


New Amazon Echo Input

In terms of new devices, the new Echo Input can plug it into any existing speaker to turn it into an Echo. It's like an Echo Dot with far-field microphones and no speaker. You can plug it into or pair with another speaker in order to add Alexa intelligence to your home audio equipment. It's similar to Google's Chromecast Audio, but this has mics and Alexa.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON ECHO INPUT: It will cost $34.99 in the US. It'll be available to buy later this year. When it launches, you can buy it on Amazon,


New Amazon Echo Sub

Amazon has announced an all-new, cloth-covered Echo Sub. It has a 6-inch, down-firing woofer that delivers 100W deep bass sound. You use the Alexa app to pair it to an Echo or Echo Plus (sold separately) to achieve more "dynamic music that fills the room," or a left/right stereo sound experience. It's supposed to be simple to set up and use, too. Just plug it in, open the Alexa app, wirelessly connect to your Echo devices, and control your music by voice.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON ECHO SUB: It costs $129.99 in the US. You can pre-order it now on Amazon. It officially launches Oct. 11.


New Amazon Echo Link Amp and Echo Link

Amazon announced two more audio products: the Echo Link Amp, which will connect to a receiver or an amplifier, and the Echo Link, which enables your Echo to pipe music to your stereo system. These are stereo amplifiers with multiple audio ins and audio outs and support Ethernet and coaxial cables, and the Link Amp features a built-in 60-watt dual-channel amplifier. They'll work with other Echo devices but do not have built-in Alexa voice capabilities.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON ECHO LINK AMP: It will cost $299.99 in the US. It'll be available to buy early next year. When it launches, you can buy it on Amazon.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON ECHO LINK: It will cost $199.99 in the US. It'll be available to buy early next year. When it launches, you can buy it on Amazon.


New Amazon Smart Plug

Amazon also rolled out the all-new Amazon Smart Plug, which adds Alexa voice control to an electrical socket. It primarily lets you schedule times to turn appliances on and off, use Alexa for voice control, and control devices when you're away from home. Just plug it in, head into the Alexa app, add your new Smart Plug, and start using Alexa voice commands -- no smart home hub required. You can also set up routines and schedules through the Alexa App.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON SMART PLUG: It costs $24.99 in the US. You can pre-order it now on Amazon. It officially launches Oct. 11.


New Amazon Echo Wall Clock

Not done yet, Amazon has a new Echo accessory that works with Alexa-enabled devices to display timers you've set with Alexa. The new Amazon Echo Wall Clock has no mics, but it does have a ring of LEDs that show your active timers. You'll see an LED for how long a timer is set, and if you add a second timer, and you'll see a second LED.

It will auto-change the time for Daylight Savings Time, as well.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON ECHO WALL CLOCK: It costs $29.99 in the US. It'll be available to buy later this year. When it launches, you can buy it on Amazon.


New AmazonBasics Microwave

Just when you thought Amazon was finished, it brings out a microwave with built-in Alexa and an integrated Dash replenishment service. That's right. You can order a replenishment, such as popcorn, with the "built-in Ask Alexa button". You can also control the company's new microwave using voice commands, naturally. So, if you say, "Alexa, one potato," it'll turn on with a timer. You can then ask Alexa to add more time or stop, all by voice.

BUY THE NEW AMAZONBASICS MICROWAVE: It costs $59.99 in the US. You can pre-order it now on Amazon. It officially launches Nov. 14.


New FireTV Recast

FireTV Recast is a DVR device that can stream shows from an antenna to your home, so you can watch over-the-air television. You just place the box in your home, and you can start streaming on your Echo Show, Echo Spot, Amazon Fire TV, or on mobile. You can watch local news and channels. It'll also send live TV recording to your Echo Show (four shows at a time, for streaming on multiple devices). You can delete or schedule recordings with Alexa voice commands.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON FIRE TV RECAST: It costs $229.99 in the US. You can pre-order it now on Amazon. It officially launches Nov. 14.


New Echo Auto

Last, but not least, is an in-car accessory that mounts to your dashboard and lets you integrate Alexa into your car. It comes with an eight-mic array and connects to your car through either Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, or a 3.5mm aux jack. It runs on a new Real Time OS from Amazon and uses your phone connectivity and to display in-car navigation through Google Maps.

The Echo Auto will cost $49.99, after an initial discounted invite price of $24.99. It's expected to start shipping for select invited users sometime later this year. Request an invite here.

BUY THE NEW AMAZON ECHO AUTO: It will cost $24.99 in the US. It'll be available to buy later this year. When it launches, you can buy it on Amazon.


SOURCE ZDNet:

The Fire HD 8 tabletAmazon adds always-on Alexa Hands-Free to Fire HD 8 tablet