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CNET
15-05-2025
- CNET
Wondering Where the Amazon Alexa Plus AI Upgrade Is? Me Too
When Amazon announced the massive AI upgrade to its voice assistant Alexa in February, it seemed like Alexa Plus was right around the corner -- even if it cost some of us money or lost Echo privacy. Reports indicated that by March, we would be trying out demonstrated Alexa AI features like casual conversations that could book reservations, set flexible reminders, let Alexa learn your likes and dislikes, analyze home video footage, and operate smart home devices like a finely tuned orchestra. Now it's mid-May, and we're still waiting. Read more: Amazon Alexa Just Changed Its Privacy Settings. CNET Survey Reveals 73% of Device Users Were Already Worried Alexa Plus stalls out: We've seen this before Alexa Plus promised a lot. Reports indicate it's simply not ready yet. Amazon So, where's the AI? For now, it's still in early access, and that early access period appears to be limited. Even the few who have tried out Alexa Plus have been quiet about it. Those who've spoken up have said the AI is lacking critical features that were mentioned at the announcement, including ordering food on Grubhub with a conversation, entering into a story mode with kids, visually identifying family members during conversations, brainstorming ideas in a casual conversation mode, and using Alexa Plus on the Web. In other words, it's just not ready yet. I've seen this before, very recently, with Apple's announcement that it will be delaying Siri's big AI upgrade, not only for a year after WWDC 2024, but then again in 2025 and possibly for as long as until 2027 according to our latest info. It's possible Amazon watched the fallout from these delay announcements plus leaked employee complaints, and decided to be much quieter about the Alexa Plus rollout. Either way, it could be months before the average consumer sees an option to upgrade to Alexa Plus, and with staggered rollouts, some Amazon customers could be waiting quite some time for the chatty new Alexa. No one at CNET has gotten an early access look at Alexa Plus yet, but the testing period is still ongoing, so we're hopeful to get our hands on it very soon. Waiting for the Show Moments before Amazon Alexa upgrades were announced on Feb. 26. Corin Cesaric/CNET We're ready with Amazon Echos, Echo Shows, home cameras, smart gadgets and more to test out just what's changed with Alexa Plus and what features have actually arrived (and what we still can't do). But for now, it looks like we're waiting for our own wake word -- and I wouldn't be surprised if Alexa Plus is on a similar trajectory to Siri's AI delays, sans the troubling announcements and exposes we saw with Apple. If you're desperate to see what Amazon is doing with the latest Alexa AI technology, there is a way to get to the front of the line. Amazon has mentioned that during the early access period, it will focus on releasing Alexa Plus for Echo Shows. If you have an Echo Show 8, Show 10, Show 15 or Show 21, you're more likely to see an offer for Alexa Plus if you sign up for the program. Otherwise, we'll keep you updated. Stop our AI Atlas to get the latest on Siri, Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Grok and, yes, Alexa Plus as we learn more and test out new capabilities. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Yahoo
7 Ways You Aren't Using Your Smart Display (but Should Be)
Smart displays like Nest Hubs or Echo Shows offer an enticing device combo: They slap a large touchscreen onto a smart speaker, allowing you to give voice commands and interact with the screen anywhere in your home -- like a kitchen, garage, gaming room or living room. But people can find it difficult to use smart displays in helpful ways when they could just use a smart speaker or pull out their phone. But that's doing modern smart displays a disservice: In our testing, we've found helpful ways to use these displays around the home to do things other devices can't. Here are some of our favorite ways to use smart displays. Read more: The Best Smart Home Devices of 2025 "Hey, Google, show me my smart thermostat," I tell my Nest Hub, and it brings up a working interface for my Nest Thermostat 4. I don't just see the temperature, I can also adjust the thermostat at a touch without ever going near it. That's really useful on mornings that are a bit chillier than expected (put a smart display by your bed and you can do it without getting up), or if the kitchen has become a heat zone and it's time to cool things down. Thermostat interactions like these are a daily convenience and should work with most support thermostats. If you're cooking up a storm, you probably already have a recipe in mind, planned out, and bookmarked on your computer. But there are moments when you want to look up a side recipe on the fly and you're short on both time and hands. We've found we use smart displays for recipe lookups particularly when it comes to drink and cocktail ratios we can't quite remember, as well as side dishes we aren't especially familiar with. Don't underestimate the usefulness of bringing up pictures of perfectly roasted radishes or the right shade of stirred roux with only a quick voice command. Sure, you can set any timer with a smart speaker or phone command, no screen needed. But if you're juggling multiple timers at once (like for multiple kitchen projects or reminders), a smart display adds a helpful benefit. You can simultaneously view all the timers you've set -- the display will show them automatically -- and how long they have left. You don't have to guess when you're multitasking, and that's surprisingly useful. Today's smart displays can pair with all kinds of video services, from VLC to the ESPN app, as well as with streaming services like Amazon Prime, YouTube TV, and Hulu. If you have a subscription to live sports, you can bring them up on your smart display and keep track of the games wherever you are. That's a lot of fun if you're working on a project in the garage, kitchen or study but still want to keep up on the important plays and scores with more than just a radio. Smart displays can pair with any supported home security camera, allowing you to switch to a live view of the cam with a quick voice command. That's especially useful for nanny cam–like devices. If your kids (or your beloved pets) are sleeping in another room, playing outside or fighting over the TV, you can keep an eye on them from a separate spot with a smart display. A smart display in a bedroom isn't just a fancy alarm clock. It comes with a surprisingly useful capability when you're ready to go to bed: Night-light Google apps and can turn the screen into a peaceful, relaxing display with a countdown to turn off (make sure your display is set to auto-dim when not in use), making it a great way to fall asleep. Note: I don't suggest using YouTube videos for this purpose, since they tend to come with very unrelaxing ads that pop up at the worst times, but if you want to, you can find lots of night-light videos there as well. This one surprised me, but it's a very handy use of a smart display set up near a TV or gaming station. If you get stuck on a game or want more info on a particular part (like a map, quest steps, puzzle solution or build guide), you can look up videos and tutorials on the smart display with just a couple of commands. This is far easier and more useful than trying to use your smartphone, which is often too small for such tasks. The same trick works for looking up movie details or actors without disturbing the action on your primary screen. Best Smart Speakers for 2025: We Tested Alexa, Google, Apple and Sonos See at Cnet We also recommend stopping by the latest news on Apple's upcoming, possibly delayed smart display, how to pick the best smart display if you don't have one, and the best 200 Alexa commands.
