Amazon to stream Ghibli-produced ‘Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter’
Amazon’s children’s video offerings are expanding once again. This time it’s with an animated version of Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter. That name might sound familiar if you were assigned a book report in 5th grade for Astrid Lindgren month but didn’t want to read Pippi Longstocking. The details of the show’s production are a little convoluted, so bear with me. It’s directed by Goro Miyazaki and hasn’t made it outside of Japan and the Scandanavian region. Goro is the son of famed Studio Ghibli mastermind Hayao Miyazaki (Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle), and Studio Ghibli co-produced this project. That version came out back in 2014.
What Amazon will stream is an English dub spanning 26 episodes, narrated by everyone’s favorite FBI agent, Gillian Anderson. She has a bit of history with Ghibli as she did the voice for Moro in the Princess Mononoke dub, which was handled by Disney. So, the chances of this being a solid version with western voice-overs are probably pretty high. But, again, it’s important to note that this isn’t a full-on Amazon Original. With Studio Ghibli on hiatus, this might be the last bit of the team’s work, so make the most of it.
For those with little kids (and who aren’t just young at heart themselves), Amazon has also ordered Little Big Awesome which features flying sea turtles and “a jelly giant.” That hails from Ben Gruber of Spongebob Squarepants and Super Jail fame, and is being animated by the house of Metalocalypse, Titmouse Inc. It probably won’t be brutal, but we can always hope for a William Murderface Easter egg, can’t we?
Source: Amazon
Save items to your Todoist lists with the Amazon Echo
Todoist is one of the more full-featured to-do services out there, and it’s available on nearly every platform out there. Whether you use Mac or Windows, iOS or Android, Todoist has you covered. Today, they’re adding yet another option to the mix by integrating with the Amazon Echo.
It works much like you’d expect: you can ask Alexa to add items to the various lists that you have in your Todoist account, and you can also ask it to tell you everything that’s on your to-do list for that day. And Alexa works with Todoist’s natural language processing, so you can ask it to add things to your list “tomorrow” or “next Wednesday” and it’ll know just what you’re asking it for. It’s not clear if you’ll be able to tell Alexa to add items to specific projects or to-do lists in your account — they probably get added to whatever your default list is for you to sort out on your phone or computer.
The Echo already has its own to-do list features built into it, but they’re obviously not as full-featured as something like Todoist. And integrating with an app like Todoist will help Echo match up with Google’s upcoming Home assistant, which knows all about your schedule and to-do lists thanks to its close integration with Google’s services. If you have an Echo and Todoist account, you can try this out today — it’ll work for both free and paid Todoist users.
VR at comic cons isn’t worth the hassle
There was plenty to see at this year’s New York Comic Con, from the stars of the newest Netflix shows, to elaborate cosplay of superheroes and giant robots. However, it seemed like quite a few exhibitors would prefer that attendees spend their time in booths with virtual reality headsets strapped to their face. But instead of feeling like a pop-up arcade where fans could delve into the worlds of their favorite programs, many of the simulations felt like cheap marketing presentations. And, honestly, the technology and fans deserve so much better.
The use of virtual reality to promote other media is nothing new. We’ve seen simulations that allowed you to visit Castle Black from HBO’s Game of Thrones, or one that put you into the role of a Ghostbuster. Indeed, the Westworld setup at New York Comic Con would appear to be more of the same, with some extra flourishes to more fully immerse attendees in the world of the show. Those who showed up at its off-site location were greeted by women and men dressed in white and asked to wait in a tasteful lounge area. It felt luxurious, like I had actually booked a trip with the fictional company. Unfortunately, that feeling wouldn’t last very long as I was led into a mostly empty room and an HTC Vive was strapped to my face.
I continued my experience as a Westworld customer, waving the controllers to choose a hat and gun, then testing out my shooting skills on a small range. I felt mildly annoyed by the inability to walk around and explore the buildings in the distance, and that feeling got worse as the narrative kicked in. The scenery “glitched” and I ended up in a lab where technicians frantically scrambled to figure out what was going wrong with the sim. I was told to sit down — in an actual physical chair — and then I was rolled around the laboratory floor, passively watching as executives argued and malfunctioning androids attacked their makers. It was essentially an infodump that the company hoped would interest me in the series.
Amazon did something similar for The Man in the High Castle, minus the exterior role-playing elements. I was show protagonist Juliana Crain, searching for a filmstrip hidden in an office. I was a bit too tall for the room and looking down revealed some comically large breasts, while the gameplay mostly consisted of clicking on various items, with text hints appearing if I took a tad too long making my way through the office.
A lot of VR experiences encourage exploration and discovery, but neither of these programs had the luxury of letting the user wander due to the need to push their particular TV shows in under five minutes. They didn’t even do a very good job conveying what their source material was about. A friend of mine who also tried the Man in the High Castle experience said that it was a good thing he had seen the pilot, because he otherwise had no idea what was going on. The same is true of Westworld: I know that it’s ostensibly a story about theme park androids run amok, but that’s only because I’m familiar with the source novel and original film. The confusion and frustration I experienced during the VR demo actually made me a bit wary of the show: I still haven’t seen a single episode.
These experiences are “convention exclusive,” meaning they’ll never see release outside of the handful of attendees who arrive at the booth early enough or are willing to wait a few hours in line for a turn. They don’t even have a good ripple effect: You can’t really share the experience on social media, and your friends won’t watch a TV show or movie just because you saw a cool VR demo. So most of these demos tend to be short and unsatisfying, because there’s no point in spending a lot of resources on something that can only reach a couple thousand people at most.
This results in a sort of knock-on effect, as the experiences stop being worth the time and money attendees put into them. A single-day badge is $50, and many of the booths had lines advertising two or three hour waits. With hundreds of guests, dozens of panels and cosplay to check out, I’d be pretty pissed if I wasted a good chunk of my day on a mediocre VR demo.
At first glance, Starbreeze Studios’ John Wick experience would seem to be more of the same: It’s also a tie-in for an upcoming film and a limited number of stations meant a long wait. You even start out by watching a short trailer. But it quickly breaks off into a fully-realized simulation, forcing you to defend yourself from waves and waves of attackers on a roof. I was far from a passive observer of an ad at this point: I had to actually turn to aim my guns and duck behind walls to avoid being shot.
It didn’t matter whether or not I was familiar with John Wick, because it cut to the meat of what people like about the series: The intense action sequences. Granted, it’s a lot easier to convey the story of an assassin who everyone wants to kill than say, an alternate history where the Nazis won World War II. But, the best games and VR experiences play to their source materials’ strengths, and John Wick did that beautifully.
The reason that it succeeded is because it’s not an ephemeral gimmick. It’s actually going to be a real game next year, called “The John Wick Chronicles,” available on SteamVR for $20 in February. So no one actually needed to stand in line for hours to try it, they could have just waited for the retail release. But, if they’d never tried VR before, it was certainly a good first experience to have. It sold virtual reality as much as it sold John Wick.
This is important because even with three major headsets available, the price and required hardware keep them out of the hands of many fans. Large public events like New York Comic Con end up being the first time many people get to try the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR, so those experiences need to be good. Who’s going to want to buy a headset if their first simulation is a bad commercial?
Amazon Echo Dot review (2016): Forget the Echo. Buy this instead.
The robot assistants we were promised as children are finally ready for the home. Well, sort of. Instead of walking, talking humanoid automatons like Rosie from The Jetsons and Robby the Robot from Lost in Space, our well-spoken helpers are housed in plastic and sit on tables. They answer our questions, control our homes and sometimes tell us a story. The most ubiquitous assistant so far has been Alexa, an Amazon-powered attendant that has made the jump from a $180 tower to the $50 Dot, which isn’t much bigger than a hockey puck. That sort of drop in size usually results in a loss of features. In this case, you’re going to want to go tiny.
Hardware
At only 1.3 inches tall, the Dot (available in black or white) virtually disappears into your home. It can be placed anywhere, and it won’t disrupt your carefully decorated room. Like the larger Echo, the second-generation Dot can be used to fill an Amazon cart. But that’s not the only thing people use it for. Instead, the Alexa platform is an incredibly helpful connected home hub, a fountain of random facts, an audiobook reader and a music player.
Indeed, it’s music where the Dot really shines, thanks to an audio-out port and Bluetooth speaker support. That gives it access to nearly any audio system in your home. The full-size Echo’s built-in speakers sound fine too, but the stereo system I already own sounds better.
Also, you can switch between wired and Bluetooth speakers on the fly by enabling and disabling the Bluetooth connection with your voice. That feature allowed me to switch my audio source in two different rooms using a single Dot. That said, the Alexa platform does work with Sonos if you want that type of audio system and you have the money. Unfortunately, you can’t play audio out of both a wired and a Bluetooth source at the same time. Like the Echo, the Dot has an internal speaker, but it’s too anemic for audio playback to be truly enjoyable.
And while about 90 percent of your interactions with the digital assistant will be voice-based, there are physical buttons on top of the device as well. The most important of those is Microphone Off, which, as you’d expect, stops the device from listening for the “Alexa” wake word. It’s a great feature for when you want to discuss sensitive topics and you’re feeling a bit paranoid. Indeed, there’s good reason for being cautious with sensitive material: Sometimes the Dot and Echo think they hear “Alexa,” even when that’s not what you said. Now a bit of your conversation has been recorded as a query, sent to Amazon’s servers and also stored in the app.
Additionally there are volume buttons that replace the full-size Echo’s twistable top. Fans of the knob will be disappointed, but most of the time I use my voice to raise and lower the volume anyway. The buttons are surrounded by an LED ring that indicates when the Dot is listening and thinking. It also reflects the current speaker volume. It’s a nice indicator that your assistant is listening, and it can be seen from across the room without being too bright or blinding.
In use
The thousands of “Skills” (what Amazon calls third-party add-on features for the Alexa platform) are where Amazon has a distinct advantage over Google’s forthcoming speaker hub, called the Home. It already supports popular connected-home brands such as Nest, SmartThings, Philips Hue and IFTTT, as well as platforms from WeMo, Insteon, Lutron, Honeywell and Ecobee, among others. Plus it works with travel and recipe apps. You can order a pizza, flowers and a car with it. You can check bank balances and get news briefings from NPR, Fox and the AP. You can hear sports scores from ESPN, and you can even figure out how much gas is in your car using the “Automatic” Skill.
I tried nearly all of these (except ordering pizza, because ew, Dominos) and they all worked like a charm. But the Skills library — like all app stores — is filled with some add-ons that are better left ignored. For example, the Moon Age add-on notes, “you can know the moon age by asking to [sic] Echo.” What does that even mean?
Adding all these Skills requires using the Alexa app, which is clearly the weak link of Amazon’s platform. I’ve been using an Echo for more than a year, and in the past few months the app, frankly, has been a pain to use. The issue is that it says it’s not connected to the internet, even when my phone and Echo speaker both can access the network without a problem. If it doesn’t think it’s online, the app becomes worthless. Fortunately, you can also tap into Alexa via your web browser. That workaround has consistently worked for me. But I usually learn of a new Skill while on the go, and if 20 percent of the time I can’t add it because the app is buggy, that’s frustrating.
Another confounding thing is that you can’t really have two Alexas in adjoining rooms. Amazon says that its Echo Spatial Perception feature (ESP) determines which device hears you the best and sends answers only to that piece of hardware. But during my tests, the Dot and the Echo both replied and answered when I said the wake word or made a query. Even if I was sitting in front of one of them, if the other assistant heard me, it would react. To combat this, I changed the wake word on one device to “Echo.” Those in larger houses with more rooms might have a different experience altogether, though.
The competition
While there are rumors of an Apple device on the horizon, the only real challenge to Alexa’s dominance in this field is the forthcoming Google Home. While the Home does have some Internet of Things capabilities, they pale in comparison with the Echo and the Dot. While the Google offering works with four connected home platforms, Alexa supports more than 13 different manufacturers and developers. But the $129 device will allow for audiocasting to multiple devices that support Google’s audio and video streaming service. The Dot, meanwhile, can send music only to a single device.
The Amazon Dot is also out sooner, but only by a few weeks. It starts shipping next week, on October 20th, while Google Home goes on sale November 4th. Engadget will have a full review of Home once it’s available, so stay tuned for that over the coming weeks.
Wrap-up
Even with multiple wake words, the inability to stream to multiple devices and an app that sometimes fails, the Amazon Dot is an incredible value at $50 a pop. Dropping one in the kitchen and one in the living room seems like a no-brainer. I’ve used the Echo tower for more than a year and it’s one of the only — if not the only — IoT devices that actually works as advertised while continuing to gain features. Alexa doesn’t roll around the house cleaning up your mess like the home robot of our dreams, but it does make your life better by bringing all your various services and information into an easy-to-use setup. Plus, thanks to the audio jack, the $50 Dot is a much better value than its taller cousin. Just don’t call it Rosie.
Amazon Music Unlimited Launches With $3.99 Echo-Only Subscription Option
Amazon today launched Amazon Music Unlimited, its new, standalone, on-demand streaming service.
Amazon Music Unlimited is distinct from the company’s Prime-only limited music library, in that it promises access to “tens of millions” of songs from all the major labels. Prices start at $7.99 per month for Prime members and $9.99 per month for non-members, the latter of which puts it in the same cost bracket as Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music, and Tidal’s standard price plans. A similar free 30-day trial is also being offered.
In addition, Amazon is offering a separate $3.99 subscription plan for owners of connected speakers from the company’s popular Echo range. The plan lets them stream music to Amazon’s devices, but only those devices. A $14.99 per month (or $149 per year) family subscription plan for up to six people is currently in the works, and should become live later this year.
Amazon says its library includes music from Sony, Universal, and Warner, as well as thousands of indie labels, with thousands of curated playlists and personalized stations also included. However, the service enters a crowded market already commanding millions of subscribers, which makes it increasingly difficult for newcomers to differentiate their service. In this respect, Amazon is likely betting on its Echo-only option, which could prove popular with an existing user base already familiar with the company’s eco-system.
For example, the Echo-based service plan integrates with the speakers’ intelligent assistant Alexa, meaning voice commands can be used to play particular songs and/or playlists based on specific criteria – to play songs from a particular decade, or to match a mood, say. Indeed, Echo owners can sign up for Amazon Music Unlimited simply by asking Alexa to start their free trial.
Amazon is estimated to have sold over 4 million smart speakers so far, and is hoping to sell 10 million by the end of 2017, which could put it on course for a subscription coup. Amazon Music Unlimited goes live in the U.S. today and is set to debut in the U.K., Germany and Austria later this year.
Tags: Amazon, Amazon Echo, Amazon Music Unlimited
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Amazon’s standalone music streaming service is finally here
Based on a string of rumors that began circulating in January of this year, it was only a matter of time before Amazon rolled out its fully fledged music service. And today is that day. Enter Amazon Music Unlimited, a standalone offering set to rival the likes of Apple Music and Spotify. It is, of course, a complement to Prime Music, the free streaming service for people who are part of Amazon’s $99-per-year membership. Naturally, Prime subscribers get the benefit of paying less for Music Unlimited: $8 monthly compared to $10 for everyone else.
Now, the service is even cheaper if you own an Echo speaker. Amazon has a $4-per-month tier, dubbed “For Echo,” which gives you full access to the service on one Echo, Echo Dot or Amazon Tap device. The company says “tens of millions of songs” are part of its catalogue, including over two million that were already available on Prime Music, but it did not share specific numbers when asked. That said, Director of Amazon Music Ryan Redington tells Engadget that all three major labels are onboard — Sony, Universal and Warner.
As part of the launch, Amazon redesigned its Music app for iOS, Android, desktop and Fire products from the ground up. Not only will it work for both Prime Music and Music Unlimited users (including offline), but Redington says every aspect of the application has been tweaked to be simpler and easier to navigate. But the most important part about Music Unlimited, he notes, is the integration with Alexa and Echo devices. For example, you can say things like, “Alexa, play the song of the day?” or “Alexa, play Greenday’s latest album?”
What’s more, Redington says Alexa is capable of playing tracks based on your mood, as well as tell you who sings a song even if you only know part of the lyrics. I was given a demo of these features and they worked seamlessly, but that’s not really surprising since Alexa has an excellent reputation as a virtual assistant. Redington claims Alexa will keep getting better with time too, as it learns more about your listening habits through Amazon Music Unlimited.
For Prime members, Amazon Music Unlimited seems to be a no brainer, namely because it only costs $8 per month. Apple Music and Spotify, for reference, are $10 each for a regular, non-student account. That said, it might be hard for people who already have a streaming sub elsewhere to jump ship — building a whole new library and set of playlists would be a tedious process.
Music Unlimited is only available for US customers right now, but the company says it “will continue to expand and enhance” the service. For starters, it’s expected to launch in the UK, Germany and Austria later this year, though no clear timeline was given by Amazon. A family plan is also going to be available soon, which will allow up to six people to stream music simultaneously for $15 monthly.
According to Redington, the long-rumored service was part of Amazon’s business strategy since the launch of Prime Music in 2014. Still, it wasn’t until this year that his team actually went all in on the idea, with the goal being to develop a “fun and engaging” product. And with Alexa and Echo in people’s homes now, he says, it felt like the natural time to introduce Music Unlimited. It sounds like a good start, but we’ll see if listeners are willing to give it a chance in the crowded music-streaming space.
Amazon reportedly plans to open convenience stores
Amazon’s plan to be a one-stop food shop may extend well beyond those rumored drive-up grocery stores. Wall Street Journal sources claim that Amazon hopes to open convenience stores where you’d buy meat, veggies and “other perishable items” that you take home like you would from any brick-and-mortar store. Tech would only come into play when you want something delivered. Mobile apps, and possibly in-store touchscreens, would let you order longer-lived food for same-day delivery. You wouldn’t have to worry if you couldn’t carry everything home.
The apparent scoop also sheds light on the previously rumored drive-up stores. Amazon is believed to be working on license plate scanning that would reduce wait times — presumably, that would help Amazon spot your vehicle as you drive in and tell staff to head out that much sooner. You’d have to be an AmazonFresh subscriber to take advantage of these locations, though.
Amazon isn’t commenting on the store initiative, which is codenamed Project Como. However, it wouldn’t be a shocking move. The internet giant has been candid with its plans to open more physical stores, and grocery stores are a logical extension for a company that increasingly treats food as a staple of its online ordering business. If anyone is going to be surprised, it could be established convenience and grocery store chains that often treat internet-based delivery as a secondary service at best.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Google Assistant is getting a sense of humor from ‘The Onion’
As Google Home gets closer to launch, the AI assistant is not only getting smarter, but also a little more friendly and — hopefully — a whole lot funnier. As the Wall Street Journal’s Christopher Mims notes in a piece about friendly AI like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant, Alphabet’s big play for the space includes hiring up comedy writing alumni of Pixar and The Onion.
While none of the major AI assistants on the market today or coming soon are truly “artificial intelligence” (that is: the device itself doesn’t actually understand the conversation) people have a natural tendency to form an emotional connection with the little robot voice in the kitchen speaker. So, subtle improvements like a witty joke or unexpected bit of humor can go a long way to improving the user experience, especially as voice and conversation becomes the interface itself. Although Siri and Alexa already have a few jokes in their repertoire, they tend to be pretty bad and definitely don’t have quite the same punch as the topical humor of “America’s Finest News Source.”
Since Amazon and Alphabet’s endgoal is to get Alexa and Google Assistant into any connected device within earshot, then it’s good to know those devices will at least have a sense of humor about listening to us humans 24 hours a day.
Via: CNET
Source: Wall Street Journal
Lady Gaga album leaks through Amazon’s Echo speaker
Lady Gaga is starting to reveal some of the songs on her upcoming album Joanne, but it might not be quite the controlled release she was hoping for. Fans with Amazon’s Echo speakers recently discovered that they could listen to 30-second previews of currently unavailable songs from the album just by asking Alexa to “play Joanne by Lady Gaga.” You couldn’t do that on Apple Music, Spotify or even Amazon’s own website. The trick only worked in the US and has since been shut down, but it’s a reminder that it’s no longer enough to hide store listings these days. If you’re going to keep music under lock and key before its release, it has to be virtually non-existent online.
Source: BBC
After Math: Ooooohhh, numbers!
It’s been a big week for counting. IBM laid out $200 million in Watson research, Amazon dropped the price of its fresh produce deliveries, Oculus unveiled a slew of new accessories for its VR headset and Sony announced 80 — count ’em, 8-0 — titles for its upcoming PSVR platform. Numbers, because what else is your right hemisphere good for?
AIVAnet 