Amazon surprised us with its new "Autumn Equipment and Services" event Luna cloud gaming service, along with anticipated updates to its Echo, Fire TV, and Ring line of products. The event is helping Amazon create buzz as we kick off the holiday shopping season, and for the first time Prime Day. (The annual sale usually happens in July, but this year it's slated to start October 13th.) That means placing Alexa everywhere - inside and outside of homes - and speaking to them privacy Concerns that were big storylines for both Ring and Alexa in 2019. In today's home existence, where millions of us have huddled together for the long haul, the concepts for connected homes that Amazon has developed for years are more relevant than ever.
Amazon / Screenshot by Caitlin Petrakovitz / CNET
The company's Echo and Fire TV products will be the first to receive sustainability badges and are working to reduce power consumption for devices with a new low-power mode and an Alexa built-in energy dashboard. Amazon also promised to build solar and wind farms to produce energy that is equivalent to the consumption of all of its devices.
All announcements of Amazon's crazy fall event
The company has launched a cloud gaming service in addition to Amazon Web Services that can run on PCs, Fire TVs, and even iOS. There is a Luna Plus games channel with a number of curated games, and Amazon is working with publisher Ubisoft to ensure some games are available for day 1.
It has a custom $ 50 controller that connects directly to the cloud rather than the local device.
Continue reading: Amazon starts streaming games with Luna
Amazon / Screenshot from CNET
The fourth generation Echo has been redesigned with a new spherical shape and can adapt to the room acoustics. It includes features that were previously included in the Echo Plus. It is also a bridge to the Amazon Sidewalk network and includes neural network technology to speed up Alexa.
Continue reading: Amazon Announces New Echo Spherical Smart Speaker
It now has ZigBee and Sidewalk hubs and is quiet when it pans in your direction. There's a built-in camera shutter for privacy, and all Echo devices have a command to review privacy settings and "delete everything I've ever said". It will also support Hulu, Netflix, and Prime Video.
Continue reading: Amazon announces the Echo Show 10
Ring Car Products: $ 60- $ 200
Three new auto-centric ring products
Amazon / Screenshot by Juan Garzon / CNET
The $ 200 Ring Car Cam enables users to document traffic stops, collisions, and other road incidents.
When debuting with Tesla, the $ 200 connect uses a vehicle's built-in external cameras to record video in case something happens to the car while driving or parking.
Finally, Ring's $ 60 car alarm plugs into your car's onboard diagnostic port and uses sound and acceleration sensors to monitor the vehicle for bumps, break-ins, tows, or other events.
There aren't any product pages on Amazon yet, but we'll add them here when they arrive.
Continue reading: "Alexa, I'll be run over": Ring introduces three new auto-centric devices
Ring combines a drone and a surveillance camera for a ...
Continue reading: Every new Alexa feature Amazon just announced: Hunches, Alexa Guard, and more
Correction, September 24th: The Fire TV Stick's maximum resolution is 1080p, not 4K as stated in an earlier version of this story.
Amazon's hardware boss talks about Alexa, privacy and flying ...
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