Alexa Plus is getting an AI update to handle more complicated instructions
Amazon is launching an update to its Alexa Plus assistant that will allow it to connect to smart home devices in new ways. With the update, which is currently in preview, Alexa Plus can link up with tech from Bosch, Delta, Ecovacs, iRobot, Yale Home, Whirlpool, Tapo, Eufy, and others, while automatically routing requests to the correct device.
In an example shared by Amazon, a person with a supported washing machine can say, "Alexa, my kid's soccer jersey could use a deep clean, but the tag says cold wash only." From there, Alexa Plus would navigate the washer's cycle options and choose the correct setting. The new integrations are powered …
The Echo Show 21 is a great smart home hub that’s $80 off
Split between buying a smart calendar, a kitchen TV, a smart home hub, and a smart display? Amazon’s Echo Show 21 is all of those things in one, with a huge 21-inch screen. You can use it to control your smart lights, glance at recipes, watch TV shows, and more. Currently, Best Buy and Home Depot have the product on sale for $319.99 (usually $399.99), matching the lowest price we’ve seen to date.
Amazon Echo Show 21
The Echo Show 21 can act as the centerpiece of any burgeoning smart home. The 1080p smart display is a Matter and Thread controller, meaning you can locally control compatible devices using voice commands or a range of widgets. Its built-in auto-framing camera also facilitates video calls. Plus, it has decent speakers for music and other features shared among Alexa displays.
Where to Buy:
The Echo Show 21’s smart home controls are unique to it and the smaller Echo Show 15 that’s just $20 cheaper. They boast support for Zigbee, Matter, and Thread, providing seamless control for numerous devices. The included voice remote can’t interact with widgets or Alexa skills, but you can use it to control your streaming services or other media. There’s a built-in 13-megapixel camera, too, in case you want to video chat with a pal, with auto-framing to keep you centered even if you’re rushing around the house.
The panel is designed to mount on the wall, but if you’d rather set it on a counter or bookshelf, Best Buy is selling the adjustable stand for $99.99 (usually $124.99). The stand tilts up to 30 degrees, and swivels a full 360 degrees in case you want it in the center of your room, or on a kitchen island.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s war on the First Amendment
As the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr has authority over the nation’s TV, radio, and internet. But since Donald Trump was elected to his second term, Carr has wielded that power to threaten broadcasters that have exercised their free speech rights to make jokes about the president. He was even able to get ABC to briefly pull Jimmy Kimmel from his late-night show. As The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel has said, Carr’s mission is to “trash the First Amendment.” We’ll be following closely as the FCC chairman attempts to erode Americans’ constitutional rights.
- Brendan Carr plans to let broadcast giants dominate the airwaves
- The bill that would let Jimmy Kimmel sue Brendan Carr is here
- Former FCC staffers agree: Brendan Carr needs to be stopped
- Brendan Carr’s war on wokeness targets inclusive children’s television
- Brendan Carr says his broadcast license threat wasn’t really about Iran war coverage
- Brendan Carr is a dummy
- Brendan Carr doesn’t regret his threats to broadcasters
- Brendan Carr’s FCC launches probe into BBC’s Trump edit
- Brendan Carr wants to let internet providers charge hidden fees again
- Kimmel returns to television to mock FCC Chair Brendan Carr
Claude’s voice mode is now available for Opus and Sonnet
Until now, voice mode has only been available on Claude Haiku, Anthropic's faster but less powerful model. Now the company is making its Opus and Sonnet models available in voice mode, and extending its reach into apps like Gmail, Slack, and Canva.
When Anthropic launched voice mode last year, it was primarily focused on delivering answers to quick questions with minimal delay. But in a blog post, the company said people immediately started using voice mode for far more than casual queries. They were using it to work "through real business problems," which Haiku was not really designed for. That model "kept conversations quick, but not alwa …
Patreon is laying off 20 percent of workers
Patreon is laying off 20 percent of its workers, or around 93 employees, as reported earlier by 404 Media. In a memo to employees, Patreon CEO Jack Conte writes that the company isn't making these changes "because we believe AI replaces humans," but says AI has "fundamentally transformed the tech industry, including how we work, how we build products, how we communicate, and more."
That shift has changed "how we operate and organize," Conte writes.
During an interview on Decoder, last month, Conte laid out his stance on AI, saying that the company is "100 percent embracing" AI tools internally to continue serving creators:
If Patreon doe …
Corsair’s PC case with a panoramic glass design is $70 off
On the hunt for a PC case that’s loaded with features and has a unique look? Amazon, Best Buy, and Corsair are selling the Corsair Frame 4500X RS for $119.99, a $70 discount from the usual price. The versatile case supports motherboards up to EATX, GPUs up to 460mm in length, and has a seamless panoramic glass window that wraps around its front and left side. The case includes three fans with reverse rotors mounted to its right side, letting the ARGB lighting shine into the case while they pull in air.
CORSAIR Frame 4500X RS
Where to Buy:
While the panoramic window might draw more attention, one of this case’s standout functional features is Corsair’s Infinirail system. Rather than having individual holes for fan screws, there are long slots on sliding rails, giving you more flexibility with cooling components and configuration. As a result, you can fit radiators up to 280mm or 360mm on the top or side of the case, depending on whether you opt for 120mm or 140mm case fans.
The case also supports rear connection motherboards like this Gigabyte X870 Aorus for cleaner cable runs, and is ready for vertical GPU mounting if you buy a riser cable. There are some other nice inclusions as well, like an anti-sag GPU support arm, and the screws come in a reusable box rather than a series of tiny plastic bags. The case includes a two year manufacturer’s warranty.
Tesla’s robotaxi promises are clashing with reality
In an earnings call yesterday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk did his best to paint a positive portrait of the company's robotaxi program. New cities are being added, more miles are being driven, and more people are experiencing Tesla's unsupervised vehicles.
But Musk's typical bullishness seemed to be absent from the call, as the occasional trillionaire sought to temper expectations about the program's future.
"We're going as fast as humanly possible in scaling Robotaxi," Musk said, "while trying to ensure that we do not harm anyone at all and ideally do not even run over a pet."
Musk's insistence that Tesla's robotaxi service was growing is clas …
Geekbench 7 will push your computer or phone even harder for better benchmarking
Primate Labs is releasing Geekbench 7, the latest generation of its popular benchmarking tool. Geekbench 7 features new video and audio encoding / decoding tests, a redesigned multi-core test, and larger, more demanding datasets for CPUs and GPUs to crunch through. It otherwise looks and acts just like Geekbench 6, and a Pro license will cost the same $99 (discounted to $79 until August 6th).
A Geekbench 7 Pro license allows for offline benchmarking that doesn't get uploaded to the Geekbench Browser, and it still covers all compatible desktop platforms of Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Geekbench is one of the mainstay synthetic benchmarks we …
OpenAI is making big claims as it rolls out ChatGPT Health to everyone
OpenAI is rolling out ChatGPT Health to everyone in the US on Thursday, allowing more people to connect their medical records and health-tracking information to the chatbot. During a briefing, Ashley Alexander, OpenAI's vice president of health product, says the company's models "are now capable of reasoning at levels that are better than clinician level."
When asked for more information about how the performance of OpenAI's models stacks up against human clinicians, OpenAI health lead Karan Singhal says that he would "temper" the claim that they are reasoning at better levels, but that "there have been individual studies that have been poi …
Amazon puts Luna cloud-streamed games like Fallout 4 inside Prime Video
The new strategy that Amazon gaming exec Jeff Gattis talked to The Verge about last month is getting clearer now that Prime Video has added a new Games tab on Fire TV devices. With Prime Gaming, Amazon Game Studios, and Luna now combined into one organization, it's aiming at the more casual audience of people already using Prime Video to stream movies, TV shows, and sports, instead of trying to compete directly with "core" gamers playing MMOs and shooters.
Luna was already included in Prime, but now users in the US and UK can access it directly within Prime Video to play titles like Dispatch, Fallout 4, Hogwarts Legacy, EA Sports FC 26, and …