Tag Archives: Alexa

Daily Links: How the Internet changed the way we read

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daily_links_1Daily Links for day, January 4, 2016:

How the Internet changed the way we read (Daily Dot) – More on the concept of digital distraction.

GQ Tells Readers to Turn Off Ad Blockers or Pay Up (Fortune) – Do you want to read this badly enough to turn off your ad blocker?

Will 2016 be the year web advertisers realise we don’t want to be monitored? (The Guardian) – No, we all really LOVE ads!

“What Does My Site Cost?” Tells You How Much a Mobile Visitor Pays to See a Site (The Digital Reader) – Here is a way to find out if your website need to lose weight.

Amazon’s Other App Store, Alexa’s “Skills” Section, Has Quietly Grown To Over 130 Apps (Techcrunch) – Alexa, you sneaky girl! Did you know that the Amazon Echo had its own app store?

Deals of the Day:

Amazon’s Kindle Daily Deals includes The Choice  by Nicholas Sparks for $2.99.

Barnes and Noble Nook Daily Find is  PULP!: Two Thriller Novels and a Novella to Keep You on the Edge of Your Seat! by Vincent Zandri for 99 cents.The Romance Daily Find is Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller for $2.99

Kobo has Silver Palate Cookbook by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso for $2.99.

iTunes’ Weekly Sellers for Under $4 includes Jonathan Kellerman’s When the Bough Breaks for $1.99.

(A note on Daily Deals: All prices current at the time of posting and subject to change. Most items marked Daily Deals are good for only the day posted.

Many large promotions have discount pricing that is set by the publisher. This usually means that titles can be found at a discount price across most platforms (with iTunes sometimes being the exception). If you have a favorite retailer you like to patronize, check the title on that website. There is a good chance that they will be matching the sale price.)

Daily Links are interesting links I discover as I go about my online day. The frequency and number of links posted depend upon the daily news. I also post other, different links of interest on Twitter and on the Google Plus eBook Evangelist Page.

Amazon Echo now available to all

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echoThe Amazon Echo is now available to all customers. Previously, the voice-activated system was only available by invitation only. The always-on system features Alexa, Amazon’s answer to Siri and Cortana and allows hands-free access to music, including Amazon Music, Prime Music, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn. The device also can retrieve information from Wikipedia or the web, tell you the weather, set timers and alarms, relay the latest news, and compile shopping/to-do lists.

Over the past few months, Amazon has added a number of new features to the system. It can now:

  • Work with connected home systems
  • Play Pandora radio
  • Read Audible books aloud
  • Access Google Calendar
  • Use IFTT
  • Re-order Prime items
  • Relay sports scores and schedules
  • Give you traffic reports, including routes and travel times
  • Allow you to customize news.

Amazon Echo retails for $179.99 and starts shipping on July 14, 2015. You can learn more about the device or order one here.