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All Posts by Phil Nickinson

Amazon Alexa: Everything you need to know about the heart of the Echo

6 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 19 Aug 2017 10:00 am
You wouldn't have the Amazon Echo (or Echo Dot, or Echo Show, or whatever) without Amazon Alexa. Here's what you need to know about the two. Amazon Echo. Or Alexa. They're one and the same, really. That is, an Amazon Echo without Alexa really isn't any more than just a speaker. And Alexa without a speaker is just ... Well, nothing. Confused yet. I don't blame you. Let's explain the...

What devices can play Amazon Music?

2 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 19 Aug 2017 7:00 am
Amazon Music on Echo Show
You can listen to Amazon Music on nearly any device that's out there. String up two tin cans on a flag pole, and that might work, too. (Or not.) Here's a more definitive list, though. Amazon Music is as ubiquitous as just about any other music service out there. Tens of millions of songs. Available on nearly any device you can think of. In your car. On your phone. On a TV. On your computer....

Which Amazon Music subscription should you get?

13 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 18 Aug 2017 1:00 pm
Amazon Music
Amazon has a really good music service that you might have overlooked. Here's what you need to know about Amazon Music. Fun fact you might not be aware of: Amazon has a really good music service. It's called, as you might expect, Amazon Music. And just like Apple Music or Google Play Music or Spotify or Pandora or whatever, it, uh, plays music. Lots and lots of music. That's not really the...

Eufy Genie review: It's like an Echo Dot, only less expensive and not as good

6 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 16 Aug 2017 9:00 am
Eufy Genie
Find the extra $15 somewhere, because what you save on the Eufy Genie isn't worth the Echo Dot features you lose in the process. The Eufy Genie was announced with a decent amount of internet fanfare because (a) we love to get excited about EVERYTHING and (b) the prospect of an even cheaper Amazon Echo Dot actually is something to pique our interest. What's better than a $50 Dot? How about...

Amazon Echo: Buy now or wait for the Amazon Echo 2?

7 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 15 Aug 2017 12:00 pm
Amazon Echo
Spend money now and hope something better doesn't come out soon? Or spend money later and just deal ... Well, in this case I'd ... The FOMO is real. You've been waiting on the sidelines on this whole Amazon Echo thing, but you're finally ready to buy one. Maybe. Because there's always something better on the horizon, right? That brings us to today's question: Is it safe to buy an Amazon Echo...

How did Amazon screw up the Echo Show's best feature so badly?

24 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 14 Aug 2017 4:30 pm
Amazon Echo Show
Echo Show is good at showing headlines, but very bad at showing anything that's actually important. And that's a problem. It's Sunday morning. Past the breakfast hour and closing in on lunch. I've been trying to come up with ways to make myself feel better after seeing the carnage in Charlottesville, Va., and the predictable responses on Twitter and Facebook and from our political leaders. It'...

Amazon Echo vs. Dot vs. Tap vs. Show: Which should you buy?

80 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 12 Aug 2017 9:00 am
Amazon Echo v.s. Dot v.s. Tap: Which should you buy?
Which Amazon Echo is best for you? I have no idea. But here's how I'd approach each one. I own too many Amazon Echo speakers. From the original Echo to the Echo Dot and the newfangled Echo Show with its screen and camera. Plus the Amazon Tap, and Echo Look, which you can't even buy without an invitation. (And you probably shouldn't but it, for reasons I'll get into in a second. This isn't a...

Amazon Fire Tablet: Which storage size should I buy?

5 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 10 Aug 2017 10:00 am
Amazon Fire HD 8
Spoiler: You want as much as possible. Always. Nobody ever wakes up in the morning and says "Ya know, I really wish I hadn't gotten more storage for my tablet." It just doesn't happen. (We'll leave for another time the fact that most folks are normal and don't think about this sort of thing at all.) No, when it comes to your phones and tablets and pretty much any electronic device, you can...

Best smart thermostat for Amazon Echo

13 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 10 Aug 2017 8:00 am
Nest and Ecobee4
It's a trick question! If there's a Skill, there's a way. But it's still worth knowing what you can (and can't) say to Alexa to control your thermostat. One of the things you need to know about Amazon Echo — actually, I'm talking about Alexa here — is that in a good many ways, it's hardware agnostic. You can hook all sorts of things into Alexa via Amazon's "Skills," and, for the most part, it...

Best sprinkler to use with the Amazon Echo

10 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 9 Aug 2017 1:00 pm
The Rachio sprinkler system works great with your phone. And it's even better once you tie it into an Amazon Echo. One of the cooler things I've had in my house the past few years is a connected sprinkler system. That's mostly because it's smart enough to tell when it's rained without a moisture sensor — but even more so because it's smart enough to know when it's going to rain, and thus it...

This $50 Amazon Echo battery base from Mission Cables lets the original Alexa go mobile

6 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 2 Aug 2017 3:00 pm
Mission Cables Battery Base for Amazon Echo
The original Amazon Echo is still a great product. By making it mobile, though, it becomes even better. Let's say you're one of those "normal" people who has only a single Amazon Echo. And the original one at that. It's a good-enough speaker for music, but it's shackled to the wall, because the thing still needs a power source. Not exactly the sort of thing I'd want to drag outside onto the...

A proof-of-concept 'wiretap' on the Amazon Echo is interesting, but not alarming

12 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 2 Aug 2017 2:01 pm
First-generation Amazon Echo
Versions of the original Echo made before 2017 left debugging contacts available to anyone who wants to get to them. But if that happens, you already have bigger issues. There are a couple ways to think of security when it comes to our connected devices. One is binary. Either they're safe and secure and not being actively exploited, or they're not. I take a different tack. I look at my...

What's new on Amazon Prime Video in August 2017

0 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 1 Aug 2017 4:00 pm
Amazon Fire TV
There's a lot to watch on Amazon Prime Video. Here's what's coming up in August 2017. Amazon Prime Video has quickly become one of the go-to destinations for on-demand content, thanks in no small part to devices like the $50 Amazon Fire Stick, the $90 Amazon Fire TV, and now the $229 Amazon Echo Show. That's the easy part. What's not quite so easy is keeping up with everything that's new on...

This $50 speaker turns your Amazon Echo Dot into a poor man's Sonos Play:1

3 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 1 Aug 2017 1:00 pm
VAUX cordless speaker for Echo Dot
... Minus the deep, deep bass. And everything else great Sonos does. But this is still a cool little accessory for an Echo Dot. There's nothing particularly exciting about the Amazon Echo Dot when it comes to audio, at least not with the speaker itself. Sure, it can play music, but it sounds horrible. You know that when you bought it, of course, and the Echo Dot helpfully has a a 3.5mm line-...

6 Amazon Echo accessories you never knew existed (but should definitely check out!)

5 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 31 Jul 2017 11:00 am
Echo Dot Case
Amazon's Echo line already is pretty good. But for just a few bucks more you can make your Echo even better. So you've got an Amazon Echo ($179.99). Or maybe (or more likely) the less-expensive Echo Dot ($49.99). Or maybe even a newfangled Echo Show ($229.99). That's just the start of things. Turns out there's a burgeoning accessory ecosystem that's actually full of useful things that make your...

Waze on Android Auto: Invaluable feedback and alerts with sub-par maps and routing

44 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 26 Jul 2017 1:28 pm
Waze on Android Auto
Would it kill anyone to give us real-time reporting in Google Maps instead? One of the best ways to take advantage of Android Auto is with navigation. No more messing with your phone to figure out where you're going and how long it'll take to get there. Just tell it where you want to go, maybe tap once or twice, and that's it. And Google Maps has been brilliant for this. Missing, however, has...

A Wallflower smart plug means you'll never forget to turn off the stove

3 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 25 Jul 2017 1:05 pm
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who know they turned off the stove and everyone else. For the latter group (at least for those with electric stoves), there's a new product that aims to give some peace of mind. Wallflower turns your dumb range into a semi-smart (more on that in a second) stove that provides some insurance should things be left cooking. It takes about 2...

Amazon Echo Show review: Alexa gets fancy

6 Comments
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 11 Jul 2017 12:00 pm
The quick take Amazon adds a touchscreen and camera to a couple of decent speakers, giving us the best Echo yet for only $50 more than what the original Alexa device is selling for. Video calling is an easy-to-use (if still novel) feature, and Amazon's paving the way for developers to make use of the 7-inch display. Now it just has to get them to update those thousands of skills to take...

Amazon Echo Look: Can it help the fashion hopeless?

1 Comment
Posted by Phil Nickinson on 7 Jul 2017 9:00 am
Can this sausage-like Amazon Echo make me a better (OK — decent) dresser? It really depends on what you give it to work with. Fun fact: Everyone cares what they look like. Even those of us who don't admit it at least take a passing interest in the clothes we wear. Maybe it's just a couple seconds of "OK, I think this looks good." Or maybe it's a couple minutes standing in front of the closet...

Modern Dad really likes the HTC U11

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Posted by Phil Nickinson on 23 Jun 2017 2:36 pm
Another great phone from HTC, but the same question remains: Can they actually sell it? My first smartphone was from HTC — the Treo 750. Over the years I've used more HTC devices than I can even remember, from the Nexus One up through today's flagship, the U11. Not every phone has been a winner, but more often than not I (and others, of course) came to the conclusion that basically went "...

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