Amazon takes on Roku and Apple TV with Fire TV set-top box

The Amazon set-top box has been rumoured for quite a while. Now, we get to see the real thing in the form of Fire TV. It looks very much like other set-top boxes and it connects to your TV through HDMI. It has Amazon Prime and Instant Video plus support for Netflix, Showtime Anytime, Hulu Plus, and Watch ESPN.

What sets it apart is a remote control with voice control feature. And Amazon is selling a separate game controller for US$40. Some of the tie ups they have for games include The Walking Dead, Minecraft, and the exclusive game for Amazon called Sev Zero. It is priced like the Apple TV at $100.

Source: Gizmag

Microsoft unveils Windows Phone 8.1 OS at BUILD 2014

It only too three years, but Windows Phone finally has an answer to Apple's Siri personal assistant. Coming to the Windows Phone 8.1 OS update later, the Cortana personal assistant replaces Bing Search while integrating voice and contextual search across applications and Microsoft services. Windows Phone 8.1's features are outlined in this blog post.

WhatsApp facilitates a record 64 billion messages in 24-hours

WhatsApp just broke a staggering record as the service has facilitated the sending and receiving of 64 billion messages. The mobile messaging service handled 20 billion messages sent and 44 billion messages received. This frenzied activity adds up to 2.6 billion messages per hour, or 44.4 million messages per minute, or 740,000 a second. WhatsApp isn't standing still, it just blew by  465 million monthly users and will release a voice calling feature later on this year.

Source: Business Insider

Logitech UE Boom gets "Double-Up" update

Having previously reviewed this speaker in great lengths, even going so far as taking it on a back-packing expedition to Nicaragua last summer, I can personally attest to how good this bad boy actually is. Guess what? The good just got a whole lot better. Starting today, once you sync two UE BOOMs together for the first time, they will remember each other and automatically Double Up the next time both speakers are powered on. You can take advantage of this update by simply downloading the latest iOS or Android UE BOOM app and updating your UE BOOM through a few simple plug and play steps. 

Download the UE Boom app for free on iOS here and Android here