Recent Smart Home Stories

Compact

Standard

Grid

More bad news for Cortana: Amazon has made it easier than ever for all PC makers to bring Alexa-powered PCs to market.

Last week's unexpected Groove news has triggered some latent remorseful feelings from Microsoft's world-weary fans. I feel it too.

Last week, I provided an update on our cord-cutting efforts. Maybe I should have waited, as things are changing yet again.

Not sure how I missed this when it happened three weeks ago, but the Hulu with Live TV service now offers a guide.

In the three months or so since we've switched (back) to cord-cutting services, we've been mostly happy with the decision.

The Philips Hue app just received its biggest update in years, adding a pleasant-looking new user experience and improved smarts.

Acer announced this morning that it is the first to ship notebook PCs preinstalled with Amazon Alexa. It won't be the last.

Microsoft announced that it has purchased Semantic Machines, an AI startup. But this purchase may have a chilling effect on Cortana.

Google smart speaker sales are growing over three times faster than those from Amazon, closing the gap in this critical market.

Heading home from Seattle and reflecting on this week's Build conference, I'm struck by the major change in Microsoft's tone and direction.

In a future in which the entire world is a computer, we need a more responsible approach to technology. We need Microsoft.

Google announced today that its Google Assistant is now compatible with over 5,000 smart devices, up 1,500 from January.

Amazon today announced a new Echo Dot aimed at kids and a new version of its parental controls.

To date, Google's podcast strategy has amounted to adding podcast support to Google Play Music. That's changing.

Bill Gates once remarked that Windows was the most versatile software that the world had ever seen. Nope.

Amazon announced this week that it is opening up Alexa skills creation to non-programmers via a new tool called Alexa Skill Blueprints.

Most of the privacy reporting these days is focused on Google and Facebook because these firms maximize their earnings by knowing more about you.

Activision announced this week that it has released a beta set of Call of Duty skills for Amazon Alexa.

Contrary to various reports, Microsoft will indeed charge a licensing fee for Azure Sphere. Is this a problem?

Microsoft had good reasons to choose a Linux core for its Azure Sphere OS. Was better security one of the reasons?

Google today announced new versions of its fun "AIY"---read as "DIY AI"---project kits for the Raspberry Pi Zero WH.

Microsoft's Azure Sphere represents the confluence of several big themes we've discussed here on Thurrott.com in recent weeks.

Amazon is bringing a popular Google Home feature to its Echo speakers.

Ambient computing is the "next wave" of personal computing. But what role can Microsoft play in this future?

Routines represent the second-generation of the digital assistant era, where we move past simple command/response interactions.

Amazon's $1 billion purchase of smart home security firm Ring is big news, but it could result in a chilling new era of fragmentation.

Speakers are getting smarter and everyone is shoving Alexa into their products; KitSound looks to differentiate with multiple playback options but is it enough?