Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition will soon support Spotify

If you’ve made a kid-friendly playlist for your child, you can soon stream that through their Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition. Amazon will soon let parents pair their kids’ devices with their Spotify account. This integration will automatically filter out any songs with explicit language, which parents can toggle off in Amazon’s FreeTime dashboard. But now, at least your child can listen to his or her favorite song without needing you to play it for them.

On top of this, the Echo Dot Kids Edition is getting new Disney content, such as character alarms and an updated “Disney Dailies.” The latter is a skill that lets kids listen to jokes and other content from familiar Disney characters. Amazon is set to roll out the update this week.

Source: The Verge

Amazon Alexa app on iOS now has voice control support

It took many, many months (or even a year or two) since Amazon has been able to add voice control support to its Amazon Alexa iOS app. It might have felt like this wasn’t going to happen but it’s finally here. The update will be rolling out to users in the coming days so keep an eye for it. What this brings to users is the ability to ask for help from Alexa. Since it’s not baked in natively, you’ll need to tap a button to interact with it. But once you do that, you can ask Alexa questions, access skills, listen to music, and control smart devices. There will also be a visual component in the app for queries related to weather, sports, movies, and calendar.

Source: TechCrunch

Microsoft Xbox One will soon reportedly support Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant

It seems there will be more assistant options coming to the Microsoft Xbox One soon, if rumours are to be believed. Windows Central reports that upcoming versions of Xbox One dashboard will add support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. This’ll be available through a skill on both platforms. At the moment, Cortana is the only supported digital assistant on the Xbox One through the Kinect accessory or a headset. This rumoured addition could mean that you might be able to control your console through them. But it isn’t clear what features will be supported or if you’ll still need the aforementioned accessories for it to work. We’re banking on the idea that you wouldn’t need it.

Amazon recently brought on board Microsoft Xbox veteran Albert Penello to “help figure out how to grow Alexa/Echo presence in gaming.” If this integration is true, then that means the platform is a step closer to making that happen. Microsoft and Amazon are already working to integrate Alexa and Cortana on all Windows 10 PCs.

Source: The Verge

Amazon Alexa can now be your default voice assistant on Android

Google has always been okay with its users turning to other AI-powered smart assistants from its competitors. Android already supports Microsoft Cortana and now it adds Amazon’s Alexa into the mix. A Reddit user found that you can access Alexa by holding down the home button. Depending on what phone you use, setting up Alexa is going to look a bit different. But you just need to update your Alexa app, afterwards head over to your phone’s settings and head over to the “Assist app” section to make the change.

There are some caveats, though. It can’t pull up maps or make native calls and you can’t activate it by voice or by squeezing the phone but you can do a quick Google search with it. Some of the phones that seem to have access to the feature include Google Pixel 2, One Plus 5, One Plus One, Xperia, Moto G5 Plus, Essential Phone 1, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, and Samsung Galaxy S9 devices.

Source: The Verge