Acer unveils DTS audio-equipped, Google Assistant-powered speaker

Yes, those are more qualifying statements than usual. But Acer seems to be taking the fight to the existing smart home speakers with the Acer Halo. It's one of the first smart speakers to offer DTS sound processing without breaking the bank. The Halo promises to provide "high-quality audio that is projected in 360 degrees to fill any room." 

And then it also comes with RGB lights on the base and a customizable dot matrix-like display that reminds us of the Amazon Echo Dot with clock. That requires an app to show anything from a clock, weather forecast, emoji, or another pixelated image of choice. If the RGB lights and the display are too much for you, Acer claims you can turn this off. 

Click to read more ...

Google Assistant tests broadcast feature for specific rooms

Right now, when you use Google Assistant's Broadcast feature, it's an all-or-nothing affair. It will broadcast your message to all Google Assistant-supported speakers your account is linked to. But Google seems to be testing a way that it'll just broadcast to a specified room.

9to5Google reports that this seems to be an A/B test of the feature. Users will need to say something like, "Hey Google, broadcast a message to living room, the food is ready." And then Google will broadcast this message to the speakers located in the living room. It'll be handy for things like calling your kids down for dinner. But since it's being tested, the feature isn't available widely yet. Here's to hoping Google rolls this one out soon.

Review: Amazon Echo Spot

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Amazon has defined the smart speaker space with its range of Echo devices which serve as speakers of varying size and quality and also work as conduits to smart home systems, entertainment, online search and news and music playback. With a 72 per cent market share in the US and a growing global presence, Amazon’s Echo devices are far from peaking. Thanks to various partnerships, Alexa is shipping on even more devices such as desktop PCs, high end hi-fi speakers and even in-car infotainment devices.

One of the latest devices from market leader Amazon is the Echo Spot which is a smart speaker that also packs a clever 2.5-inch display as well as a camera for video conferencing.  Echo Spot can do everything other Echo speakers can, but it uses the display to show useful information, play back video from YouTube or Amazon Prime Video as well as visualize various responses (i.e. album art for music playback, news briefs, weather updates and other useful information.

Click to read more ...

Google Home Max coming to Canada on May 16 for $499

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Toronto - Smart speakers come in a number of varieties. You have the cheaper hockey-puck sized mini speakers that connect to the Internet easily enought but, because of their size, don't sound great. You have the larger coffee mug sized speakers that sound a bit better but only have so much room to accomodate bass. At the top end, you get the large smart speakers that are geared towards bigger sound with more complex audio capabilities.

All these speakers do the same thing and some even allow you to hook up to your existing loudspeakers to get that Hi-Fi sound. For homes that don't have a high-fidelity speaker, Google is offering its Google Home Max speaker as the one to rule them all.

Click to read more ...