What does Amazon's latest 'superhuman' tech have in store? Learn more about these exciting new gadgets now

It's no surprise that companies are competing to create the greatest technology products to make people’s daily lives easier.

Tech giant Amazon recently held its HQ2 event in Washington, rolling out a suite of new technology products, including an artificial intelligence supercharged Alexa, the Echo Hub, and the latest versions of the Fire TV Stick.


Alexa is now reportedly supercharged with a large language model as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to sweep the tech industry.

It's a significant move in the tech field, with more than a billion devices connected to Amazon's virtual assistant, with tens of millions of interactions every hour.


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Amazon announced the release of their updated gadgets during its HQ2 event in Washington. Image source: Amazon News.


Alexa will not only tell you things, but it can also do more things as well. It was described as more conversational, better with real-world applications, more personalised, and packed full of personality.

The virtual assistant can now write you stories or a poem, suggest the best time for a holiday, or help you with trivia and jokes thanks to its enhanced AI capabilities.

Unlike before, users can now interrupt Alexa mid-conversation to give new directions; the virtual assistant will quickly adjust and incorporate the added information!


Then, there’s also the new Echo Hub—an Alexa-enabled smart home control panel with an 8-inch touchscreen display and customisable dashboard. With it, you can control 10,000 different compatible devices like cameras, lights and speakers from one central location.

This device is mounted on a wall and was designed to be the 'central nervous system' of all your smart devices at home. A popular command the Echo Hub is good at executing is turning on the lights, which can be done in 300 milliseconds.

When the device is not being used, it can double as a photo gallery or a clock and display information such as the weather.


Amazon has also redesigned its smart gadget, the Echo Show 8, with a centred camera for better video calls. Its audio has also been upgraded to filter background noise and sense the room's acoustics to fine-tune playback based on the obtained information.

Moreover, its screen is now adaptive and changes based on how far or close the user is to the device. When far away from the device, it will only show essential data such as the current weather.

Alexa now responds faster on the Echo Show 8 because language has been stored on the device.


Amazon also shared about the newest update to their Fire Stick—a streaming stick that you plug into your TV to watch the shows and movies you like.

The new Fire TV Stick 4K Max now has double the storage (now at 16GB) of the previous versions and a processor at 2.0GHz quad-core, which means you can store more apps and games on the device.

It also features a Fire TV Ambient Experience which makes your TV look like an art gallery showing heaps of images from famous artists all over the world.

The Fire TV Stick 4K follows behind and is only a tad less powerful with its 1.7GHz quad-core processor.

Both gadgets support 4K Ultra HD picture quality and feature Dolby Atmos audio and different modes, which will surely enhance your viewing experience.


Lastly, Amazon also announced Blink Outdoor 4, with improved image quality, better motion detection, Wi-Fi 6E connection, and a battery extension pack that can last for four years.

They have also developed Blink Sync Module Pro, which extends the range of where you can put your Blink Outdoor 4 and a Blink Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera with attachments that can light up your whole yard.

You can watch the full launch event in the video below:


Source: Youtube/Amazon News.

Key Takeaways

  • Amazon has announced a suite of new technology products including a supercharged version of its virtual assistant, Alexa, the Echo Hub, and the latest versions of the Fire TV Stick.
  • The Echo Hub is an Alexa-enabled smart home control panel designed to be the central hub for all smart devices in a home. The Echo Show 8 has been redesigned and now centres the camera on the front for better video calls.
  • Amazon's latest tech offerings include an updated Fire Stick 4K Max and Fire Stick 4K, offering more storage capacity and improved tech performance.
  • They also announced the Blink Outdoor 4 with improved image quality and better motion detection, the Blink Sync Module Pro, which extends the placement range for the Blink Outdoor 4, and the Blink Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera, which can light up your whole yard.
Members, which of these gadgets do you look forward to the most? Will you be purchasing any of these new gadgets from Amazon? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
 
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Sounds interesting. I hope Google will upgrade IA as well, as my Google gadget keeps telling me that she is "still learning".

She also tells some awful "Dad" jokes:

"As a golfer it's always handy to wear two pairs of pants. Why? Because you never know when you get a hole in one"
 
Sounds interesting. I hope Google will upgrade IA as well, as my Google gadget keeps telling me that she is "still learning".

She also tells some awful "Dad" jokes:

"As a golfer it's always handy to wear two pairs of pants. Why? Because you never know when you get a hole in one"
🤣🤣
 
Still rather go and turn the light switch on myself.
Nobody stopping you.

Whenever I have visitors they find it quite unique that they can tell Google to turn the light on and off, tell them jokes, play music, turn the radio on and off, tell them the latest news and set the alarm.
 
It took us many years to even consider AI. I used to think it was just another gadget gimmick.
Then hubby took ill and we were offered Alexa as part of the home aged care package. It's wonderful as far as helping turn things on/off, managing medications, organising appointments and a few other life aid functions.
Only thing, hubby keeps getting her name wrong (calls her Alexis), then starts arguing with her when she gets things wrong. Mind you, he is always telling Alexa he loves her so he can hear the song she sings. It's an ego thing. Couple of other of my SDC friends have said the same. Probably wouldn't happen if we could change the voice to a male's.
I would love an upgrade that helps deal with people who have speech issues. It would make hubby and Alexa's love/hate relationship run more smoothly. Also, it would be good to issue multiple commands at once. Probably not in our lifetime.
As far as the other gadgets go, I don't think we are quick enough on the uptake to even think about them. I'll leave those for future generations.
 
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It took us many years to even consider AI. I used to think it was just another gadget gimmick.
Then hubby took ill and we were offered Alexa as part of the home aged care package. It's wonderful as far as helping turn things on/off, managing medications, organising appointments and a few other life aid functions.
Only thing, hubby keeps getting her name wrong (calls her Alexis), then starts arguing with her when she gets things wrong. Mind you, he is always telling Alexa he loves her so he can hear the song she sings. It's an ego thing. Couple of other of my SDC friends have said the same. Probably wouldn't happen if we could change the voice to a male's.
I would love an upgrade that helps deal with people who have speech issues. It would make hubby and Alexa's love/hate relationship run more smoothly. Also, it would be good to issue multiple commands at once. Probably not in our lifetime.
As far as the other gadgets go, I don't think we are quick enough on the uptake to even think about them. I'll leave those for future generations.
Apparently a male voice was made available in the USA in 2021 by simply saying "Alexa, change your voice".

I don't know if it is available in Australia yet, but even if it is, would you really want to stop your hubby's love affair with her?
 
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Apparently a male voice was made available in the USA in 2021 by simply saying "Alexa, change your voice".

I don't know if it is available in Australia yet, but even if it is, would you really want to stop your hubby's love affair with her?
I think you're right. He might cry in his pillow, I wouldn't want that. 😅
 
The only thing we use is a google device that plays music, has an alarm, and the grandkids love to do games like quizzes with it. As for anything else we have survived all our lives without it so I’m sure we can survive the rest of our lives without it. My husband has enough trouble with suri on my iPad when she starts asking him if she can help him, and boy he gets cross with the sat nav in our cars when they give him the wrong directions, he actually threatened to put her in the hospital we were driving past once when she wouldn’t shut up.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: MariaG

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