Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Apple : New vBulletin zero-day could infect thousands of sites worldwide

Apple : New vBulletin zero-day could infect thousands of sites worldwide

New vBulletin zero-day could infect thousands of sites worldwide

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 01:49 PM PDT

Details about a zero-day in the popular internet forum software vBulletin have been published online by an anonymous security researcher.

Following the disclosure, security experts have become concerned that by publishing details about the unpatched vulnerability, the anonymous researcher may have just triggered an incoming wave of forum hacks across the internet that could see hackers take over forums and steal the information contained in them in bulk.

Analysis of the published code has revealed that the zero-day allows an attacker to execute shell commands on a server running a vBulletin installation. The vulnerability is quite severe as an attacker does not even need to have an account on a targeted forum to launch an attack against it.

The zero-day discovered in vBulletin is known as a pre-authentication remote code execution vulnerability and it is one of the worst types of security flaw that can impact a web-based platform.

Anonymous disclosure

Details about the zero-day in vBulletin were published on the public access mailing list, Full Disclosure.

Security researchers often disclose vulnerabilities after they've informed a company and given it enough time to patch the flaw. However in this case, it is still unclear as to whether the anonymous researcher reported the vulnerability directly to the vBulletin team or if they disclosed the vulnerability after the company failed to address the issue fast enough. Typically security researchers give businesses at least 90 days to patch vulnerabilities before exposing them publicly. 

At the same time, the disclosure could also have been an act of intentional malice or sabotage with the researcher trying to hurt the reputation of MH Sub I, the company behind vBulletin. The researcher was able to conceal their identity when publishing details about the zero-day by using an anonymous email service. However, if the researcher had reported the zero-day directly to the company, they could have received a bug bounty worth $10,000 according to MH Sub I's price chart.

Around 0.1 percent of all internet sites run a vBulletin-powered forum and this number may look small but billions of internet users could be affected by this zero-day. Thankfully though, the zero-day only affects forums running vBulletin 5.x, so forums running earlier versions are safe.

Users in charge of a vBulletin forum should first check to see which version of the software they are running and if they are using the latest version, security researchers have released an unofficial patch to mitigate the zero-day.

Via ZDNet

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Luigi's Mansion 3: release date, news, and features

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 12:35 PM PDT

It’s been six long years since Nintendo last released a game in the Luigi’s Mansion series, and with fans beginning to give up hope of another, the announcement that a sequel will hit Nintendo Switch in 2019 is very welcome news indeed.

Announced with a trailer during a Nintendo Direct on September 13, 2018 the tentatively named Luigi’s Mansion 3, is set to be released on Switch this Halloween - very spooky indeed.

During Nintendo Direct at E3 2019, we got a bunch of new details about what we can expect from the next game in the spooky series. Here's everything we know so far about Luigi's Mansion 3.

[Update: It's been confirmed that Luigi's Mansion 3 will be getting paid DLC with new multiplayer content after its launch. Read on to find out more.]

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? The third entry in Nintendo's spooky series
  • When can I play it? October 31st, 2019
  • What can I play it on? Nintendo Switch

Luigi's Mansion 3

Image credit: Nintendo

Luigi's Mansion 3 release date

Luigi's Mansion 3 will launch for Nintendo Switch on October 31st, 2019 (AKA Halloween!). It's a very fitting release date for such a spooky title.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 trailers

Gamescom 2019 brought us our longest look at Luigi's Mansion 3 yet. 30 whole minutes of gameplay showing both single-player and co-op in a brand new garden-themed level. Watch it for yourself below.

Nintendo dropped a more in-depth gameplay trailer for Luigi's Mansion 3 during E3 2019. Check it out below:

Although the first trailer doesn’t give away much, it does give us a sneak peek at the high quality graphics and gameplay. Check it out below:

Luigi's Mansion 3 news and rumors

Post-launch DLC and expanded multiplayer content

Nintendo quietly updated the official website for Luigi's Mansion 3 to reveal that after its Halloween launch, “Paid DLC will come to Luigi's Mansion 3 in the future, adding new content to the ScareScraper and ScreamPark multiplayer modes.” Scarescraper is a co-op multiplayer mode while ScreamPark is a competitive multiplayer so while we can't be certain of which forms the content will take in the paid DLC, nor how much it will cost, we can surmise that it'll be at least as diverse as the two modes.

Puzzles
There are plenty of puzzles in the haunted hotel to keep you occupied (as well as a few hidden secrets). It'll take a combination of Luigi's Poltergust, plungers and Gooigi to solve them.

Luigi's Mansion 3

Gamescom 2019
We got a short amount of time with Luigi's Mansion 3 at Gamescom. Check out our hands on: Luigi's Mansion 3 review. If you want a further in-depth look at the game, don't forget to check out the brand new 30 minutes of footage released during Gamescom above. It gives a look at single-player and co-op in a brand new level of the game. 

Releasing this Halloween
Nintendo has confirmed Luigi's Mansion 3 will launch on October 31st, 2019 (AKA Halloween).

ScareScaper mode
This co-op and competitive mode sees you clearing rooms, taking on ghosts and completing challenges to collect coins. Can be played online or couch co-op.

Lots of rooms in the hotel
Including a greenhouse, film studio, and theatre stage.

Gooigi
Luigi can now summon a flubber-like version of himself that can slip through bars and walk over spikes. Even better, a friend can control Gooigi and you can co-op.

Luigi's Mansion 3

Image credit: Nintendo

New functions
Including Slam (which slams ghosts on the ground), Suction Shot (which attaches the plunger to an item before pulling it away, destorying it), and Burst (an air pressure group attack).

Story
Luigi's Mansion 3 sees Luig being invited to stay in a hotel alongside his friends Mario, Peach and co. But unfortunately the hotel isn't quite what it seems and things take a dark turn when he arrives. There are some ghost guests who refuse to check out and they're not exactly friendly.

Poltergust G-00
Luigi's got a brand new vacuum, in the form of the Poltergust G-00. This new super sucker can fire plungers, use jet propulsion to increase jumping, and use the Strobulb.

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Amazon Echo Frames and Echo Loop put Alexa on your face and finger

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 12:27 PM PDT

Today, at Amazon's 2019 product event, the company launched a boatload of new Alexa-enabled Echo products, two of which you'll be wearing 24/7. 

While the new Echo Buds are a wearable response to Apple AirPods, Amazon has gotten even more ambitious with its wearables. The company also introduced a ring and pair of glass frames, both of which have Alexa built in.

These two new products are part of Amazon's Day 1 Editions program, which aims to put new, ambitious products on the market quickly. The products will be available to customers through invitation only, and Amazon will seek feedback from users. This blends the line between customer and tester.

Echo Loop is Alexa for your fingers

The Echo Loop is Amazon's smart ring. It has a titanium frame that houses two microphones, a tiny speaker, and a piezo haptic driver to provide vibrations.

Given all the hardware pack inside, Amazon plans for it to be a highly capable device and not just an Alexa trigger. A small button on the bottom of the Echo Loop activates it, so it can be used to interact with Alexa. But, you can also use it for phone calls and to receive notifications from your phone. The ring will have an all-day battery life and charge fully in 90 minutes.

That's all well and good, but a simple button on a ring may prove to be the ultimate tool for placing accidental phone calls. And, that's only if it works. In the on-stage demonstration, the button failed to work.

The Echo Loop will cost $129 (no international pricing has been announced yet) and will come in four sizes. But, that is a special price for the invitation period.

Echo Frames adds Alexa to your glasses

The Echo Frames are similar in idea but different in form: They, too, will have speakers and microphones built in, allowing you to interact with Alexa as usual. 

They also can discreetly play podcasts, deliver phone notifications and more using beam-forming speakers. A touch-sensitive section on the frame near your temple activates the glasses.

The Echo Frames weigh 31 grams, and they can fit prescription lenses. They'll cost $179 during the invitation period, but again, no international pricing has been announced. 

The good/bad news? Despite being considered 'smart glasses' they won't have any cameras to draw out the ire of your fellow humans like Google Glass did.

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Two new Ring cameras offer cheap home security for your budding compound

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 12:23 PM PDT

Amazon is turning your simple, but highly vulnerable home into a maximum security compound, or at least that's what we assume after the Amazon launch event.

It introduced two new Ring home security cameras, one being the refresh of the last year's Indoor Cam at a cheaper price and the other being brand new Stick Up Cam. 

What's unique about the 2019 Indoor Cam is that it costs just $59.99 and includes features like 1080p HD video, custom motion detection, and night vision. You can also power it four different ways: battery, plug-in, solar and Power over Ethernet.

The new Ring Stick Up Cam is more expensive at $99.99 with the benefit that it works indoors and outdoors. It comes in four distinct versions: with a battery, plugged-in, powered by solar and Elite (powered by Ethernet).

Amazon also announced that its high-end Ring Video Doorbell Elite models will get a concierge service, allowing Alexa to ask a messenger about signing for a package or a stranger to state their business.

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The Amazon Echo might sound better – but it won't be enough for audiophiles

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 12:20 PM PDT

Amazon Echo speakers may be among the most popular smart speakers in the world, with the power of voice assistant Alexa's smarts combined with low price points.

However, they've never been known for having audiophile-grade sound quality, and even Amazon's flagship model, the Amazon Echo, is lacking in this department.

No doubt the tech giant is hoping that's all about to change, with the launch of two  audio-focused Echo speakers: the upgraded Amazon Echo (2019), and the all-new Amazon Echo Studio.

The new Amazon Echo now boasts the "the same audio architecture as the Echo Plus", which is admittedly, the best-sounding Echo speaker currently available. That means the Alexa-powered speaker now comes with neodymium drivers, a 3-inch woofer and increased back volume, which should make the bass feel stronger, while giving clarity to the mid and high frequencies.

With no support for Hi-Res Audio, the upgraded Echo is unlikely to appeal to audiophiles, despite its new drivers and more powerful bass frequencies. Amazon just doesn't have the long audio heritage of brands like Sonos and Bowers & Wilkins, whose speakers walk the fine line between consumer-friendly prices and high-end audio prowess.

That doesn't mean it's all over for Amazon; in fact, the new Echo Studio could be the first Echo speaker to truly appeals to audiophiles, being the first smart speaker to support Dolby Atmos' virtual 3D audio.

With a 5.25-inch woofer, and 330W of power, the Echo Studio promises to produce "deep, rich bass", according to Amazon. It's not just about the bass, though; a one-inch tweeter and three two-inch mid-range speakers are designed to deliver crisp and dynamic high frequencies.

That sound is customizable, thanks to in-built microphones that "sense the acoustics" of your room, allowing the speaker to fine-tune its audio output so that it sounds good, no matter where in the room you decide to put it.

In a bid to appeal to audiophiles, the Echo Studio boasts a "24-bit DAC and a power amplifier with 100 kHz of bandwidth for high-res, lossless music playback" – which of course, is now available via  Amazon Music Unlimited's new Hi-Res Audio streaming tier, Amazon Music HD.

So, even if the upgraded Amazon Echo can't give audiophiles what they need from a speaker, the Echo Studio could just succeed where it's smaller sibling has failed in the past – and that could be a problem for the big audio brands.

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Third-party keyboards could be able to hack iOS 13

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 12:10 PM PDT

Thinking about using a third-party keyboard app on your recently updated iPhone or iPad? You may want to think twice as Apple has issued a warning regarding a software bug in iOS13 and iPadOS that affects third-party keyboards.

The iPhone maker released the latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 13, last week and the company followed this up with the recent release of iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1. However, Apple has warned users of an issue affecting third-party keyboard apps in a brief advisory, which reads:

“Third-party keyboard extensions in iOS can be designed to run entirely standalone, without access to external services, or they can request “full access” to provide additional features through network access. Apple has discovered a bug in iOS 13 and iPadOS that can result in keyboard extensions being granted full access even if you haven't approved this access.”

Third-party keyboards

In the latest version of iOS, third-party keyboards can run in a standalone mode or with full access, giving them the ability to interact with other apps or access the internet for additional features such as spell check. 

However, using a third-party keyboard in full access mode also allows the developer of the app to capture keystroke data whenever you type and this includes what you write in emails, messages and even when you enter a password.

The bug Apple discovered could allow third-party keyboard apps to gain full access permissions regardless of whether or not a user approved.

The company has not released further details on the issue though it does say that the bug will be patched in an upcoming software update.

Via TechCrunch

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Apex Legend developers are making a Medal of Honor VR game for Oculus

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 12:03 PM PDT

Can VR games possibly recreate the slick thrills of traditional flatscreen first-person shooter (FPS) gaming? Developers are certainly trying – with studio Respawn working on a VR game entry in the Medal of Honor franchise.

Respawn has been behind such video game hits as Titanfall and the free-to-play Apex Legends, and the studio is currently working on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for PC and consoles. We'd heard word of an unnamed VR project back in 2017, but it's only now we got word on the franchise Respawn was taking into the virtual world.

You can see the reveal trailer for Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond below, which shows off the WWII setting and some fast-paced gunplay – and frying pans – as well as some large-scale set-pieces set to be included in the game.

Announced at the Oculus Connect 6 conference this week – exclusively for Oculus headsets, it seems – a spokesperson for Oculus called the game a "humbling example of what we can do for games, for players and how we look back on history itself."

The Respawn name gives the project a lot of kudos, as does the Medal of Honor franchise, which has spanned various high-profile entries since the first Medal of Honor game back in 1999.

While the franchise doesn't have the same draw as, say, Call of Duty of Battlefield today, we're excited to see what Respawn does with the property, especially given that VR controls still don't have the precision of traditional console controllers or a mouse and keyboard. 

If the team manages to do for FPS VR what it did for the battle royale genre with Apex Legends, however, it could become a must-play VR game for Oculus headsets.

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Apex Legends Season 3: latest update news, tips, patch notes and more

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 11:52 AM PDT

Apex Legends Season 2 is now close to wrapping up and when October 1 comes we'll see the introduction of Season 3: Meltdown. This new season will bring a reasonable number of updates to Apex Legends: a new character (Crypto), a new weapon and a brand new Battle Pass. It'll also see the introduction of Ranked Season 2. 

All of the details around what to expect from Season 3 haven't been confirmed just yet but this new season will be building on some of the much-needed changes that were made in Season 2: Battle Charge to keep the playerbase interested. 

Battle Charge certainly offered many of the improvements fans felt were needed and all eyes will be on Respawn and Season 3 to see if Apex Legends can once again deliver. 

EA surprised many with the sudden announcement of Apex Legends back in February, a free-to-play battle royale shooter that sees the publisher going toe-to-toe with genre mammoths PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite Battle Royale.

Developed by Respawn Entertainment and set in the Titanfall universe, Apex Legends is a squad-based battle royale shooter where teams of three go up against 57 other players to try to gather loot and be the last person (or squad) standing.

However, unlike Fortnite and PUBG, Apex Legends sees players take on one of eight classes, each represented by a unique character (imagine Fortnite mixed with Overwatch and you’ll be on the right track.) 

Whether that sounds like your kind of gaming or not, Apex Legends hit the ground running. It managed to reach a million players in its first eight hours and amassed 10 million players in three days.

That's good going. Really good going. Particularly when you consider that it took Fortnite two weeks (a fortnight!) to reach those same numbers. Similarly, it took Fortnite 24 hours to accrue a million players, compared to eight hours for EA’s shooter. 

However, things seem to have slowed down for Apex Legends with revenue dropping and Respawn opting to implement less-frequent, more meaningful updates in lieu of constant, smaller updates.

Do we have another Fortnite on our hands or just a passing fad? Let's not get ahead of ourselves and instead take a look at everything we know about Apex Legends.

Apex Legends


As we said in our full Apex Legends review:

"Truth be told, the Battle Royale movement has never quite grabbed me. I dabbled in PUBG and spent a dozen hours or so with Fortnite, yet nothing ever quite stuck the landing. Apex though, has got me hook, line and sinker. Featuring intuitive controls, an outstanding comms system and remarkable rogue’s gallery, Respawn has created what feels like the AAA outing for the genre." 

Apex Legends update news

  • What's new? Details about what we can expect from Season 3 and Ranked Series 2 are starting to come out

Season 2 of Apex Legends is wrapping up as we come towards the end of September and we now know that Season 3 will begin on October 1 under the name Meltdown. 

It's not a particularly substantial update but when it begins, Season 3 will bring a brand new Battle Pass with more than 100 exclusive items that will include Legendary skins and Apex packs. 

The new weapon coming to Season 3 is the Charge Rifle alongside the new hacker character called Crypto who uses his surveillance drones "to stay in the fight and out of the spotlight".

Alongside Season 3, Ranked Series 2 will also launch on October 1 and more details around how it will work have been revealed. 

Like Series 1, Series 2 will use a score-based system with the developers feeling pleased with how it went the first time around. Also staying the same are the Tiers and Divisions, the level 10 entry requirement and the fact that playing with friends will see matchmaking up to the highest ranked player. 

So what will players see that's a little different? Well, when Series 2 begins all ranked players will see their ranks be soft reset. That means all players will drop 1.5 Tiers. This is being done instead of a hard reset which would mean players would have to invest a disproportionate amount of time to return to their true skill ranking and feel that they're making progress from the previous series. 

After deactivating leaver penalties in Series 1, Series 2 will start with them enabled so players who abandon their teammates during a match will be hit with a matchmaking penalty in regular and Ranked matches. Penalties will mean players will be stopped from entering new matches for escalating amounts of time based on how often they drop out of matches before they're finished. Penalties can range from 5 minutes to an entire week. 

While the Series 1 score-based system will remain, it will see some improvements. For more "granularity in the points spread" all the points in the system will be multiplied by 10. Match entry RP costs are also being updated. Bronze matches will remain free but Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Apex Predator matches will now cost 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 RP respectively. 

Assists are also being added to Ranked play's kill count score. An assist in Apex Legends will be defined as doing damage to a player within 5 seconds of them being knocked down by a teammate. If the player is revived the assist won't count. 

Completely new to Series 2 is the Apex Predator Ladder Position which will now allow Apex Predator ranked players to see their worldwide standing as well as their RP. The ladders positions will be split by platform so three players on PlayStation, Xbox and PC will all be able to claim a number 1 ranking. 

Cosmetic rewards for rankings are also being introduced. All players will receive badges indicating the highest level they've reached while players that reach Gold tier and higher will receive a gun charm. Reach Diamond or higher and players will receive a custom dive trail. 

Recently there have been rumors that players could soon see cross-play and cross-progression introduced to Apex Legends. We're taking these rumors with a pinch of salt since Respawn hasn't made any comment on them. But if there is anything to be announced it's likely we won't hear until Season 3 is underway or perhaps even past. 

Apex Legends tips and tricks

Apex Legends can be difficult to get to grips with. There are a lot of different characters each with their own abilities and skills, plus this battle royale arguably leans more heavily on strategy and teamwork than some of its competitors. 

Get ahead of the pack with our selection of Apex Legends guides, designed to help you become a champion.

Apex Legends

How to download Apex Legends

Apex Legends can be downloaded for free from the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Origin Store or Apex Legends website. Simply search for the title, download the game and enjoy! 

But do keep in mind that a good internet connect and subscription to either PS Plus, Xbox Live or Origin Access is required to play.

The good news is that Apex Legends is also coming to mobile in the future, following in the footsteps of Fortnite and PUBG.

Apex Legends


Apex Legends roadmap - what's next?

Respawn Entertainment has shared the season roadmap for Apex Legends. Apex Legends Battle Pass seasons run for approximately three months. Currently four seasons have officially been announced:

  • Season One: March 19, 2019 until June 18, 2019. 
  • Season Two: July 2, 2019
  • Season Three: September 2019
  • Season Four: December 2019

Apex Legends

Is Apex Legends coming to mobile?

Yes. In EA’s quarterly earnings report, the publisher announced that it’s looking at bringing the Respawn Entertainment-developed game to mobile platforms and to both South Korea and China. 

“We’re in advanced negotiations to China and mobile”, EA’s CFO Blake Jorgenson stated, before later mentioning South Korea as another expansion point. 

While the specific platform details haven't been confirmed, it’s fair to assume that this will include both Android and iOS releases down the line, and as far as the Eastern market releases, this will be via EA’s PC platform and marketplace, Origin.

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Amazon 2019 launch as it happened: 14 new hardware launches and much more!

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 11:28 AM PDT


The Amazon 2019 launch event is over, and it was an announcement-packed 90 minutes with no fewer than 14 new hardware launches as well as a host of other new features and software.

The Amazon 2019 launch event has finished, and we'll bring you our in-depth analysis, round-ups and hands on reviews of the new products over the next few hours, so keep it locked to TechRadar.

Here are the key announcements from Amazon's 2019 launch event.

  • Amazon Echo Dot with Clock ($59.99)
  • Samuel L. Jackson voice for Alexa ($0.99)
  • All-new Amazon Echo ($99.99)
  • Amazon Echo Studio ($199.99)
  • Amazon Echo Show 8 ($129.99)
  • Amazon Echo Glow ($29.99)
  • Amazon eero (from $99/£99)
  • Amazon Echo Flex ($24.99)
  • Retrofit alarm kit (from $199)
  • All-new stick up cam ($99.99)
  • Ring Indoor Cam ($59.99
  • Ring Stick-up Cam ($99.99)
  • Amazon Smart Oven ($249.99)
  • Amazon Echo Buds ($129.99)
  • Amazon Echo Frames ($179.99, invite only)
  • Amazon Echo Loop ($129.99, invite only)

Amazon 2019 launch news stories

Amazon 2019 launch: as it happened

All times are in Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)

11:25 - PHEW. It's over. That's an awful lot of product. We're going to race around and see what we can get hands on with and bring you our findings as soon as we can. Thanks for joining!

11:20 - Amazon's only gone a put a ring on it! Beyoncé will be pleased. Introducing the Echo Loop, a smart ring which has two mics which can be activated by a button on the base of the device, working alongside your phone, and allows you to send messages to your home's Echo devices.

The Echo Loop also includes a haptic engine for vibration feedback, which can alert you to notifications.

Amazon's Echo Loop on-stage demo hasn't worked, but it's likely to be a non-final unit. It'll set you back $129.99 and like the Frames, will be invite-only to start with.

11:18 - Hello Amazon Echo Frames! Yes, Amazon is getting into the smart glasses game with these 31g frames with stems which look kinda chunky if we're honest. There's no display, and no camera. Instead the Echo Frames feature discrete directional mics, allowing you to chat to Alexa hands-free when you're out and about.

Sound from the built-in speakers is also discrete, allowing you to hear, but not others around you. The Echo Frames cost $179.99, and will be available via invite only - how exclusive.

11:15 - We've been waiting to hear about them, and here we go! Amazon Echo Buds confirmed - true wireless earbuds set to rival Apple AirPods. Available to pre-order today for $129.99, and shipping in time for Christmas.

The Echo Buds offer up to 5 hours of battery life on a single charge, and the charging case can take up total up to 20 hours between visits to a plug.

Amazon says: "each earbud has two premium, balanced armature drivers, inspired by those used by professional musicians. These deliver crisp, clear vocals, and dynamic bass."

11:11 - Amazon Fetch, for the best doggy bois! It's a pet tracker that uses the Amazon Sidewalk network to keep an eye on where your dog has got to. If your dog is near an Amazon Sidewalk connected device, you'll get an idea of where it's ran off to.

11:09: Amazon Sidewalk is a new low-energy network protocol using the 900Mhz wave to allow devices around your home to speak to each other. Should make for more secure and stable interactions for your devices, as well as being less of a battery drain for products that run off a battery. It'll also mesh with other user's Sidewalk-enabled devices.

11:06:  Whodda thunk it? The Alexa Microwave is now the best-selling microwave on Amazon, and now adding to that explosion in Alexa appliance tech is a new Amazon Smart Oven. Convection cooking, air-frying, all with voice control in the new devices. And it's a microwave too. It's smart enough to allow you to scan a product's packaging, and pre-program the oven to automatically cook it to perfection. Available for pre-order today for $249.99 (and that includes a free Echo Dot thrown in, too). 

11:05 -  A new Ring Indoor Cam is being introduced too for $59, along with a revised Stick Up Cam for $99.99. Big push on security and smart home functionality here at this year's Amazon event.

11:00 - Now the Ring Retrofit Alarm Kit being talked about on stage. Lets you take an existing alarm system for your home that isn't smart, and update it with Ring smart controls.  $199 for the kit, $375 if you throw in a Ring hub, too.

10:58 - Another new Echo, the Echo Flex. No cables, simply just a plug that goes into the wall. Includes a mic and a small speaker (not optimised for music), but makes for a simple Alexa smart home access point that you can put almost anywhere. Includes a USB port for charging so you don't lose a power outlet entirely. There's a software and hardware API for it, and so there's already motion sensor accessory that can be plugged into the bottom, as well as a Smart Nightlight add-on too. Very neat! The Echo Flex will cost just $24.99. A nice, small smart addition there. Accessories available for $14.

10:56  - Onto Alexa Guard now, Amazon's security alert system. Alexa Guard being added to routines. Anecdotally been great for stopping crime, it seems.

10:55 - Alexa-enabled doorbells like Ring are getting more conversational too with Alexa Concierge, allowing those at the door to leave messages for you. Coming to Ring Doorbell Elite models first, rolling out next year.

10:54 - Alexa Hunches getting more pro-active - will let you know when smart device batteries are running low, or printer cartridges running dry, as well as suggesting auto-created routines for things you do regularly.

10:52 - Alexa support coming to ASUS, Tp-Link, Arris and Linksys Wi-fi systems, letting you talk to Alexa to turn off Wi-Fi access to specific devices. Example given, "Alexa switch off PlayStation Wi-Fi", instantly making you an enemy of your Fortnite-playing children.

10:48 - Eero is partnering with Amazon for new, simple Wi-Fi solutions. An All-New Eero whole-home mesh Wi-Fi system announced. Can be set up in 10 or 20 minutes, should mean you'll have no Wi-Fi black spots around your home. Available today for $99, coming to Europe later this year, with UK pricing for a three-pack system priced at £249.

10:46: 'Certified for Humans' is a new Amazon-initiative to identify stress-free set up smart home devices. A new 'No Geeks Allowed' team will test these devices to see if they meet the criteria, with a dozen newly-badged devices launching with Amazon's 'Frustration Free Set Up' option. They all also feature silent over-the-air automatic updates. Alexa app carries out all set-up needs for these products.

10:44 -  Echo Glow up next. A companion device which is a light – voice activated with fun modes such as 'Dance Party' that blinks in time with music, a 'Campfire' mode and offers tap controls to switch on and change color. Pre-order available today, $29 and shipping in time for Christmas.

10:42 - Next up, the Alexa Education Skill API - taps into school services, letting parents know how their children are performing at school, as well as checking in on homework schedules and more. Amazon just lost a few teenage fans!

10:41 - Alexa Communications for Kids is a new white-list service parents can turn on for their children's Echo Dot Kids Edition devices. It'll let you set up approved caller lists for your children, letting them call selected pals with their own smart speakers. That'll save your telephone bills at least.

10:40 -  Echo video and audio calling drop-in will now make a mosaic of all the people in your call. A lovely Brady Bunch-like view of callers.

10.35 -  Food Network Kitchen will be a new service coming to Echo and Alexa, exclusively when it comes to voice services. This will give cooking classes and on-demand episodes of its upcoming shows. These instructional videos will be split into steps, numbered down the bottom, with Alexa also smartly knowing details of the recipe, letting you interrupt and get information overlaid on the screen. Celebrity chef Bobby Flay gives his endorsement through an Echo video call on stage. He's got a lovely denim shirt on. 

10:34 - Echo Show 8 has an HD, 8-inch display (naturally), with a privacy shutter for the camera, launching at $129.99, pre-order today and shipping in time for Christmas. Essentially your standard Echo Show's little brother... but the bigger brother of the Echo Show 5. A size for everybody is the thinking here.

10.33 - Echo Show the fastest-growing Echo product. So there's a new Echo Show! Echo Show 8!

10.31 - Fire TV has 37 million monthly active users, with Alexa a core component too. The Alexa Smart Screen SDK going up to version 2.0, so expect a richer experience on Sony TVs, Facebook Portal devices, and more. 

10:29 - Fire TV now – all 4K Fire TV devices now support streaming of Dolby Atmos to one (or two in a pair) Echo Studio devices, as part of an update incoming. Echo Studio is now a proper home-cinema supporting option. Will auto configure for surround sound without much hassle.

18:23 - Now here we REALLY go. Introducing the Echo Studio, a Dolby Atmos-capable speaker, offering left-and-right overhead sounds. Works with your usual streaming formats, but will take better advantage of hi-res sources. 

Three mid-range speakers left, right and top, with a direction tweeter at the front, with a 5.1/4 inch woofer in the bottom. Should give the impression of having multiple speakers in a space, with the mic assessing your surroundings to tweak the sound to your liking.

It's quite a large device, and a brief demo (in sub-optimal space, granted) sounded loud and large and, potentially very good indeed.Still has the usual Echo light ring around the top, as well as some touch-control buttons on top.

It's got Rick Ross's seal of approval, and well, that's enough for us. SOLD!

Atmos-enabled tracks (hundreds) from Universal, Sony and Warner Music Group will be available at launch.

Echo Studio will cost just $199, avaialble for pre-order today.

10:22 - Alexa Guest Connect being introduced for when you're t a pal's house. It'll let you hook up for Amazon Music libraries when away from your own Alexa device. Good for social situations.

10:20 - Also being announced, the All-New Echo. Takes the sound architecture from last year's Echo Plus, and puts it in the core Echo mode. New fabric design, including Twilight Blue. $99 – essentially a simple improvement of the Echo's sound capabilities. Not much else revealed here, other than expect to find the sonic internals from the Plus in here now.

10:18 - Frustration Detection for Alexa up next. If your tone negatively changes when speaking to Alexa, the AI will apologise, and then make a save by fulfilling your intended request.

10:17: Neural Text to Speech is also going to offer a mode which mimics Samuel L Jackson's voice! Like Snakes on a Plane – but... Alexa in your Bedroom? $0.99 to add the movie star's voice to your speaker.

10:15: Alexa is getting more emotive, too – if you like your DJ to be a bit more excitable, be ready for Alexa to be a bit more perky when talking about the songs it is playing. It'll also be able to mimic celebrity voices.

10:13 - Neural Text to Speech is being added to Alexa to improve the voice of the AI, with a more natural pace and tone. Machine learning is making Alexa sound more human. A multi-lingual mode for bi-lingual households is also being launched, letting your speaker talk in Spanish and English, French and English, and Hindi and English, for US, Canadian and Indian territories. respectively.

10:11 -  Next up is Echo Dot. 1 billion "what time is it?" Alexa requests each year. So we're getting a new Echo Dot... with a clock! It has an LED display on its outer fabric ring, with that display also showing outside temperature.

Tap the top, and you get "9 more minutes of blissful sleep!". Echo Dot with Clock pre-orders open today, $59 dollars.

10:10 - Amazon adding an opt-in, rolling 3-month or one year auto-delete voice recordings, too.

10:08 - "Customers control their data." Very much attempting to reassure those that are skeptical of Alexa's privacy chops here. 

"You can't be private unless you allow customers to be in control [of their data]."

Recap: earlier this year Amazon Privacy Center was launched to allow users to see what their products record.

New utterances being added – "Alexa, tell me what you heard" will let you know what Alexa interprets. And (and this is great) an "Alexa, why did you do that?" command. A bit more transparency on how our AI works is always welcome.

10:06 - Talking about Echo's hardware privacy efforts now too. Recording controls for Ring cameras and Echo Show devices being talked up, such as the toggle to switch audio recording off for Ring devices.

10:04 -  Addressing Alexa privacy concerns on stage now. "Every piece of hardware, software and services we work on include privacy from the beginning." The Alexa wake-word engine is being talked up here, as the company improves Alexa's wake-word accuracy using machine learning. No more false-wakes when your buddies Alan and Elena come over.

10:03 - Alexa initially could only do 13 things, now it can tell jokes, reminders and so much more. Including making robot bears twerk! The future is NOW!

10.02 - And we're off! Amazon reps on stage now - "We strive to be the most customer-first company in the world." Amazon products start from a document called "Working Backwards From the Customer" to achieve their goals.

10:00 -  A balmy set of greenhouse-warmed journalists settling down now. We're expecting a lot from Amazon today – could be as many as 20 major announcements.

09:50 - We're inside the eco-domes. Not long to go now.

09:37 - Could be a slight delay to the start of things due to an earlier fire drill. We'll keep you updated right here, in the meantime enjoy (is that the right word?) more of Amazon's twerking bear. 

09:35 - The Amazon 2019 launch event hasn't even kicked off yet, but already we have some news for you. That's right, we're that good.

09:30 - 30 minutes to go and we're queuing to get in.

09:15 - We spotted a truck outside the Amazon offices, hinting that we may get more information today about Alexa's integration into our vehicles. 

Or maybe someone couldn't find the parking lot?

Confirmed: it is an Alexa-enabled truck.

09:10 - If you have any questions about today's launch, or any of the products Amazon announce, you can tweet Gerald and David for answers. They're really excited to hear from you.

09:00 - Okay, who needs a twerking teddy bear? Anyone? No? 

Well tough, here you go.

08:30 - We've arrived a Amazon's sci-fi offices for the launch event.

08:00 - Wonder if we'll hear any updates for Prime Video, Amazon's Netflix rival? The Prime Video UI is still clunky compared to rivals, so a refinement there could really enhance the experience.

07:30 - Talking of zany product launches, what should Amazon embed Alexa into next? Take our Twitter poll and have your say!

07:00 - We've just woken up in Seattle, Washington ahead of this year's major Amazon launch event. The 2018 edition saw a mammoth 12 new products launched, taking pretty much everyone by surprise – who knew we needed an Alexa-powered microwave?

While we're expecting the main focus to be around Amazon's Echo smart speakers, displays and adapters, plus its Fire TV streaming services, we're not ruling out a couple of zany announcements to keep things interesting.

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Echo Buds are Amazon's answer to the Apple AirPods

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 11:23 AM PDT

Amazon has announced its first foray into the world of true-wireless audio, with the launch of the Amazon Echo Buds at its annual hardware showcase in Seattle.

The new true wireless earbuds could pose a challenge for Apple – after all, its own buds, the Apple AirPods, are the current market leaders.

Based on rumors, we had expected biometric sensors to come to the Echo Buds, but it looks like Amazon has focused on audio fidelity rather than fitness tracking; each earbud has "two premium, balanced armature drivers, inspired by those used by professional musicians", according to the company.

Noise cancelation from Bose

They also come with noise cancelation courtesy of Bose, specifically its Active Noise Reduction technology. 

This can be controlled using the touch-sensitive housings on the outside of each earbud – Amazon says that, "with a double tap, you can turn on and off the noise reduction for pass through mode if you want to clearly hear the world around you".

You can also tap and hold to access your device's voice assistant – and that's even if you use Google Assistant or Apple's Siri, which is an interesting move from Amazon, considering its own voice assistant, Alexa, comes built into the Echo Buds.

Like the Apple AirPods, the Echo buds come with five hours of battery life, with a further 20 hours provided by the charging case. 

They're slightly cheaper than Apple's earbuds though, coming in at $129.99. This works out at around £105 / AU$190, but we're still waiting on global pricing and availability.

Amazon says the Echo Buds are available to preorder in the US from today, and will ship "in time for the holidays". 

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Facebook is launching a Ready Player One-like VR world for you to hang out in

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 11:16 AM PDT

Facebook Horizon is a social VR hub looking to suck up even more of your time into virtual reality next year.

With more than a dose of the massive VR world in the book and 2018 movie Ready Player One, Facebook Horizon will be a social network that operates eantirely in VR for those using Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest headsets.


While we haven't got a hands on look yet, we're told users will be able to "make their own games and worlds", with "expressive and diverse avatars" used to navigate the VR world – according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook Horizon was announced at the Oculus Connect 6 conference in San Jose, California on September 25-26 this year, and is set to launch sometime in 2020. You can see an introductory reveal trailer below.

While there isn't much in the way of specific details, the trailer above shows off avatars flying planes, painting in VR, and hugging little pink cubes, for some reason.

Apparently, there will be a stress on creation tools, and we could see Facebook try to attract fans of games like Minecraft – the highest selling game of all time – wanting to use new VR tools to make and shape the world around them.

"You don't need to be able to code to create something," says Zuckerberg, "though that can certainly help when making some of the more advanced things. "It's just another step towards building the kind of social infrastructure that we believe will be increasingly important for the future.”

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New Amazon Eero mesh Wi-Fi system is here to tackle Google Wifi

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:57 AM PDT

Amazon has unveiled a new and upgraded version of its Eero mesh Wi-Fi router system, at a much cheaper price than its first model, and offering even easier setup.

The Eero base station is available right now in the US at the time of writing for just $99 / £99 / €99), while a three-pack containing the base station and two beacons for expanded coverage is priced at $249 / £249 / €279. A launch in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK is coming this November.

The new router was unveiled at Amazon's product launch event at its Seattle, Washington headquarters,

Considering that the first Eero mesh Wi-Fi set cost a whopping $399 (about £300, AU$530), this is a dramatic price cut – and notably, it undercuts the Google Wifi three-pack by $10 in the US at the time of writing.

Eero

The Eero base station unit is slightly larger than the beacons

Wi-Fi enhanced by Alexa – starting with Eero

Like other Eero products before it, these come with dual-band radios as well as Eero's 'TrueMesh' technology, which promises to eliminate dead spots in your Wi-Fi coverage. Better yet, a three-pack can now cover up to 5,000 square feet with Wi-Fi signal, a 66% improvement over the previous model.

Amazon is also introducing two new security services with these new routers, Eero Secure and Eero Secure+, designed to safeguard the devices that connect to your network. The company hasn't yet revealed the specific features of each service at the time of writing, only that Secure+ offers on-the-go protections and control.

The company was much more excited to talk about how Alexa has been updated to offer voice-based Wi-Fi controls through Eero devices. Here are some of the commands you can expect:

  • “Alexa, pause the WiFi for dinner.”
  • “Alexa, turn on the guest WiFi.”
  • “Alexa, pause the Playstation WiFi.”

Amazon promises to make these Alexa features available to a number of routers from other manufacturers in the future, particularly Asus and TP-Link routers later this year, with support for Arris and Linksys devices coming early next year.

Now that it's available for less than Google Wifi, Amazon just made Eero a much more interesting proposition for a vast majority of would-be customers, especially given the addition of voice control. Whether this will spark a Wi-Fi war between Amazon and Google is yet to be seen, but we'd be willing to bet on it.

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Oculus Rift VR games are now coming to the Oculus Quest

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:55 AM PDT

Got an Oculus Quest? An incoming update is going to essentially turn your wireless VR headset into a Rift model, with a cabling product called the Oculus Link allowing you to access the whole library of Rift VR games.

The Quest is pitched as a more accessible all-in-one VR headset, that uses on-board processing instead of the high-end PC specs needed to run the Oculus Rift or Rift S.


Now, though, "if you have a gaming PC and a USB-C cable, you're now going to be able to run all the Rift content on your Quest."

The Oculus Link is set to launch in November 2019, and is set to vastly expand the experiences available on the Oculus Quest. 

With the option of playing Rift games on your Quest, and the recent news of the Quest also being able to emulate Oculus Go apps and games, the Quest is increasingly becoming the focus point of Oculus development.

Not to mention the hand tracking features coming to the Oculus Quest next year – the first time such a feature has been available for a fully wireless headset – which was also announced at this week's Oculus Connect 6 conference.

You can find out the PC specs needed to run Rift games – on either the Rift or Quest – in our Oculus Rift review and Oculus Rift S review.

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New Amazon Echo speakers release date, news and features

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:47 AM PDT

Your favorite smart home devices are going to get an upgrade this year - Amazon has just announced five new Echo speakers for 2019, including a Hi-Fi speaker called the Echo Studio, a new Amazon Echo Dot with an LED display and a wall plug Echo called the Echo Flex.

While details are still pouring in about the new members of the Echo family, we've done our best to round-up everything we know so far about the speakers and displays, along with pricing and release dates.

Amazon Echo Dot (2019) price and release date

Amazon has upgraded its most popular smart speaker, the Amazon Echo Dot, to include an LED display that tells you the time. 

The Amazon Echo Dot with Clock can also display things "like the temperature or alarm times", according to the company, which announced the new model at its 2019 hardware showcase in Seattle.

In a bid to bring Alexa into the bedroom, Amazon says that "if used as an alarm clock, you can simply tap [it] to snooze your alarm for a few more minutes of sleep".

Available for preorder today, the Alexa-powered smart speaker will cost $59.99. While Amazon hasn't revealed global pricing and availability yet, this works out at around £50 / AU$90. 

The All-New Amazon Echo (2019) price and release date

Meanwhile, the Amazon Echo has been gifted an all-new sound system, which will  hopefully improve upon the somewhat lacking audio performance of its predecessor. 

The new Amazon Echo (2019) now boasts "the same audio architecture as Echo Plus, including neodymium drivers, 3-inch woofer and increased back volume so the bass feels stronger, and the mids and highs are clearer", according to Amazon. 

Aside from looking a little chunkier, the Amazon Echo (2019) doesn't look particularly different from the previous Echo model, still sporting that wraparound fabric grille – however, it will come in a new color, which Amazon has dubbed 'Twilight Blue'. 

The new Echo is available to preorder now in the US, and will cost $99.99 (around £80 / AU$150).

Amazon Echo Studio price and release date

There's a new kid on the block, too: the Amazon Echo Studio, which the company says is "the most innovative speaker we’ve ever built". 

According to Amazon, its the "first smart speaker that brings 3D audio from Dolby Atmos right into your living room" – whether the Studio will deliver true Dolby Atmos surround sound, or will provide an approximation of it, is unclear at this stage.

The new smart speaker uses "built-in Alexa microphones" to "automatically calibrate and model the room around you" – so, it should sound fantastic no matter where you have it in the home. 

The Amazon Echo Studio will set you back $199.99, making it $100 more expensive than the new Echo – that works out at around £160 / AU$295 based on current conversion rates.

Amazon Echo Show 8 price and release date

We already have the Echo Show and the diminutive Echo Show 5 – now Amazon has announced a smart display that sits firmly in the middle of the two, the Amazon Echo Show 8. 

With a (you guessed it) eight-inch HD display, Amazon says the new smart display combines the "crisp, powerful audio" of the 10-inch Echo Show, with the "camera shutter and sleek form factor" of the 5-inch Echo Show 5. 

It's available to preorder in the US from today for $129.99 – again, we're still waiting for global pricing and availability, but that works out at around £105 / AU$190.

Amazon Echo Flex price and release date

Last but not least, if the Amazon Echo Dot with a screen is still too much of a financial commitment for you but you still want Alexa in your home, check out the Amazon Echo Flex.

The Flex is basically a two-way microphone that plugs into any outlet in your home. It's not going to play music, but it can tell you the score of your favorite team when it's playing, control smart devices in your home and answer general inquiries. 

In addition to the micro-microphone, the Echo Flex also has a built-in USB port so you can easily charge your phone from it. 

It's only $24.99 at launch, which works out to only £20 / AU$37.

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Amazon Alexa gets new privacy controls, and will tell you what it's hearing

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:43 AM PDT

Alexa is getting two new voice commands that will give you more control over your privacy. At its device launch event in Seattle, Washington, Amazon announced that it's adding two new voice commands to its virtual assistant: "Alexa, tell me what you just heard," and "Alexa, why did you do that?"

This could be eye-opening for anyone who wonders exactly how sensitive their Amazon Echo device is, or what prompted it to perform an unexpected task like playing a piece of music. Amazon says the 'what' command will be available immediately, with the 'why' option arriving later this year.

Privacy has been a big talking point for Amazon in 2019. Earlier in the year it added voice commands that let you delete the last thing you said, or everything you've said during the whole day, and you'll soon be able to have all your data deleted automatically if you opt in.

Putting you in control

Amazon promises that users will also be able to choose their individual privacy settings "with fine granularity".

This focus on privacy comes as no surprise; Amazon (along with Google and Apple) is one of the tech giants that's come under fire in recent months for their use – or misuse – of customers' recorded voice commands.

All three companies employed human transcribers to listen to recorded snippets and transcribe them to improve the accuracy of their software, but it was felt that users weren't made sufficiently aware that other people may be listening to what they say in the their own homes.

The ability to find out exactly how much your smart speaker can hear, and decide how that information is used, is a welcome addition, and the extra transparency should go some way towards restoring users' confidence in Alexa.

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Oculus Quest looks to kill controllers with hand tracking update next year

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:36 AM PDT

The Oculus Quest VR headset will get hand tracking through a firmware update in 2020, it was announced at this year's Oculus Connect 6 conference.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage in San Jose, California on September 25 to make the announcement, saying that hand tracking would be coming to the Oculus Quest next year. 


"As soon as we made [touch controllers] possible it opened up this bigger question which is, ok, how can we do even better – how can we make it so that instead of having to use our hands in controllers, we can just use our hands."

"No controllers, no buttons, no external sensors – just the full range of motion in your hands."

As Oculus seeks to push for more widespread VR adoption, removing the physical hardware barriers from the immersion of the experience – removing trailing cables, the need for a high-end PC, and even controller inputs – is making the Quest even more accessible for fluid and flexible play.

Hand tracking should allow for more immersive play that responds to a range of hand gestures, though the feature may be limited to a certain number of compatible games.

We'll be reporting live from the OC6 conference in San Jose to bring you everything else being announced by the VR company.

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Alibaba unveils its own cloud AI chip

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:14 AM PDT

During its annual Apsara Conference, Alibaba unveiled its new AI chip which will specializes in handling machine learning tasks and will be used to enhance the services of its cloud computing division.

The internet giant's first self-developed AI chip is called the Hanguang 800 and it is already being used within the company to power a number of services including product search, automatic translation and personalized recommendations on its web sites.

Alibaba CTO Jeff Zhang explained how important the chip is to the firm's current and future endeavors, saying:

“The launch of Hanguang 800 is an important step in our pursuit of next-generation technologies, boosting computing capabilities that will drive both our current and emerging businesses while improving energy-efficiency.” 

Hanguang 800

For now it looks like the Hanguang 800 will remain in-house as Alibaba has no plans to sell the chip as a standalone commercial product according to a company spokesperson.

The chip itself was developed by an Alibaba research institute launched at the end of 2017 called DAMO Academy alongside the company's specialized semiconductor division, T-Head.

Alibaba's entrance into the chip sector comes at a time when Beijing is trying to promote China's semiconductor industry while also reducing the country's reliance on imported core technologies from foreign firms.

US tech giants Google and Facebook are also working on developing their own custom chips with the aim of improving the performance of specialized AI tasks at their data centers.

Via Reuters

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US prepares $1bn fund to replace Huawei ban kit

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 09:48 AM PDT

The American government is proposing legislation that would provide rural mobile operators with access to up to $1 billion in public funding to replace infrastructure made by firms such as Huawei across their networks.

Chinese vendors have largely been excluded from the US market, with major carriers opting to use radio equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and others. However a number of smaller providers use  kit from Huawei and ZTE because it is relatively expensive.

The Rural Wireless Association, which represents operators with fewer than 100,000 customers, estimates a quarter of its members have Chinese-made kit in their networks and estimates it could cost up to $1 billion to replace it.

Huawei US customers

However earlier this year, these companies were effectively blacklisted by the US, preventing them from doing business with US suppliers. A temporary reprieve is in place to allow Huawei and ZTE to support their US customers, but it appears as though the government is pursuing a different course of action.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which comprises both Republicans and Democrats, has put forward a bill that would require the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to offer financial support to replace equipment.

“There is authorized to be appropriated to the Commission $1,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 to carry out the Program,” the bill reads. “Such amount is authorized to remain available through fiscal year 2029.”

Huawei has frequently denied any allegations that its products are a security risk, while the US government has produced no evidence of any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, Washington is now urging allies to follow its lead and ban Huawei from their 5G deployments.

European operators have frequently voiced their opposition to any ban, arguing that excluding Huawei would result in decreased innovation and higher prices.

A GSMA report suggested the cost of replacing Chinese-made gear would be as high as €55 billion (£48.6bn), while the rollout of 5G could be delayed by up to 18 months.

However a report from Stand Consult said examples from the USA and Australia showed that not using ZTE or Huawei had not increased prices or delayed rollout.

The report said that because European operators need to replace significant amounts of aging or non-upgradable radio kit regardless of the Huawei ban, the cost would be much less. Strand estimates the cost of replacing Huawei or ZTE kit that could be upgraded to 5G is around $3.5 billion.

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The best smart speakers 2019: which one should you buy?

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 09:43 AM PDT

Remember when the idea of a fully-automated smart home seemed like the stuff of science-fiction? Well, we may not have a robot butler just yet, but many of us have at least a few smart home products these days – and it's all thanks to smart speakers. 

Speakers with built-in smart features and AI-powered voice assistants like the Google Home, Amazon Echo, and Apple HomePod continue to dominate the smart home market.

According to some recent stats, US smart speaker ownership grew more than 40 percent over 2018 and has reached 66.4 million, which is 26.2 percent of the US population.

It's (kinda) official: Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant are as important to most households as pets – or even distant relatives you don't see much, but don't tell them we said that.

The popular virtual assistants have taken our homes by storm, with many now considering smart speakers to be the future of home automation. That's because they can do so much, from answering almost any question, playing music, telling you the news and not only controlling your smart home devices (like your Philips Hue bulbs or your smart locks), but running everything from your fridge to your living room lights – sometimes without much help from you.

[Update: Many people are now buying smart speakers to be used by the whole family, or even kid-specific smart speakers to go in your child's room. But we asked: are smart speakers really safe for children?.

In other news, rumor has it that Amazon is about to release a beefed-up, better-sounding Amazon Echo speaker, with built-in woofers and higher-quality speakers. We'll be reporting live from today's Amazon launch event in Seattle – head over to our Amazon 2019 launch liveblog for the latest news.]. 

best smart speaker

Here's the table lamp with WiFi speaker from the IKEA and Sonos SYMFONISK collection. Image Credit: IKEA

Whether that's exciting to you, scary or just a bit gimmicky will depend on your view of always-on tech within your home. But it's hard to argue that these devices aren't unbelievably handy. 

Imagine a world where you don't have to get up to change the thermostat or find the remote to change the channel. Imagine turning off your garden security lights using your voice or using Alexa or Google Assistant to pull up a live feed of your outside cameras.    

If you think that you can live happily without these features, then you're probably right. But we've found that once you've had them, even for a week or two, it's very difficult to go back. 

So if you need help finding your next personal assistant, take a look at our guide below and find the smart speaker that suits your current setup, your budget and the aesthetics of your home – each of the speakers are hand-picked by our editors, and while each have pros/cons, all of them are great in their own way. 

(For UK readers, you might want to check out the Pure DiscovR smart speaker too.)

Not seeing the perfect speaker for you? Don't worry. Be sure to keep checking back, as we'll be updating this list with the best smart speakers, as well as the top rumors about the new speakers to expect soon at the end. 

Sonos One speaker

The Sonos One now supports Amazon's Alexa and Siri via AirPlay 2. Image Credit: Sonos. 

Best smart speakers FAQ: quick questions answered

What can smart speakers do? Smart speakers can do lots of things. First up they're speakers in their own right, from the fantastic-sounding Apple HomePod through to the simpler Amazon Echo Dot. 

But they also have lots of special features thanks to the smart voice assistants that are built-in. These smart assistants are voice-activated, which means you can literally ask them to do a range of things, including playing music, answering questions and controlling other smart home devices. And that's just the beginning. 

Which voice assistant is best? On the whole that's subjective. Some people have always liked Apple products the best and stay loyal to Siri. Others really like Alexa after snapping up an Echo as soon as the smart speaker was first launched. 

The general consensus seems to be that Google Assistant is, largely, the most accurate voice assistant. If you've got a lot of Apple products, of course Siri is the best and for overall compatibility, you're best opting for Alexa. But they're not hard and fast rules. 

Is Alexa better than Google? For starters, the choice might depend on which speaker you like the look of the most. Sure Amazon's Echo range is very similar to the Google Home, but the Show, Spot and Dot look quite different. 

When it comes to the smart assistants within the speakers, they're both extremely capable. Amazon's Alexa has many, many Skills, which set it apart from the rest. But Google has been a leader in the AI game for a long time now, well before the smart speaker market emerged. 

Is there a monthly fee for Alexa? No. You don't need anything other than the free Alexa app. However, you will get plenty of perks if you're an Amazon Prime member. 

The best smart speakers 2019

best smart speaker

Image Credit: Sonos

Sonos’ debut Alexa speaker is a cleanly-designed, feature-rich and great-sounding device that brings together the best of both ecosystems. You’ve got the ever-improving Alexa on the one hand, and on the other you’ve got Sonos with its own multi-room smarts and mostly unrivalled sound performance.

There's also a new feature in the mix that promises to change the game: AirPlay 2. With it, the Sonos One can talk to Siri and form a multi-room pairing with the Apple HomePod, making it the most versatile speaker on the list.

If there's anything holding the Sonos One back from greatness it's the fact that Google Assistant is still MIA after the update was postponed in November 2018 and is still nowhere to be seen nearly halfway through 2019. 

If Google Assistant support hits at some point this year (we hope), the Sonos One promises to become the market leader in smart home speakers.

If you like the Sonos range but you've felt a little underwhelmed by its designs to date, then you'll be happy to find out the brand has launched a new range of in-wall, in-ceiling, and outdoor speakers, the Sonos Architectural line.

Apple HomePod

Image Credit: TechRadar

The highly-anticipated Apple HomePod finally entered the smart speaker battle for your bookshelf in early 2018. 

The obvious benefit of an Apple HomePod over an Echo or Google Home device is that it'll play nice with your other Apple products. So if you're a die-hard Apple fan the HomePod may be a no-brainer. 

But it's worth asking the same question you should always be asking yourself when you want to splurge on a new Apple product: how much of a premium should you pay for owning a device that fits only seamlessly into the Apple ecosystem?

When we reviewed the device we were torn because we were really reviewing two things at once: how the HomePod weighs up as a premium speaker and how it fares as a smart home hub.

In the former category, the HomePod is excellent, as it boasts incredible sound and a very intuitive set-up. But in the latter, Siri is only middling in its implementation, and the fact that you're not able to break out of the Apple ecosystem for many key functions also rankles.

Apple is said to be working on the Apple HomePod 2, or a cheaper, more compact HomePod Mini, rumored to launch at some point in 2019 – we're halfway through now and we're still waiting. Fingers crossed it'll be worth it.

Amazon Echo smart speaker

Image Credit: Amazon

If you're after a smart speaker that's affordable and sounds good enough to play your favorite tracks, the latest version of the Amazon Echo is your safest bet. In fact it's our current top pick for the best smart speaker on the market right now.  

The newest, 2nd-generation Echo sounds better than Amazon's Echo Dot, but it's cheaper than the Echo Plus and Apple's HomePod. 

We don't think you should be using it to replace your hifi, but at the same time it's a really great place to start if you want to try out what the smart home life is like.

Amazon has also improved the Echo's style since the first version was released in 2015. The new fabric finishes will suit most living rooms better than the brushed aluminum of the original.

The only downside is the Echo doesn't have the neat volume dial of Amazon's Echo Plus. It's also worth mentioning that Alexa often doesn't seem quite as intelligent as Google Assistant. At the price, though, it's a great option that should suit most people's needs.  

Google Home

Image Credit: Google

For starters, you might never appreciate just how much music is on YouTube without buying a Google Home. We’re not saying Google Home is capable of playing any song you can think of, but after dredging the depths of the ’90s we still couldn’t find a tune Google Home couldn’t track down and start playing.

While Google Home excels as a DJ, it’s also a surprisingly intelligent smart home hub. It already hooks into some of the largest platforms now available by including Nest, Philips and Samsung’s SmartThings, and given a few months that number will grow even more.

But we're torn when it comes to recommending the Google Home. In some ways it's disappointing and doesn't live up to be the coveted center of the smart home Google has marketed it as. 

That's because it's just not there yet. It’s a little too rigid in its language comprehension, its list of smart home devices is growing but still a bit underwhelming, and, perhaps the biggest disappointment of all, it doesn’t have many of Google’s core services built into it.

It has the potential to develop to compete with Amazon's Echo in the future, but for now the Google Home is simply a smart novelty with access to YouTube Music, built-in Google Cast and the ability to save you a trip to the light switch. 

Over the past year, the Google Home has received a number of notable updates, including the fact you can now use the device to make calls to landlines in the UK. Google Assistant has also been updated to included bilingual capabilities, Continued Conversation and Multiple Actions. A more recent update has also brought Google Assistant to Nest Security alarm systems.

UPDATE: Google is reportedly working on a Nest Mini smart speaker that boasts big sound. The Nest Mini – if that is what the rumored device will finally be named – will feature a better soundscape than the Google Home Mini and will be wall-mountable.

Amazon Echo Plus

Image Credit: Amazon

The Amazon Echo Plus is the higher-end choice among its tower speakers. You should consider buying one if you want decent sound quality but don't want the display of the Echo Show or Echo Spot. 

With the second generation model recently launched, the Echo Plus has ditched the two-tier look in favor of a subdued fabric design, more like the original Echo.

It's louder and bassier than the standard Echo, which is particularly useful for music. Does it sound as good as the Sonos One? No. But like Amazon’s other Echo gadgets, its price is competitive. It costs $149.99 (£139.99) with a Philips Hue bulb included to kickstart your smart home future.

Like other smart home systems, Amazon Alexa is a work in progress. However, it’s easy to recommend the Amazon Echo Plus. It’s a convenient one-stop solution for both audio, smart assistant functions and Internet of Things controls, with Alexa still going strong as the most feature-rich voice assistant.

But the strength of the Echo range, especially at the lower price tiers, still makes these top-of-the-line models a harder sell: the Echo Dot has comparable smarts for a fraction of the price, for example, it just doesn't sound as good. Likewise, the built-in smart hub is a great addition, but isn’t yet feature-complete, meaning committed smart home users may not want to make the jump just yet. 

In short, if you’re looking to enter the world of the connected home, the Echo Plus is a great place to start. Just be aware that more economical options may, for the time being at least, suit your needs just as well.

Pure DiscovR smart speaker

Image Credit: TechRadar

The Amazon Echo range is still the market leader for smart speakers – in terms of sales, at least – but for all their hands-free convenience, they’re not speakers you’d look to if you want genuinely high-quality sound.

The Pure DiscovR manages to bundle top-class audio with all of Alexa’s smarts, and the intuitive touch controls to make using it by hand or voice a real pleasure. The ability to save voice commands as presets is invaluable, and something the rest of the smart speaker market could learn from.

The arresting design helps too. The rounded cube shape, and raised speaker – which can be compressed down into the casing to mute Alexa's microphone – feels hugely innovative in a crowded market, while the flashing colors around the LED rim make for much more of a light display than the Echo's meek blue.

You won't get your hands on this in the US, though. The Pure DiscovR is exclusively sold through John Lewis in the UK, with plans to roll out to Europe later in 2019. The speaker is available in either graphite and silver finishes – listed at John Lewis as black or white.

If you’re on the lookout for a quality smart speaker that delivers on voice control, sound quality, and an innovative design – and with an eye firmly on user privacy – the Pure DiscovR is exactly what you need.

The best smart speakers with a screen 2019

Google Home Hub

Image credit: Google

With the recent onslaught of smart display devices from the big tech companies, there's more choice than ever if you want a screen included with your smart speaker.

The Google Home Hub is one of the latest crop of smart displays, and it certainly gives its closest rival, the Amazon Echo Show a run for its money, with intuitive voice control and well designed first party apps.

That being said, this is not a speaker for audiophiles - it works well enough to play music in the background while you do chores or read, but it doesn't pack big enough of a sonic punch to serve as your main speaker for listening to music. 

Where the Google Home Hub does excel, is as a control centre for your digital home, supporting over 5000 smart devices from 400 companies - plus, at around $80/£80 cheaper than the Amazon Echo Show (the difference in Australia is a whopping AU$150), it's pretty good value for money too. 

Amazon Echo Show

Image credit: Amazon

The updated Echo Show is a step in the right direction, with better design, a clearer screen, and superior sound, but it has limited support for third-party streaming services.

The touchscreen is 1280 x 720 px - so it won't blow you away up close, but it looks fine from a distance. It also features adaptive brightness, although the screen isn't the main way you interact with the Echo Show - it's optimized for voice activation via Amazon Alexa, and it's great for using while you potter about the kitchen.

Its not the cheapest smart display on the market, however, it adds value by combining devices you already have and ones you could buy at a lower price elsewhere – just look at the Amazon Echo Dot, for example. 

Put everything together though, and the new Show is a marked improvement on the original version, and if you're keen on watching cooking tutorials or listening to music as you cook, it deserves a spot on your kitchen counter.

[Update: The Amazon Echo Show 5 is now available to preorder – this diminutive third-gen smart display is less than half the price of the current second-gen Echo Show model, and will start shipping in June and July. 

Check out our Amazon Echo Show 5 release date, news, and rumors article for everything you need to know.]

Amazon Echo Spot

Image credit: Amazon

In our opinion, the Amazon Echo Spot is the best-designed Alexa device Amazon has ever created – it’s a gadget you’d happily have in your bedroom, on your desk, in your kitchen, and pretty much anywhere else.

The Spot is versatile – it doesn’t have a chameleon-like ability to adapt to the room you put it in, but this is certainly not just a smart alarm clock, something Amazon has been very clear about. 

It does everything the Echo Show does, but it all feels better in this smaller form factor. The design is great – it's available in black and white – and we can easily see the Spot being used in the bedroom, kitchen or even on a desk. In fact, you may want it in all of these places.

That's the thing with the Amazon Echo Spot: much like other Echo devices, Amazon wants you to have a multitude of them in your home so you always have access to video chat no matter where you are. 

Essentially, it wants the Echo Spot to replace the Echo Dot. The Amazon Echo Spot is a little more expensive than the new Echo, though, and in turn much more expensive than an Echo Dot.

This is because of the addition of the screen. While we still haven't seen that killer Skill for the screen, it does enhance the look of the Spot and opens up the possibilities for it being much more than just a smart speaker.

We’re just hoping that Amazon’s Skills become much more video-friendly – once this happens, the Amazon Echo Spot will become an absolute must-have.

What could be coming soon?

Those are all of the best smart speakers on the market right now, but with the huge success of these voice-activated smart home assistants, this selection is likely to be just the beginning. 

Right now a number of other companies, including some of the biggest names in tech, are also working on their own smart home audio products. Whether they shake-up the market or turn out to be a load of hot air remains to be seen.

But in the meantime, here are just a few of the highly-anticipated upcoming releases and rumors circulating right now:

Image of the spotify logo

Image credit: Spotify

Spotify smart speaker

There are loads of speakers on the market that already allow you to connect your Spotify account. But that doesn't mean the popular streaming service can't make its own product to compete with the biggest names in tech.

Rumors suggest Spotify has been working on its own voice search interface, but it hasn't yet lifted the lid on a speaker that could compete with the likes of the Amazon Echo or Google Home. 

That hasn't stopped us from dreaming up what a Spotify smart speaker might look, sound and behave like. 

Read our Spotify speaker wish-list: what we want to see in a Spotify smart speaker. 

samsung speaker

Image credit: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Home smart speaker

This is now official, though details are still scarce – Samsung showed off the Galaxy Home smart speaker at its Unpacked 2018 event, promising high-quality audio alongside some integrated AI smarts provided by Bixby.

As yet we don't know a price or release date, though we're assuming it will work with Samsung’s SmartThings ecosystem. 

The launch of the Samsung Galaxy Home has been rather stop-start since the Bixby-controlled smart speaker was first announced in August 2018 – but now we might have a release date to look forward to. Sort of...

Speaking to the Korea Herald, Kim Hyun-suk, one of Samsung's co-CEOs and the President of the Consumer Electronics division, said that the company is aiming for a "mid-second half of the year" launch. Fingers crossed we get this speaker before 2019 is out. 

Find out more: what we expect from the Samsung Galaxy Home smart speaker.

Everything is a smart speaker

Maybe the future isn't about which smart speaker you should buy after all, but will be much more focused on integrating voice-activated smart assistants into other products. 

Earlier this year at CES 2019, lots of manufacturers were boasting of voice assistant integration; Alexa and Google Assistant found their way into cars, bathroom mirrors, and even smoke alarms.

While that may sound a little gimmicky, it actually solves one of the major niggling points of the smart home: you want to have access to your voice assistant in every room but don’t really want to fill your home with speakers.

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Amazon Echo Show 5 vs Lenovo Smart Clock: which is better in the bedroom?

Posted: 25 Sep 2019 09:40 AM PDT

Is there a smart device for every room of your home? Amazon and Lenovo sure hope so. Despite the worries about having always-listening devices sat in your bedroom, both companies have built gadgets for that specific location – the Amazon Echo Show 5 and Lenovo Smart Clock are headed to your boudoir.

Yes, Amazon already has the Echo Spot for this purpose and, yes, you could just as easily place these gadgets in other rooms around the home. The Google Home Hub, likewise, is a similar proposition. But one look at their diminutive designs, and it’s clear that they’re best situated in the comfy confines of your bedroom.

So – two different products, two similar designs and purposes, but two distinct voice-activated smart assistants built in. Which should you buy, the Amazon Echo Show 5, or the Lenovo Smart Clock? Read on to find out.

[Update: Rumor has it that Amazon is about to release a beefed-up, better-sounding Amazon Echo speaker, with built-in woofers and higher-quality speakers. We'll be reporting live from today's Amazon launch event in Seattle – head over to our Amazon 2019 launch liveblog for the latest news.]

Amazon Echo Show 5 vs Lenovo Smart Clock: Design

A quick glance at both smart displays, and you’d be forgiven for thinking they part of the same product family, if not the same device. Both the Lenovo Smart Clock and Echo Show 5 have a very similar approach to industrial design.

Each is broadly wedge shaped, and each has a screen roughly the size of a smartphone. The Echo Show 5 is the slightly larger of the two, with a 5.5-inch screen, while the Lenovo Smart Clock has a smaller 4-inch display. The Echo Show 5 is of a slightly higher resolution, too, coming in at 960 x 480, while the Smart Clock is a lowly 800 x 480. As we’ll discuss later, that’s not necessarily a problem, as both use their displays for quite different purposes.

The Amazon Echo Show 5. Image Credit: TechRadar

Back to the shape, and you’ll find some subtle differences there too. As mentioned, the Echo Show 5 appears slightly bigger, measuring 148mm x 86mm x 73 mm, with the Lenovo Smart Clock measuring 113.88mm x 79.2mm x 79.8mm. 

Both have a considerable border around their displays, but it’s the Amazon Echo Show 5 that’s the more industrial looking device – though both have a fabric covering (black for the Echo Show 5, and grey for the Smart Clock), Lenovo’s offering is a bit more delicate, with it’s softer color and wraparound cover.

In terms of buttons and inputs, the Lenovo Smart Clock is simpler. It just has plus and minus volume buttons on top, while around the back there’s a power port, a mic-mute toggle, and a full-size USB 2.0 port for plugging in a charging cable for your phone. 

The Echo on the other hand has an array of buttons on its top edge – volume up and down, a mic / camera shut off button and even a physical shutter to cover up the device’s 1MP camera, used for video calling. It’s an extra layer of protection for the privacy-conscious. 

Around the rear is a powerport and a 3.5mm headphone port for hooking up the smart display to a larger speaker system as well as, curiously, a microUSB port. What this is practically for is unclear – it’s unlikely anyone is going to have a microUSB to microUSB (or Lightning connection, for that matter) cable with which to charge an external device. There’s potential to hook up a microUSB-compatible Ethernet adapter if your W-Fi is not up to scratch, but that’s more intended for enterprise users, and won’t be very helpful in most homes.

The Lenovo Smart Clock. Image Credit TechRadar

The thing to note here is that Lenovo has intentionally stripped back the Smart Clock compared to its competition. It’s of the mindset that, for owners to feel comfortable having it in their more intimate rooms. 

Amazon on the other hand wants the Echo Show to be suitable in every room, and thus has more features, such as that camera. It’s been sensitive to users privacy wishes too, what with that physical shutter. 

From a design perspective then, it’s more of an aesthetic choice to be made. Personally, we’re going for the Lenovo device – it’s just a little less intrusive and softer.

Echo Show 5 vs Smart Clock: Features and screen

So, with roughly similar designs, the core choices you make here really come down to just two features: your preferred smart assistant (Google Assistant or Alexa), and exactly what you want to be able to do with the screen.

Let’s start with the smart assistants. As you’d expect, the Amazon Echo Show 5 uses Amazon’s Alexa voice-activated helper, while the Lenovo Smart Clock opts for Google Assistant.

They’re broadly very similar – say either the “Hey Google” or “Alexa…” wake words, and both devices begin to start listening to your voice for requests they can fulfil. 

The Amazon Echo Show 5's screen. Image Credit: TechRadar

What they can achieve is mostly quite similar – you can pair them with your preferred music service to ask them to play songs, have them set timers, alarms and calendar reminders, place calls, ask for the news, control other compatible smart home gadgetry and more, all without lifting a finger.

For more on what each can do, check out the guides below:

What may skew your decision is if you already have another Amazon Echo or Google Assistant speaker, as that makes use of features such as multi-room audio playback much simpler across each individual brand.

The core difference with the Echo Show 5 and the Lenovo Smart Clock then is in how they use their displays. The Lenovo Smart Clock is purposefully minimalist in what it displays on screen, often limiting itself to just the time or the Google Assistant logo in an attempt to keep your bedroom distraction free. 

The Lenovo Smart Clock Image Credit: TechRadar

The Echo Show 5 on the other hand is much more visually arresting, playing back videos, offering video call services, and other visual information to accompany whatever you’ve requested of it via voice. 

Which take on the use of a display your find more appealing will be a matter of taste then: some will find the Echo Show 5 intrusive while the Smart Clock slips more effortlessly into its surroundings, while others will consider the Smart Clock’s screen a wasted opportunity compared to the feature-rich Echo Show 5.

Amazon Echo Show 5 vs Lenovo Smart Clock: Price

At the time of writing, we’re seeing the Lenovo Smart Clock sell at a more affordable price point than the Echo Show 5. But Amazon’s product isn’t massively more expensive, and the relative price of both balances out given the Echo Show 5’s richer feature set.

Check the best current prices for your region in the chart below:

Verdict

This is a toughie. Though very closely related in their aims, the Amazon Echo Show 5 and Lenovo Smart Clock will prove noticeably different devices to live with. 

Were this a question of which device to have in any and every room of your home, we’d go for the Amazon Echo Show 5 every time. It’s just a more feature-complete device, offering more possible uses for the user.

However, when it comes to the calm and private nature of a bedroom, the laid-back, stripped-back nature of the Lenovo Smart Clock becomes very appealing. 

It sits in the background a little more subtly, and will appeal more profoundly to those that desire privacy above all else. In the confines of a bedroom, that may prove to be the ultimate differentiator.

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