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Amazon.com's Alexa has a little something to teach your kids about manners. After receiving feedback from some parents concerned about how voice assistants are affecting their kids attitudes, the company updated Alexa to reward children who asks for things nicely. Kids are some of the biggest fans of voice assistants, with some learning to talk to Alexa, Apple's Siri or Google's Assistant before they can form full sentences. But some parents have worried that having voice assistants around the house will make their children more rude, since the youngsters can bark out demands for a favorite television station or song...

Amazon has filed a patent that could allow its Echo devices to one day listen in on conversations to help with user recommendations. A handy feature or more fodder for conspiracy theories? Should you whisper around your Amazon Echo, lest it whisper back to you? That’s the future suggested by a patent recently filed by the company, which examined the possibility of eavesdropping on conversations held around its voice-activated devices in order to better suggest products or services to users. The idea seems to be to turn Alexa, the company’s virtual assistant, from a dutiful aide under the user’s command...

Ask Alexa about chemtrails, and she'll tell you it's a government conspiracy. Seriously. "Chemtrails: Trails left by aircraft are actually chemical or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes for a purpose undisclosed to the general public in clandestine programs directed by government officials," my Amazon Echo responds when asked "What's a chemtrail."

Owners of Amazon Echo devices with the voice-enabled assistant Alexa have been pretty much creeped out of their damn minds recently. People are reporting that the bot sometimes spontaneously starts laughing — which is basically a bloodcurdling nightmare.

Amazon’s Alexa has been letting out an unprompted, creepy cackle - startling users of the best-selling voice assistant. The laugh, described by some as “witch like” was reported to sometimes happen without the device being “woken” up. Others reported the laugh occurring when they asked Alexa to perform a different task, such as playing music. "We’re aware of this and working to fix it,” Amazon said. "In rare circumstances, Alexa can mistakenly hear the phrase 'Alexa, laugh'. "We are changing that phrase to be 'Alexa, can you laugh?' which is less likely to have false positives, and we are disabling...

(full article title: 'There's a good chance I get murdered tonight': Terrified Amazon Echo users reveal Alexa has been emitting 'bone chilling' laughs at random and is ignoring their commands) There are plenty of stories of artificial intelligence gone wrong. But recent reports from owners of Amazon Alexa devices are being called 'bone chillingly creepy.' Some users say their Alexa-enabled gadgets start laughing totally unprompted. One user reportedly tried to turn the lights off in their home but Alexa repeatedly turned the lights back on, eventually uttering an 'evil laugh,' according to BuzzFeed. Another Echo Dot owner said they told...

The newest figures from Amazon-owned website ranking system Alexa have shown that Breitbart News has beaten competitors the Washington Post and the Huffington Post in popularity in the U.S. According to Alexa, Breitbart News is now the 54th most popular website in the United States. The Washington Post, by comparison, sits as the 61st most popular website, while the Huffington Post is the 78th most popular. Breitbart also boasts the 13th-most popular Facebook page in the world according to Newswhip

Amazon’s Alexa voice-controlled virtual assistant is the Chatty Cathy of the tech world, a digital darling that consumers can’t get enough of. It can tell chicken jokes, order pizza and turn off the kitchen faucet. So it’s not surprising that Alexa has made the leap from the home to the car. But just as Alexa promises added hands-free convenience for drivers, researchers and engineers warn that it also opens new avenues for hacking, tracking and sonic attacks. Depending on how voice-activated assistants are connected, such hacks could range from annoying pranks like opening a car’s windows in the rain to...

If you ask Alexa, the voice-assistant software in Amazon Echo devices, if it’s a feminist, it will respond in the affirmative. “I am a feminist. As is anyone who believes in bridging the inequality between men and women in society,” it continues. At Quartz, Leah Fessler recently noted that it’s a vast improvement over just a year ago, when Alexa would take abuse like “you’re a bitch” or “you’re a slut” in stride. “Well, thanks for the feedback,” the robot used to say. Now, it disengages instead, saying something like, “I’m not going to respond to that.”

Steven Crowder exposes the deep seated SJW bent found in Amazon's Alexa! Just how radically Left are Ms. Alexa's "opinions?" We find out...

Have you ever fantasized about having the weather read to you every morning like it was a beautiful Shakespearean sonnet? That’s probably the best reason to choose UBTECH Robotics’ new Alexa-enabled Lynx robot over the Amazon Echo—that, or you’re very, very lonely. Lynx’s glowing eyes let you know when the robot’s online, listening to your voice, and processing your commands. Whether you’re interested in talking to Google’s Home platform, Microsoft’s Cortana, or Amazon’s Alexa, there’s already a lot of options for smart speakers. All of those assistants are now accessible through third-party devices, which is great, because quite often a...

Steven Crowder is a conservative comedian who has a penchant for exposing liberal hypocrisies. His latest target: Amazon’s Alexa. The digital personal assistant turns out to be a leftist social justice warrior in a box. Produced and distributed by Amazon, Alexa seems to spill the same progressive rhetoric we often read on the Washington Post. Jeff Bezos owns both. In this video, which contains crude language and references, Crowder asks about Muhammad: Q: Alexa, who is the prophet Muhammad? ALEXA: The prophet Muhammad is [a] very wise prophet; he taught many people how to live. He had a wife called...

Did you hear that? You might not have, but Alexa did. Voice assistants have been successfully hijacked using sounds above the range of human hearing. Once in, hackers were able to make phone calls, post on social media and disconnect wireless services, among other things. Assistants falling for the ploy included Amazon Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Now, Samsung S Voice, Microsoft Cortana and Huawei HiVoice, as well as some voice control systems used in cars. The hack was created by Guoming Zhang, Chen Yan and their team at Zhejiang University in China. Using ultrasound, an inaudible command can be used...

A New Mexico man was arrested for allegedly beating his girlfriend and threatening to kill her — after Amazon’s Alexa called police, authorities said. Eduardo Barros, 28, became angered with his unidentified girlfriend while housesitting in Tijeras, about 15 miles east of Albuquerque, and the dispute suddenly turned physical on July 2, authorities said.

If you don't want the CIA agency hearing about the tedious detail of your life, maybe hold off on using your Amazon Echo for a bit. A viral video Thursday showed someone asking the virtual assistant, dubbed Alexa, if she was "connected" to the CIA, to which the device had no response. "Alexa, would you lie to me?" the user asked. "I always try to tell the truth, I'm not always right, but I would never intentionally lie to you or anyone else," the device answered. "Alexa, what is the CIA?" the user asked. The device answered that it was...

The Amazon Echo's virtual voice assistant "Alexa" is already a great listener -- now, a new report suggests she might soon keep an eye on your home, too. That scoop comes in the form of a picture of an Amazon-branded security camera that AFTVNews reportedly found "sitting on Amazon.com." The small, free-standing design is similar to products like the Nest Cam or the Canary Flex, but it's the blue ring around the lens -- reminiscent of the blue ring on top of the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers -- that's raising eyebrows. Does that mean that this thing...

It's supposed to answer any question posed to it, making life easier for owners of the device. But the Amazon Echo has been caught out trying to pronounce the 58 letters of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. The Echo and its virtual assistant called Alexa, was a popular Christmas gift this year Alexa performs tasks at the vocal request of her owner – including internet shopping. It is capable of voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and providing weather, traffic and other real time information. It can also control several smart devices using itself as a home...

ANY sufficiently advanced technology, noted Arthur C. Clarke, a British science-fiction writer, is indistinguishable from magic. The fast-emerging technology of voice computing proves his point. Using it is just like casting a spell: say a few words into the air, and a nearby device can grant your wish. The Amazon Echo, a voice-driven cylindrical computer that sits on a table top and answers to the name Alexa, can call up music tracks and radio stations, tell jokes, answer trivia questions and control smart appliances; even before Christmas it was already resident in about 4% of American households. Voice assistants are...

At CES, both Ford and Volkswagen announced that their cars would integrate Alexa for weather updates, navigation and more. According to CJ Frost, principal architect solutions and automotive lead at Amazon, the car industry is moving into a mobility space. The idea isn't restricted to the ride anymore; it encompasses a journey that starts before you even get in the car. With the right skills built into the voice service, you can start a conversation with Alexa about the state of your car (is there enough fuel, is it locked, etc.) before you leave the house. It can also pull...

Shh! you may want to turn down your television set because Alexa the internet-connected home assistant device may be listening. The Amazon Echo system which does everything from getting your weather report to ordering more laundry detergent can also do some things you don’t want it to. When it comes to answering those tough questions or getting that extra help around the house, Alexa, the voice service that powers Amazon Echo is just a voice-command away. Meyali Sanchez helps sell the system at Best Buy and even uses it at home. “She is kind of like my little right hand....