Sonos partners with Amazon, adds voice support to its speakers

By early 2017, you’ll be able to use Amazon Alexa-powered devices (such as the Echo, Tap, and Dot) to control your Sonos ecosystem. Sonos has entered a long-term partnership with Amazon to introduce things like voice control to Sonos’ connected speakers. Aside from that, the Sonos system also adds Spotify Connect support, which will let you easily stream tunes on the music streaming service right into your speaker system. The support should go live in the coming weeks. Sonos earlier this year partnered with Apple to bring support for Apple Music into its system.

Source: Gizmodo

Amazon Echo finally lets you add events to your Google calendar

It feels like a long time coming but the Amazon Echo now gets the capability to add events to your Google calendar. All you have to do is tell it something like “Alex, add ‘run errands’ to my Calendar for 10 a.m. this Sunday” and then it’ll put it right into your calendar. No need to type it into your phone anymore. The Echo previously only lets you know what’s on your calendar but without the capability to add new entries.

Just head over to the settings screen of your Alexa app to activate the feature. Tap on the “calendar” option to turn this feature on.

Source: The Next Web

Amazon Echo gets additional news sources for Flash Briefing

Amazon Echo’s latest update brings new sources for its Flash Briefing feature. You can now add the likes of CNN, Bloomberg, NPR, Discovery News, The Economist, and ESPN Radio. Just head over to the Settings section of the Alexa app. Other than that, the Echo also now has some mad rhyming skills. It gets RhymeZone, a rhyming dictionary that you can speak to. You can just ask questions like, “Alexa, what rhymes with blue?” and it’ll get you a word or words that rhyme with it. You can now also ask it about baby names and what the popular names are for a particular year. The new skills can be added from the Skills section of the Alexa app.

Source: Android Central

Amazon Echo can now read you audiobooks

Looking to indulge your inner child with a bedtime story, Amazon updated its Echo speaker to add support for Audible files. The voice-guided speaker can now read to you the title of your choice when you ask it. It can even pick up where it left off with Whispersync for Voice, which is perfect not just when you’re calling it a night but even when you’re puttering around the house doing chores.

Source: Amazon | Via: Engadget