Amazon

We’ve known since the spring of last year that Amazon Alexa and Google Home smart speakers can eavesdrop on owners, and even phish them via voice. However, new research shows that new malicious apps with these capabilities continue to be approved by both companies.

The two vulnerabilities, demonstrated in videos below, occur because both companies make their speakers smarter by allowing third-party developers to create apps or “skills” for them. Apple’s HomePod is safe because the company doesn’t allow this type of third-party access…

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Amazon today took the wraps off of a monster list of new Alexa-enabled products, including its rumored AirPods competitor. Dubbed the Echo Buds, the truly wireless earbuds are available for pre-order now at $129 – but Amazon executive Dave Limp apparently doesn’t even have his pair just yet.

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Earlier this year, a report suggested that Amazon is developing an AirPods competitor with Alexa built-in. Now, a new report from CNBC offers more details on those earbuds, as well as a new Echo speaker.

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French President Emmanuel Macron has defended France’s decision to impose a 3% tax on the local revenues of Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon.

The tax was nicknamed a GAFA tax after the initial letters of the main companies targeted…

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Amazon Music may not be in the same league as Spotify and Apple Music when it comes to subscriber numbers, but it believes it has a plan to help tempt students.

There’s one offer for those who are Prime Student members, and another for those who aren’t…

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Amazon is following the precedent set by Apple and is giving users the ability to opt-out of having their Alexa voice recordings reviewed by humans. Bloomberg reports that the new policy took effect yesterday.

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Apple and Amazon reached an agreement last year for the Cupertino company to sell its products directly to consumers through an official Apple store on the ecommerce site.

While the move was pitched as making more Apple products available to Amazon buyers and addressing the problem of counterfeit goods, it cut most third-party resellers out of the loop — which is the reason the FTC is reportedly now carrying out an antitrust investigation …

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I’ve been a big fan of the Amazon ecosystem for ebooks and audiobooks for a number of years. I’ve had an Audible subscription off and on since 2008, and I’ve been using some version of a Kindle Paperwhite for the past few years. I actually just pre-ordered the new Kindle Oasis. I’ll be doing a review of it on 9to5Toys in early August. Despite Apple’s attempts with the Apple Books redesign, the Kindle and Audible ecosystem is still the best place to be for book lovers. I’d love to see Apple compete against Amazon with an Apple Book reader.

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According to Bloomberg, Amazon is working on a new addition to the Amazon Echo smart speaker lineup to more directly compete against Apple’s HomePod and Sonos speakers in terms of sound quality.

The new model is purportedly set to release “by next year” and current prototypes feature at least four internal tweeters. The HomePod cylinder contains seven beam-forming tweeters. The current Echo lineup will also “receive minor updates this fall”, according to the publication.

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A new report from The Financial Times today details that Amazon Music Unlimited has become the fastest growing music streaming service, outpacing both Spotify and Apple Music. This comes after Apple VP Eddy Cue recently confirmed that Apple Music had hit 60 million subscribers.

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Brandz is out with its annual analysis of the world’s most valuable brands, and there is good news and bad news for Apple.

On the upside, Apple has overtaken Google; on the downside, both have been beaten to the top slot by Amazon …

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According to a report from Reuters this evening, Amazon is interested in acquiring Boost Mobile from T-Mobile and Sprint. Amazon is also said to be interested in any wireless spectrum that could be divested, the report adds.

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Music Business Worldwide reports that Amazon is gearing up to offer a hi-res streaming music service.

We understand that Amazon is currently in discussion with various large music rights-holders regarding the upcoming launch of a high fidelity music streaming platform – and that at least one major record company has already agreed to license it.

MBW has heard this whisper from several high-placed music industry sources, who say the price of Amazon’s new tier will likely be in the region of $15 per month. It’s expected to launch before the end of 2019 …

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While Apple and Amazon are often viewed as competitors, they also share an important partnership when it comes to cloud services. Amazon Web Services (AWS) are used to power Apple’s services including iCloud and its monthly payments to the retail giant are now said to be more than $30 million.

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